Free Beauty: an Everland Ever After Tale by Caroline Lee Page B

oldest gown, tie her hair back in a simple braid, walk tall and be strong and sweat and produce. Milton forbade her from being seen, when she was in such disarray, but she didn’t mind. Sometimes Eddie helped her, and they laughed loud and long over silly things. This was the place where her memories were made, and now she was going to share it with someone else.
    Not just anyone else, though. Him. She’d been thinking about Vincenzo a lot lately, and not just when they were together. Their meetings in the bookstore were fast becoming her favorite parts of the week, and she found herself looking forward to their conversations more and more. Vincenzo was intelligent, worldly, and talented; of course she enjoyed spending time with him. In fact, sitting there in the intimate little corner of the bookstore, laughing over Twain’s anecdotes, or hearing stories about Europe, or sharing tales of Eddie’s younger years… she felt like she’d found a friend. To her complete surprise, it was easier to talk to Vincenzo than even to Meredith. Perhaps it was the fact that he couldn’t see her; couldn’t see the beauty that had faded over the years, didn’t know who she used to be. There, in the semi-darkness, they were just two people who’d found a friend in each other.
    And on two glorious occasions he’d brought his violin with him, and she’d held Eddie in her lap like she’d done when he was younger and let the tears run silently down her cheeks as she listened to the beautiful music Vincenzo created. He was bringing his instrument with him again this evening, and had told her son that he was expected to join in this time.
    Arabella hugged herself a little in excitement. She couldn’t wait.
    She wouldn’t have to; Gordon’s laughter and Vincenzo’s biting tone rose over the back fence, and she hurried to the gate. Pulling it open, she smiled to hear them bickering like old friends. “Welcome, sirs. Will you be staying this evening, Gordon?” He never stayed, but she always asked.
    “No, he won’t be.” Vincenzo barked at his manservant. “He has a lady to visit, apparently. Won’t tell me her name, so don’t bother asking him.”
    “My lips are sealed, m’lord. Sorry.” The unrepentant grin the tall Scot gave Vincenzo told her that he wasn’t sorry in the least.
    She grinned right back, and reached out to take Vincenzo’s arm. “Run along then, Gordon, I’ll escort Signore Bellini through the garden.” Gordy tipped his hat to her, then strode off. She pulled the unresisting Vincenzo closer, tucking his elbow by her side like they were old lovers. It was positively naughty to be out here in the semi-dark with him, but the air was thick with floral scents and he was carrying his violin case.
    “I’m so glad you’ve come to visit my garden, Vincenzo.”
    Slowly, he turned to face her, and she saw his smile. Maybe it was because she was tucked up beside him, maybe it was because the night air was scented with honeysuckle. Whatever the reason, his smile was so much more sensual than it ever had been before. It sent warmth pooling through her belly, and lower, and she gasped to realize what those sensations meant.
    “Mrs. Mayor?”
    She lifted her free hand to his cheek, the way he’d done to her when they’d first met, and felt the bristles give under her fingertips.  Did he just shudder? She couldn’t be sure. But when he tilted his cheek into her palm, and when his free hand came up to hold hers against his skin, she was the one who shuddered. He was warm, and full of life, and she definitely wasn’t seeing him as a friend.
    No, standing there in the twilight, pressed against him, she was looking at a man. And not just a broken man, or an incomplete man… but a man who was still fighting. She remembered what he looked like, under that blindfold, and it didn’t seem to matter so much, at that moment. He was kind, and made her laugh, and had become a wonderful role model for Eddie. He spoke to