Chapter 14: Our little cabin is filled with our memories

Isabelle's hazel eyes were close to mine as her face was blush pink, no one spoke a good minute before she touched my cheeks and commented on my darkening eyelids, 

"You seemed to be old, Rossi."

I laughed at the comment and replied while holding her hand, "I never got good sleep since you came into my life."

She brushed it off like a pro and rested on my chest, "Why did you lie? I need to know a little too."

"Do you know what's the most important thing for a Rossi?"

"Hmm…money?" I scowled at her, 

"Power?" And now my left eyebrow is elevated. 

"What? I am just guessing I never said you are a money-slash-power-grabbing person. So what's the most important thing then?"

"Our family code. The Rossi Family is run by code started by generation after generation."

The success of a generation depends on the heir of the Rossi family, loyalty had been a difficult trait during World War 2. So, the head of the family would kill anyone for loyalty. We have unnamed graves for their treachery and some were thrown to the ocean and never seen light or day. 

The family code was continuously amended by the current heir if he saw the need to change or add rules to the code. If a Rossi dies that means two things, he violated the code or he was assassinated. 

During the year my mother died, Anthony, my father added a secret rule to the code which my grandfather agreed to implement. The rule directly affected Isabelle and me right now. This little old cabin love story was against the rule I added to the family code. 

"Heir, leaders of the division, and senior executives are not allowed to be in a relationship outside the family. People like you are not welcome in my world."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know why Emily is so protective of you?" She nodded as she continued to lay in my chest, 

"Is because she's a Rossi and she knows the truth. Aunt Erin left the family because she married Em's dad and he turned out to be a lying cheating bastard who abused Aunt Erin emotionally which resulted in years in therapy when he died. My mother was also a normal citizen, she met my father in one of his "expeditions", when she died my father almost drove himself to death and first-level crazy. Lastly, my grandfather, marrying my grandmother was a risky choice but he did still, he fell in love so bad that even if my grandmother cheated on him Tobias still welcomed her back to the family but my grandfather could no longer trust her."

I looked at her for a reaction as she intently listened to my family's generation trauma, I could not guess what was inside her head and what she was thinking until she gave a heavy sigh and said, 

"The past generation caused different pain and that traumatized the whole family. We can't force them to consider our affection for each other, I am not from your family and your family will never be a normal one. But, everyone's different right?"

I shook my head and stroked her hair, her smell etched in my hypothalamus became a warm solace of a happy place of mine. I gave her a slight peck on her forehead took her hand and interlaced our fingers. 

"My father is a stickler for rules, once it's there it is there. Emily only wanted to protect you away from me. I somehow bring you tragedy, I can't let you suffer the woman in the family would. Being with me means being in danger, not just with our enemies but especially with my father. He will never allow us to get married or be in a relationship."

She scoffed and looked at me, "Listening to your speech makes me vomit, do you actually like me?"

"Oh, God knows how much I want you. He knows how much I want to kiss and hug you now and he knows how much I'm willing to sacrifice for you."

"I wanted to be impressed by your confession, but I know I will be hearing your but, so what's your but?"

"But I can't be selfish and push you into a world that will suffocate you and will make me hate myself."

She cupped my face as I looked at her, Isabelle in my arms right now felt like a dream. A dream I wish would never end. 

"I'm hungry, are you hungry?" 

This woman definitely knew how to ruin moments, she giggled because she was aware of how she changed the pensive air around us. 

"What? We are discussing something too serious when we just confessed to each other. We have not dated yet but why do I feel we're about to break up? Look, I'm really hungry. Can we at least have a romantic dinner first?"

Right, a romantic dinner, a moment under the stars, and a great end to our love story. I stood up and cooked steak for the two of us. Isabelle went to a small wine cellar I built outside the cabin and she chose the wine and she helped set up the table. 

"Now, we look like a runaway couple!" 

"We are a runaway couple."

She looked at me smiling like an idiot before admitting we were. Honestly, we were. I turned off our phones after my meeting with Richard. Code X promised not to track us down for two days and he was handling the "Emily" situation. 

"What happened to Emily?"

"Oh, Code promised to look after her for two days."

"I hope she won't drive him crazy." 

"I actually do hope that too. Curious, why aren't you shocked when I said Emily is a Rossi?"

"She got drunk once in college and Aunt Erin came to pick her up, you know Aunt Erin exudes this commanding aura of a gangster, so I assumed there's more to Emily's family history."

"Emily is secretive but when she's drunk she spills beans. She mentioned that she's a Rossi thrice so when you confirmed it today I just believe she was completely honest with me."

"Aren't you scared?"

"Being with you made me realize I shouldn't be so scared. You were one of the good guys, probably." 

I smirked while I raised my hand to her which she interlocked her fingers with. I pulled her to my chest and nestled my head to her shoulders, she smelled like heaven, 

"You kept on smelling me, why?"

"Because you smelled good." 

"What's your plan now?"

"Follow what Code said."

"Which is?"

"Create memories for a long excruciating winter." She hugged me back and gently stroked my back. 

"We should create happy memories for each other. Fill this cabin with lots of pictures so when we get older we can go back to this place and reminisce our time today."

I nodded in agreement and she continued, 

"So, please before you destroy our moments together let's forget you are a Rossi and I am an ordinary person. Let's just focus on filling this place with Dominic and Isabelle's memories. We can't be always sad or in fear when together. We can laugh, smile, and fool around with each other, right?"

I gave her a reassuring nod and kissed her lips as she kissed me back before breaking it off to a smile, 

"Too early for that Mr. Dominic. Our steak is burning!" 

I immediately turned off the stove and looked at the burnt goods, she sighed and poked my cheeks, 

"Who was the one boasting about being a good chef? Tsk, tsk, I will not eat that shit." 

***

[Your cousin is driving me bat shit crazy! Are you all born to make me go crazy?!]

"Wait till you actually meet Edward,"

[I met that guy back in Rayfield, that encounter still gives me heebie-jeebies. She just destroyed two of my laptops, two!]

"Send proof of the ruined laptop and a video of her destroying it to Richard, he'll process the reimbursement."

[Sweet, can I request for a better version? I mean, c'mon.]

"Send a note to him and be specific, Richard has zero grasps towards technology."

[Ohh, I saw a pager on his desk, he's really Jurassic. Anyway, I will hold the fort for you so make sure you do your part, boss. Try to prioritize your happiness too.]

"Sure thing, you're a good friend, James."

[Am I?] He was mocking at the same time laughing on the other line. 

Isabelle just gone out of the bathroom thus her freshly showered scent was all over the place, she came behind me and snaked her arms around my waist, 

"Who are you talking to?"

"No one."

"Liar, was it Code?"

"Mmm…"

"Emily?"

"She's fine but she's about to make my programmer go crazy." 

I grabbed her arms and changed our position, this time I could smell her damp hair, I grabbed the hand towel on my right and placed it on top of her head, 

"You'll get sick without drying your hair."

"Well, you did not have any blow dryer."

"I didn't think I needed one."

"See, you should buy me some for future needs."

Future? My gaze turned from sweet to hopeful then somber. My future with her would end one way or the other, even if we were so in love at that time I could not risk her life being intertwined with mine. My chaos was not hers to be worried about. 

"Let's go shopping tomorrow, I've listed all the things we need for our cabin. I said we need lots and lots of pictures all over the place, right? I was thinking of buying a Polaroid camera and turning your living room wall with our pictures in collage, what do you think?"

I wanted to protest against it but as she was about to pout, all I could do was to give up the idea of ruining our time together. 

"Whatever you wish, Madam Rossi."

"Madam Rossi? That sounded too old!"

I kissed her forehead and the back of her hand and playfully said:

"You'll never be too old for me, Madam Rossi."

"STOP! It sounded too fake and cringeworthy on so many levels!" 

My fondest memories of Isabelle were kept hidden in the cabin wall. We enjoyed our time together and did as much as we could. In the evening, I cooked pasta for her which she immediately approved of despite the steak accident. 

We would enjoy a glass of wine in front of a campfire I built in the afternoon, she would spend her time with me as I read my book. Isabelle loved to curl by my side and play with my earlobe as she finished her crossword puzzle. 

Slowly by slowly, we filled our wall with every little picture we could get; there was this picture of ours where she barged into the restroom as I used the urinals. There was a silly picture of hers when she clumsily knocked over the teapot on my carpet. And there were even pictures of us dressed in different seasons. 

We wore bathing suits in the middle of the winter and used the outdoor bathtub Code built. We almost froze to death, her ears were having frostbite but she insisted on taking that picture. A sweet photo of our silhouette as we enjoyed the night sky after a snowstorm. Probably, the best picture I loved was the photograph I took when she fell asleep in my chest while I read to her. 

I snuck kisses on her lips from time to time and embraced her as I slept. I wished I could turn these experiences to last a little bit longer but our lives back in Porta Sole awaited us. I had a family to run and she had a life to go on with. 

I kissed her forehead as she played with my earlobe during one of our snuggles, 

"Will you ever regret this moment?" She naively asked. 

"Each moment with you is a lifetime dream come true of mine."

"Will we go back to strangers when we go back?"

…

"I don't want to go back to strangers, Dom." She drew her face closer to my body and gave me a tighter hug. "Should we have sex?"

For a moment of weakness, I wanted to do that to her but if I touched her I would be a jerk to leave her in the morning like nothing happened between us. 

"No."

"You don't see me as appealing as your ex-model girlfriends?"

"I never had a girlfriend."

"Tabliods said otherwise."

"The tabloid also said I am dating my own assistant."

"Right, Richard almost killed me with that knife."

"And he still regrets it today."

I slowly stroked her back and kissed her forehead, 

"My time with you in our little cabin will forever be in my heart. You don't know how much I wanted this to last longer but right now all I can promise is to protect you from any harm that will come your way. I am your pain and chaos, I can't compromise you with that."

"But I am also your peace. Can we just stay?"

This time I gently lifted her face and took her lips to mine, I pecked her lips and softly bit it, Isabelle took the chance and began to kiss me back and swerved her tongue inside mine. For a minute our tongues danced and with the sweet exchange of our saliva, I paused. 

My damn manhood. 

I had to stop, I must stop. I caressed her face and immediately separated my lips from her rosy mouth and kissed her forehead, 

"I can't do this." 

I could feel her tight grip on the hems of my shirt and she buried her face in my chest, 

"Why are you so cowardly yet so cruel?"

I lured her into sleep before calling Code to send Emily to the cabin the next morning. Before I finally had the guts to leave her, I gave her one last kiss and grabbed the photo I fell in love with. 

A photo of ours in the kitchen laughing on the burnt steak, again. 

"Bella, arrivederci amore mio." 

And the last jerk move I did was to write her a note "dimenticami" [forget me]