Adele slowly opened her eyes to the sun rays coming through the windows and of course to the smell of fresh pastry and aroma of tea. She sat up on her bed and saw Francesco reading a newspaper as he was sitting behind a nicely set breakfast table close to the balcony window.

As Francesco noticed that Adele was sitting up, he glanced up from his newspaper and looked at Adele. " Good morning sweetheart."

Adele spoke sounding sleepy " Hi. Good morning. What time is it?" She then looked at the clock and gasped " I have overslept. Why didn't you wake me up?"

Francesco stood up and walked to Adele. He sat down on the edge of the bed and took her hand "You needed your rest. I thought you needed it after all the events that's have happened. Happy thanksgiving..." He then leaned close and kissed her cheek.

Adele blushed " Ah. I think I need to get changed." As she moved away to the other side of the bed, Francesco stopped her. He grabbed her waist and pulled her close to him. " Not so fast. I think I like to hold you in bed a little bit."

Francesco then laid down in the bed with his back touching the mattress. He pulled Adele on top of him and caged her waist in his arms " You are where you belong now. Right in my arms."

Adele held her weight on her hands that she placed on Francesco's shoulders. She tried to pull away and free herself. " Francesco, this is too early for this."

Francesco laughed "You are going no where. Don't struggle." He then swiftly reversed their positions to his favourite one. He was now on top of Adele caging her on the bed with his hands on either side of her arms taking his weight. He searched Adele's eyes "You look much better this morning. I love it when there is some colour on your cheeks. I don't like seeing you pale." he then leaned close and touched his lips to hers gently and pulled away.

Adele breathed "Happy thanksgiving." Being this close to Francesco when they were being intimate made her nervous. She didn't have anything else on her mind when Francesco was so close to her. She only could stare into those handsome pair of eyes that looked at her like she was the only woman in this world. His heavy stare made her feel self conscious. She found him irresistible when he looked at her in that possessive special way that he always looked at her. It was a mystery to her how Francesco could love her so much. He could choose any woman he wanted in this world with the wealth and power he had at his disposal but he had settled for her. Ten years of separation hadn't changed his feelings for her at all.

Adele spoke "You know ..... I want to make some confessions. I think now it is time to talk about our relationship.

Francesco frowned " I don't want to know if its in the past. Whatever it is, you don't have to tell me. if you have cheated on me, I no longer want to know. Its irrelevant now that you have promised to marry me........"

Adele smiled "Its not that. I have never cheated on you. I went out with Michael and there is nothing to tell you about my relationship with him that you already don't know...."

Francesco took a deep breath "I am relieved. You don't have to tell me anything....."

Adele spoke softly "But I do. I feel like I haven't disclosed to you how I have felt for you....." She then bit her lip and continued. "Now that we are engaged, I feel closer to you...."

Francesco spoke "You said yes to my marriage proposal. It tells me everything about how you feel. You don't have to say anything else sweetheart...."

Adele spoke " But I do. I have been in denial for so long. I have kept pushing down my feelings for you out of fear..... When the fear went away, it was easier to be with you and to imagine my life with you...... That night at the hollywood ball, I said yes simply because ...... it sounded right..... Being your wife sounded right. When you bent down on one knee, I couldn't stop myself from saying yes. It sounds crazy to me how certain I was about my decision. I think too much about everything or Angelo says. I take long to make decisions but .... when you asked me to marry you I just couldn't stop myself. Maybe your honest words took away my fears. A marriage is a promise, a vow, a covenant as you say. All you need is trusting your other half. All you need is for them reassuring you that they would honour their word every step of the way and would never hurt you. I knew you meant every word you said. I just knew it. I had heard that sincere tone before, years before. You kept your word ten years ago. You didn't hurt me and you saved my family. I know your uncle was going to kill my family. I know you tried all you could and you stood up to your family for me. I loved you back then from the time I saw you sitting next to my brother in that town hall gathering. It has taken me so long to admit it to you but from the moment I saw you..... I fancied you like crazy..... but ........ I was afraid. I was afraid that you were going to hurt me. I didn't trust you to be honourable until you treated me so respectfully and kindly during my forced stay at your uncle's ranch. You .... won my heart....."

Francesco didn't let her continue. He leaned close and kissed her lips passionately and possessively. Adele lifted her hands and wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him closer as she kissed him back. Maybe her sudden urge to share her love with him was his leniency towards her brother. Maybe treating her brother so humanly was the motivation behind her sudden feeling of relief. She felt his love and she loved him back. She just wanted to share her love and let him know he possessed her heart now. He was a dangerous criminal but she knew he never had a choice in his life. She surely desperately was hoping she could make him change some aspects of his life. From what she had heard and observed, she could understand it was not possible for Francesco to break away from this underworld illegal business world as easily as she always hoped. Anna had made her re-think her expectations of Francesco with regards to choosing to walk away from this life completely.

Anna's words boomed in Adele's mind from their conversation yesterday " You are lucky Adele to have Francesco. He could have any woman in this world but he has chosen you as his partner in life of all the women that he could. I wish I was as lucky as you Adele. I wish a man loved me as much as Francesco loves you. I wish Angelo loved me as much as Francesco loves you. If Angelo loved me enough, he wouldn't have done something so reckless without telling me. He never even thought about me when he endangered himself by betraying Francesco. Now I feel like I have to face my past. I have to face the man that I thought I had gotten away from Adele. Arturo loves me but that is it. That's all I know of him. He is not my equal. I cant read him as easily as I could read Angelo. Angelo was the safe option. But I am a Rosario. It seems like its my destiny not to have an easy life."

When Adele had tried to apologise for Francesco's discrete and harsh options, Anna had laughed and had said words that stayed with Adele and had made her realise many aspects of Francesco's life that she didn't know much about. Anna had said " You may think that Francesco is cruel. You may think he is cold. But, the truth is Adele that all of us would be dead without his protection. If he wasn't who he is, we would all be dead... My mother, my father, you, Costanzo, Antonio... every Rosario would be dead without him. When Paulo handed the business to him, there was a reason. Paulo couldn't handle his new enemies and mutinies in his organisation. Francesco was given power and over night he changed everything. He eliminated all threats and cleaned up his organisation. My mother met Paulo shortly before he handed his business to Francesco. It sounded like Paulo was becoming more forgiving and less strict in his older years. So the control was slipping away. Francesco took over and changed everything. He made such a reputation that some of his enemies even surrendered to save their families."

Adele couldn't get her head around Anna's words. She had spoken so highly of Francesco even though he was forcing her to marry another man of his choosing. She had gone on and on about Francesco. She had said "Francesco rules so strictly but his men are loyal to him and die for him. If he walks away tomorrow, we are all dead. So never criticise his decision making and never wish for him to stop who he is. Just hope and pray that his rivals and enemies give up on trying to destroy his business empire so he can have some peace that he surely deserves after fighting hard against enemies and rivals for the sins of his father...... If anyone else was in Francesco's place, they would have broken under pressure. But Francesco can handle it thankfully for us."

But what Adele remembered most clearly was Anna's last words on Angelo. She has spoken in her earnest tone to Adele "I don't believe in soul mates and meeting "the one" or "a knight in shining armour". I believe that if it is meant to be for me to be destined to marry a man, he would fight for me to be with me. Angelo and Arturo may both care for me. But Angelo surely didn't love me enough to even think about me when he ran away let alone fight for me but Arturo fights for me but accepting Arturo would mean changing my life for him. For Angelo I never had to change but for Arturo I would have to change..... "

Francesco pulled away finally and brought Adele out of her thoughts "At last you are starting to open up with me. I have waited so long for you to confess you had deep feelings for me back then just like how I did for you. I am so happy to hear all this from your sweet lips." He then leaned close and gently kissed her forehead. He then slightly pulled away and spoke " Now, its my turn.... I fell in love with you because of what you did to me when I looked into your gorgeous eyes. I fell in love with all of you and everything about you. I couldn't care less about who you were and where you came from. Even if the whole world didn't want us together, I would have worked hard and waited until I was strong enough to make you mine without anyone stopping me. I just knew I had to have you from the first moment I laid eyes on you. Then now that times have changed, my feelings for you have only intensified. I only want you more than I did before and I want to share my life with you, I want to grow old with you and ..... have children with you."

Adele blushed at hearing his words "Francesco ...."

Francesco nodded "I know, the thought of carrying my children makes you blush. Don't think too much. Its as natural as it comes. Have you thought about names?"

Adele sighed "Can we not talk about this right now?"

Francesco chuckled "Sure sweetheart. You are right. We must plan an engagement party, our wedding and our honey moon in order then its time for picking names. Now I think its time to eat some breakfast. He then got up and walked to the table as he spoke "Your tea is getting cold. Get changed while I warm up your tea with the candle holder. We will have breakfast then after that when you are ready we can go downstairs to meet our guests. I think they are playing gulf right now. We have wine and cheese tasting with our guests this afternoon. i hope you don't mind. Do you?" He turned to Adele as he lit up a candle and put it under the tea pot.

Adele got up from the bed walking to Francesco's she walked to the table and examined the China tea pot that was on top of a candle holder. "Nice tea pot.... I like cheese and wine. It sounds lovely."

Francesco smiled as he stepped closer to Adele and put his hand on her waist "There will be music too all afternoon before dinner. I even invited the United Dreamers over here to perform for you. Your favourite band that you met at Hollywood Ball."

Adele gasped "You invited them? How did you get them to accept?"

Francesco shrugged as he rubbed circles on her back "I bought half the shares in their record company a while back. I just didn't know you liked them..... Never mind. Is there anything else you want for breakfast. I removed all coffee from the breakfast menu by the way."

Adele sighed "Everything on this table looks good. But I don't mind coffee. I just don't drink it in the morning."

Francesco spoke "I see. Antonio would be pleased to hear that. Now coffee is back on the menu since you insist. I thought you hated coffee totally. Why don't you get changed now."

Something out the balcony window caught her attention "She whispered "Ok. But who is that there with Anna? Is that a bow and arrow in Anna's hand? Antonio and Costanzo seem quite cheerful watching. Who is it that has put them in a cheerful mood?" She could guess who it was there but wanted to hear it from Francesco besides any other information.

Francesco looked outside where Adele was looking "Oh. That is Arturo Agostini. Costanzo and Antonio get along well with him. He is a fan of archery. So is Anna. That is why the first thing he has done is challenging Anna to a game of Archery by the looks of it just like how he does always when he is somewhere that they have an archery kit. They had their first real clash at an archery challenge as part of a business party hosted by my father actually. I wonder what they are playing for. I would like to see Anna lose a bet. She hardly ever loses bets especially in archery. I think that is mostly why Costanzo and Antonio are cheerful. They want her to slip."

Adele was now looking at Anna with awe "Wow. She took aim and she .... scored. She is good. Her arrow is close."

Francesco chuckled "Wait until you see how Arturo plays."

Adele gasped as she saw how accurate Arturo was. She spoke "The arrow scored higher than Anna."

Francesco spoke "My cousin looks quite displeased. I bet she has to pay a high price for the loss."