The Billion-Dollar Bride Hunt by Melanie Milburne
EPILOGUE
One year later...
EMMIESATSURROUNDEDby her little instant family and wondered how she could ever have thought she would be any less of a mother for not having physically given birth to her children. Pepe and Paolo, the two-and-a-half-year-old twins, were playing with their father. For Matteo was every bit a father to them, as she was their mother, even though they didn’t share a single speck of DNA.
Emmie looked down at the sleeping infant in her arms, Isabella, and silently promised Isabella’s and the twins’ late mother and father she would love and protect these precious children with all her heart for the rest of her days.
The children’s biological parents had been tragically killed in a car crash and, with no immediate family, Matteo, as the twins’ godfather, had stepped forward and been awarded full guardianship. The children had adjusted well to the new living arrangements, being so young, and Emmie was so grateful that, out of such an unspeakable tragedy, she and Matteo were able to provide a loving home for the children.
Matteo came over to Emmie and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. His gaze was loving and tender, and her heart swelled with love. ‘You have the magic touch with Isabella.’
Emmie laid her hand on top of his and gave him a wistful smile. ‘It seems wrong to be so happy when the children will never know their real parents.’
‘I know.’ He pressed a kiss to her forehead. ‘Life is a journey between happy and sad moments, but we will make sure our little family has more happy than sad ones.’ He stroked a gentle finger over the sleeping baby’s petal-soft cheek, then glanced back at Emmie. ‘There is no greater gift than promising to love and cherish someone else’s children as your own. And these little bambinos are very lucky indeed to have you as their mama. And I am the happiest man in the world to be your husband.’
Emmie smiled. ‘That’s what my father keeps saying to Mum now they have remarried. I still can’t believe it, you know. How two people who were at war for so long finally put their differences aside and reclaimed what they’d lost. And Natalie too...’ She gripped his hand in gratitude. ‘We all have you to thank for her recovery. That private clinic you paid for made all the difference. I have never seen her so healthy or so happy.’
Matteo leaned down to brush her lips with his. ‘I would do anything for you, tesoro mia. You are my heart, my home, my future, my perfect match. My for ever love.’
For ever lovesounded just perfect.
And it was.
