21
He woke up suddenly, with an anxiously joyous effort of will, startled by the thought that he had fallen asleep and allowed something exceedingly great and blissful to disappear from his life.
With his head slightly raised, he instantly took in his surroundings and immediately broke into a smile, realising that his fear had been unfounded—nothing had disappeared, gone missing or even turned out to have been a dream. For the first time in many years of his life, reality was better than the happiest dream.
Giulia lay prone in the grass with her cheek resting quietly on her outstretched hand, asleep. However, she was not breathing rhythmically and evenly the way sleeping people do—she occasionally went still, as if straining to hear something, exhaled and then took some even short breat
