“Gifts given often come without ribbons or bows.”
“Gifts given often come without ribbons or bows.”It was a finely rendered portrait, a perfectly captured moment of serenity. Seemingly a happily married couple whiling away the evening together.
Viviana and Sansone had supped together, talked, laughed, and simply reveled in the company of the other. As if creating the scene, giving it its final touches, he sat in her chair in her salon while she stood beside him before her canvas, brush in hand. They did not speak, and yet they were more intimately together than they had ever been.
Sansone put down his book, rose, and quit the room. Viviana listened as his footsteps moved him about the house and back again; he returned with a small goblet in each hand.
“Grappa,” he told her as he handed
