One Heart

"The pasticerria it is," Angus said, deciding to wear the gray leather fedora. He reached for her hand just because he wanted to be a little closer to her. "Its just around the corner."

He was always happy in Italy. He'd lived her so many years with his family that Italy felt more like home than his native England. But--it was different now. He felt like, with Bella, that he was more complete. His life was good before, but it felt like it had just gotten better.

When they got to the bakery and went in, Angus could smell the morning's fresh pasteries baking. A baker was just putting a tray of biscotti. He saw that there were three small tables for two inside the tiny bakery, and the tables were empty. It wasn't entirely surprising. Often, people got what they wanted and simply moved on with their day, not always staying to eat their orders there.

"Those are decadent," Angus smiled. "One of those, and a cup of espresso? There are few things that are better." He exchanged a few words with the baker and then looked at Bella. "He says he sells what he calls a breakfast plate. Your choice of five different pastries and a coffee. And there are a lot of ways to order a coffee here. I'm getting an espresso, but they'll have lattes and cappuchinos and all sorts of variations. Order whatever you like." He pointed to five different selections from the wide variety in the display case for his own breakfast plate.

He paid for their orders and added a generous tip. The baker told them they could take a seat and he'd deliver it when the coffees were freshly brewed.

"Let's sit," he said to her, selecting a table. "So, I know I could be perfectly happy just spending the rest of the day alone with you. But--is there anything you'd really like to do with the rest of our wedding day?"

She smiled and took his hand moving closer to him wrapping her arm around his. She smiled taking in everything and looked up at him.

She looked around as they walked towards the pasticerria. She thought about what it would be like to live here, she had only ever lived in London and Paris. She began thinking about where they would live now that they were married. She gave her head a slight shake knowing that where they would live, they could discuss much later. She wanted to enjoy their spur of the moment honeymoon and she definitely wanted to spend the rest of the day alone with him relaxing.

When they entered the bakery she took in the smell of fresh pastries. She looked at the different pastries that had and thought she might just get one. She took in the bakery and liked how small it was, she also loved the smell of the fresh baked pastries with the scent of coffee.

"Yeah?" She said with a grin. "Sounds good to me. Which ones?" She asked looking at him. She watched as he spoke to the baker. "Well the pastries would make a good snack or breakfast tomorrow. I'll get an espresso as well," She looked at the display case trying really hard to figure out what she wanted on her own breakfast plate.

"Ok," She said sitting at the table he chose. "I just wanna spend some alone time with you as well. We can sight see tomorrow, today I just want to be alone with you." She said with a smile as she laid her hand on his.

(I should have asked, but i presumed bella didn't speak italian. since she lived in paris, she perhaps does speak french, though?)

Angus suggested to the baker that he give Bella his best, signature pastries on her plate. Angus watched and was pleased to see that he himself had picked 3 of the baker's best in his selection.

"I think you'll like those," he told her.  "And, if there's any more we want to get to take with us, he'll box them up for us."

He smiled when she said that she just wanted to be alone with him. "I can't think of a better way to spend the day," he said. "And I know the perfect place." Since it was  about as off season as it got, he figured the resort he wanted to try would still have a vacancy.

The baker brought over the espressos. "è bello vedere due persone innamorate. la tua ragazza?" he asked.

"No, mia sposa. Appena ci siamo sposati questa mattina," Angus told him, smiling.

"Davvero? questa mattina? Congratulazioni per il tuo matrimonio. Il matrimonio è una buona cosa. Sono sposato con mia Elena ora per 34 anni, e noi abbiamo cinque figli e tre figlie. Si dovrebbero avere bambini."

"He's congratulating us," Angus told Bella. "Says he's been married 34 years to his wife Elena, and says he has 5 sons and three daughters. He thinks we should have children." He looked back at the baker. "I sicuro che ci saranno." He looked at Bella. "I told him we probably will," he said, glad it was something that they had already talked about.

"Gustare la prima colazione. Nessun addebito. Per il tuo matrimonio."

"He says our breakfast is on the house today, for our wedding day," Angus told Bella. He looked back at the baker, "Grazie mille," he said, thanking him. The baker walked away from the table. He looked at Bella. "I think, if we can get a room at the place I have in mind, they will most likely speak English as well. But you'll pick up the Italian the more you're exposed to it."

He picked up his cup of espresso and took a moment to smell the aroma. There was nothing better than freshly ground, freshly brewed espresso. He took a sip. He loved the dark, rich, somewhat bitter flavor of the first sip. It always reminded him he was home.

"There's something about having espresso here in Italy that makes it better, no matter how much I make it at home," he said, satisfied.

((It's okay. Yeah Bella doesn't speak Italian but is fluent in French.))

Bella grinned at Angus as she watched which ones the baker had grabbed to put on her breakfast plate.

"They look delicious," She said with a grin. "Well if they taste as good as they look he might have to box up some." She grinned.

"Me either." She said feeling happy and content in this moment. "Well I can't wait to see it." She said with a grin on her face. She knew that he would pick something that would be perfect for the both of them.

She looked up when the baker came over with their espressos. She heard him speak Italian then watched as him and Angus exchanged words in Italian.

She smiled when Angus said the baker was congratulating them. "Well I hope he has many more years with her. I bet they are a handful having that many boys." She smiled when he said the baker said they should have children. She waited as Angus said something in Italian to him, "Yeah." She smiled at him and as she began thinking of children now that it was brought up.

"That's really sweet of him." She said then watched as the baker walked away from the table. "I think you may need to teach me some Italian. I only know how to speak French." She said with a smile wanting to learn Italian and thought about how beautiful language was.

She could smell the espresso and smiled at how good it did smell. She picked up the cup taking a small sip, she felt it warm up her body as it ran through her.

"Sometimes no matter how hard we try it's difficult to remake it how we remember it." She said with a grin. She took another sip of her espresso and was loving the taste of it.

He tasted the desserts, and they were better than he remembered. The only person he knew who had made them better was his grandmother, but that had been years ago.

"I'm going to have to come back here again. These are awesome," Angus said. "My grandfather would like these. They're really close to how my grandmother made them. You'd have liked her, and she certainly would have liked you. I know what she'd have done, though. She'd have made all sorts of plans to tie you into the kitchen with her so she could show you all her favorite recipes. She'd have thought that was essential for you to know." He laughed. "She was a little old school."

He agreed with Bella about it being difficult to remake something. "I can follow family recipes exactly and not feel like it tastes the same. I know there've been times I made something and my grandfather said it tasted exactly like my grandmother's, but, nah. There was something still missing. It wasn't the same." He took a forkful of his tiramisu. "Oh, you need to try that. Its amazing. He's done something a little different. I think I'd be happy if I had just a big sheetpan of that and a fork," he laughed.

She took her first bite of one of her pastries, she loved the bloom of flavor she had on her tongue.

"Yes they are, we'll more than likely have to get a box to take with us." She said with a grin. "Maybe before we head back we'll get him some. Oh she wouldn't have had to go that far, I would have stayed in there just to learn them." She laughed with him when he said that his grandmother would have thought it was essential. "There's nothing wrong with that." She said with a smile. "I'm sure me and her would have gotten along very well."

"Yeah same here, I can never get my mother's homemade chicken soup right." She touched his hand softly knowing that he must have been close to his grandmother. Of course she knew it was because he was close with her because his grandparents raised him. She took a forkful of the tiramisu and nodded at his words of it being amazing. "If we had a big sheet pan of it, I'd be in the gym every day for weeks." She said with a laugh before she took another bite savoring the flavors.

"Good idea," Angus said. Picking up his espress, he called to the baker and asked him to make a box of assorted pastries to go. He took a sip of his espresso as the baker commented to him in Italian. Angus, with his mouth full of espresso, started to laugh, trying hard not to either spit out his espresso or choke on it. The baker laughed at Angus as Angus shook his finger at the baker, which made the baker laugh even harder.

"He said he'd pack a couple more things than I asked for so we wouldn't have to leave our room for a couple of days because he knows we aren't going to feel like it. He said I'm crazy if I think you and I are going to handle it any differently than any other couple that honeymoons in Italy."

"We'll work on that soup recipe," Angus promised. "I'm betting we can come close. Besides, there isn't a kid in the house back home that doesn't like noodles. We'll have to do that. You know, I'll have to show you my grandmother's notebook. She wrote down all her recipes and her cooking tips and some formulas for things like homemade cleaning supplies, homemade moisturizers, and home remedies for just about everything. She made a couple copies of that notebook. There's still a copy of it in her kitchen. And, I've got the other copy. Its nice to still be able to see her handwriting and all the little notes she scribbled in the margins on everything. I've spent many a rainy afternoon with that book."

She talked about spending time in the gym. "Well, you could join me, then, in my morning workouts. Except that I'm working out at about four in the morning. That might be a little too early to be interested in doing that. It would be nice, though, to have someone to go running with when good weather gets here. I like to do that at sunrise when I can get Suki and Dottie to finish fixing breakfast."

She smiled when Angus said it was a good idea before getting up to talk to the baker. She listened as they spoke Italian to each other. She tilted her head and wondered what the baker said to Angus that caused him to laugh with the espresso in his mouth. She watched their interaction between the two of them and how they seemed at ease with their conversation.

She listened to what Angus said and laughed as well. "Well you might be a little crazy." She said pretending to think on that thought and looked at him with a grin. She finished her espresso and walked up next to him, she wrapped her arms around his waist softly.

"Okay, I'll ask her for the recipe." She said with a smile. "Well if we come close to it, that would be awesome. I'm sure the kids will love it and it's perfect for this weather. I'd love to see them, I bet she had a lot of amazing recipes. Maybe we can use some of her recipes sometimes." She said with a smile. "Well when we get back home you can show me her recipes." She kissed his cheek softly.

"Okay, I can get up at four am to work out with you in the gym. It will help me get into a routine of working out that early. Sounds nice to go running here when the weather turns good, I'd like that. I would probably bring a camera so that I could take pictures of places that look really well at sunrise." She said with a smile.

He kissed her slowly. "I'd like that," he said. What the hell were they dawdling in a bakery for anyway? He nuzzled her cheek and said softly in her ear. "I think we need to go get the car. I can think of better things to do than drinking coffee right about now."

He turned to escort her out of the bakery and the baker called him back.

"Suono!"

"Si?" Angus turned and looked at him. The baker held up the box of pastries they'd ordered. "Oh," Angus said, remembering himself. The baker laughed, amused by the newlyweds. He went to reach in his pocket for some cash. The baker came around the corner and simply put the box in his hands.

"Arrivederci," he said in a fatherly way, patting Angus's cheek, gifting the pastries to him.

"Grazzi," Angus smiled. He looked at Bella. "Forgot 'em already," he said. "Now we can go get the car, I think." He reached into his pocket for his keyring. The portkey to the Donohue estate was, honestly, one of the keys on his keyring. Since this was a wizarding section of town, he felt no need to hide porting here. "Shall we?" he asked.

She kissed him back just as slowly. She felt like time was moving too slowly as they stood in the bakery, she wanted to be alone with him. When he nuzzled her cheek she smiled softly, hearing his words made her grin. "There are better things we could be doing instead of drinking coffee. I agree that we need to go get the car." She whispered in his ear.

She looked back when the baker called out to Angus.

She laughed when the baker held up the box of pastries that they were about to leave behind. She waited by the door for Angus while he went and got the pastries from the baker. She saw the baker just hand Angus the box and smiled knowing that he was gifting it to them.

She laughed at Angus' words with a smile, she lowered her voice. "I think it's because you had something else on your mind." She gave him a grin. "Before we leave do you have the duffel bag?" She asked making sure they had everything before they left the bakery. She watched him pull out his key ring knowing it was probably a portkey to the estate. "Yes, I'm ready." She said with a grin the butterflies moving in her stomach again. "Oh and I really like it when you speak Italian." She grinned at him her eyes dancing with mischief.