Epilogue

“What? You can’t be serious Leo, it’s beyond old fashioned!”

“I know it is…you’re absolutely right. But it just has a special meaning to me, okay?”

“Whatever happened with you wanting me to be a strong, independent woman?”

“I still want that for you, this wouldn’t change any of that. It’s purely symbolic.”

“Do you know how many legal documents I’m going to have to change because of this?” Mia felt a headache just thinking about it.

“Paperwork is what you’re worried about? I’ll take care of it all myself, I promise. You won’t have to lift a finger.”

“It just feels so weird to suddenly change who you are from one day to the next. I already have enough identity issues as it is. I never know what bubble to fill out in those ridiculous ethnicity questionnaires.”

“That’s what makes you so special. But this is nothing like that. You’ll still be you. The incredible girl I fell in love with. You’ll just have an added part of me to you.”

“God Leo, when you put it like that…” Mia’s stance began to waver. She hated getting into debates with him. The man could argue his way out of a courtroom. Not to mention those pleading eyes that seemed to glamour her, they just made her melt inside.

“Please Mia, can’t you just indulge me in this one little thing? It’s all I ask. I’ll give you anything you wish in return.”

“I already have everything I want, isn’t that obvious by now? But if it means that much to you, I’ll do it.”

“Really? Mia, you have no idea how much this means to me.” He hugged her in a tight embrace.

“So it’s settled then.” Mia couldn’t help but smile at Leo’s joy with this. Who would have ever thought?

“Countess Mia Durant. It has a lovely ring to it, don’t you think?”

“Wait, what did you just say?” Mia asked perplexed. Had she heard right?

“Mia Durant. It sounds wonderful,” Leo said proudly.

“No, before that. What did you say before that?”

“Countess? You’ll become a Countess since you’re marrying a Count, of course.”

“You’re a…Count? Since when?” Mia couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Since always. Are you messing with me right now? You’re really meaning to tell me you didn’t know?”

“I had no idea. I don’t know…maybe if you had mentioned it to me that would have helped a little,” Mia pointed out sarcastically.

“I guess I just assumed you knew. It’s not something I like to bring up in everyday conversation. People have always known that about me and even if they don’t, they find out soon enough.”

“I’m telling you I didn’t know. No one ever mentioned it to me either.”

“So you didn’t Google me when we first met?”

“No…why would I do that? If anything I only Google famous people.”

“Well I hate to break it to you, but I am slightly famous.”

“Well if I had known that back then, then maybe I would have Googled you. I still can’t believe this. How famous are you?”

Leo shrugged and motioned his eyes towards the laptop sitting on the coffee table. “See for yourself.”

“Leo, this is crazy.” But curiosity won over and she opened the laptop and typed his name into the Firefox browser she had pulled up. Sure enough, dozens of articles popped up with his name, including several images to go with it. She quickly scanned some of the contents before giving up and turning back to Leo.

“Am I being punk’d? Where’s Ashton?”

Leo laughed. “You’re not being punk’d, okay? All of this is as much news to me as it is to you.”

“No, I believe you. I just never thought…so is that some sort of rule now, you’re supposed to Google people when you meet them?”

“Of course. I Googled you.”

“Trust me, I’m not that important. There’s nothing there.”

“Oh, I would have to disagree with that,” Leo said with a grin. “There’s this incredibly delicious video of you on YouTube. Some project you did on Coca-Cola?”

“You saw that? Oh my God, that has to be the most embarrassing video on the planet! How is that up there?”

“For someone who’s into social media, you’re beginning to sound like a bit of an amateur. No offense, sweetness. But as for the video, I have to say I enjoyed every second of it. I’ve watched it several times actually and each time you look even more adorable.”

“Stop watching it!” Mia cried.

“You know, now that I think about it, this actually makes a lot of sense. You were the only person that ever treated me like a normal human being. You never seemed to care about the other stuff.”

“I don’t know…maybe something about true love? Does that ring a bell?”

“You would be surprised at the amount of people who’ve used me in the past because of who I am. It makes it really hard to trust people after a while. If I had known all these years all I needed was a girl who wouldn’t Google me, life would have been a lot easier.”

“Great. So now I’m going to be known as the girl who didn’t Google?” Mia lifted up her arms in the air.

“Well…I think ‘The Girl Who Didn’t Google’ fits in quite nicely with the rest of the Stieg Larsson trilogy. You know it could be the lost series edition or something,” Leo teased.

“You’re loving this aren’t you?”

“Very much so.”

“Does this mean you’re going to make me wear a crazy hat at our wedding?” Mia couldn’t help but tease him back.

“I swear Mia, of all the things you could be asking me right now, this is your main concern?”

“Well are you?”

“No. No crazy hats! Okay? Anything else?”

“You know you’re going to have to tell my father about this.”

“Dr. Jaime? We actually spoke a few days ago. He seemed pretty excited. We even had a nice laugh about it.”

“A nice laugh? Leo you are incredible. Who are you?”

“I’m Count Leonardo Durant. Nice to meet you. And you, my beautiful bride, are soon to be my wife, Countess Mia Durant. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you. So start getting used to it.”

Leo leaned in to give her a passionate kiss. There was so much want and need behind it. Memories of the past year mixed with those that would soon become. When they separated, she looked intently into those fascinating dark blue eyes she would never get enough of.

“Oh, and by the way, we’re heading back to the motherland. I suggest you start packing your bags soon. London is calling.”

~FIN~