Epilogue

Author's Note: Wow, the epilogue. I can't believe I've finished the story. I hope you guys like this last little bit. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! The Tale of Peter Rabbit is (c) Beatrix Potter.

Six months passed, Dafne and Basta had moved into the house she rented from Signor Orazio's son. Fortunately he had not found another tenant during Dafne's absence, and the house had remained the way Dafne left it, apart from being occasionally cleaned. Signor Orazio had insisted upon it. He had never given up hope that Dafne would return to occupy it again. The first thing Basta did, after she finished giving him a tour, was to find a hammer and nail the horseshoe to the door. Dafne came to think that maybe it was lucky. The following months were full of good fortune.

Basta got his first legitimate job, at a security firm called Soarra Security. It helped that they had doctored a resume stating he had been working at another company, Capricorn Security, for many years. Pietro pretended to the boss of this company and gave Basta a sterling reference over the phone. Basta enjoyed the work though he said some of his co-workers were as idiotic as the fire-raisers. Needless to say he didn't make friends with any of them. But that didn't bother him. He was there to do a good job, not joke around. This mentality paid off. He always did well in monthly performance evaluations. Something he was rather proud of.

His salary wasn't bad either. After three months of working he proposed with a diamond ring. Dafne was a little surprised. But she supposed Basta came from a world where people got married straight away instead of dating. And she knew in her heart that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. So her answer was a happy yes. Later in the year they would get married at the vineyard owned by Nico's father. Pietro had insisted upon it. Dafne hadn't needed much convincing. They had met Pietro there to arrange Basta's documents and she knew it was a pretty spot. Also Pietro had talked his uncle into giving them a discount price.

He visited them every so often, much to Basta's annoyance. Pietro still called him Sweet Pea. Their conversations weren't conversations as much as they were verbal sparring matches. Dafne secretly thought Basta enjoyed the opportunity to throw insults at someone. He just didn't enjoy Pietro sending insults back. Dafne left them to it, chatting with Nico or fussing over Pietro's infant son, Paolo. He always brought those two along. Sometimes Marietta and Giosetta came to visit as well. Like Dafne, Giosetta was engaged. Marietta wasn't but she didn't feel left out. She joked that finally convincing Nero to shave off his beard was as good as a marriage proposal. She and Giosetta both worked at the same hairdresser's. However Marietta was only the receptionist. Nero had been right to suspect hairdressing wasn't her calling. Carlo had mistakenly offered his hair for her to practice on. He had almost lost an ear. So Marietta stuck to taking bookings.

Dafne had new career too, working in a second-hand bookshop. Signor Orazio knew the owners, an elderly couple wanting to see the world in their retirement. Orazio had recommended Dafne to run the store for them. It was the ideal job for her because she loved books. Signor Orazio told her she couldn't expect to be his maid for the rest of her life. He routinely popped by the store to see her. Dafne was grateful. She would miss him too much if he didn't. She and Basta called by his house on weekends too. Signor Orazio was one of the few people Basta got along with. Probably because he treated Basta with the warmth of a father. Basta was happy to play the role of doting son. He was forever offering to do odd jobs around his house, stuff he didn't think Orazio should be doing because he was delicate in his old age.

Apart from Signor Orazio, Dafne's clientele at the bookstore were a mix of locals and tourists. She tended to prefer the tourists because locals still slipped her odd looks. She was the girl who had gone missing for over a month. Dafne hadn't wanted to talk publicly about her time as a slave in an obscure village. There was no one left alive that she wanted brought to justice. She was content to move on with her life. So she told the local reporter and others who stopped her on the street the same fictional story. That she had simply gone on holidays, something that had slipped Signor Orazio's mind when reporting her missing. The break-in that occurred on the same day was pure coincidence. Signor Orazio played along with her story. He didn't mind people thinking he was forgetful in old age.

Being a small village, locals were naturally curious about Basta as well. Dafne explained she had met Battista Fortino (the name on his documents, he had picked the surname for its auspicious connotations), or Basta for short, during her trip away. They'd had something of a whirlwind romance. He had moved to the village because he couldn't stand to be apart from her. When queried about her bandaged hands, Dafne attributed the burns to a campfire accident. The bandages were gone now, the burns having healed, leaving pale scars on her palms. They didn't bother her, or Basta who kissed her hands frequently.

As for Silvio and Netta, they still lived with Signor Orazio. Dafne's house was only big enough for Basta and herself. And it was nice for them to have their own privacy. Signor Orazio liked having the teenagers around anyway. He was fond of them and the house was less lonely with them in it. He had started teaching Silvio to read before Dafne arrived. Netta too, though she needed less help, having attended school in the past. The plan was for her to re-enter school the following year with Silvio. Signor Orazio hired a tutor to teach them every subject bar literature. The old man wanted to teach this subject himself.

Silvio and Netta came to the bookstore on some afternoons to help out. There wasn't much for them to do, so they chatted to Dafne, or found nooks where they thought no one could see them making out. They were boyfriend and girlfriend now, quite infatuated and totally inseparable. Dafne didn't mind them kissing until one of her regulars, an elderly sourpuss of a woman, complained. Dafne decided to find another activity to keep them occupied. Both could read by now so she arranged for them to read to children. They took turns and today it was Silvio's. He was reading The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter while Netta sat on the floor with the children, watching him an adoring look on her face.

Silvio had blossomed into fluent and confident reader thanks to Signor Orazio. He also had a rather lovely reading voice. So much so that Dafne always found herself getting caught up in whatever story he was reading.

"Mr. McGregor came up with a sieve, which he intended to pop upon the top of Peter; but Peter wriggled out just in time, leaving his jacket behind him..."

After the story, the children scattered and the lovebirds approached Dafne, clasping hands.

"Is it okay if we go for a walk?" Silvio asked.

"Sure."

Dafne smiled. She knew they just wanted to go somewhere to kiss. They had been present when Signora Barbero had given Dafne an earful about them. Since then they had refrained from kissing inside the store.

"We'll be back soon!"

The pair raced to door and vanished. There were one or two customers still browsing but it wasn't long before they left and Dafne reversed the sign on the door to CLOSED. She didn't lock it of course, so Silvio and Netta could get back in. And Basta. He would show up soon. He always picked her up from work. Dafne fiddled with her engagement ring, smiling in anticipation. Then something caught her eye, a small blue something lying on the floor. She bent to pick it up, almost dropping it in surprise when she saw what it was.

A tiny blue jacket with brass buttons.

"No," she whispered. It couldn't be. It couldn't be Peter Rabbit's jacket.

But it certainly looked like it.

And that meant...

"Hey little mouse," Basta's greeting made her jump.

Dafne recovered quickly to smile at him.

"Hello bello," she said, causing him to grin, "How was your day?" she might have mentioned the blue jacket, but these words came out of her mouth automatically. It was the first thing she always asked him.

"Well..." Basta launched into a detailed account of his day. He always did this instead of giving her a monosyllabic answer. Not that she minded. She liked he had a career he could talk to her about.

"So good day," she summarised when he was finished.

"Yes," he smiled, "How was yours?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, until I found this," she showed him the jacket.

He squinted at it,

"What's that?"

"Peter Rabbit's jacket."

"Who?"

"I have a feeling Silvio might be a Silvertongue."

Dafne explained the book Silvio had been reading and how she discovered the jacket afterwards. Basta didn't find the idea at all preposterous. There was no other explanation for how the jacket had gotten there.

"All this time we had another Silvertongue in the village and didn't know it," he said, shaking his head.

Dafne shrugged at the irony.

"Well he didn't know how to read back then," she sighed, "I'll have to tell Silvio he can't read to the children anymore. We don't want one of them disappearing."

"Or you," Basta said, "I don't want you vanishing into some other story."

He grabbed hold over her almost protectively. Dafne laughed softly, playing with the silver cornicello hanging around his neck. She had brought it for him as an alternative to that horrible rabbit's foot.

"No. I quite like the story I'm in now," she agreed.

"Me too," Basta said, sealing his mouth to hers in a very passionate kiss.

The End

What better way to end than on a kiss. And a bombshell (which I hope you guys liked). Yeah Silvio is a Silvertongue. I think it's the ultimate irony that Capricorn could have had a Silvertongue if he hadn't kept his men illiterate. Suck on that Cappy!

I can't believe this story is over. I'm sad yet exhilarated at the same time. I always might do a sequel (that's why I only set the epilogue 6 months down the track) but for now this is the end. The happy ending.

Thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing the story! I wouldn't have stuck with it without your support. I really can't express how grateful I am :)

Also I have to credit Ziliverina with helping me come up with an appropriate job for Basta. Thank you :)

And I have to credit Skyridge. Pietro wouldn't call Basta pet names without her demanding it. Thanks sissy :)

Some notes:

Bello means handsome, cuz Basta is :)

A cornicello is an Italian good luck charm. Much more tasteful than a rabbit's foot XD

Okay guys, this is goodbye from Chari. For now. Much love.