The streets were very busy and they had to negotiate their way through throngs of tourists. But finally they made it to their location.

Stunning was not an adequate word to describe it. Awe-inspiring was closer. Keira stood, entranced, staring silently at the gorgeous stone building. The fact that she was looking at the very balcony Shakespeare had been gazing upon when he’d written arguably his most famous and romantic scene was overwhelming.

Beneath the balcony Keira noticed many slips of colored paper attached to the wall. She wandered over and realized they were notes from tourists, from lovers. Like the Bridge of Gold in Florence, Juliet’s balcony had become a pilgrimage spot for people in love.

She saw a couple walk up beside her and pin their own note upon the wall. From this vantage point she could make out the words.

We have both loved and lost, but in our loss we found each other, and now our love is eternal.

“That’s beautiful,” Keira said aloud, unable to help herself. She’s was too caught up in the romance of the moment for self-censorship.

The couple smiled. “Thank you,” the woman said. “Our journey has been a long one, filled with many setbacks. But now we’re here, together.” She held his hand tightly as she spoke.

“It feels like reaching your final destination,” the man added, his gaze on his lover rather than Keira.

Final destination, Keira repeated in her mind. She’d thought the very same thing about Verona just that morning. It was the last stop on her tour, the finale. Possibly the end of her time with Cristiano.

Keira felt a surge of inspiration. She grabbed Cristiano’s hand and together they found the spot where Shakespeare was said to have written. She sat, too, feeling history all around her, inspired, overwhelmed, and began to write in her notebook.

In one huge flurry, Keira got all her thoughts and feelings down onto paper. Her anxieties about commitment, about falling in love too often, too hard and fast, about bruising too easily, and being irreparably damaged by too many lovers, all of it seemed to disappear in this most inspiring of places. Love, like life, Keira realized, was a journey. It was filled with pit stops and detours, some good, some bad, some painful, some wonderful. But when the final destination arrived, you would know it. There’d be nothing left to fear because it would be a moment of clarity. Sabrina and Francesco had built a family upon that truth, Pippa and Raffaele had found it young and were prepared to nurture it, and this couple beside her had found it eventually after what seemed like a tumultuous search.

With excitement, Keira felt the final words of her piece materialize in her mind, and she wrote them with a flourish.

Without starting the journey, how can one know when they’ve reached the final destination?

She put her pen down with finality. Cristiano looked at her, eyebrows raised.

“Are you done?” he asked.