“It’s just personal.”

He nodded again, then looked back at her. “Isn’t all art personal?”

“Vero, I mean true. It’s a portrait of a friend of mine.” She paused. “It’s all I have left of him.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. He passed on?”

“No. He’s just gone.”

He took a step toward the painting. He gazed at it silently then spoke without turning back. “I think the real reason you won’t sell this painting is because it’s not really yours.”

“I beg your pardon?”

He turned back to her, pointing at the picture. “It belongs to him. You gave it to him.”

For a moment she was dumbstruck. “How did you know that?”

His smile widened and he turned and faced her head on. “Because, Eliana, he told me. He’s my brother.”

“Your brother . . .”

“Ross is my brother.”

“Where is he?”

“Well, he said he couldn’t come to you on account of a promise you made him make. The truth is I think he was just plain chicken—so he sent me to get you. But I guess he changed his mind.” He looked up over her shoulder.

Eliana spun around. Ross stood behind her in the doorway. He looked at her, his face a mixture of anticipation and joy. “Ciao, bella.”

“Ross!” She ran to him and threw her arms around him. They kissed. After a few minutes she pulled back to look at his face as tears streamed down her cheeks. “But you said there was nothing in America for you.”

“That was true when I said it,” he said, smiling. He gently pushed her hair back from her face. “I’m sorry it took me so long to find you. As soon as I found out you had left Italy, I came.”

He looked over at his brother, who was getting teary-eyed at the reunion. “Let me introduce you. Eliana, this is my—sentimental—big brother Stan.”

Eliana looked at him.

“Forgive me for having a little fun with you, but you’re all Ross has talked about for the last three months. I thought I deserved a little payback.”

“Thank you for looking out for Ross.”

“Actually it’s the other way around. But I’m glad you’re back together.”

She turned back to Ross; her voice softened. “But the promise . . .”

Ross nodded. “The promise.” He looked into Eliana’s eyes and said, “Five years ago a woman asked me to leave her and I did. I’ve regretted it every day since then. I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. Besides you can’t very well promise not to love somebody.”

“But you said love didn’t give second chances.”

He thought about it and smiled. “Yeah, but what do I know about love? You said to have faith just one more time. You were right.”