Could you handle living forever, knowing you would watch your friends grow old and die?<br><br>These are questions newly minted Doctor Marco Sartori d’Argenzio must face when he and his partner Danilo Rosati celebrate Marco’s completed residency and Danilo’s most recent PhD with a vacation at Marco’s father’s home in the Duchy of Aragoni. There Marco learns about his family’s legacy: his father is more than two thousand years old, and he can expect to live just as long.<br><br>Marco inherits his uncle’s title amidst adventure and danger, but it breaks his heart to realize that he’ll live only to see the man he’s loved for a decade grow old and die. However, there is hope: Danilo is studying the unique DNA of Marco’s family in hops of discovering the secret -- because Danilo has no intention of leaving Marco alone for what could be forever.

The Path to Forever

“I have somebody I want you to meet, Grandmother,” Marco said.


“I don’t remember that door being there before.”


“It wasn’t. I had this suite expanded into the adjacent room recently. Follow me.”


She followed him into the room where Lucia was waiting with the babies.


“Grandmother,” he said, “these are, from left to right, Marcus, Bernardo, and Giovanni, and this young lady is their nanny. She’s also a distant cousin of mine. Lucia, this is la Signora Contessa, my grandmother.”


Not surprisingly, Lucia curtsied, and Marco’s grandmother nodded and smiled.


To say that la Contessawas overwhelmed would be an understatement. She looked each of the kids over carefully, dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief, and accepted Marco’s suggestion that we retire to the sitting room to talk. In the sitting room, Marco poured a glass of Cognac for each of us and we sat.


“I guess you have a few questions,” Marco said.


Chapter 93