RIP ME: A Dark Romance
Page 63
Dante comes out onto the patio and takes the tray out of Clara’s hands, setting it on the table. He wraps his arms around his pretty wife and around their youngest child, Raya. He kisses both of his girls on the tops of their heads. I know he’s nervous too. The last time he saw his father he got shot in the leg.
I hear a car pull up, but it’s just Fabi and Rett. I can hear them bickering all the way from the front yard.
“We’re back here!” Kennedy hollers to them and A.J. imitates him loudly. It’s enough to break the tension, a chuckle running around the group. I lean down and scoop up my son from the ground and he rests his head on my shoulder. I still can’t get over how much our kids look like Alessia. Patrizzio genes are strong.
“How’s the eye, Squire?” I ask as I reach out a hand to help him stand up.
“I’ll live,” he says. He’s spent a lot of time with us over the last six years. He’s in and out of the U.K., sometimes spending time with his mother and sister back in the states, and sometimes disappearing to God knows where. He’s a mysterious guy, but he’s become a part of our family in a weird way. My mother and Alessia have helped him a lot. Always talking whenever he needs and helping him leave behind a lot of the shit that Greco put him through.
Fabi and Rett come around the corner of the house, also carrying trays of food. They’re well dressed. Rett’s hair is done up in some high knot, and she’s wearing an emerald green dress. Fabi is in a tux.
Before I can even ask what it’s all about, though, Alessia is stepping out onto the porch. She’s still the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. She’s been keeping her hair shorter these days, in a little chin length hair do that makes her eyes look huge and her cheek bones even sharper. She looks even more like a fertility goddess these days with her pregnant belly poking out. She’s pregnant again and we couldn’t be happier.
She gives me a little knowing smile as our daughter, Belle, toddles out behind her.
“Daddy, up,” Belle says, as soon as she sees that I’m holding A.J. I happily oblige, holding both of my children in my arms.
Alessia comes to stand beside me and quiet falls over the group. “Dad called from the road a few minutes ago,” Alessia breaks the silence. “He said he should be here in a half an hour. And Alistair and Annabelle should be here in just a minute.”
She’s nervous, I can hear it in her voice. “Wait, why are you guys all dressed up?” she asks Fabi and Rett.
Fabi grins at his girl and tucks her into his side. “We’re getting married today.”
“WHAT!” Dante and Alessia yell at the same time. And the tension that has been rolling around the group is completely broken.
“Yeah,” Fabi shrugs, “we figured we’d wait until Dad could be here.” Fabi and his Dad have come a long way over the last few years. He’d even visited him in prison a few times. Their relationship was mending. “But we didn’t want to wait much longer than that, so we figured, let’s just do it today.”
“What is it with my brothers and shot gun weddings?” Alessia asks the sky, her hands up in the air.
“At least you get to be at this one!” Fabi says.
“Who is performing the ceremony?” Clara asks, smoothing her daughter’s hair down and smiling at her brother in law.
“I am,” my Annabelle says as she and Alistair come around the side of the house, Dante and Clara’s other two children, Francisco and Amelia, scampering along behind them, whooping when they see their parents and all the food waiting for them. “I got ordained on the Interweb last week.”
“Internet, Ma,” I correct her, amazement in my voice. I didn’t even know she knew what the internet was.
“A wedding!” Alessia says, clasping her hands together and racing over to embrace Rett. “We’re going to be sisters! We have to pick some flowers for your hair.” She snaps her fingers. “The roses out front just bloomed. They’ll look perfect with your complexion.”
She starts to move across the patio but she freezes when we all hear another car pull up. A car door slams and soon after a doorbell rings from the front of the house.
Patrizzio is here.
Wordlessly, his three children move toward one another, banding together as a unit. They are knit together and strong. They’ve only become stronger in the last few years. They share a few quick hugs before Alessia moves back to me. She takes A.J. from me, settling him on her hip. Her other hand finds mine and we grip one another’s fingers. Our love zipping through our touch just the way it always does.
I look around at the people on the patio. My family. My heart. This is my life in bright technicolor, filled with more love than I ever thought possible.
“Well,” Dante says as he moves across the patio. “I suppose we should let him in.”
And we do.
THE END
~~~
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