“Jo, damn it, you have to listen to me,” Cash said as he pushed through the crowd, stopping to apologize to the woman whose hat he’d knocked off.
“No I don’t,” she said.
“I’m sorry!” He threw both hands high. “How many times do I have to say it? I’m an idiot. Like you said.”
“He is pretty convincing,” Mike said.
“Mike, you’re looking a little pale,” Jo whispered.
“I’m feeling a little—”
“Its’a the bambinos!” Nana shouted. Then, drawing up to her full four feet nine inches, she stretched up her arms toward heaven and yelled, “The bambinos! They come!”
“Anybody miss that?” Mike asked, cringing a little as people started turning to stare.
“I told you not to deliver at the graduation!” She smiled, patted Mike’s face, then jumped to her feet, demanding, “Where the hell’s Lucas?”
“He’s chasing the puppy,” Papa said, sitting down to take Mike’s hand in his.
“We’ll find him!” Grace shouted, then bailed off her chair and dived into the crowd, a white-haired tornado on a mission.
“Aunt Mike, are your babies coming now?” Emma asked, coming closer to stare at the hem of Mike’s dress, as if expecting to see little heads pop out to say howdy.
“Oh, dear God,” Mike moaned.
“Sorry, Mike,” Cash said, “but I’ve got to get this said. Jo, you have to listen.” He grabbed her, but she shook him off.
“I can’t listen to you now, Mike’s having her baby and we need to get her to the hospital.”
“Issa no need to worry,” Nana said, kneeling down in front of Mike. “I am here. I take care of the bambinos.”
Horrified, Mike stared at the wizened little woman already getting into position. “Nana, I love you, but no way! Oh God, where’s Lucas?” She grabbed her father’s hand and squeezed hard enough to break bones.
“He’s coming!” Sam said from her perch on one of the chairs. Then, to someone else, she snarled, “Mind your own business, haven’t you ever seen someone give birth?”
“Oh God, not giving birth,” Mike moaned. “I want a hospital. I want drugs.”
“It’s okay, Mike, we’ll get you there,” Jo promised, trying not to look at Cash, trying not to read too much into his being here. She’d almost fainted when he came up out of the crowd, insisting that he’d had to be a part of her big day.
“Getting a little serious here, people!” Mike groaned and tried to lever herself to her feet. No way. Wasn’t gonna happen. Not under her own power, anyway.
“No stand up, sit, sit, stay quieta,” Nana said, still looking ready to play doctor.
“Mike? Michaela?”
“Lucas, oh, thank God.” She waved a hand at her husband. “Get me to the hospital, will you?”
“Right. I’ll get the car.” Lucas stood up, turned in a fast circle, stared at Jo and shouted, “Where’s the car?”
“Relax, Rocket Man,” Mike laughed at her husband’s panic, but ended up whimpering.
“Oh, my God. Get a car,” the calm, logical, sensible scientist shouted. “Anybody’s car!”
“We need hot water,” Nana said.
“Nana, you’re not a doctor,” Jo reminded her.
“Emma baby, I found your puppy!” Jeff rushed into the family group, cradling a happy, thoroughly excited retriever.
“Missy!”
Cash watched them all, on the outside again, and he knew without a single doubt in his mind that he wanted to be inside. He wanted, needed, these crazy, warm, wonderful people in his life.
He wanted to be a part of the Marconi family circus. He wanted to be one of the lucky men who were loved by a Marconi woman. And he damn well wasn’t leaving until Jo heard him out.
“Jo, I was so wrong. I can’t believe how wrong I was. You were right,” he added, tossing that in, hoping she’d appreciate it. “I’ve been hiding all my life.”
She just stared at him.
But at least she was still looking at him.
“I’m tired of it. I want more. I need more,” Cash said, his voice throbbing with the ache inside. “I need you. I need you in my life. Because without you, Jose-fina, there is no life.”
She licked her lips, shot an uneasy glance at her family. Weakening? he wondered. God, he hoped so.
“You’re everything,” he said, letting all he felt pour from his gaze. “You’re more than I ever dreamed. More than I deserve.”
“Got that right,” Mike muttered, and Jo frowned at her.
“Give me a chance,” Cash said, taking one hesitant step toward her. “Let me prove to you how important you are to me. Give me a lifetime to prove it.”
She stared at him, then slowly shook her head, and Cash saw his future slipping away before his eyes.
“Did you bother to tell her that you’re in love with her?” Jeff asked, handing the puppy to his daughter.
“No,” Cash admitted with a choked laugh. “I didn’t.”
“Might be a good place to start,” Jeff said, moving to stand next to Cash.
“I do love you, Josefina,” Cash said, gaze locked on her again. “More than I’ve ever loved anything in my life.”
Lucas shifted a look from his wife to Cash and Jeff, then slowly stood up and aligned himself with the men. Looking at Jo, he said, “Give the guy a break. I know how scary it is to fall in love with a Marconi. Makes you say and do some pretty dumb things.”
“Hey,” Mike said, clearly offended.
Jack pushed through his sisters to stand in front of Cash. Facing Jo, he said, “He does too love you, Jo. And you should listen to him. ’Cause then you could marry him and we could all live in the big house.”
Jo scowled at them. The Marconi men banding together. Then Cash gave her a smile that warmed her through despite her hesitation. He was here, standing in the middle of Marconi central, asking her to let him in. Asking her to stay.
To let him stay.
The sunshine spread out over the interested crowd and dazzled her eyes until she was pretty sure Cash was highlighted by a golden light beaming directly at her.
“You’re all nuts,” Mike managed to say between panting breaths. “I’m in labor, here—remember?”
“You’ll be fine, honey.” Sam gave Mike’s hand a sympathetic pat, then walked over to stand next to her husband.
“Sam!” Shocked, Jo glared at her.
“Men are idiots, true,” Sam said, kissing Jeff’s cheek. “No offense, honey. But at least Cash is here, trying to say the right thing.”
Papa took Grace’s hand and led her over to stand with the others at Cash’s side.
“You, too, Papa?”
“It’s time, Josefina. Let go of the past. Grab your future.” He slapped one beefy hand against Cash’s back with enough force to send him staggering. “He loves you, Josefina. Don’t hold the hurt so tightly you can hold nothing else.”
Jo’s conviction wavered as her gaze slid from one member of her family to another until finally settling on Cash. His gaze locked with hers and she felt the power of his love surround her and lift her higher than she ever thought she could fly.
Behind her, Mike was panting, Nana had her rosary out, and Emma wanted to see the babies. But otherwise, her entire family had sided with Cash. She was standing alone, but staring into Cash’s eyes, she knew she would never have to stand alone again—if she could forgive him for doubting, and trust in him now.
“I love you so much, Josefina,” Cash whispered, heart in his eyes.
And suddenly, the answer was so clear. So wonderfully, miraculously clear.
Slowly, her mouth curved, wider, wider, until she was grinning like a loon.
“Fine!” She shouted it, laughing, then threw up her hands in surrender. Her royal-blue graduation gown slapped in the wind and she’d never felt better. “I love you! We’ll get married! Everybody happy now?”
Applause and shouts of approval rose up from the crowd, bu
t Cash had heard enough. Grinning like a crazy man, he ran at her, scooped her up and swung her in a tight circle, kissing her as if her lips meant life.
And maybe they did.
“Hey!” Mike’s shriek brought them all back to earth. Eyes wide, looking just a little panicked, she said, “I told you guys I was in labor. My water just broke. Now can we go to the hospital?”
In moments, the Marconi family, all of them, had Mike bundled into a car, and they formed a small but determined convoy on the Coast Road toward Chandler Community Hospital. Together, they waited in the pale green lobby that had seen both misery and joy over the years. Together, they waited for the news that all was well. That Mike and her children were safe.
And three hours later, when a tired Lucas staggered out to join them, a dazed grin on his face, the Marconi family welcomed Justine and Sylvia Gallagher into the world.
Epilogue
Three and a half months later . . .
Jo Marconi went to six o’clock mass on the morning of her wedding.
She sat in the back pew of St. Joseph’s church and let the familiar rituals wash over her in comforting waves. The sounds, the words, the smells, all took her back to a childhood that had led her here. To this one moment.
And as mass ended and the other early worshippers slipped from the quiet church, Jo kept her seat, waiting for the privacy she needed. Her gaze swept over the old church. She’d spent every Sunday of her childhood here. Her gaze shifted around the inside of the church. Gray stone walls, stained-glass windows allowing rainbows of sunlight to stream down on pews polished by years of devoted Catholics sliding across them. She’d made her first Communion here, her Confirmation, and today, she’d be married in front of that altar.
When she was alone in the quiet that somehow always seemed more profound in a church, she looked up at the crucifix behind the altar. A year ago, she’d come to shout at God. To tell Him she didn’t need Him anymore.
And now she was back.
To thank Him for not giving up on her.
She slid out of her pew and walked up the center aisle, her boot heels clicking noisily against the stone. A sense of peace rose up in her and she smiled as she knelt on the cold marble kneeler before a gleaming mahogany altar rail.
“I’m back,” she said, her voice echoing weirdly in the quiet. “And I missed You. I missed being here and I wanted You to know that I won’t be staying away again.”
Her hands curled over the cool slick wood in front of her as she stared up at the beautifully carved crucifix. “Before, I blamed You for everything that was going so wrong, but I guess You know that.” She dipped her head in apology, then said what she’d come to say.
“I finally figured it out. You’re not supposed to make everything right. Not Your job. That’s our job.” She took a breath, smiled, and released it again slowly as a whisper. “I’m going to be all right. I wanted You to know that, too. The family’s good. Happy. And so am I. At last.”
She pushed up from the kneeler, stepped back and genuflected, crossing herself in the age-old symbol of faith. Then she winked up at the man on the cross. “I’ll see You this afternoon.”
And as she left, still smiling, Monsignor Gable stepped out of the shadows. Lifting his gaze to heaven, he whispered, “Nice job.”
At three o’clock in the afternoon, the old church was crowded. Seemed as though everyone in Chandler had turned out for Josefina Marconi’s wedding.
The organ in the choir loft groaned and sighed and people shifted impatiently in their seats. The Donovan family took up one whole pew, with Trish shushing her five older brothers as if they were ten-year-olds.
Mama Candellano bounced Carla’s baby girl on her knee while hooking her free arm around her grandson Jonas’s shoulders. Carla and her husband, Jackson Wyatt, leaned into each other. Nick Candellano and his wife, Tasha, shared a secret smile over the coming baby no one knew about yet, while Nick cradled the child they’d already made together. Paul Candellano and his wife, Stevie, tried to shush their baby girl, but her wail bounced off the walls of the old church, picking up steam as it went. Beth and Tony Candellano tried to corral their kids, but they were determined to march up and down the polished pews, their shoes clip-clopping like quickened heartbeats.
In the front row, looking very self-satisfied, Jack grinned, as if he’d planned the wedding himself. Nana Coletti sat between Mike and Lucas, shifting her gaze from one great-granddaughter to the other, as if she couldn’t get enough of them. Sam and Jeff tried to assure Emma that her puppy would be fine waiting for her at home, but she wasn’t convinced. Sam rubbed one hand over her belly and worried.
Grace, newly married, her face still flush with freshly realized love, sat in the front pew, looking back, waiting for a glimpse of her new husband and stepdaughter. When Jo and Cash got back from their honeymoon, Papa and Grace would be leaving on their cruise to Europe. But today was for family.
And Jo stood in the back of the church where all of her life’s most important moments had happened and smiled at all of them. She had the life she’d always dreamed of. She had the love she’d secretly yearned for. She had more blessings in her life than anyone had a right to. And she was more grateful than she could say.
In just a few minutes, she’d have a new husband and a surrogate son. Jack would be living with her and Cash and neither of them would have it any other way.
Organ music swelled, filling the old church with soaring notes that felt like a blessing. Jo swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and tightened her grip on the ivory-ribbon-covered stems of her bouquet of blue and green hydrangeas.
She wore a sleeveless ivory gown, with a trail of pale crystal beads that edged the bodice and hem of the floor-length dress. Her veil billowed around her in a cloud of lace and tulle, held in place by a crystal tiara tucked into her hair, pulled up and away from her face. And for the first time in her life, she felt truly beautiful.
The ancient hymn being played slowly drifted into the “wedding march.” Papa stepped up beside her, lifted her veil and looked at her through eyes blurry with tears.
“You are a vision, Josefina,” he whispered, bending to give her a kiss. “I wish your mother were here to see you.”
Just for a minute, Jo’s eyes filled, too, but she blinked the tears back and smiled at the man who had been her first great love. “She is, Papa. She’s here. Can’t you feel her?”
His mouth worked and he cleared his throat before nodding gruffly. “Yes. I can. And she is as proud of you as I am.”
“I love you, Papa,” Jo said softly, reaching up to smooth his beard.
“And I you. Now, it’s time to be married. To move into your future.”
She nodded, took a step, then stopped. “You’re sure you’re okay with Jack’s coming to live with Cash and me?”
“It’s better. For him,” Papa said, threading her arm through his. “And for Grace and me. My new wife, she likes to take trips, and I like to spend time with my new wife.”
Jo inhaled sharply, nodded, then grinned despite a sudden flurry of nerves. “It’s a little scary. I’m about to be a wife.”
“Ah, but Cash is going to be a husband. And this is just as scary. Trust me on this, Josefina.”
“I do trust you, Papa.” Impulsively, she reached out and gave him a hard hug. “Thank you. For everything.”
The organist hit a note a little harder than the others and started up the “Wedding March” from the beginning again. Impatient.
Patting her hand, Papa set off down the aisle with her and Jo smiled into the faces of those she loved. The people of Chandler. The people who had been a part of her life, always. She saw friends, family, and then she looked to the head of the aisle and she saw only Cash.
Handsome in an impeccably cut tuxedo, he stood alone at the altar. They’d agreed to have no attendants, wanting the ceremony to be only about them. And as Papa let her go and Cash took her hand in his, then lifted it to kiss her knuckles, she knew it w
as the right choice.
“I love you, Josefina,” he whispered. “More than I ever thought possible.”
“I love you, Cash,” she said softly. “Forever.”
She felt so sure of him—of them—she wanted to sing with it. Instead, she bent her head and listened as Monsignor Gable blessed their union and made them one.
A half hour later, the organist played the recessional as the happy couple kissed each other thoroughly to the sound of applause filling the old church. As Jo and Cash left the altar, laughing while they headed for the reception already set up in the meadow, Sam leaned in close to Jeff.
“Okay, wedding’s over,” she said, muffling a groan. “Your son’s ready to be born. Let’s rock and roll.”
Turn My World Upside Down: Jo's Story Page 27