by Penelope Sky
I knew this was hard for my father, and he was doing such a good job handling it. “I know he does.” I gave him a slight smile, feeling the emotion bubble up inside my chest. “He’ll be a good husband. He’ll be a good father. And he’ll be a good son to you.”
“He already is. We’ve come a long way. When I look back on the past, it’s hard to believe that stuff ever happened.”
“Me too.” I’d been through so much heartbreak, but it’d all been worth it to end up here.
My father’s eyes darted to the window as someone walked inside. “Looks like we’re about to find out what Griffin did with his personal day.”
I turned around and saw Griffin enter my gallery, his thick arms stretching the gray color of his t-shirt. His nice arms were covered with black ink, and with his short hair and intense stare, he looked like the most terrifying man on the planet.
I guess I had a thing for scary men.
He looked at me, those bright blue eyes the only soft feature about him. As if my father wasn’t standing right there, he turned his possessive gaze on me, glancing at my ring to make sure I was wearing it. “Baby.” He bent his neck and gave me a short kiss on the mouth, but judging by the way he gripped my waist so tightly, he had to restrain himself from kissing me as hard as he really wanted.
“Griffin. Care to give me an explanation of where you’ve been all day?”
He cocked an eyebrow, shooting me a flash of annoyance. “If I asked you that same question, I’d get slapped.”
But you love getting slapped. “What happened to your hand?” I noticed the white gauze wrapped around the ring finger on his left hand. There wasn’t a sign of blood, but it seemed like he had a bad injury.
Griffin didn’t glance at it. “If I’m not working today and you aren’t either, what does that mean?” He turned to my father and ignored my question.
Father shrugged. “Cane is busting his ass—for once.”
Griffin gave a slight smile. “Good.”
I looked at his hand again. “What happened?”
He pulled his hand to his chest and carefully pulled the gauze off his finger. He tossed it into the garbage can by my desk and held up his left hand, showing the black ink that wrapped around his finger and formed a thick wedding band. It contrasted against his fair skin, being just as obvious as the diamonds I wore.
It took me a second to process what I was looking at. “You want a tattoo as a ring…”
“We both know I’m not a jewelry kind of guy.” Griffin lowered his hand. “I don’t even wear a watch.”
“But we aren’t married yet,” I said with a chuckle. “You’re supposed to do that after we get married.”
“After?” he asked, not caring about having this conversation in front of my father. “We are married. I asked you last week, and you said yes.”
“That’s not how it works.” His ignorance was adorable at times. “There’s no way you don’t know that. We’re supposed to have a wedding and—”
“That’s not us.” He silenced me with his ferocious look. “Our bond started long before I put that ring on your finger. Signing a piece of paper isn’t going to make that more true. This ink represents a lot more than matrimonial love. It represents my eternal commitment to you. So I can get this ink anytime I want, whether I’m your husband or not.”
My father’s eyes shifted back and forth as he looked at us, clearly uncomfortable with the intimate conversation we were having. It was something he shouldn’t stand there and witness. He cleared his throat then slowly drifted away. “I should get back to the winery…” He let himself out, his shoes tapping against the floor until he was gone.
Bones never took his eyes off me. His chest rose and fell with his deep breaths, and he looked at me like he’d never been angrier with me.
“Griffin, I’m not angry that you got that tattoo. It’s sweet, actually.”
His breathing decreased slightly, along with his aggression.
“I just thought you did it prematurely. We may not have a wedding for a year…”
Now he was pissed off all over again. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“It takes time to plan a wedding, Griffin. My family knows a lot of people, so there will be a ton of guests.”
He looked like he could pick up my desk and throw it out the window. “I don’t want any guests at our wedding. I want it just to be us and a few people. There’s no goddamn way I’m waiting a year to marry you. Is this a joke?”
“Then what were you expecting?”
“Tomorrow.”
Both of my eyebrows rose up my forehead. “Tomorrow?”
“Or the day after. What about today?”
“Are you crazy?”
“No, baby. You’re the one who’s crazy. How could you possibly want to wait a year to be married to me?”
“It’s not that I want to wait,” I argued. “It’s just… It’s stupid.”
“Tell me.”
Like every other woman on the planet, I’d dreamed of how I wanted my wedding to be. “I’ve always wanted to wear a wedding dress. If we do it at the court, I can’t really do that. And I know my father wants to give me away. So…we need to have a wedding, Griffin.”
His eyes watched me for a long time. “We can still do that.”
“Then we need to wait.”
“You can get a wedding dress in a day or so.”
“But then it needs to be fitted—”
“What the hell is Conway for?” he snapped. “That’s what he does for a living.”
Sometimes I forgot my brother actually had talents besides being annoying.
“And we can have a small ceremony—just family. We’ll do it on Saturday.”
That was only a few days away, but when Bones described it that way, it actually sounded pretty perfect.
“You wanted to start a family right away?” he asked, the tension in his eyes slowly dying away now that he was getting his way.
“Yes…but I thought we would talk about that later.”
“Well, we need to be married first.”
I rolled my eyes. “Our relationship has never been conventional, so let’s not start now.”
“When I asked your father if I could marry you, I promised I would take care of you. So if you want to start a family, I want to do it the right way. I want to be your husband. I want to get you pregnant in our bed, our rings on our hands.”
It was one of the sweetest things I’d ever heard him say.
“And don’t expect me to wait a year for that to happen.”
“So…you really want to start a family with me?” I knew I wanted children. I’d known since I was a little girl. But when I mentioned it to Griffin, he didn’t seem interested at all.
“I thought I didn’t have a choice in the matter.”
“But I would hope that you would have changed your mind on your own…”
He looked down for a moment, considering his answer carefully before he gave it. “I love you more than anything else in the world, and the idea of something happening to you…is my worst nightmare. So the idea of having babies…having a daughter who looks like you…just scares me even more. The more people I love, the more I have to protect. The more I have to lose. That’s what scares me.” He grabbed my hand and surrounded it with both of his palms, like he was protecting my hand with his. “In that regard, I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.”
I brought his hand to my mouth and kissed his knuckles. “You already are ready, Griffin. You’re a protector. And you’ll always be the best protector I know.” I held his gaze as I kissed him before I moved into his chest.
He wrapped his powerful arms around me and rested his chin on my head. “Marry me on Saturday.”
Now I wanted to marry him that very moment. “Saturday.”
Twenty-Seven
Carter
I watched her sleep beside me, treasuring the final moments before Luca woke up and pounded on the door. Her hand rested o
n her chest, and her hair was all over the pillow. When she was asleep, she was even more beautiful.
A few minutes later, she finally woke up. She opened her eyes first, released a relaxed sigh, and then turned her gaze on me. She focused on my face for a moment before the smile crept onto her lips. “Morning.”
“Morning, sweetheart.” My hand went to her stomach then drifted to her hand. I placed my hand on hers, the weight of my palm bringing attention to hers.
Her hand moved underneath mine, and that’s when she flinched. She turned her gaze to her left hand and narrowed her gaze on the diamond ring sitting on her left ring finger. As if she couldn’t understand if this was a dream or not, she still didn’t react. Only when she brought her hand closer to her face did she understand. “Oh my god.” She jerked upright and gripped her hand with the other, examining the enormous rock I’d picked out for her. It was a beautiful ring, sleek and simple. When she took Luca to school yesterday, I’d slipped out and headed to Florence to pick it out. “It’s so beautiful…” She brushed her thumb over the diamond. “It’s perfect. Yes…a million times yes.”
I tried not to chuckle. “You already agreed to marry me.”
“I know, but now I want to marry you even more.” She cupped my cheeks and kissed me, the metal band touching the skin of my cheek. Her fingers moved into my hair, and she slowly positioned herself on my lap.
I rested my back against the headboard and pulled her closer to me, my body immediately anxious for hers. That ring looked perfect on her, and it would look perfect for the rest of our lives.
Just when the passion heated up even more, Luca came to the door and knocked. “Mom?”
She sighed into my mouth, frustrated.
“Mom?” Luca repeated.
“I love my son,” she whispered. “But I hate him right now.”
If I didn’t love Luca so much, I would probably be just as annoyed. But I found the interruption almost comical since it happened almost every single morning. Morning sex wasn’t common for us anymore. Only when Luca was asleep did we have our fun—but we always made the best of it. “You can make it up to me later.”
She cupped my cheek and kissed me again, her tits right against my chest. “And I will.”
Mia already talked to Luca and explained what was going on, that I would be her husband in a short amount of time. Luca never had a father figure in his life so it wasn’t clear how he would react to it, but he seemed fine with it.
But I decided to talk to him on my own.
I sat across from him at the kitchen table. He just finished his after-school snack, and his homework was spread out around him. Math was his worst subject, but since it was my best, I was able to help him.
Luca put down his pencil and looked at me, his brown eyes identical to his mother’s. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
“Your mother.”
“What about her?” he asked.
“I know she told you that she and I were getting married.”
Luca stared at me blankly, like that information didn’t mean anything to him. Maybe he didn’t care about any of this at all. After living in an orphanage, he was probably used to changing circumstances.
“I thought we could talk about that a little bit…just the two of us.”
“Okay…”
Normally, when I spoke to Luca, it was easy. But then again, we were talking about math homework, swimming, or dinosaurs. This kid was just eight years old. There was so much he didn’t understand. “Do you know anything about your dad?” Mia had told me she’d told him, but I wasn’t sure if he remembered.
He nodded. “He left when Mom was pregnant with me. She never saw him again.”
“And that was wrong of him. Thankfully, your mother didn’t need him in the first place. She’s strong and capable, and she loves you so much.” I only wished I’d been there to help her. I never would have turned my back on her. What kind of man did that?
“I know she does,” he whispered.
“I want you to know that’s never gonna happen with me. I’m never gonna disappear, Luca.”
He fidgeted with his pencil and avoided my gaze for a while. “You aren’t…?”
“Never.” It was wrong to make a promise like that to a child unless you were going to keep it. But I was definitely going to keep it. “I love your mother very much, and I will treat her right. And I also love you…” The words flew out of my mouth so easily. I’d become attached to this young boy so easily because his joy was infectious.
“I love you too, Carter.” He looked up at me again.
Instantly, my eyes began to water. I wondered if this was how my father felt about me, if his heart skipped a beat when I said things like that. “So…it’s okay if I marry your mom?”
“That means we would live here with you?” he asked. “Like…forever?”
“Yeah.”
“That sounds good to me. My mom seems happy here. She smiles a lot.”
I knew I wasn’t the reason for that. Luca didn’t understand that he was the source of all her joy. I made her happy to a certain extent, but Luca would always be everything to her. I would always come in second—which was fine with me. “Yeah, she does.”
“So, that means you’re my dad now?”
“Uh, if you want me to be. You can keep calling me Carter. But if you ever wanna call me Dad…you can.”
“Cool.” He picked up his pencil again. As if a serious conversation had never happened, he went back to his homework.
Talking to kids was a lot easier than talking to adults sometimes.
I stopped by my parents’ place in the evening. Now that I’d straightened things out with Mia, I was ready to tell my parents the news. My father already knew, but at least now he was getting the news delivered the way he wanted.
My mother opened the door, both happy and surprised to see me standing there. “Hey, son.” She hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. “Are Mia and Luca with you?”
“No. Just me.” I stepped inside and hugged my father, who was already smiling like he knew exactly why I was there.
“Everything alright?” Mom asked.
“Yeah. More than fine.” I placed my hands in my pockets before I looked my mom in the eye and told her about Mia. “I asked Mia to marry me. She said yes.” I couldn’t keep the grin off my face, couldn’t hide the thrill of happiness it gave me. She was so happy with the ring I gave her, happy with the life I offered her.
Father smiled. “Wow, that’s really great news. Congratulations, Carter.”
Mom took a second longer to react, but that was because her response was a million times bigger. “Oh my god, that’s so great!” She cupped her mouth with her palms and screamed into her hands before she jumped into my arms. “That makes me so happy, Carter. Mia is absolutely lovely, and so is her son.”
“Yes, they both are.”
Mom cupped my face and kissed my cheek before she stepped back. “It’s been such an exciting week for the Barsettis. We’re so lucky.”
I definitely felt like the luckiest man in the world. “Thanks for being so understanding about this. I know most parents wouldn’t be too thrilled about her past…but you guys raised me to be better than that.”
Mom smiled. “We raised you to be an incredible man…just like your father.” She moved into his side and fit under his arm as Father wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “We couldn’t be happier.”
“Since tomorrow is Vanessa’s wedding, I thought we would keep this to ourselves.” I didn’t want to spoil her day with my engagement, not that she would care about anything else besides Griffin.
“Carter, no one is gonna care,” Mom said. “We’re all family. If Mia and Luca are part of our family, then they need to be treated that way. Don’t make her hide her ring. That would be wrong.”
Since they thought it was okay, I decided I would be honest about it. “Looks like Carmen is the last one, then.”
“Oh, don’t worry ab
out her,” Mom said. “She can have any guy she wants. She’s just taking her time finding him.”
Father continued to wear his smile, but it faltered slightly. “Or, she could move back in here and just live with her parents forever…”
Mom hit him playfully. “Carmen is a grown woman. You need to get it over it, Cane.”
“Not possible,” Father said. “Look how long it took Crow.”
“And you better have learned from his mistakes.” Mom left his side and came back to me. “Why didn’t you bring her over here with Luca?”
“I wanted to talk to you alone first,” I said. “Give you some warning.”
“Warning?” she asked, bewildered. “This is the greatest thing ever to have happened to you, Carter. There’s nothing better than having a family. Money and ambition are important, but only for so long. Eventually, those things don’t matter…only the people you love. I’m excited to see Mia, my new daughter…and my new grandson.”
Conway and I shared a drink together in the study at his father’s home. Sapphire and Aunt Pearl were with Reid in the living room, and Crow was working on the yard outside preparing for the wedding tomorrow.
“Did you get the house?” Conway and I didn’t spend as much time together anymore, not since his life changed with a wife and kid. Now that I had Mia and Luca, I understood how much priorities shifted.
“We did.” He drank his scotch then licked his lips. “We’ll get the keys on Monday.”
“You must be eager to get out of here.”
He shook his head slightly. “Not really. It’s been nice spending time with my parents since I’ve been living in Milan for so long. Sapphire loves it. Honestly, she would want to live here forever if she could have her way.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised since Conway was such a solitary person.
“My mom has been doing a lot with Reid, and that’s really made it easier on both of us. Sapphire adores my parents. I can tell she sees them as parents…sees them as the family she never had. That’s made me more patient about living here.”