“I didn’t think you’d ever want to leave your house,” Nate says to Mark. “You love that place.”
“Oh, we’re not selling it,” Mark insists. “I worked my ass off on that house. We’ll rent it out for now. We’ve just outgrown it. Who knew that two kids and a dog took up so much space?”
“It’s not the kids,” Isaac says with a laugh. “It’s all of their crap.”
“True story,” Mark replies with a nod. “Isaac had drawn these plans years ago, and put them away. I loved them, and showed them to Mer, and she gave me the thumbs up to build it.”
“Congratulations,” I say as the servers come around the table, setting chocolate cheesecake in front of all of us.
“Oh, look!” Jules says with excitement. “My favorite.”
“Yes, I’m sure they did that just for you,” Will says sarcastically.
“Whether they did or didn’t, I don’t care,” Jules says, taking a big bite. “As long as I get two pieces.”
“I think Blake made an extra one for you to take home,” Alecia says with a wink.
“Hey,” Will protests. “What about me?”
“You’ve eaten enough for six people already,” Meg says with a sigh. “You’re not even the pregnant woman. That would be me.”
“I’ll eat for all three of us,” Will says with a wink.
“Oh crap, I have to go to the restroom,” Meredith says. “Alecia, will you please hold Hudson?”
“Of course.”
Mer passes the baby to my wife and hurries inside. Alecia is a natural with babies. She hadn’t been around them much until she came into our fold, and she slipped right into an easy rhythm with all of the nieces and nephews, holding and rocking them.
“He’s so sweet,” she says and kisses his head, then looks up at me. “Isn’t he tiny?”
“He looks breakable,” I agree, and tuck my finger under his hand, grinning when he grabs on with more strength than I thought he could. “But he’s a strong little thing.”
Alecia smiles, but there’s something in her eyes tonight that I can’t put my finger on. She seems distracted, and quieter than usual.
I’ll get to the bottom of it later this evening, when we’re alone and I can finally give her the surprise I’ve had up my sleeve for months.
“You’re such a little angel,” she whispers to the infant, making me smile.
Losing our baby several months ago was gut wrenching for both of us. I know that Alecia will be an amazing mother, and I can’t wait to do this with her. To be parents together.
“So what’s next, Dom?” Luke asks. “More concerts? Special events?”
“All of those things,” I reply with a nod. “I’m having a new amphitheater built on the other side of the property, where it meets the mountain.”
“That will be gorgeous,” Jules says. “How many will it be able to seat?”
“Five thousand,” I reply and offer her my slice of cheesecake.
“You’re my favorite brother,” she says with a sweet smile and takes a bite of the dessert. “That’s going to rock. You should get Nash to open.”
“We can only do it if it’s next year,” Leo says from across the table. “I promised Sam that I won’t work this year.”
“You could do that,” she says, nudging his arm. “It’s family.”
Leo grins at her. “If you say so, Sunshine.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I reply, tapping my finger on my lips as I think it over. “It would sell out, that’s for sure.”
“Think about it. When do you think you’ll be ready to open?”
“The timing works well too,” I reply. “I won’t be ready until next spring.”
Leo lifts an eyebrow. “Well, then I’m definitely in. Keep me posted, and we’ll work it out.”
“Thank you.”
Leo raises his glass in cheers and we take a sip. Yes, my family is constantly surprising me. The lengths they’ll go to to help each other moves me. I’d known love and closeness before I found them, but it’s no less surprising.
The rest of the evening is full of more laughter, children yawning and playing, and Brynn and Caleb’s twins with their noses stuck to their phones.
“We should get this little one home,” Meredith says, taking a now sleeping Hudson from Alecia. “Thanks for putting him to sleep for me.”
“He’s just the sweetest thing. It wasn’t a problem at all,” Alecia replies.
And so begins the mass exodus of the family, making their rounds of saying goodbye and beginning their hour-long journeys home all over Seattle.
“Don’t worry,” Alecia says to Lia as we walk them out. “It’s going to be awesome. I’ll come with you dress shopping. We’ll take photos for your Instagram, too. You could run a fun contest, asking fans to guess which dress you choose.”
“Oh, that’s a great idea,” Lia says and hugs Alecia close. “Thank you. Really. I know you’re not really doing weddings anymore, but Jules said you’re the best, and I’m grateful that you said yes.”
“It’s fun,” Alecia says with a wistful smile. “I kind of miss the weddings, and you’re giving me a fix. So thank you for asking. Now, don’t worry about a thing, and I’ll see you in a few days.”
Once we’ve waved everyone off, we both breathe a long sigh of relief.
“I love them,” she begins.
“But they’re a lot of work,” I finish for her, making her laugh and nod as I take her hand and lead her back inside.
“They really are. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“I’m glad. I’m also incredibly thankful that I have you alone.”
She grins, giving me the side-eye. “Is that so?”
“It’s quite so,” I confirm. “I have something to discuss with you.”
She frowns now and looks nervous so I pull her into my arms and hug her close, enjoying the way her body melts against mine.
“What is it?” I whisper in her ear.
“I don’t know, I just have a feeling that you’re about to drop something on me and I’m nervous.”
“Well, I am.” I lead her into my office, the excitement building up inside me. I’ve been waiting for a long time for this. “Sit.”
“I can’t sit when I’m nervous.”
“Please, amore, sit.”
She does as I ask and I nod in satisfaction.
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
“Just tell me that you want a divorce,” she blurts out and I stop cold, staring at her as if, well, as if she just said that.
“Excuse me?”
“I heard you,” she says, her eyes welling with tears. “I heard you on the phone, and you said you hadn’t told me something, and your voice was hard like it gets when you’re angry or super focused on something. Just tell me that you’ve met someone else who can give you babies and you’re moving on because I just can’t take this anymore.”
She covers her mouth and lets the tears fall from her eyes, watching me with anguish, and all I can do is fall to my knees before her, pull her hands from her mouth, and hold them firmly in mine.
“Number one, you’re invited into my office at any time, day or night, and you can listen in on any conversation I have because I don’t have any secrets from you. So you don’t have to eavesdrop. You clearly didn’t hear the whole call.
“Second, if you ever say something like that again, I’ll take you over my knee and spank you silly. Divorce and someone else aren’t part of my vocabulary. My God, amore, didn’t you hear my speech tonight?”
“I did, I just—”
“Stop talking. You are everything in this world that I’ll ever need. Just you. And if we’re blessed with children, well, that will be amazing and I’ll be grateful. But if we aren’t, we’ll be okay then, too. Do you understand me?”
She nods and wipes her cheek on her sleeve.
“I sounded frustrated on the phone because I was very frustrated. Now, if you’ll wait right here for t
hirty damn seconds, I’ll explain everything.”
“Okay,” she whispers.
“Alecia, don’t ever do anything like that again. You know better than that.”
She nods and I kiss her lips, then hurry from my office to the spare room where I always hide the gifts I buy her. I have to make a stop at the kitchen where Blake’s waiting, unbeknownst to Alecia, with the other part of her present, and I hurry back to my wife.
She’s not crying anymore, but her cheeks are stained from the tears.
It always guts me when she cries.
Her eyes are on the two boxes in my hands, both wrapped with silver bows.
Her jaw drops.
“What’s this? It’s not my birthday, or our anniversary.”
“You did a lot for me over the past few weeks, and we’ve had a rough year thus far.”
“You’re not kidding about that.”
“So I decided to do something to cheer us both up.”
The bigger of the two boxes starts to wiggle, and a little whimper comes from inside.
“Oh my God,” she says, reaching for it. “What’s in here?”
“I guess you should open this one first.”
She opens the lid and gasps as she pulls out a tiny white, fuzzy puppy that immediately licks her face, his tail wagging like crazy.
“Oh, look at you,” she says, crying all over again. “You’re so precious. Yes, you are. You’re so precious. What’s her name?”
“His name will be up to you,” I reply. “He’s a rescue, so we don’t know exactly what kind of pup he is. The vet has some ideas, but we’ll have to see as he grows up.”
“It doesn’t matter,” my sweet wife says, kissing the puppy’s face. “He’s perfect.”
“He is pretty cute,” I agree, laughing as he spins a circle in Alecia’s lap and falls asleep. “That was fast.”
“He’s a baby,” she says, as if that explains everything. “What’s in the other box?”
“Open it.”
She pulls at the ribbon and rips through the paper.
“Pictures?”
She frowns up at me, and I nod. “Keep going.”
“And keys.”
She blinks, looking through the photos. “Wait, isn’t this that place we stayed at in Hawaii?”
“It is.”
“And I said that I loved it so much there that I could live there?”
I nod. I love watching her face as she figures out a riddle.
“What did you do?”
“I bought it for you,” I say simply. “I’ve been working on it for months. That’s the conversation that you walked in on. I closed on it today. Now you have a place at the beach where we can escape and relax.”
“I don’t believe it,” she whispers. “My brain was coming up with the most absurd scenarios, and I laughed most of them off, but then I walked up on you and Matt talking, and you acted like I wasn’t welcome, and it just made it so much worse.”
“I was telling him about the house in Hawaii, and he was asking me where he should take Nic in Italy because he’d like to go there for the holidays before they adopt their newborn. One final trip for just the two of them.”
“Oh.” She bites her lip and pets the sleeping puppy in her lap. “That’s so nice. I’m happy for them.”
“I am, too.”
She swallows hard. “I’m sorry that I jumped to conclusions.”
“You need to always remember that I have our best interests at heart. Both of them. I’m never going anywhere.”
“I know that,” she says and rolls her eyes. “Trust me, I do. I feel your love every single day. I don’t question it. I just overthink and it gets me in trouble.”
“Next time, just say, hey babe, what was that about?”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“It is.” I brush my knuckles down her cheek. “It’s truly that simple, amore. There’s no need to make it complicated.”
“You bought me a house in Hawaii.”
“I did.”
“When can we go?”
“Whenever you want.”
She cups my cheek in her hand and pulls me down for a long kiss.
“As long as we can take little Cabernet here, I’m ready to go tomorrow.”
“I like your choice of names.”
“I thought you might.”
Dinner Party Menu
Chicken Marsala with Homemade Pasta
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups flour
1/4 cup oil
1 cup button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup Marsala wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter
Place the chicken breasts 2 at a time in a large resealable bag. Pound with a meat mallet until 1/4 inch thick. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add 2 chicken breasts that have been dredged in flour to the skillet and fry for 5 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and repeat with remaining 2 chicken breasts. Place chicken breasts on a plate and keep warm.
Using the same skillet, reduce heat to low and add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Sauté for 4-5 minutes while lifting the drippings from the bottom of the skillet. Pour in the Marsala wine and let boil for about 30 seconds to cook off the alcohol. Add the chicken broth and simmer for 1 minute. Add the butter and simmer for 1-2 more minutes to allow the sauce to reduce. Place chicken on a bed of Homemade Pasta and pour sauce over the top.
Homemade Pasta
6 cups all-purpose flour
6 whole eggs
1 teaspoon salt (for boiling pasta)
Place the flour on a clean flat surface and make a well in the middle. In a bowl, beat the eggs, then pour into the well of flour. Slowly incorporate the flour into the eggs to begin forming the dough. Continue to knead until the dough comes together and is smooth. Divide dough into 2 portions and wrap with plastic wrap. Allow to rest for 1 hour. Roll out dough on a floured surface until very thin. You should almost be able to see through it. If you have a pasta machine, follow the directions for your desired pasta. If you don’t, simply use a pizza cutter and cut strips to the thickness you prefer. Allow to dry on a floured surface for about 5-10 minutes. In a pot of boiling salt water, add the pasta and boil for 2-3 minutes.
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Seafood Paella
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 box yellow rice
1 dozen uncooked jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 bag fresh mussels in shells, cleaned
1 bag fresh clams in shells, cleaned
1 box frozen sweet peas
1 bunch parsley
3 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sliced roasted red bell peppers
In a large paella pan or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook onion, garlic and rice with seasoning for 1 to 2 minutes or until onion is soft. Add shrimp, mussels, clams, peas, parsley, chicken broth and salt. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until liquid is absorbed, clams and mussels are open, shrimp is pink and rice is cooked. Garnish with roasted peppers.
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Beef Wellington with Mini Twice-Baked Potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
4 (4-5 ounce) beef tenderloin steaks, cut 1-inch thick
1/4 pound fresh mushrooms, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 (17.5-ounce) package frozen puff pastry dough, thawed
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 egg
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a skillet over medium heat, melt butter and sauté mushrooms, gar
lic, and thyme 6 to 8 minutes, or until mushrooms are tender. Remove from heat and set aside. Unfold puff pastry sheets and cut each in half crosswise. Spoon mushroom mixture onto center of each of the 4 pieces of puff pastry, distributing evenly. Season both sides of tenderloin steaks with salt and pepper and rub evenly with Dijon mustard. Place steaks over mushroom mixture. Bring corners of pastry up over steaks; using your fingers, pinch corners and edges together to seal completely. Place seam- side down on baking sheet.
Whisk together egg and 2 tablespoons of water to make egg wash. Brush evenly over each puff pastry and bake 20 to 25 minutes. Steaks will be medium rare.
Mini Twice-Baked Potatoes
15-20 red potatoes, rinsed and patted dry
1 cup (plus 1/2 cup) sharp cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup bacon bits
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup sour cream
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
Chopped parsley
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place potatoes in a large bowl and coat with olive oil and kosher salt. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Cut off the tips of both ends of the potatoes. Using a small spoon or melon baller, scoop out the center of each potato. Place the filling in a large bowl and mash with a fork until smooth. Add butter, sour cream, mayonnaise, 1 cup cheddar cheese, bacon bits, green onion, garlic powder, salt and pepper and stir until combined. Using a small spoon, stuff each of the potatoes with the filling and top with remaining cheddar cheese. Place potatoes on a cookie sheet in a 375-degree oven. Bake for 5 minutes and remove from oven. Garnish with parsley and serve.
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Fish Tacos with Citrus Slaw
Indulge With Me (With Me In Seattle Book 10) Page 9