Conversations quieted and chairs scraped as people turned toward Tony, who stood with his glass raised.
“Friends, mi familia,” he began, “tonight we celebrate love. Real love. The kind that makes you better than you were before.” His eyes found Dom and Enzo across the crowded tables. “Enzo, when you first brought Dom home, I knew. Not because of how you lookedat him, but because of how you looked at yourself when he was around. Like you finally remembered who you were supposed to be.”
My throat tightened as Finn wrapped his fingers around mine.
“And Dominik,” Tony continued, “mijo brought you home. Not just to this family, but to yourself. And that is the greatest gift. So tonight, we celebrate not just their wedding, but the love that makes us all better. ¡Por el amor!”
“¡Amor!” the group echoed back, glasses clinking as people reached across tables.
Finn’s squeezed my hand and let go.
“My turn.” He took a deep breath, standing as someone passed him the microphone. The gathering settled again, faces turning toward him with expectant smiles.
“I’m not great at speeches,” he began, “but I know somethin’ about feeling lost and searchin’ for home.”
“For the longest time, I thought home was a place. A ranch in Wyoming, a carrier deck in the middle of the Pacific, whatever familiar thing I could anchor myself to.” He looked down at Dom and Enzo. “But watching these two, I realized home isn’t a place. It’s the person who sees exactly who you are and decides that’s exactly who they want to love.”
His gaze shifted to me for just a moment before he continued.
“Dom, Enzo, you found each other, but more than that, you found yourselves. That’s what real love does. It doesn’t ask you to be different. It just allows someone to see you completely as you are and say ‘yes, that one.’”
“So here’s to finding your home. Your person,” Finn raised his glass higher, “and here’s to the rest of us being lucky enough to witness what that looks like.”
The applause was warm and genuine, as Finn accepted hugs from our brothers before sitting back down.
He caught my stare and raised an eyebrow, taking another sip from his glass. “Don’t look so surprised, darlin’. I occasionally have deep thoughts.”
“Your turn, Maid of Honor,” Enzo called out, grinning at me from down the table.
I stood, my hand trembling as I picked up my glass. I turned to the expectant faces around me and threw out my carefully planned toast. Finn pressed his palm against my back.
“Steady,” he whispered just for me.
“Enzo,” I began, “when you became my brother, I thought my job was to protect and teach you. Turns out, you’ve been teaching me all along.”
Enzo’s eyes softened, his hand finding Dom’s on the table.
“You taught me that love isn’t something you have to earn or perform or perfect. It’s something you choose, every day, to give and receive freely. You chose Dom, and Dom chose you, but more than that, you’ve both chosen to build something incredible and real together.”
“And maybe that’s what real love is. When all of your intuition, your nervous system, your values, hopes and dreams align, and you know...” my voice caught, and I had to clear my throat softly before continuing. “You’ve found the person you want to do life with.”
I raised my glass. “To Dom and Enzo, who’ve shown us all what it looks like to find the one you want to do life with.”
The cheer that went up was deafening.
Dom and Enzo stood together, Enzo wiping away tears while Dom wrapped an arm around his waist.
“Thank you,” Dom looked around the patio, “for being our family. For loving us enough to let us love each other.”
Enzo took the microphone, his voice rough with emotion. “We are so blessed. To have families who celebrate us, who brought us together,” his eyes found mine, then Finn’s, “who taught us what it means to choose love every single day. Tomorrow we make it official, but tonight, surrounded by all of you, we’re already home.”
Another cheer filled the evening air, followed by laughter and celebration and love.
epilogue 2
About a year after my trajectory changed
Alex
