She stood back a little. “Are you bloated?”
“You can say that.”
Her eyes met mine.
“I’m pregnant, George.” I groaned and almost hit the cement. Not to pass out, but out of sheer relief that I told someone. I’d been carrying around the weight of the news since that morning. I thought of telling Big, but like Angelo said, timing. The pregnancy wasn’t planned. With the stress of Big getting shot and worrying about Georgia before we left, I must have forgotten to take a pill or two… and there we were.
“Oh.” She sucked in some air. “No wonder you’re nervous. A baby out of wedlock!”
A beat passed between us before we both started laughing. She pulled me toward hard so hard, it felt like she was a rock holding me up. “What did I tell you?” she whispered, rocking me back and forth. “The girl who deserves everything good is getting everything good. You love those boys so fiercely, when I witnessed it and felt it, I decided I was going to loveyouso fiercely. You’re everything I ever wanted in a parent. You’re going to be a kick-ass mom, Leo. Don’t you worry about that.”
She knew me too well. I was worried about a variety of things, but that was top on my list. We pulled back when Angelo and Phoenix came back out, Rocco behind them. He stood back, eyeing the situation. I gave him a thumbs up as Georgia patted my face and fixed my hair and veil, and he nodded once, going back inside.
“Well, if there’s something that should motivate you to move, it should be how tight the dress is feeling around the waist.” She stepped back. “You can’t tell from this side. Your waist is cinched in good.”
“That’s the problem.”
Angelo and Phoenix looked relived that it seemed my dilemma had more to do with the dress than with my health—or my actual nerves.
It was a mix of it all.
Especially when anticipation reached a crescendo as we made it to the closed doors and my brothers each took an arm. When the music started to play softly, and a woman’s voice started to sing equally soft, the doors started to slowly open.
The woman’s voice sang in English. Rocco sang in Italian, his smooth baritonal tenor echoing in the church beautifully. She translated his parts.
Chills moved over my entire body as the people closest to us gasped as we made our entrance, and each step I took brought me closer and closer to Tullio Bigatti.
I was never a religious person, though I’d always believed a higher power existed. There were too many inexplainable instances in my life not to believe.
Even though my life was hard, and some hours I didn’t think I could stand another minute, small mercies would make their way to my door. Like Georgia showing up at my apartment with our favorite snacks and my favorite drink from the local coffee shop because I was a little short on money that month. Or Vinny giving me a break somehow at work. Or one of the girls telling me a lame dad joke that made me grin all night.
Or the man who came into my life unexpectedly, who was someone I thought I could never fall for because of the nature of his business, who waited for me at the end of the aisle, as proud as any man who waited for the woman he loved—huge, in his words.
The thought made me smile, and the entire church wavered with the tears ready to fall from my eyes. Big grinned at me as he took a step closer, ready to meet us, but suddenly, I wanted to slow my steps, absorb every second of the walk to him, because I might have three weddings, but I’d never have this moment again.
I’d blink and the scene would change.
I made sure to keep my eyes open and on Big as the aisle beneath my feet seemed to unfurl, as if fate was rolling out the red carpet for me. At the end of it, the home that was always meant for me.
Once we stopped in front of Big, each of my brothers kissed my cheek, then Big shook their hands before pulling them in for a hug. Instead of handing me over and taking their seats, Big invited them to stand on each side of us. I had to force down the emotion threatening to come out as a sob when Phoenix teared up.
Big held my hand even tighter, lifting it to his mouth as he said in a deep, reverential tone, “You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you.” Then he repeated it in Italian.
As we turned to face forward together, I took a deep, settling breath, straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin. And when it was time to repeat my vows, I did, not a quiver in my bones or voice.
I’d never felt safer—knowing our vows were guarded, tucked away in a place that no man could destroy.
As Big lifted my veil and set his hands on my face, gazing into my eyes, he sealed our forever with a kiss, and the entire church broke out in stunning applause.
* * *
The castle wasspectacular as the evening sun over the Ligurian Sea faded and a full moon rippled over its waters. Hundreds of candles gave the old place a romantic glow. It touched every hand-sewed bead on my reception gown and brought it to life.
As Big shook hands with Rocco and then hugged him, I ran my hand down the dress, over my stomach, but then I looked up, a memory hitting me like lightning. Kitty had wanted me to have this dress. She surprised me with it. She’d talked to the designer and paid for it herself as a gift.
Her eyes met mine and she blew me a kiss.
I sent her one back.
