I felt my cheeks heat. “Thank you, Mrs. Harrison. Next time I play a show, I’ll get you tickets.”
She patted my cheeks. “Such a nice young man.” She looked at Tony with narrowed eyes. “Make sure you take good care of him.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Tony said.
The drive to Tony’s apartment was its usual weekday traffic mess, especially with a cargo van and a large SUV. Tony had called ahead to have security hold a space in front of the building for us to unload, but we had a time limit. Once again, militaryefficiency came to our rescue. They unloaded the contents of the van and SUV onto the sidewalk and stood guard over my things while the vehicles were parked.
Tony and I went up ahead of them to prop open the apartment door. When we got to his apartment, Tony hesitated outside the door. “So I did a thing.”
I looked at him with a raised brow. “A thing? What kind of thing?”
He unlocked his door and opened it. “You’ll have to see for yourself.”
“Okay,” I replied, elongating the word. I entered the apartment, walking past the picture of Tony in his police uniform and into the living room. My breath caught, and I stopped short. There, sitting in the corner of the room, was a gleaming ebony studio upright piano. “Tony,” I whispered. I whirled around to face him, tears in my eyes. “You got me a piano.”
Unbelievably, he looked nervous. “Do you like it?”
“Like it?” I threw my arms around his neck. “I love it. I love you. You’re the most amazing person I know. Thank you.”
“I love you, Greg. I just want you to be happy. I want you to feel like this is your home.”
I kissed him tenderly, then rested my forehead against his. “Whenever I’m with you, I’m happy. Wherever you are is my home.”
EPILOGUE
TONY
Four Years Later
I stood outside the door to the courtroom, my nerves jangling. I took Greg’s hand in mine. “You ready?”
He gave me a nervous smile. “As I’ll ever be.”
I cupped his cheek and kissed him tenderly. “We’ve got this.”
“Ew, gross,” a little boy’s voice from behind me declared.
I turned a mock glare at eight-year-old Tyler, who sported a mischievous grin that contrasted with his somber black suit. “Is that so?”
His sister, five-year-old Paige, who was wearing a dark-blue dress covered in unicorns and rainbows, shoved his shoulder. “Don’t be mean, Tyler.”
“Grown-ups kissing is gross,” he declared.
“Is not!” Paige retorted, tears forming in her dark eyes. “Daddy, tell him it’s not!”
Greg knelt on the cold marble floor and took one of each of their hands in his. “Hey, you two, what’s going on?”
Tyler, who always tried so hard to be a little man, pressed his trembling lips together. “Daddy, is it true? Are you and Papa going to adopt us?”
Okay, it seemed I was going to have to get involved in this conversation. Kneeling on a hard stone floor was not something my forty-four-year-old body appreciated, but needs must.
“Yes, we are,” I assured him. “We’re just waiting for Uncle Tino to get here. Then we’re going to go inside that room and talk to a very nice judge. When it’s all over, you’ll be our son and Paige will be our daughter.”
My brave little boy burst into tears. He still had trouble asking for hugs, but he wanted them so badly. I took him in my arms and rose, running my hand over his dark curls. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
My husband was in a similar predicament, holding a weeping five-year-old girl while trying not to mess up her dress.
“What’s all this?” Tino asked from behind us. “I thought this was supposed to be a happy day.”
