“Just a little bout of nerves,” Greg said as he dug a tissue out of the inner pocket of his suit jacket. He held it up to Paige’s nose. “Blow.” Once she finished blowing her nose, he pulled out a second tissue and wiped her face.
I set Tyler down and handed him a tissue as well. He blew his nose and wiped his face, then looked up at me with a tremulous smile. “I’m ready, Papa.”
Those words were almost as beautiful as when Greg had said, “I do.”
Santino opened the courtroom door. “All right. Let’s go in and make a new family.”
Two hours later, we pulled into the driveway of our home in Belmar. You heard that right. Greg and I now lived in Jersey, in the same town as Marco and Liam.
Almost a year to the day after Greg moved in with me, we got married. We’d tried not to make a big deal of it since Marco and Liam had only gotten married three months before. But my veryItalian family, my friends, and my employees wouldn’t hear of us sneaking off to get married by a judge.
The compromise had been a low-key, informal wedding at Moonlight Inn. I’d insisted everyone dress comfortably, and we had what amounted to a fancy barbecue out on the back lawn of the hotel.
The year after that, my parents had decided they wanted to downsize and move into a nearby fifty-five-and-over community. A lot of their friends had already moved there, and the house had become too much for them to handle on their own. I, with the complete support of my husband and my siblings, had decided to buy my parents’ house.
Greg and I both loved living in New York City. But we also both wanted children. And yes, people raised children in the City all the time. But the vision we had in mind included frequent walks on the beach and boardwalk, fishing trips, a big backyard, and spending lots of time with my siblings and niblings. You had to be a multimillionaire to accomplish that in New York City, and although Angel Security had expanded and was doing well, a multimillionaire I was not.
In addition, Greg’s goals had changed. He’d finally achieved his dream of being a full-time Broadway musician, only to find he hated working eight shows a week playing the same music over and over again.
He’d been so disappointed and conflicted, and he hadn’t known what to do other than quit the show. I’d finally urged him to talk to Jeremy, who’d also made some major changes in his music performance goals after he met and fell in love with Sean.
Jeremy had introduced Greg to producers and directors in television and movies because they were often looking for musicians for their projects. Jeremy had also asked Greg to debut his new piano concerto.
That had gotten Greg noticed in all sorts of circles to the point where he was able to pick and choose. He no longer had to do freelance web and graphic design, though he still did character design commissions because he enjoyed them.
Once we moved to New Jersey, we applied to be foster parents with the goal of adopting. Tyler and Paige came to us within two months of our finishing the training. They had come from an abusive and neglectful home, and even though they had both parents living with them, Tyler had taken on the role of parent and protector of his little sister.
It was hard at first, and we had to ask for a lot of help. There was one point where I thought we’d have to give up, but Greg refused, and we pushed through the bad times.
Our breakthrough came when Tyler had willingly sat next to me on the couch and asked to watch a movie. Once the movie started, he’d leaned his head against my shoulder and stayed there. Paige had followed her brother’s lead and climbed into Greg’s lap, promptly falling asleep. We’d both wept with joy.
Now here we were, and they were finally ours. Our front door opened, and Liam poked his head out. “There you are! Come on. Everyone’s here.”
When he said everyone, he meanteveryone. My parents, all of my siblings and their spouses or significant others, and even most of my niblings. Greg’s brother and sister were there. Everyone who worked for Angel Security was there, except those currently on assignment. All the people who lived down the shore showed up, as they had when we’d been struggling.
I was extremely thankful the house had a big backyard. We waded through the crowd, getting congratulated along the way. Cody, who was now nine, came running up to Tyler, wanting him to go outside and play. I held up my hand to halt their escape. “Tyler has to change out of his suit first. Why don’t you two go upstairs so he can do that and then you can play?”
The two boys cheered and raced each other up the stairs. Gianna offered to take Paige upstairs and help her change into play clothes. I’d been surprised at how attached my youngest sibling had gotten to our little girl, but I wasn’t going to question it. Paige needed positive female role models in her life.
We finally made it through to the kitchen, where Marco was waiting with a beer in each hand. “I figured you’d need these.”
Greg and I gratefully took the offering and touched bottles with each other and my brother. I took off my jacket and tie, hanging them on one of the stools around the center island. Greg did the same.
I leaned against my husband, breathing a sigh of relief. “We did it.”
Greg slid his arm around my waist. “We really did. Life is good.”
I kissed his cheek. “That it is.”
