54. Weddings
FIFTY-FOUR
WEDDINGS
Lake
I wasn’t ready.
Not even close.
First, for the sight of the massive floor-to-ceiling Christmas tree in the foyer. Then for Alessio’s sister to rush from the kitchen to hug me and hold me long enough to make me feel like she missed me.
I hold back the tears because I lied to her too. But she, like her brother, apparently doesn’t hold a grudge against me and is genuinely happy to see me.
“Let me get that for you.” She takes my coat and folds it over her arm, but Alessio snatches it and walks away to hang it somewhere down the hall.
Val wears a red sweater over navy blue pants, and her makeup is subtle but really nice. She looks me over. “You look well, Lake. Not that you ever looked bad, but you look happy. I’m happy to see you happy. And my brother…” Her gaze lingers on my hand, then her eyes widen.
She covers her mouth. “Oh my God, he did it. Show me the ring.”
I lift my hand and wiggle my fingers.
A blonde wearing jeans and a pretty white cashmere sweater descends the stairs. Her smile is radiant as she stretches out her hand. “Hi, you must be Lake. I’m Troy, Miro’s fiancée.” She gasps. “That ring is so pretty.”
“Thank you. Nice to meet you, Troy.” Troy. Look at all these people whose lives I could’ve ruined but somehow didn’t. Don’t ask me how. If I had to play it out again, I wouldn’t know where it all began to make sense and where it went astray.
“The babies are sleeping” she tells Val, who pumps her fist.
“How are your babies, Val?” It’s a little strange seeing her without the belly.
“They’re a handful but so cute. You’ll meet them tomorrow.”
“I can’t wait. Do you have a picture of them?”
“I have tons of pictures.”
As I stand beside her, she shows me a picture of the two newborns in one large baby basket set next to the massive floor-to-ceiling tree right behind Troy.
“They’re beautiful.” They are, even with scrunched-up little faces. I can’t wait to see mine. The moment I think about it, I get nervous again about telling Alessio.
A man enters from the kitchen and joins us in the foyer. Dark brown hair, the same color as his beard, and warm chestnut eyes that crinkle in the corners as he smiles and pops the pacifier out of his mouth.
“Welcome home,” he says.
I extend my hand. “Thank you. I’m Lake.”
He shakes it. “Miro.”
I didn’t recognize him. Instinctively, I try to withdraw my hand, but he holds it. “If it’s any easier on you, you can call me Mike.”
“Or Shark,” Troy says. “Shark Daddy.” She slaps his bottom. “That’s my man, with Europe’s finest ass.”
It’s comforting to know she’s never seen Alessio’s ass, because there’s no way anyone’s ass is finer than his. No way.
Troy broke the tension, so I smile. “Mike it is.”
“Dinner’s getting cold,” someone says from down the hall, and Val hurries past the guest bathroom and into a part of the house I haven’t seen before. We follow her into a formal dining room, where Niksha, the man with a rasp in his voice who debriefed me after the rescue mission, sits with Prescott and Leo.
He nods.
I nod back.
“You can do better than that,” Val comments as she lights a candle near him.
Niksha gets up and pulls out a chair next to him. He offers it to me. “I hope your flight was pleasant.”
“It was. Thank you.” I sit down, wondering where Alessio disappeared to.
Leo catches my eye. “You look different,” he says.
“Different better or how do you mean?”
“You’re very glowy.”
“Glowy?” Val repeats as she lights a decorative candle in front of me. She puts away the lighter and tilts her head. “Leo’s right. You are glowy. That ring looks good on you, and marriage will look even better.”
I’m sweating like a hooker in church. I almost got made for the pregnancy. How did I survive spying on this household for weeks? Leo made me out in five minutes. I adore him for that.
“Did you guys set a date?” Troy asks, her Southern accent reminding me of my grandma. She spoke just like Troy does. “Alessio’s over the moon, I tell ya.”
“Not yet. There’s some talk about tomorrow morning.”
“Pay me my hundred bucks, Shark Daddy. I bet on tomorrow.” She turns back to me. “Oh hey, if you need to borrow a dress, there’s that one I got when I joined the family. Real nice. I didn’t get married in it, so the poor, pretty dress never saw church bells, and that’s a shame ’cause the dress is fine.”
Across from Troy, Mike says, “Boots too.”
Troy nods. “With rhinestones.”
“Or you could wear the dress,” he says, looking at Troy.
This man doesn’t look at her the way he looked at me that day he walked into the hotel room, killed the perps who threatened me, and then pointed the gun at me too. When he looks at Troy, his eyes are warm, darker somehow, as if he knows this woman is the keeper of his soul.
Alessio walks in and sits across from me, even though there’s a setting in front a chair at the head of the table. “Lake, the priest is here.”
“Okay.” When Alessio keeps staring at me, I smile, feeling like he’s trying to tell me something I can’t catch on to.
“The priest has come to marry us,” he clarifies.
“Here? Now?”
“Is that a problem?”
“No, not at all.”
“Wait a minute,” Val intercepts. “You can’t get married here in the dining room.”
“They can,” Leo says in a surprisingly authoritative voice. He looks over at Alessio. “Right, Uncle?”
“That’s right.”
“Wait, Lake,” Prescott says. “If you marry Alessio, does that mean Leo becomes my brother?”
“Yes,” Alessio answers, and I nod.
Prescott smiles at Leo. “This is cool.”
Val bites her lip. “Lake, it’s okay if you’re not ready yet.”
“It was her idea,” Alessio says defensively. “I suggested tomorrow morning. She said tonight.”
“To be fair, I didn't think you could summon a priest in time for dinner.”
“Shark, I lost the bet,” Troy says.
“Alessio,” Val says in a pleading tone, “don’t you want a big wedding?”
Alessio waves in the priest, a young man in his thirties with thick, dark hair and a gentle brown gaze. He stands at the end of the table and smiles kindly at us. “I’m Father Abel.”
“Could’ve been Cain, so we’re good,” Shark says.
“Shall we start?” he asks.
Alessio rises and causes us all to rise with him.
From across the table, he holds out his hand. I put mine in his, and we hold hands as the priest opens the holy book.
Alessio glances behind him, drawing my attention to the set of joined hands behind us. I think his best friend is getting married at the same time as we are. It’s all so surreal, but also right in how it’s intimate, beautiful, and unusual, just like the man I’m going to marry.
The priest reads from the Bible in Italian, or maybe even Latin, for all I know, but when he switches to English, my heart starts to pound.
“Do you, Lake Wilder, take Alessio Angelini as your lawful husband, to live according to God’s law, in the holy state of matrimony?”
My heart’s beating in my ears. “I do.” I nod. “Yes. A thousand times yes.”
The priests asks the same question of Alessio, and when he pauses, I cease breathing. Alessio slides me a glance, a small smile playing on his lips before he says, “Si.”
The priest steps back and pronounces us husband and wife. Alessio takes the place of the priest and we exchange wedding bands. Mine matches the engagement ring. I have a hard time looking away from my hand.
“You may now kiss the bride.”
The bride’s already kissed and knocked up, Father.
Alessio cups my face and brings his lips to mine.
“I love you,” I say before he kisses me.
We separate, and the priest steps back into place. “Come forward.”
Miro walks up, holding Troy’s hand.
Alessio stands behind Val, and I stand behind Niksha. Prescott comes to hug me from the left. “Congrats, Lake.” Leo hugs me from the other side.
Miro apologizes to Troy for not having any rings, but Alessio slides a box his way.
“I have your rings,” he says.
Miro picks up the box, opens it, and takes out the rings. “Do you always walk around with a pair of wedding bands for me?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
I’m sure he doesn’t, so I giggle, but Alessio looks at me as if he meant it. Does he really? Well, if that’s the case, I’m happy that the priest will perform the ceremony for them as well.
We sit down, but the priest remains standing. Niksha walks over with Val, and they join hands.
My mouth drops, and I swing my head to Alessio, who curses. “You’re the third man.”
Niksha nods. “I’m the first, actually.”
“You should’ve asked for my blessing.”
“I didn’t plan to fall for her.”
“What would you have said?” Val asks quietly without turning.
Alessio looks at me. Holds my gaze. I’m not sure what he needs from me, but whatever it is, I’ll give it to him. I hope he’ll enjoy his holiday season and welcome his sister’s decision. “If Niksha is good enough to be your close friend, then he must be good enough to be your sister’s husband.”
He nods. “Better the devil I know.”
I smile.
“Proceed, then. Ask me for my blessing.”
He’s not going to make it easy on them.
“Alessio.” Niksha faces him. “Do I have your blessing to marry your sister?”
When Alessio doesn’t answer, Val says, “If he’s married, he can’t accept the undercover assignment.”
Alessio purses his lips. “Are you the father of the twins?”
Niksha shakes his head. “No. I’m the one she wants to marry.”
“And you’ll make Valerina your priority?”
Niksha smiles. “She’s always been my priority.”
Alessio turns to Mike. “Did you know about this?”
“No, but sometimes I would catch Val looking at him and wonder.”
Alessio ponders all this. “Leo, do you remember the rings your great-grandparents wore? The ones in my safe?” When Leo nods, Alessio says, “Fetch them for your aunt.”
The evening ended in three weddings. One ring borrowed. One ring new. One ring old. There was blue and probably a penny in someone’s shoe.