Chapter 77
Caterina
Serenity pulled Harlow to the playground, and I recorded my wife climbing on the jungle gym, chasing Serenity.
We were parents. The paperwork wasn’t officially signed yet, but she was ours.
I needed to talk to my father and tell him he had a granddaughter now.
It wasn’t unexpected because I knew the moment Harlow told me how she felt about Serenity, I knew she would be ours.
Harlow was holding Serenity’s hand as they walked to the blanket I laid out.
She kept looking up at Harlow, and the same look Harlow had for Serenity was mirrored in the little girl’s eyes.
Harlow looked at her like she deserved every ounce of happiness she was denied in life.
This was the perfect ending to our story, but I knew we had a long way to go.
I never thought I’d live long enough to have a moment like this.
To have a family, a wife, a daughter. The two girls in front of me were two people I would die for, and for the first time, I felt peace.
There was a sliver of fear, but nothing that could take away the happiness I felt deep in my bones.
This was the life I was meant to have, with the woman I was hopelessly in love with, and the little girl who stole our hearts.
Harlow smiled at me, her hair blowing in the wind.
And good God, she looked perfect. How did I get this lucky to have her?
I never knew love until her. The love she gave me rewrote my life and changed me from the inside out.
Before her, I was merely surviving, waiting for the day a bullet would get lucky and kill me.
Vengeance was the only thing I craved, and it was what brought her to me.
She showed me what it meant to live, and now we could.
And Serenity…she was a breath of fresh air. I was never great with kids, but she showed me even scary mob bosses could break the mold and become lighter…become a parent.
These two were my life.
My wife.
My daughter.
My home.
They both showed me there was more to life than the empire I built.
And more than the air in my lungs.
I would burn the world for them. Harlow was my soul, and Serenity was my heart. These two were everything to me, and I would protect my world. Now we could live our lives without the threat of Vincenzo taking everything away from us.
Serenity sat cross-legged eating a strawberry as Harlow took my hand. It was time to tell her she was ours. Now hopefully, she wanted to be ours, too.
“Serenity.” She looked up at us. “Come here, sweetie.” She crawled closer to us, and Harlow pulled her into her lap. “We wanted to talk to you about something.”
She looked at us, fear kissing her dark eyes. “Did I do something bad?”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” I reassured her, my voice a little shaky.
“This is a good thing. A really good thing.”
I looked at Harlow before looking at Serenity. “You know how you’re staying with us and how we love you?”
She nodded. “You make me happy, and I don’t feel scared when I’m with you.”
“How do you feel about staying with us forever?” Her eyes widened.
She looked at Harlow and then back at me. “Forever? Like you’re my mommies for real?”
Harlow wiped the tears from her eyes. “Yeah, baby. If you want that.”
She turned around and wrapped her arms around Harlow’s neck. “I do! I get to be yours.”
I scooted closer to them, brushing my fingers through her hair. She was ours. “You’re ours, sweet girl. We love you so much.”
“I love you, too.”
“How about we go meet your grandpa?” I asked. “My dad has no idea he just got a granddaughter.”
“Is he nice?”
I nodded, brushing her hair back. “The nicest. He’ll love being a grandpa.”
We pulled up to my father’s estate, and my father met us at the porch.
Serenity hid her face behind my neck as I hugged him.
I told him we had news, but he didn’t know what the news was.
Serena knew we had intentions to adopt Serenity, but she didn’t know the adoption process had already started so they were both grandparents.
Sometimes I hated being a mafia queen, but other days, like today, I loved it because I could get my way.
My father hugged Harlow as we walked into his estate.
Serena looked at the two of us and then Serenity in my arms. She was a smart woman, and she would put two and two together if she didn’t already.
My father honestly gave up hope of becoming a grandfather until I met Harlow, but he wasn’t expecting any this soon.
“Hi, Papa,” I greeted as we stepped inside and took a seat on his couch.
“Ciao, farfalla, what brings you…three here today?”
I looked at Harlow who smiled wide. “Well, we wanted you to meet your granddaughter.” Harlow said, ripping the Band-Aid off.
Serenity adjusted herself on my lap and looked at my father who was shocked. Serena was beaming with a smile from ear-to-ear. My father looked at us before looking at Serena, and then back to Serenity. He was shocked, but he was ecstatic.
“Granddaughter?” he beamed. “Well, I guess I have to retire my father card and replace it with a Poppi card, huh? What’s your name, farfallina?”
“Serenity. What does farfallina mean?” Serenity questioned as she stumbled on the Italian word.
“Little butterfly. I called your mama farfalla, which means butterfly, so it feels right.” Serenity reached for him, hesitant at first, but then she smiled wide when he took her in his arms. “I get to spoil you. Now, I need to buy you things for a room here. Caterina, you could have told me I was getting a grandchild, I would have bought toys!”
I laughed, taking Harlow’s hand. “It was last minute, but also not. We knew we wanted to adopt her for a while. Harlow had a connection with her, and you know me; anything to make my wife smile. But she is the perfect little girl.”