29. Wolfe
WOLFE
It wasn’t a wedding ceremony, but we still wanted to see each other for the first time in a special way.
In the same suit I wore to the church, I arrived on the terrace during cocktail hour to enthusiasm from everyone, my Cosa Nostra family and my new Mancini family.
There were three hundred and fifty guests total, and while I wasn’t related to a single person there, they all felt like family.
I grabbed a drink from the bar, and Don Russo made his way over to me. “Never seen you in a suit before.”
“And this is the one and only time you will.” I stood at the high-top table, a string of lights overhead throughout the garden as the sun continued to set over the sea. It was a warm night, warm enough that Francesca should be okay in her wedding dress.
The wedding dress I was very excited to see and take off again.
“A shame,” Don Russo said. “You look good in it.”
“Well, I look good in anything.”
A wide smile moved over his mouth before he lifted his glass of wine and took a drink. “Where’s the bride?”
“She said she wanted to make an entrance,” I said with a shrug. “So, we’ll see. She’s already my wife, so she can’t get out of this.”
“I don’t think she wants to anyway.”
I smirked. “Yeah, she’s kinda obsessed with me.”
He sipped his wine as the music from the speakers played lightly around the garden. He eyed the sunset for a moment before he turned back to me. “I’m very happy for you, Wolfe. You’ve come a long way.”
“Yep. The son of a prostitute to the husband of a sexy crime boss.”
“I mean, you’re a fine young man. Honest and honorable. Too honest, sometimes.”
“More like all the time.”
“I’m just very proud of the man you’ve become. I know you didn’t have it easy. And I see how different you are with Francesca. You used to smirk and make your jokes before, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen you happy.”
I rested my hand on my glass as I looked at him across the small table.
“I wish we could keep you, but I see you’re exactly where you belong.”
“Thank you, Don Russo.” I held up my glass.
He did the same and gently clinked it against mine before we both took a drink.
The overhead music was in the middle of the song when it went silent, and all the conversations from nearby tables became more audible without the backdrop. Suddenly, the four-piece orchestra started to play a beautiful song.
Don Russo smiled. “I think it’s showtime, Wolfe.”
I turned around to face the hotel, rubbing my palms together because I was anxious to put my hands on my wife. It’d been hours since I last saw her, and this whole night was about us, not just me.
The music played for a moment before the double doors that led to the hotel were opened by ushers, and Francesca appeared in the same wedding dress I’d married her in, her arm hooked through Leo’s as he stood beside her in a tuxedo.
Her hair was done the same way it’d been that night, and I felt like I got to relive the happiest day of my life.
Leo walked her forward over the pavers and guided her down the path through the garden. Everyone was silent as they watched her approach, as if they were standing in the pews of a church.
She found my eyes with hers, a delicate smile on her lips, and her gaze shone brighter as she came closer to me, luminous under the white lights above. In a low-cut white dress with a high slit up her thigh, she was fucking bangin’.
I continued to rub my palms together as I moved forward, anxious to take my wife off her brother’s hands and keep her forever.
The look she gave me was different from the one during our ceremony. She was emotional and full of unspent tears. I felt the same, happy but also full of so much love it leaked like a broken pipe. But now, she was bright with happiness and excitement.
Leo came to a stop before me and gently guided her arm out of his before he extended her hand for me to take.
I took it and gave him a nod, feeling like both he and his father had just given their blessings as he handed her off.
Leo nodded back and stepped aside.
She moved into me right away, five inches taller than usual in the sky-high heels she wore. “May I have this dance?” One hand moved to my chest while she hooked her other arm around my neck.
I took her hand in mine and started to sway with her, forgetting about the hundreds of people watching us.
She looked at me like there was no one else.
I’d never slow-danced in my life, but it just came naturally with her.
Everything came naturally with her. Love and happiness and trust…
and healing. I’d never let the past bother me.
I’d just moved on and didn’t look back. But in truth, all that misery and pain had been with me the whole time.
It was only when I found Francesca that I finally let the past go.
I let myself be something more than I ever thought I could be. “I love you, Francesca Mancini.”
Her eyes softened as she looked at me, her hand moving to my cheek. “I love you too…and it’s Francesca Mancini-Barsetti.”