Chapter 32
Delaney
“Slow down, Mom. The park doesn’t close until ten tonight. It’s not even seven.” She’s been hustling from one train to another to the Boardwalk and now to Luna Park. “What’s gotten into you? I thought you hated this place.”
“I don’t hate this place. I just thought it would be fun for us to come to Coney Island.” Her grip tightens on my wrist as she drags me forward.
The thing is, I know what she’s doing. I don’t know how she found the invitation to meet Warner, but she’s putting on quite the performance to get me here.
She didn’t have to. I was already planning to show up.
I’m just wondering how my entire family got involved.
“Shouldn’t we wait for the others?” I glance back to see Lorenzo and Joe encouraging my dad to keep up like he’s running a marathon.
With a good thirty yards to go, I’m pulled to a sudden halt for her to start fussing over me. “You look so pretty, Delly bean.”
“Thanks.” She holds my hands out to get a good look at me and then embraces me like she’s never going to see me again.
The outfit was laid out for me on my bed when I came home from work.
The lipstick was pulled from my makeup, sunglasses retrieved from my dresser, and she insisted on straightening my hair before adding soft waves around my face and the ends.
Asking questions didn’t get me any answers, so I went along with the plan and recreated my graduation look, complete with my shirt tied around my ribs, showing off my midriff.
I figured I was being sent out the door because she liked the way I looked the first time I wore it. Now, with the family in tow, and what I hope is Warner waiting for me, I get butterflies in my stomach.
My dad comes huffing, with my brothers patting him on the back. “You did it, Pops,” Lorenzo says. “Keep your eye on the prize. Not far left to go.”
Joe laughs and starts pulling him toward the entrance.
Lorenzo looks at me and says, “You’re growing up, Sis.”
I can’t help but laugh. With a shrug, I say, “Thanks.”
Clocking the time on her watch, my mom says, “We should go.”
“Come on.” We’ve come this far. I don’t want to miss him—more than I already do.
While Lorenzo jogs to catch up with the guys, my mom and I start walking again.
Our pace is a bit slower, as if we both know where this ends.
She glances at me and then takes hold of my hand.
When I wrap my hand around hers, her eyes get glassy.
She laughs as she wipes under her eyes with the back of her index finger.
“I don’t know why I’m getting all choked up. ”
I was tempering myself, but the excitement was getting the better of me.
Her tears and that earlier hug are making me nervous.
I wrap my arm around her shoulders and side hug her while walking.
“It’s okay. Everything is going to be alright.
” It’s such a cliché thing to say, but despite the sudden nerves for not knowing what’s ahead, I believe what I said. It’s going to be alright. I am.
Looking ahead, I don’t see him, so I steal one last opportunity. “You sure I look alright?”
“Beautiful.”
We approach the entrance to the carnival, and the guys who have been hanging around waiting like we were the slow pokes. I don’t see Warner. I check over my shoulder and then into the distance in the other direction, getting more nervous by the second. I check my mom’s watch. “He said seven.”
A song begins playing, a familiar one from an old movie.
I remember dreaming about the ending of Sixteen Candles after first seeing the movie with my mom one Sunday afternoon on TV when I was fourteen.
Hearing it brings back that swoony feeling, but then I side-eye Lorenzo, who’s holding his phone in the air, blasting it.
He grins and steps to the side. Joe and my dad shift to the other side, revealing Warner standing behind them. I gasp, covering my mouth. As tears flood my eyes, I raise my chin, hoping to keep them from falling, but I know it’s a losing mission.
Warner pulls a small bouquet from behind his back and comes toward me.
My mom is still wiping her eyes when she joins my family as they close in behind him.
His shirtsleeves are rolled up, showing off that arm that’s made a fine recovery.
The vest is fastened, but he left the top buttons of his collar open.
I have a feeling I might get my wish to run my fingers through that sexy hair of his.
Nothing beats that smile that moved right into those blue eyes.
Those damn crinkles that make him even sexier are on full display.
He hands me the flowers and then says, “Hi.”
With my emotions blooming in my chest, I won’t be able to hold them in for much longer. “Hi.”
“I’m glad you came.”
I glance at my family, who are busy talking among themselves, giving us the little privacy Coney Island will afford us. “Me too.” I nod toward the others. “You got some help from your friends.”
He chuckles, running the pad of his thumb over his bottom lip as he steals a glimpse of my family before turning back to me. “I didn’t really have a choice.”
I hold my nose to the flowers that are wild instead of picture-perfect roses. I like these better. Tilting my head, I look up at this tall drink of a man and say, “I was already planning on coming. You didn’t need backup. You were enough, Warner. You were always enough for me.”
Closing what little gap still exists between us, he caresses my cheek. “When a Bayetti is set on a plan, they go all in. Reminds me of someone else I know.”
I laugh. It’s light, but it feels as if a heavy cloud has lifted, leaving us nothing but blue skies ahead. “No lies detected.”
He leans down and brushes his lips against mine. “Let’s keep it that way.” Not leaving me any room to argue, which I wouldn’t have anyway, he kisses me.
My arms come around his neck as his arms reach around my body, landing on my lower back and holding me to him. When our lips part and I open my eyes, I shoot Lorenzo a look again. He says, “It’s like a real-life soundtrack.”
“I think we’re good.”
I release Warner and ask, “Now that you got me here all dressed up in my graduation outfit, what are you going to do with me?”
Swinging his arm over my shoulders, he begins to lead me to the entrance.
“First. We’re getting the photo you should have gotten the first time without asking.
” Placing me beneath the Luna Park sign, he kisses my forehead and says, “Stay here.” But then he comes back, running his hand along my exposed neck and says, “You look beautiful, Sass.”
I’ve never felt more beautiful than how he makes me feel when he looks at me just like that. He steals a quick kiss, takes the flowers when I hand them to him, and backs up ten feet or so. Holding his phone in front of his stupidly handsome face, he says, “Say Warner.”
Putting my hand behind my head and posing for him, I say, “Hotshot.”
He lowers the phone and signals to my family. They rush in, surrounding me. My dad wraps his arm around me and says, “Love you, Cannoli.”
“Love you.”
My mom hops in next to me with her arm around my waist. Lorenzo is on her other side, while Joe stretches his arm around my dad’s shoulders. My heart is so full that I struggle to hold back the tears that threatened to fall earlier. Just as one slips down, Warner says, “Say cheese.”
“Parmigiano Reggiano,” we say in unison, then crack up laughing.
My mom says, “One more.” They disperse as she walks to Warner, taking his phone.
She holds it up. The slow-motion walk of my man coming to me sends my heart racing.
Fine, that was all in my imagination, but Warner has a damn good walk.
He wraps himself around me from behind, kisses the top of my head, and then says, “I do.”
I glance up at him and laugh. “I do? She said, ‘Say cheese.’”
Coming around, he drops to one knee in front of me. My mouth falls open. “Warner?” I don’t know what I mean because words are lost under the shock of what’s happening.
Holding my hand, he says, “I don’t want to fight you.”
“Not the romantic start I imagined for my proposal.”
He chuckles. “Felt like a good preface for the rest.”
“I’ll allow it.” It doesn’t matter what he says, my heart was already his from the moment we met. Okay, maybe not the moment we met, but a few days after, I was all his, and he was mine.
“I think we both know the lies we got caught up in. They served a purpose, and then when they didn’t, we fell apart. That’s not going to happen this time. I want to start over with you.”
“I want that too. Clean slate. No past. Just moving forward from here.”
He nods as if I stole the words out of his mouth. Oh no, maybe I did. I need to let him do this proposal how he wants. I don’t need to control this. I’ll let him work his magic. Because that’s what he is to me—the dream I never thought could come true.
He says, “The one thing I will carry with us from the past is how you showed me how to live. I have loved every off-the-wall and unhinged moment we’ve had and don’t regret a thing.
But what I love more is the way your heart is always at the center of it.
I’ve never known anyone as selfless as you, putting your family first, and then a total stranger that you hated.
You helped me when you didn’t have to.” His head bobbles. “After you left me for dead, that is.”
“I didn’t leave you for dead. I debated, sure, but you were an asshole back then.” I cup his cheek. “I have no regrets saving you,” I smirk and give him a little wink.
“Glad to hear it.” He chuckles again. “Whatever happened then led us here. I don’t want to miss another day of your gelato-hating, cookie-in-bed eating ways.”
“If it makes a difference, I prefer gelato these days.”
“I knew I’d convert you.”
Bending down, I kiss his cheek and whisper, “You converted me, alright. I’m a full-on fool in love with you, Warner Landers.”
“You’re lucky you’re so hot since you’re stealing all my good lines.”
I stand back up. “Well, skip to the good part, then.”
“I love you so much, Delaney Bayetti. Will you be my wife?”
When he stands, I reply, “I will.” I lift on my toes, and he leans down to meet me in the middle. “I do from this day forward, Hotshot.”
We kiss. Just as it deepens, the rest of the world disappears, and that song starts playing again, making us laugh. He digs in his pocket and says, I got you something. He lifts the hinged lid on the blue velvet box, leaving me gasping. “Warner.”
“It’s real this time,” a woman calls, getting our attention. We turn to see his mother standing next to mine. Two families becoming one for us makes my heart clench.
I turn back to Warner, slipping the diamond ring on my finger.
Holding it up, I wiggle my finger, admiring it.
The diamond is one I would have chosen for myself.
Not too big and showy. The band is gorgeous, with diamonds on the sides of the centerpiece.
Just enough to make it look like a million bucks. Wait, he wouldn’t spend that, right?
It’s too pretty to worry about. They have insurance for that kind of thing. “I love it.” Wrapping my arms around him once more, I say, “I love you more than I knew was possible.”
“Same.”
I roll my eyes. “Same? That’s all I get?”
“How about this? I have all these people showing up in my life now, people who stepped in when I thought I needed them most. I didn’t. I only need you, Sass.”
He leans down to kiss me, but just before he does, I say, “So much better.”
We join our families and make the rounds of hugs. My mom says, “I’m so happy for you.”
I overhear her tell Warner, “Welcome to the family.”
When Grace and I embrace, she leans back and says, “He’s waited his whole life for you. I’m so happy he has you, and I get to call you daughter.”
I hug her tight, probably more than she’s used to, but we’re family now.
“Thank you. Seems destiny had a plan for us all along.” I don’t bother bringing up that if he weren’t trying to usurp the little guy, we wouldn’t have met.
He did us one better when he saved the building and the tenants, my family’s restaurant, and gave me the memory I always hoped for today.
And he did it all for me. If that isn’t a love story, I don’t know what is.
Falling back into his strong arms, I lose myself in his incredible scent and the warmth in his eyes, the way he licks his bottom lip, and later that night, into that heavenly bed of his again.
We leave the past in the past. And when I roll over breathless and happier than I’ve ever been, I turn to look at him next to me.
Warner’s eyes are closed, but a smile lies on his face.
It’s the only kind of lies we’re going to allow in our lives moving forward.
Cuddling up to his side, I kiss his chest, remembering that very first time we met. I ask him the same question he asked me that day, “What do you need?”
His eyes find mine as he rubs my back. With that smile still owning his expression, he replies, “I have everything I ever wanted. Your heart.”
It was a wild ride to get here, but as I lie in pure bliss and contentment, I wouldn’t change a thing. All’s fair in love and Warner.