Chapter 25
Four days later — Valentine’s Day
Matteo grabbed the hand-holds as he climbed up the side of the play set/fort/swing set Brandt had had delivered to the house, then built for the kids the day before. “This is the best thing in the whole wide world!” Matteo yelled.
“It’s the best, best!” Leo declared as he ran at the tire swing hanging from the end of it, and launched himself at it, shrieking as it swung back and forth while spinning him in a circle at the same time.
“It was very thoughtful of him to do this,” Giada said.
“That’s Brandt for you. He never misses anything, even if it seems he’s sitting back letting you handle your own set of problems. He’ll step in when or if he sees you going off the rails, or sometimes like this, he just decides to surprise you with something you least expect,” Ronan said.
“It’s only been a couple of days and I’m as amazed as I was the first day with the support and attention your whole family gives instinctively,” Giada said, smiling as she sat on the back patio sipping her coffee as she watched her kids play.
“Our family. And I have to admit I was a little surprised to wake up and find Brandt and Barron in the backyard hammering and drilling at 6:30 in the morning yesterday,” Ronan said.
“They’re good people.”
“They certainly are,” Ronan said. He sat beside her, enjoying his own coffee while his mate sat beside him in her robe, facing him with her toes tucked under his leg.
He watched her watching her children, he listened to their happy shouts and their laughter as they played, and felt the same peace that had suffused not only his entire being, but theirs as well.
Within just a few days, they’d all found the missing elements that were needed for happiness, and like his dad had said, the pieces fell into place and just like that they were family.
“So, it is Valentine’s Day today,” Ronan said.
“It is! And I already have my Valentine’s gifts,” she said, adjusting the collar of her robe dramatically, before touching the ruby encrusted heart at her throat. “I hadn’t even realized it had fallen off. Thank you for going back to the park to find it for me.”
“How could I not?” he asked. “I love seeing it on you.”
“It means so much to me.”
He smiled. “I know you think you and the kids already got your gifts…”
“We did, a few days early at that. We do not need another thing,” she said.
“Maybe not, but I was thinking that I did promise you a Valentine’s Day dinner, so maybe we could go do that tonight? I mean, I did make reservations and everything. It would be a shame not to use them. And I do have three Valentines I need to win over this year!” Ronan said playfully.
“One, two, three!” Matteo said, pointing to himself, his brother and his mother.
“That’s right! I’ve got three!” Ronan said.
“I feel like we’ve been so overwhelming to you already. We don’t have to do anything at all. I can cook something here and…”
“Momma! You can’t cook that meat like I like. I want some of that meat. Daddy said I could have some, and you just don’t make it like the kind that was in that white container he gave us,” Matteo said.
Leo stopped swinging and just lay across the swing as he listened to the conversation. “You really don’t cook it the same, Momma. You cook other good things, but not that meat.”
“Oh, well at least I can cook some things,” she said, laughing so hard she was trying not to spill her coffee.
“Ronan did say he’d take all of us to a restaurant,” Leo reminded her.
“It’s the best steakhouse in town. Only place better is Havoc’s house. He can cook a steak,” Ronan said.
“That’ll mean you guys have to stop playing early and take a bath. You’ll have to dress nice and be on your best behavior. Can you do that?” she asked.
“Yes!” they both yelled.
Ronan laughed.
“I guess we’re going to eat at the steakhouse tonight,” Giada said, grinning at the enthusiasm her kids mustered.
~~~
Ronan had just finished getting dressed and walked into the living room to wait for Giada and the boys to finish getting ready. He tossed his keys and his phone on the coffee table and went back up the hallway. “Leo, Matteo, anybody need any help?”
“No, sir!” Leo answered from the room they shared.
There was a third bedroom and they’d told the boys they could each have their own bedroom, but both had immediately refused.
They wanted to share. What that said to Ronan and to Giada, too, was though they seemed okay on the outside, they were still a little insecure and wanted to remain together.
In fact, it would likely take a while before they felt completely secure in their new lives — and that was completely natural.
“I’m doing it myself!” Matteo yelled back.
“But thank you anyway!” Giada shouted from hers and Ronan’s bedroom.
“But thank you anyway!” Matteo added.
Ronan laughed as he made his way back down the hallway, but the kids’ door flew open before he even made it to the living room and Matteo was charging past him. When he got to the living room he turned around and held his arms out at his sides. “How’s this?” Matteo asked.
“You look great! You look like you’re at least ten or eleven,” Ronan said.
“Because we’re almost men now,” Matteo said with a firm nod of his head.
“Oh, most definitely,” Ronan agreed.
“He’s weird,” Leo said. “I am not a man. I’m a kid.”
Ronan laughed. “You look very nice, too, Leo. Even a little grown up.”
“Thank you,” Leo said. “Momma put out what she wanted us to wear.”
“She’s got good taste,” Ronan said.
“I picked a different shirt,” Matteo said.
“Why?”
“’Cause you wear red on Valentine’s Day. The shirt she picked wasn’t red,” Matteo explained.
A door opened behind Ronan and he turned around.
Giada was coming down the hallway toward them hesitantly.
She was wearing a black and red dress with a square neckline, and her necklace framed perfectly within it.
She wore black heels with it and her hair was pulled back in a loose twist with tendrils falling around her face.
She stopped a couple of feet in front of him and smiled timidly.
“Momma! You look like a princess!” Leo said.
“Or a queen. Queens are better,” Matteo said.
“You are stunning,” Ronan said, stepping forward and taking her hands. “I am a lucky, lucky male.”
She smiled wider. “Thank you. You look very handsome yourself.”
“Thank you,” he said, leaning in to kiss her, but choosing her cheek at the last minute so he wouldn’t mess up her lipstick.
“Are we going now?” Leo asked.
“Well, we still have a little while before our reservation, but there’s no reason we can’t get there a little early.
“I want the biggest steak they have to eat!” Matteo yelled as he turned and ran toward the front door.”
“I think he’s a carnivore,” Giada said while laughing.
“Oh, I know he is,” Ronan said.
“Ronan? Are we going to take your truck or are we going to take Val’s car?” Leo asked.
“I thought we’d take Val’s car since she lent it to us until we get another car. It’s got the booster seats and all in it so we can make sure you and Matteo are as safe as you can be,” Ronan said as he took Giada’s hand in his and they all walked outside.
Leo scowled a little but nodded his acceptance.
“Why? Do you not like the booster seats?” Ronan asked.
“Not really. I’m not a baby.”
“Well, they’re not baby seats, and they’re here to keep you safe in the car. Besides it lifts you up so you can see out of the windows better.”
“I like the truck better, though.”
“Well, we’ll take the truck another day, but you might still need a booster. We’ll just have to see, okay?”
“Okay,” Leo agreed reluctantly.
They got loaded up and strapped in and headed off up the street on their way to the restaurant though it was just barely dusk out. As they came to the corner, and Ronan put on his blinker to turn left, a glow of orange flames caught the attention of Giada and the kids.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Oh, that’s the bonfire. We have one for just about everything — definitely any excuse we can think of to have one.”
“What are they celebrating tonight?” Giada asked.
“Valentine’s Day.”
“Oh, okay,” Giada said.
“Aren’t they going to a restaurant?”
“Sometimes they do, but sometimes it’s easier to celebrate at home with all the kids, too,” Ronan said.
“I want meat at the restaurant,” Matteo said.
“And that’s where we’re going,” Ronan said, but before they could turn, Brandt was coming toward them at a jog, waving for them to wait.
“Hey!” he called out.
Ronan rolled down the window. “Hey!” he called back.
“Y’all going to eat?”
“I need meat,” Matteo called out from the back seat.
Brandt laughed. “I hear you, little man. Y’all right on time or you got a minute?”
“We’re a little early. What’s up?”
“We’re going to take a big family picture on Havoc’s steps. Come get in it,” Brandt said.
“Y’all want to go take a picture?” Ronan asked.
“Sure, if you’d like to,” Giada said.
“Okay,” both boys said.
“Y’all pull up to Emmalyn’s Suburban. She’s parked it sideways and blocked the whole damn street so the kids can run,” Brandt said.
Ronan laughed, and slowly pulled up until he was right at the Suburban, then turned off the ignition.
“Alright, let’s go take a family photo.” He got out, then got Leo out from behind him, as Giada got out and helped Matteo out.
Ronan and Giada walked up holding hands as Leo and Matteo ran at breakneck speed toward the other kids playing in front of Havoc’s house as the adults sat around and meandered around the bonfire trying to agree on where they’d take the photo.
“I thought we decided we’d take it on my steps,” Havoc said.
“My house is nicer,” Emmalyn said.
“It ain’t about the house, ya mean old Bear. It’s about having room for everybody to fit and be seen,” Havoc snapped.
“I am not mean, Wolf,” Emmalyn said.
“Yeah, you are,” Havoc said, giving her some side eye.