32. Tessa
32
TESSA
“ I think it’ll be fine,” Nina said as I bustled through the kitchen.
“I know it’ll be fine, but I’m still nervous somehow.”
She laughed as I nitpicked about food lying out for the small engagement party she wanted to throw for me and Romeo. While she was the host, she planned to be a lazy one. Her pregnancy was going smoothly, but her feet hurt too often to stand for long.
“Nervous about what, though?” she asked, watching me fret.
I’d never had a party thrown for me, so that was a little anxiety-inducing, but it was the arrival of one certain guest that threw me off.
“I haven’t seen Liam in years,” I reminded her. “About six.”
She nodded and munched on a carrot stick from the veggie plate. “Okay. But it’s Liam. A friend from the past.”
“I know. But I can’t tell how he’ll react to my being engaged to Romeo.”
She frowned. “Like he might not approve?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. I’m being silly.”
“Not silly. I’m curious about him coming here to stay, but not out of fear he won’t like Dante or Romeo.”
I pursed my lips and drummed my fingers. “Curious about what?” I was intrigued too, but I wanted to hear if she felt the same about what made me suspicious.
“Hmm.” She shrugged. “He’s being vague in his calls.”
I pointed at her. “Yes!”
“He sounded glad to have a place to stay, but he put so much more emphasis on needing to find work.”
I nodded. “Maybe it’s because he decided not to enlist again?”
“Maybe. And that’s surprising too. I don’t know Liam as well as you, but I always figured he would be a lifer like my dad was, in the service for a whole career.”
With my friend being only in his early thirties, that math didn’t add up.
“Not to mention the way he keeps warning me that he has a ‘surprise’ for me to see,” I reminded her.
“Hmm-mmm. But hey, maybe Dante or Romeo could offer him a job here.”
“Offer who a job?” Eva asked as she walked through.
“A friend,” I replied before she exited, not staying to chat.
Regardless of my excitement and nervousness to see Liam, I was counting down the minutes until he’d arrive. I hadn’t seen him in years, and I was happy that he’d stay. In a small way, I wanted him to approve of Romeo because he wasn’t another member of the Constella Family. I was surrounded by those who knew Romeo already, and I was excited to receive an independent opinion of the man I loved. Nothing would steer me from loving him, but in a ridiculous little way, I wanted someone else to see and admire what I’d found.
Just before the engagement party would start, I worried that Liam had told me the wrong time or day of his arrival or that he wasn’t coming.
“Is he normally punctual?” Romeo asked.
I deadpanned at him. “He’s just been discharged from the military. Of course, he’s punctual.”
“Hate to say it, Tess, but…” Franco made a show of checking his watch.
Numerous guests had already arrived. They were mingling in the ballroom of the mansion, out of sight so I could welcome Liam in the more private living area of Dante and Nina’s home. But sooner or later…
The back door opened, and we all turned toward the glass doors sliding open from the patio. A soldier led my tall friend inside, but the surprise he’d been hinting at…
“Oh, my God.”
Nina and I said it in unison, gawking at the adorable little blonde in his arms. A toddler. She peered at us all, clutching Liam’s shirt.
He looked the same, yet not. Rugged, dressed down in jeans and a T-shirt, sturdy boots on his feet, and a ruffled mess of his short hair. He’d aged and had been hardened with his time in the service, but…
“A baby ?” I exclaimed.
“Surprise,” he said in a gruff greeting.
Romeo leaned toward me and pressed his fingers up under my chin, prompting me to close my mouth. I was so stuck in shock, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“Since when…” Nina was no better than me, puzzling it out.
“Well.” Dante strode forward. “Since they’ve forgotten how to say a simple hello, welcome to our home. I’m Dante Constella.” He held out his hand, and Liam shook it clumsily, looking like he’d never learned how to hold a baby.
“Nice to meet ya,” Liam replied, looking at Dante quickly.
“A daughter ?” I asked him. “You have a daughter?”
“Yeah.”
“But… how ?” He’d been gone so long, and now, all of a sudden, he was carrying an adorable little girl who somehow resembled him.
He shrugged. “I got a letter that I had a kid, and…” He whooshed out a long breath. “And here I am.”
Here he was—here they were, and I lowered my shoulders and winced at how out of his comfort zone my old friend seemed.
“Recently?” Nina asked.
He nodded, raking his hand through his hair as he looked us all over. “Yeah. Very recently. Olivia is a very recent discovery in my life.”
So recent, it seemed, that he was still getting used to the idea of having a child. His hold was awkward, but firm.
The second Olivia pouted, then sniffled with pending tears, Liam’s eyes went wide, like he was bracing for a combustion.
“Shit. Which cry is this? What’s wrong?” he was concerned, but his tone was more for a peer, an adult he commanded in the field, not a toddler.
She wailed, and a soldier covered his ears off to the side of the room.
“Oh, darling,” Danicia cooed, rushing from the kitchen where she’d been lingering, away from the guests. “Want a hand with her?”
Liam nodded quickly, hope in his eyes as he handed the toddler over. “I definitely need a hand with her.”
Romeo chuckled as the family’s doctor bounced and swayed with the toddler.
Liam grimaced, watching how Olivia settled quickly. When I looked at Romeo, seeing the amusement lighting his blue eyes, I knew he’d take pity on my friend too.
“What would you like to drink?” Romeo asked as he held my hand and brought me closer.
I shook my head, surprised so thoroughly that I had yet to even greet him. “Hi, Liam,” I said as we hugged. I stepped back to my man. “This is Romeo, my fiancé.”
They shook hands, and Romeo, quick to notice anyone’s discomfort and singling out when someone needed saving, repeated his drink offer.
“Got any decent beer?” Liam asked, half joking and half sarcastic.
As a member of the kitchen staff nodded and went to fetch his drink, I smiled at Romeo. Having Liam here would be… an adjustment. Or maybe it was the unexpected way he’d arrived with a small plus-one. Regardless, I was excited.
“Danicia seems to have Olivia smiling and happy,” I commented as Danicia and Nina cooed at the girl over toward the kitchen.
Liam grunted a laugh. “Better than I can.”
“Rough going?” Romeo guessed.
Liam sighed and glanced around as though scoping his surroundings. I caught him frowning again when he spotted Eva at the other side of the room, who’d just walked in while talking to Franco.
“Yeah. Very rough,” Liam admitted. “Sorry I’m underdressed for whatever you’ve got planned tonight.”
I patted his arm, feeling sorry for how bewildered he looked. That was Liam, though, rolling with the punches and making the best of any situation he faced. “You’re going to have to fill me in on a lot more details. But later. Right now, I’m excited for you to meet the family before we join the party.”
Romeo draped his arm around my shoulders, and I grinned up at him. Notwithstanding the surprise Liam brought with him, I was so happy, so thrilled that I finally had a family, one I could be proud to call my own. One I’d treasure forever, especially my hero who I couldn’t wait to marry.