“You’re perfect.” I dot kisses all over her face before gently cupping her cheek. “Do you still want to go ahead with the wedding next week or—”
She cuts me off with a kiss. “Yes. I don’t care if everything isn’t arranged. I just want to marry you, Ben. I don’t care about anything else.”
Warmth spreads across my chest as I hold her against me. “I can’t wait to call you my wife. Nothing else matters to me either.” She yawns, and I reluctantly let her go. She’s exhausted, and I need to let her sleep.
Sierra gets in beside Rowan, and I crawl in behind her, tucking the covers up over all of us. I know she positioned Rowan on the left side of the bed so she could be close to him and me at the same time. Snuggling against me, she takes my arm, draping it over her waist, before she places a soft hand on Rowan’s chest. As if sensing her touch, he moves in closer, pressing up against her, and I feel her melt into the pillows.
“Ben,” she whispers, arching her neck so she’s looking back at me. “Is it over now?”
“It’s over, Firefly.” I press my lips to hers as my palm flattens on her silky stomach. “No one will ever hurt you again.”
Epilogue
SIERRA - SIX MONTHS LATER
“You are going to a lot of trouble tonight, little sis. Anything you want to tell me?” Serena teases, opening the refrigerator and extracting a chilled bottle of wine.
“Can’t a wife cook a romantic dinner for her husband without getting the third degree?” I raise her teasing with sass.
“Well, something smells delicious.”
“It’s meatballs and spaghetti. Ben’s favorite. Natalia gave me the recipe. Apparently, it’s been in the Mazzone family for generations.”
Serena helps herself to a spoonful of the tomato sauce, moaning appreciatively as the flavor explodes on her tongue. “Damn, girl. You should’ve opened a restaurant not a holistic center.”
“That sounds too much like hard work,” I joke as I walk around the island unit to the table.
Ben bought a small building in downtown Greenwich for me as a wedding present, and let me tell you, he got laid a lot on our honeymoon in Fiji for that amazing gift.
We took Rowan with us on our honeymoon because neither of us could bear to leave him at home. When we returned, we settled into family life with practiced ease. Serena asked if she and her kids could stay a little longer, having no desire to return to Chicago, and Ben willingly handed her the keys to the west wing, telling her to stay as long as she wanted.
Rowan, Romeo, and Elisa all started at a local private school after Christmas, and they are settling in well. I spent a few months setting up my new center and recruiting a small team to work with me, providing a host of different treatments and therapies to local clients. We only opened for business two weeks ago, and it’s already booming.
I’m only working part-time because I want to pick up Rowan from school every day and be here with him and my sister in the afternoons.
“Are you eating in here or the dining room?” Serena asks, pulling out silverware.
We have a gorgeous, elegant dining room, but most nights, we prefer eating in the kitchen. It’s warmer and more homey. Even though Ben has a helicopter now—which means he comes home from the city every night—it’s usually too late to join us for family dinner. Normally, it’s just Serena and me and the kids. Plus our bodyguards, of course.
“We’ll eat here,” I say, accepting the silverware and setting it on the table.
“Is Natalia coming this weekend?” she asks, opening a cupboard and removing two wineglasses. Natalia and Serena hit it off from the instant they met, and we have good fun hanging out together when she’s here.
“I’m not sure. She hasn’t messaged me yet.”
On weekends when she’s not visiting her husband, Gino, in Chicago, Natalia comes here with her twin stepsons. I think she needs to remain close to Ben now that their father is gone.
Angelo passed the day after the shootout in the hotel, and Natalia is still grieving.
We had considered postponing our wedding, out of respect, but Natalia insisted we go ahead with it, saying it’s what her father would have wanted. She told us how he thought Ben would be the eternal bachelor and how delighted he was when we got engaged even if I wasn’t Italian.
Or so we all thought at the time.
Isn’t it ironic that I ended up being the traditional Italian wife after all?
It’s as if destiny was at work this entire time, and none of us knew.
“I thought Gino was only supposed to be in Chicago for six months,” Serena says, pouring white wine into two glasses.
“That was the initial plan, but things are taking longer than expected, and it looks like he will have to stay there for at least another six.”
Ben has stayed true to his word, updating me on the details of what goes on in his world. Thankfully, things have settled down in recent months. The Commission is now a united organization comprising all the US famiglias. They are still working through the details, but having ultimate cooperation between all Italian American made men, for the first time in years, is a big deal.
A lot of that is thanks to Ben’s tireless efforts, and he seamlessly took over as official Mazzone don with no issue. His reputation spoke for itself, and the men already knew they were in good hands. He worked hard to earn their trust and respect, and now he has their unflinching loyalty.
After The Commission orchestrated a successful reclamation of Vegas, Salerno and his scheming daughter returned to Nevada, and the Russians slunk away to lick their wounds and mourn the loss of their ally. We know they will regroup and retaliate at some point, but for now, we have peace and prosperity.
Things aren’t fully settled in Chicago, but The Outfit is rebuilding under the expert stewardship of acting underboss Thomas Barretta. Ben explained how Thomas believes he is too old to lead their men and that fresh young blood is needed. So, The Commission appointed Gino Accardi, Natalia’s husband, as acting consigliere to work with Barretta in identifying suitable men to take up the vacant key positions.
No one knows DeLuca is dead. (I refuse to refer to him as Father anymore. He lost that right when he kidnapped me and tried to steal my future.) As far as anyone is concerned, he is still calling the shots from Sicily, having thrown his full support behind The Commission and Barretta. The Commission agreed with Ben when he suggested that announcing his death at this time would be too coincidental and might raise suspicion. It would also disrupt The Outfit at a time when things are in flux. So, DeLuca lives on in ghostly form, for now. In a few years, when they have a successor chosen and trained and the timing is right, they will hold a funeral for DeLuca and draw a line under his nefarious reign.
“Here.” She hands me a glass of wine, and I take it without argument.
I finish setting the table and pull myself up onto one of the stools at the island unit. “Sit down.” I pat the space beside me. “Ben won’t be home for a while yet, and I take it Alesso is watching the kids?” I asked Serena if she would take Rowan tonight because I want a night alone with my husband. I love having my sister here, for so many reasons, but babysitting on tap is an added bonus.