“Hey, baby girl.”
“Woah! DAD! You look freaking awesome!” Jazzy beams and bounces over to him. “All of you do!” she says with a sweep of the room.
He walks over hand in hand with his first true love and takes a seat by the window, pulling her onto his lap as if she were no older than Rian.
“I’m glad you came in,” he tells his daughter. “It’s been crazy around here. I’m sorry we haven’t gotten to spend movie nights together these past few weeks.”
“It’s fine,” she says, reassuringly. “I know it’s for a good reason.”
“You’re always going to be my number one, you know?”
“Always,” Jazzy replies. “Until you add a number two, maybe even three.”
“Jazzy—”
“Dad, I’d want you to,” she cuts him off as if she knows what he’s thinking.
She should know though. Because she’ll always be his number one priority. Even with Ariana. And if Ariana and he decide to have children some way, Jazzy will always be his baby girl. Always.
“Ariana loves you too,” he tells his daughter.
“I know she does. She completes our family, doesn’t she? The one that used to be just you and me?”
“Of course, baby. That, she does.”
“Stella, can I have a moment?” he asks.
He has less than fifteen minutes before he needs to make way to the altar but he needs to do this. It took him almost five minutes to find where Stella’s been throughout the venue.
“Sure,” she says with her warm yet tentative smile. “Is everything okay? The last time the wedding planner reported to me, she said all the important guests are here. And I saw both Dom, Lilliana, and Nico just a few moments ago.”
“Yeah,” he answers her. “Everyone’s here.” He steps into the room and closes the door behind him before stepping toward her.
“You look amazing,” he tells her.
“So do you! Definitely a ten,” she replies with two thumbs up.
“I never got the chance to tell you, Stell, how sorry I am.”
Stella’s gaze drops from his face to just a point in the middle of his chest.
“This thing with you and Derrick. I take full responsibility. I was arrogant and I underestimated—”
“Adam,” she cuts him off. “You don’t need to do this. You don’t need to say anything.”
“But this thing with you and Derrick. It can be fixed. You both deserve it. You know that.”
She smiles and finally looks back up at him.
“You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t take a moment out of your day to try and make at least one of your brother’s lives better, wouldn’t you?”
He doesn’t respond.
“I love Derrick with every ounce of my being. This whole thing, I know it’s not his fault. It’s not yours either, Adam. If anyone is to blame, it’s me. While we all underestimated Isabella, I overestimated myself. Essentially, my doing is what brought her into our lives to begin with. I’m sorry.”
“Forgiven,” he immediately answers. “Because without these events, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be waiting at the end of that aisle for my perfect woman.”
She smiles at that but he knows how much it’s taking her to give him that smile.
“This thing with me and Derrick will take time. I’m not sure how to get us back to the way things were without remembering her on him.”
“With a kiss, Stella.”
He bends and softly brushes a kiss to the soft of her cheek, his hand gently cupping his sister’s face. Because that’s who Stella truly is. She’s a sister, not just a sister-in-law. His thumb brushes away the tear that threatens to trail its way down.
“Derrick’s heart started beating again all because you kissed him. Start there.” He turns and begins to walk away but feels her pull on his hand.
“Before we get you hitched, there’s something I want to tell you. Consider it a wedding gift,” she says.
“I’m listening but we don’t have that much time left.”
She nods at him before she begins.
“The East Coast Famiglias don’t know about Ariana yet. They don’t even know what really happened to Isabella and Cristian only that it might have been a deal gone wrong. Matteo Romano has no ill-will towards her and he’s ready to support her every move to make up for how his family has treated her so far. I’ve also spoken to Dom about this in great lengths.”
“Okay?”
“What I’m saying is that…Ariana has a choice. She can step in and Matteo Romano is ready to publicly accept her as a Romano, a princess to the Romano empire. BUT,” Stella says. “If she chooses, she has the option to remain Ariana Giallo. Soon-to-be Ariana King, of course. She can choose not to have anything to do with their business.”
“But the deal with Dominic,” he reminds her.
“Dom is letting it go since the other famiglias didn’t know there was an intended arrangement. The other Dons of The Five were told that anything heard about Isabella being connected to the Kings was merely a rumor. Matteo corroborated.”
“Dom’s doing it for you. As an apology for him trying to force you into his fold and nearly destroying your marriage,” he finishes.
“Yes,” she replies. “No one knows about my relationship with Dom. Matteo doesn’t even know. You can all remain Kings of your empire without animosity.”
“And you? You’ll be safe? There’s no catch to this?”
“No catch,” she says with a smile. “I promise. Trust me, Dom is still getting what he wants. We can still openly see each other. The Kings will just be another friend to their organization. Not umbrellaed under them. Not controlled by them.”
He returns to her and gives her a huge hug and a kiss to the crown of her head.
“Thank you, Stella. I’ll talk to my brothers…your family…as soon as I can so we can decide.”
He releases her and she follows him through the door.
“Come on, old guy. Let’s get you married!”
He laughs and practically chases her down the hall after that.
Epilogue
“Adam?” his wife asks him when she sees what’s in front of her. Her brows narrow inquisitively before she bursts into smiles.
“ADAM!” she screams at him before covering her excitement with her hands over her mouth. “You didn’t! Tell me you didn’t!”
“I can’t exactly tell you that because well, I did,” he replies, gesturing to the new headstone above her mother’s plot.
“Oh, my God! It’s beautiful, my love. It’s elegant yet simple. It’s…it’s perfect,” she says.
He reaches for her, pulling her up against him so that their bodies are flushed and they are faced to face.
“YOU are perfect,” he tells her. “My wife.”
It’s been two months of pure fucking wedding bliss and he still can’t get enough of her. He’d found he’d gotten used to introducing her as his wife in no time. Who would have thought?