I watched her sleep beside me, treasuring the final moments before Luca woke up and pounded on the door. Her hand rested on her chest, and her hair was all over the pillow. When she was asleep, she was even more beautiful.

A few minutes later, she finally woke up. She opened her eyes first, released a relaxed sigh, and then turned her gaze on me. She focused on my face for a moment before the smile crept onto her lips. “Morning.”

“Morning, sweetheart.” My hand went to her stomach then drifted to her hand. I placed my hand on hers, the weight of my palm bringing attention to hers.

Her hand moved underneath mine, and that’s when she flinched. She turned her gaze to her left hand and narrowed her gaze on the diamond ring sitting on her left ring finger. As if she couldn’t understand if this was a dream or not, she still didn’t react. Only when she brought her hand closer to her face did she understand. “Oh my god.” She jerked upright and gripped her hand with the other, examining the enormous rock I’d picked out for her. It was a beautiful ring, sleek and simple. When she took Luca to school yesterday, I’d slipped out and headed to Florence to pick it out. “It’s so beautiful…” She brushed her thumb over the diamond. “It’s perfect. Yes…a million times yes.”

I tried not to chuckle. “You already agreed to marry me.”

“I know, but now I want to marry you even more.” She cupped my cheeks and kissed me, the metal band touching the skin of my cheek. Her fingers moved into my hair, and she slowly positioned herself on my lap.

I rested my back against the headboard and pulled her closer to me, my body immediately anxious for hers. That ring looked perfect on her, and it would look perfect for the rest of our lives.

Just when the passion heated up even more, Luca came to the door and knocked. “Mom?”

She sighed into my mouth, frustrated.

“Mom?” Luca repeated.

“I love my son,” she whispered. “But I hate him right now.”

If I didn’t love Luca so much, I would probably be just as annoyed. But I found the interruption almost comical since it happened almost every single morning. Morning sex wasn’t common for us anymore. Only when Luca was asleep did we have our fun—but we always made the best of it. “You can make it up to me later.”

She cupped my cheek and kissed me again, her tits right against my chest. “And I will.”

Mia already talked to Luca and explained what was going on, that I would be her husband in a short amount of time. Luca never had a father figure in his life so it wasn’t clear how he would react to it, but he seemed fine with it.

But I decided to talk to him on my own.

I sat across from him at the kitchen table. He just finished his after-school snack, and his homework was spread out around him. Math was his worst subject, but since it was my best, I was able to help him.

Luca put down his pencil and looked at me, his brown eyes identical to his mother’s. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“Your mother.”

“What about her?” he asked.

“I know she told you that she and I were getting married.”

Luca stared at me blankly, like that information didn’t mean anything to him. Maybe he didn’t care about any of this at all. After living in an orphanage, he was probably used to changing circumstances.

“I thought we could talk about that a little bit…just the two of us.”

“Okay…”

Normally, when I spoke to Luca, it was easy. But then again, we were talking about math homework, swimming, or dinosaurs. This kid was just eight years old. There was so much he didn’t understand. “Do you know anything about your dad?” Mia had told me she’d told him, but I wasn’t sure if he remembered.

He nodded. “He left when Mom was pregnant with me. She never saw him again.”

“And that was wrong of him. Thankfully, your mother didn’t need him in the first place. She’s strong and capable, and she loves you so much.” I only wished I’d been there to help her. I never would have turned my back on her. What kind of man did that?

“I know she does,” he whispered.

“I want you to know that’s never gonna happen with me. I’m never gonna disappear, Luca.”

He fidgeted with his pencil and avoided my gaze for a while. “You aren’t…?”

“Never.” It was wrong to make a promise like that to a child unless you were going to keep it. But I was definitely going to keep it. “I love your mother very much, and I will treat her right. And I also love you…” The words flew out of my mouth so easily. I’d become attached to this young boy so easily because his joy was infectious.

“I love you too, Carter.” He looked up at me again.

Instantly, my eyes began to water. I wondered if this was how my father felt about me, if his heart skipped a beat when I said things like that. “So…it’s okay if I marry your mom?”

“That means we would live here with you?” he asked. “Like…forever?”

“Yeah.”

“That sounds good to me. My mom seems happy here. She smiles a lot.”

I knew I wasn’t the reason for that. Luca didn’t understand that he was the source of all her joy. I made her happy to a certain extent, but Luca would always be everything to her. I would always come in second—which was fine with me. “Yeah, she does.”

“So, that means you’re my dad now?”

“Uh, if you want me to be. You can keep calling me Carter. But if you ever wanna call me Dad…you can.”

“Cool.” He picked up his pencil again. As if a serious conversation had never happened, he went back to his homework.

Talking to kids was a lot easier than talking to adults sometimes.

I stopped by my parents’ place in the evening. Now that I’d straightened things out with Mia, I was ready to tell my parents the news. My father already knew, but at least now he was getting the news delivered the way he wanted.

My mother opened the door, both happy and surprised to see me standing there. “Hey, son.” She hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. “Are Mia and Luca with you?”

“No. Just me.” I stepped inside and hugged my father, who was already smiling like he knew exactly why I was there.

“Everything alright?” Mom asked.

“Yeah. More than fine.” I placed my hands in my pockets before I looked my mom in the eye and told her about Mia. “I asked Mia to marry me. She said yes.” I couldn’t keep the grin off my face, couldn’t hide the thrill of happiness it gave me. She was so happy with the ring I gave her, happy with the life I offered her.

Father smiled. “Wow, that’s really great news. Congratulations, Carter.”

Mom took a second longer to react, but that was because her response was a million times bigger. “Oh my god, that’s so great!” She cupped her mouth with her palms and screamed into her hands before she jumped into my arms. “That makes me so happy, Carter. Mia is absolutely lovely, and so is her son.”

“Yes, they both are.”

Mom cupped my face and kissed my cheek before she stepped back. “It’s been such an exciting week for the Barsettis. We’re so lucky.”

I definitely felt like the luckiest man in the world. “Thanks for being so understanding about this. I know most parents wouldn’t be too thrilled about her past…but you guys raised me to be better than that.”

Mom smiled. “We raised you to be an incredible man…just like your father.” She moved into his side and fit under his arm as Father wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “We couldn’t be happier.”

“Since tomorrow is Vanessa’s wedding, I thought we would keep this to ourselves.” I didn’t want to spoil her day with my engagement, not that she would care about anything else besides Griffin.

“Carter, no one is gonna care,” Mom said. “We’re all family. If Mia and Luca are part of our family, then they need to be treated that way. Don’t make her hide her ring. That would be wrong.”

Since they thought it was okay, I decided I would be honest about it. “Looks like Carmen is the last one, then.”

“Oh, don’t worry about her,” Mom said. “She can have any guy she wants. She’s just taking her time finding him.”

Father continued to wear his smile, but it faltered slightly. “Or, she could move back in here and just live with her parents forever…”

Mom hit him playfully. “Carmen is a grown woman. You need to get it over it, Cane.”

“Not possible,” Father said. “Look how long it took Crow.”

“And you better have learned from his mistakes.” Mom left his side and came back to me. “Why didn’t you bring her over here with Luca?”

“I wanted to talk to you alone first,” I said. “Give you some warning.”

“Warning?” she asked, bewildered. “This is the greatest thing ever to have happened to you, Carter. There’s nothing better than having a family. Money and ambition are important, but only for so long. Eventually, those things don’t matter…only the people you love. I’m excited to see Mia, my new daughter…and my new grandson.”

Conway and I shared a drink together in the study at his father’s home. Sapphire and Aunt Pearl were with Reid in the living room, and Crow was working on the yard outside preparing for the wedding tomorrow.

“Did you get the house?” Conway and I didn’t spend as much time together anymore, not since his life changed with a wife and kid. Now that I had Mia and Luca, I understood how much priorities shifted.

“We did.” He drank his scotch then licked his lips. “We’ll get the keys on Monday.”

“You must be eager to get out of here.”

He shook his head slightly. “Not really. It’s been nice spending time with my parents since I’ve been living in Milan for so long. Sapphire loves it. Honestly, she would want to live here forever if she could have her way.”

“Really?” I asked, surprised since Conway was such a solitary person.

“My mom has been doing a lot with Reid, and that’s really made it easier on both of us. Sapphire adores my parents. I can tell she sees them as parents…sees them as the family she never had. That’s made me more patient about living here.”

“Uh, what about sex?”

“My mom takes care of Reid, so that’s not a problem. Since we’re on different floors, we have our own privacy.”

I loved my parents, but I could never live with them again. Even if Mia and I had a baby, I wouldn’t want my mom to move in with us to help. “It’s a shame we don’t hang out the way we used to. We’re two miles apart, but we never see each other.”

“It is a bummer. But in a few months, it’ll be easier. Reid needs a lot of attention right now.”

“That’s fine. You should treasure this time with him.”

“And I do.” He poured more scotch. “I love that kid so much. I didn’t think I’d love anyone more than Sapphire, but I do. I’d take a bullet for him in a heartbeat. Sometimes I can’t sleep at night because I worry about him…even though he’s perfectly safe with my mom. Fatherhood was never appealing to me, but once he was here…it all clicked.”

That was exactly how I felt about Luca. “I’ve fallen hard for Mia’s son. Nice kid.”

“Yeah, he seems like a sweetheart.”

I finished off my glass before I told him my news. “So, there’s something I want to tell you.”

“You knocked up Mia?” he asked, dead serious.

“No. I asked her to marry me.” I watched his expression, unsure what he would think about my quick engagement. I hadn’t known Mia that long, but it seemed unlikely I would ever feel something for another woman again. Mia was special in more ways than I could express.

“You’re serious?” He slowly lowered his empty glass to the table, his eyes stunned.

“Dead serious.”

“Jesus.” He slammed the glass onto the table. “Why didn’t you lead with that?”

I shrugged. “We haven’t talked in a while, so wanted to break the ice a bit.”

“I can’t believe it. Carter Barsetti takes a wife.” He ran his hand through his hair, his eyes showing his surprise but his lips showing his smile. “I’ve seen you ass-fuck two women in one night. Now you’re marrying someone—with a kid.”

“Yes…pretty crazy. And do me a favor and don’t mention that story to Mia.”

He rolled his eyes. “Like she would be surprised, man.”

“Whatever. I don’t tell Sapphire shit. That goes both ways.”

“Like I’d ever sell you out. But she’d love you anyway. It doesn’t matter what kind of nasty shit we did before we met them. When you meet the right woman, it’s like that stuff never happened.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you’re right.” It wasn’t like Mia hadn’t seen the worst of me in the past. She loved me anyway, despite my horrendous crimes.

“So, what about Luca?”

“He’s okay with it. We’ve gotten pretty close over the last few weeks.”

“That’s great, man. Looks at us…all grown-up.”

“I can’t believe it either.” I shook my head before I refilled our glasses with scotch.

“When’s the wedding?”

“Not sure. It’ll be something small, something simple and quick. Maybe just a courthouse type thing.”

“Our wedding was small but perfect.”

I nodded, remembering how elegant Sapphire looked on their wedding day. And I’d never forget how happy my cousin looked. “Regardless of what we do…you’ll be my best man?” Conway was more of a brother to me, a best friend. Cousin didn’t describe us appropriately. We’d been through a lot together, our ups and downs, and we carried the Barsetti name with pride. We’d made our parents proud, and now we were starting a new generation, a new legacy for all of us.

Conway looked at me differently, clearly touched by the question. He took a deep breath before a slow smile crept onto his lips. He brushed his nose with his thumb, sighed, and then responded. “You know I will.”