Mrs. Perino, the woman Sage and I had lived with when we were homeless and before I wound up marrying Royce, sets a steaming deep, rectangular dish of baked rigatoni with sausage down in front of us. I breathe in the salty, cheese scented steam rising off the top of it before smiling over it at my amazing new combined family: Angel, Mrs. Perino, Ana, Julia, my father and Sage. In typical Perino style my father’s presence in this home fell right into place like he was some sort of a missing puzzle piece.

“After two days of my cooking, dear Robin. I’m happy to see the color back on your face.” Mrs. Perino hands me a dish of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and flips her ink-black bobbed hair out of her face. “You seem too skinny.”

“What? After two days of your cooking, my shorts hardly fit,” I laugh, shamelessly sprinkling the cheese on top of…all of the other cheese. “Thank God we’ve only begun to tour the Orlando parks, because I’m going to need to walk all of this off over the next few days.”

“Do you and Robin have a plan?” Mrs. Perino asks me. “I’d like to know.I’ll be juggling schedules a bit in case Gregory really does manage to catch a flight here. Do you mind?”

I smile, watching as her cheeks have gone pink because she’d mentioned Gregory. “We’re doing Disney World again tomorrow, Epcot the next day, then Animal Kingdom with Ana and Julia on Saturday as we planned.”

“Which is the day I mean to tell Gregory to arrive,” Mrs. Felix smiles, coloring more, “Because the girls will be out all day and with you on baby-sitting duty, and Angel at work, he and I will have some alone-time to catch up first.”

“Yay for Animal Kingdom! But we should get to go to all of the parks with you,” Ana shouts out. “Why can’t we?”

“Because we can’t miss the first week of second grade.” Julia pulls a face.

“That’s right, young lady. No. Missing. School.” Mrs. Perino rolls her eyes at the both of the girls’ pouting faces.

I smile at them both, and finish telling Mrs. Perino our plans, “After the weekend, the Love family has saved our best, most favorite park, for last. We will do two days at Universal Studios.” I look at my dad and brother, for approval, adding. “Of course depending on weather, all of that could change, but that’s what we’re trying for, anyhow.”

“I can’t wait—it’s been so wonderful already. I also can’t thank you enough for hosting us here—for taking Robin and Sage into your home that first night you met them.” My father flicks a glance at Angel, then takes the grated Parmesan cheese from me and rains tons of it down onto his baked penne pasta. I can tell he’s gone all awkward, because it feels like it’s his fault that Sage and I ran away and ended up down in Orlando. He takes a big bite of his dinner then, and adds, “Mrs. Perino, if you weren’t already in love with Gregory—who by the way is a very good man—I’d get down on my knees and beg you to marry me instead right now. Hell. I may as well try. Will you? Marry me instead?”

Everyone laughs as Mrs. Perino shakes her head, spooning small piles of the baked pasta onto small plates for Ana and Julia while blowing on it to cool it off. “If I weren’t so very much in love, I would definitely consider it, because then I could truly adopt Sage and Robin for myself and keep them forever.”

She winks at Sage which makes him smile wider and wider and Sage answers that with his mouth full. “You are keeping us forever, because I’m not letting you go again. And from now on, Mrs. Perino? Is it’s okay if I please call you Zia? The girls told me it means aunt in Italian.”

“Can I call you that, too? Zia?” I ask, testing the sound of that Italian word, and loving the happy peaceful look on Sage’s face.

Mrs. Perino—Zia—nods, obviously pleased with our request. “You would make me so happy if you called me that. So happy.”

“This means we will all be cousins!” Julia and Ana shout out, as they leap onto Sage and hug him from both sides, nearly making him plop an entire forkful of steaming pasta onto the floor.

“Okay. Okay. Yes. That’s what it means, now sit back down, you two.”

As the girls regain their seats, my dad pulls a face and says, “Don’t expect me to call you that. You will never be my aunt, and I’m going to give that Gregory a run for his money all the way until he puts a ring on your finger,” Dad jokes, laughing.

“You’re too late.” Mrs. Perino laughs more as she pulls out a pale blue box containing a diamond ring that is bigger than the rock Royce Devlin put on my finger to seal our fake marriage. “That’s what I wanted to tell you all. Gregory and I have been dating over since the day you left, Robin. We do it by video-chatting app on our phones each day.”

“I kind-of knew figured,” I say. “But wow, you’re the first online relationship I’ve ever heard of that wound up with a ring so quickly!”

Her high cheekbones flash with color and her accent has ramped-in as she continues, “My Gregory, he insisted on it. He had the little box sent by a special courier just last night, and he proposed to me he while sitting in a dark garden where he was staying in Spain. I was sitting out back in our courtyard. It was not perfect but we both had lit candles, and it was very romantic.” She points to the window with a view of the beautiful little piazza-type courtyard that makes up the space between her home and the three cottages out back. One, the largest, Mrs. Perino calls the ‘piccolo Love cottage’ named after our last name, Love. It used to be her daughter’s—Cara’s—art studio. Before I ran off to marry Royce, Sage and I were supposed to move into it, and we had hoped to stay. Thankfully, since we’ve been back, Mrs. Perino has made it clear the cottage is going to be ours collectively forever. When we’re done staying in New York City, Sage and I, as well as our father, now now our family has a real space to visit here inside of her family’s heart forever.

I hop up to hug her and ask for a closer look at the ring. I’m nearly blinded by the square cut diamond, set in the center of a circle of alternating tiny sapphires and more diamonds. “It’s gorgeous. Why aren’t you wearing it.”

“Did you say, yes to the dude?” Sage asks, also looking at the ring.

“I’ve accepted him, of course.” She nods. “He’s promised to ask me again in person, but that he wanted to make things more permanent between us. He says it’s so people will know that I’m taken.” She puts the ring away, adding, “I’ve decided that only he will place it on my finger when I see him again.”

“Isn’t it sparkly?” Ana sighs out. “I just love it.”

“Damn.” My dad laughs. “That Gregory, he’s a smart man.”

“But she won’t let me wear it.” Julia pouts again. “Gregory told me that when we have the wedding, that Ana and I will have our own little rings from him, too. Because he’s not just marrying her, you know that? He’s marrying our whole family. After the wedding, if we want, we can call Gregory ‘daddy’—if we want.” Julia gives me a look, like she’s still not sure about that idea.

Ana adds, “We’ve never had a daddy before, so…I’m thinking about it a lot. Thinking about saying, yes, too.”

“Aww. That is so cute.” I share a glance with Sage, and then with the smiling Mrs. Perino. Because I know the girls came from a broken and very sad, dysfunctional home, before Mrs. Perino adopted them, I can see a mixture of hope and excitement in their eyes as they look at me to see what I think about all of this, but also, there’s wariness crossing their expressions as well.

I try to speak carefully, worried that I’ll say the wrong thing. “I’m so happy that Mrs. Perino—I mean—Zia, will have Gregory to be her husband.” I dart Mrs. Perino another look before turning to Julia and Ana adding, “It’s also… so wonderful to grow your family, isn’t it? Today you got me and Sage to be your official cousins.” I beam at them, “And I’ll just bet, after you are used to Gregory being part of your family, you will want to call him your daddy, too. He’s really going to be lucky to have you two girls in his life, that’s for sure.”

“Gregory’s a smart man to send the ring. After last night’s Tiramisu and homemade gelato desert, I was all set to break you up, too. Sage was almost talked into helping me, too. But if Gregory is going to get Ana and Julia matching rings, well I can’t interfere. Besides, you ladies seem to be a very expensive bunch—with all of your fancy jewelry.” He winks, making the girls crack up.

Mrs. Perino pulls the plates into a stack in front of her. “The ring he sent is so big that I wonder if it will make my hand feel heavy, and the dough I make for my pastries will stick to it.

“If the dough sticks to it, we all know diamonds and gold are washable. Once it’s on, I say, never take it off.” Angel, her twenty-four-year-old son, and probably the best friend I’ve ever had in my life, because he’s the one who originally saved me and Sage from sleeping in our car when we were runaways, leans back in his seat.

His kind face is a mirror of my happy feelings for his mom.

“Maybe you are right.” Mrs. Perino turns back to us all, smiling. “Robin, I’m so grateful for you and Sage, because—you two are the reason I met Gregory.” She shakes her head, eyes wide with wonder. “You two, how can I ever repay this happiness you gave to me? This gift. What if I had never met you, and what if Angelino had never brought you home for dinner—and what if you had never taken that job with Guarderobe? I sometimes think, this kitchen…this place…it is so magic for us all. It’s how Cara always said to us, everything happens for a reason.”

“I think that, too.” I agree, thinking of how Angel invited us home that night, only because I reminded Angel of his sister, Cara. “There is so much…fate between us all.”

“Angelino, what do you think it is?”

“I say I don’t like speculating on it, but whatever it is, it’s very good.” Angel shakes his head. “And, mamma, what if you stopped calling me Angelino in front of people. Please?

“It means a lot, a ring like that.” Mrs. Perino nods. “A true symbol of love.”

“What about you and your ring, Robin?” Sage points at the ring on my hand. “Why do you still wear yours if you aren’t going to stay with Royce?”

I pull a face and glance at my father, answering, “That’s what Dad asked me last week. So, before you all ask me about it, please know I’m still under contract until our—uh situation becomes official.”

“What’s a situation?” little Julia asks, frowning. “Why did Sage say you are not going to stay with Royce anymore? Isn’t he still your prince?”

“Yes. He is, for now.” I answer honestly, flicking Sage a ‘thanks-a-lot-for-blabbing-in-front-of-the-girls’ glare. “And a situation is…something that’s not quite figured out yet.” I lean down and kiss them each, “Like how your mamma has made me too fat this weekend, so my ring is feeling as tight. Maybe I’ll have to take it off one of these days if she keeps feeding me like this!”

“Mamma. Tomorrow, make salad for Robin. I like her ring where it is.” Ana reaches over and places the tip of one small finger on top of the large center diamond on my ring. “I want all of us girls in the Perino family have a ring. So don’t take it off, Robin. Not until Gregory comes here with ours and we can take a picture together.”

“What a cool idea. I hope I’m here for that,” I evade, but over their heads I shake my head so Sage and my father get the signal to end this conversation.

“A picture is a beautiful idea,” agrees Mrs. Perino smiling, but this time it doesn’t reach her eyes and she looks worried.

It’s obvious Ana and Julia still think I’ve married the ‘handsome-prince’ who drove me away in a black stretch limo while wearing a bride’s veil to marry me the last time we saw them,. Of course Gregory proposing to Mrs. Perino and promising them rings, and the wedding chatter that is going on now has made this whole Cinderella complex the girls have even worse. No need to frost up their rose colored glasses about ‘love and marriage’ by explaining how they’re getting the legit-dream-family, while I’m getting a sad divorce. I’ll explain it all to them one day, but it will be long after they’ve stopped believing in Santa Claus.

Like Mrs. Perino can read my mind she’s quickly sent the girls off to the backyard with oversized bowls of gelato. As the back door slams shut, I quickly catch Angel, my brother and Mrs. Perino up on the same conversation I had with my dad before coming back to Orlando.

“Why do you still wear it?” Angel points at my hand, his obsidian eyes glaring at the ring.

“If I take my ring off people will talk. It’s going to happen soon. The Guarderobe’s Instagram posts have been consistently showing Royce with…” I pause, hating to say her name—hating more that I wince every time I have to say it, like now, as I add, “Showing Royce with Clara. There’s been a lot of laughing with their arms around each other but not a kiss yet. The rumors are really simmering now, because it’s been a whole week of this. Right? One kiss between Royce and that girl should start the boulder rolling down the mountain.” I glance at Sage, who is really up on what Guarderobe has posted. “Do you think I’m right?”

“I have seen the posts with Clara,” Sage gives me a little shrug. “But, Robin— they’re not a big deal. It’s them sitting side by side having dinner with the entire backstage group. Someone—probably Clara herself, zoomed in on the shot and cropped it to look like it’s only the two of them on some sort of a date. But to me it’s obvious they’re backstage somewhere, and that there’s a crowd around them. That’s one the photo that went viral last week. I’ve really been tracking it. That Clara girl made some comments in her own Instagram about how cute she and Royce look together. There was also some bullshit about how she’s been in love with Royce forever, and that she has been for her whole life. So now that she’s posed that crap, people are making up things online, but so far Royce hasn’t liked or commented or posted anything that matches Clara’s posts.”

“Yeah but you said yourself that people are making up…things? Lots of things, so…there you go.”

Sage nods. “True, and I would recommend you stay offline, because it’s going to make you feel sad.”

“I know. I won’t go look.” I laugh a little. “I guess it’s sort of a relief to hear it’s finally spiraling though.” I look up, watching as Mrs. Perino’s happy smile turns to a dark frown that matches Angel’s, and now my father and Sage are doing it, too.

I press on, “Guys, don’t be all protective of me. That’s what we wanted. Part of plan number 3,987, right?” I force a grin. “We have to get people to talk so there’s a good amount of buzz before we split up. I’ve emailed Vere so I could ask her how I should proceed with my own social media posts, but she, like all of them, never wrote me back. That’s making me way sadder than random strangers talking garbage about me.”

“What did you ask her?” Angel asks.

“Stuff like, should I be all cryptic and depressed sounding on my posts? Should I make comments about how Royce doesn’t ever come home to his wife? Or, should I like…post photos of me having fun with…other random guys just how he’s doing over there?” I flick a glance at Angel. “I could post a couple of me, with you, because you’re the only guy I know personally that could compete with Royce’s handsomeness. And with the millions of social media followers I have now, you would wind up hired as a model or something, Angel. Say the word and I’ll change your life,” I joke.

Angel shakes his head, grimacing and laughing. “Thanks, Robin…but…hell-no. I’m good.”

I laugh, too. “But…wait, if Gregory proposed from a garden in Spain yesterday, then I’m not sure where they are on the travel schedule. I’d thought Russia, but now I’m not so sure. Maybe she didn’t answer because they’re in transit to Russia and it’s really far….” I frown, wondering if I memorized the end of the tour out of order. I look at Sage for an answer because he usually knows more than I do but he simply shrugs. From the distressed look on his face I wonder if he’s worrying about me and the break-up still.

“This is last storm we will have to survive—and we’ve survived so many. Guys. Please stop frowning and looking all worried. All of you.” I stand holding my plate and bring it over to Mrs. Perino. “They’ve promised it’s going to be big and fast and final. And…and if Vere Royce don’t check in soon—then that’s because they know Gregory is coming and that he will tell us everything we need to know and do. I’ve got no doubts—and I’m fine,” I layer on the whopping lies. “And they said the break-up will be very quick and very… thorough. So, that’s all good.”

Suddenly everyone at the table looks like the conversation makes them as unhappy as it makes me. As I dry my hands with the kitchen towel, I pause to twist the rings on my ring finger, around and around. Then I test how it feels if I push them up against my knuckle like I might take them off. But…even though, maybe I really should just do it, I still don’t have the heart to pull them off.

Not yet. Not today…

Like she’s trying to change the subject and doesn’t care that she’s being obvious, my new, awesome, Auntie-Zia Perino clears her throat. “Robin. Tomorrow after you return from taking Sage to Disney World, you will have the birthday party that was taken away from you.” She blinks when I don’t seem to comprehend what she’s saying. “Is it okay? I know you have many days to see the parks, but it would mean you and Sage have to come home early. Around six? Ana and Julia have been pestering me to do this, and after all of this sad conversation, I think it’s a good idea. We still have many wrapped presents for you in the closet that were never opened that crazy night of your birthday months ago. And, I say, why not? But only if you’re willing to let us sing to you and put out the candles and string up the piñata again?”

“Yes. An awesome idea.” Sage leaps up from the table. “As long as we don’t have to put on stupid prince and princess costumes this time.” Sage is grinning now. “Dad never got to see you turn eighteen, and we never blew out candles on a cake, which means, Robin you never made a wish that night. Angel and I also never had the chance to show you the home-made slip and slide that we duct taped together out of tarps, either. It was supposed to be your big surprise. We can set it all back up out in the yard, and have a fresh-start do-over party. Say yes? I’ve got a present for you, too.” His big blue eyes have grown so wide and earnest I have to laugh at him.

“Dad? You down for it, Dad? Even though I said we couldn’t turn back the clock, maybe on this one thing, we can.” I ask, locking eyes with my dad who’s eyes still seem shrouded with doubt. “And…Mrs. Perino makes the most amazing cake.”

“I’d be honored to have the chance to go back and share the milestone of you turning eighteen. But if we do it—well…” He shakes his head. “I just…hope it will be perfect for you, honey, that’s all,” he whispers, suddenly looking older and sort of worried.

I shake my head. “Dad. I’ve learned a long time ago that perfect isn’t worth shooting for, because that could make you insane. It will be fun and memorable, and very…great.It will be all about celebrating our new, awesomely re-formed families. Which…is all that matters, right? Family?”

“Right.” Dad’s shoulders seem to relax some with that. He pauses to send a look and a little smile out to Sage and Mrs. Perino. “Great, it is, then. One great family party.”