“Let him have his moment, okay?”
Andino glanced over at her as they came to a stop at the front door of a quaint Florida beach house. “Pardon?”
“My dad,” she said, laughing a bit. “Just … he might try to size you up, or something. Let him have his moment. I know he won’t actually scare you, but would it hurt to let him think it did?”
He raised a brow at her, and Haven wanted to laugh at the amusement dancing in his eyes. “But this does scare me. I don’t have to fucking pretend.”
That was not the reply she had been expecting from him.
“Why would this scare you?”
“Meeting your parents at the same time we’re going to tell them we’re getting married in a couple of weeks?” Andino made an anxious noise, and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Also, if you missed the memo, I didn’t have relationships. I don’t know how to do the whole meet the parents thing, Haven.”
“Awe,” she cooed, reaching up to pat his cheek. His facial hair tickled her fingertips. He was due for a shave, but she loved the feeling of it between her thighs first thing in the morning. He knew it, too, so he’d been holding off. “Poor you.”
“Stop that,” he murmured.
“But it’s cute.”
“Keep doing that, Haven, and I will tan your ass later.”
She winked. “Promise?”
Andino groaned, and stared up at the sky. “Stop it, woman. I don’t need a fucking hard on when—”
“Are you two just going to eye fuck each other out on the porch, or come inside?”
Haven laughed at the way the color drained from Andino’s face at the male voice filtering out from the opened window. Apparently, her parents had been listening the whole time if the laughter coming from inside the house was any indication.
“Jesus Christ,” Andino mumbled under his breath.
A wild, anxious gleam lit up his gaze as it turned on her. She could tell he was silently asking her what the fuck to do, but she didn’t know what to do for him. Her parents were pretty laid back, all things considered.
And still, even after all their years, very much in love.
Haven often stayed in hotels when she visited simply because of how in love her parents still were. She’d gotten woken up by their antics one too many times over the years, and as an adult, she just didn’t need to be hearing it anymore.
“Well?” her father called again. “I hear we have something to talk about. I did just hear marriage, didn’t I?”
“Neil! Stop it,” Mae hissed. “I would like to talk to them before you run them off.”
“I’m not gonna run them off, woman.”
“Keep thinking that.”
Andino was still looking at her in that way.
Haven only laughed, and shrugged. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be great.”
How could it not be?
After all, she loved him. And so, they would love him, too.
The front door swung open, and Haven’s father loomed in the doorway. Loomed was an appropriate word considering her Irish and German father stood at eye level with Andino, and in size, filled up the whole doorway. Much like Andino did standing on the other side.
“Andino, is it?” Neil asked, cocking a brow.
Behind her father, Mae lingered close. Her mother beamed—all tiny and sprite-like with her painting smock on, and her wild curls pulled high into a messy bun. At least this time around, the chemo wasn’t taking huge chunks of her mother’s beautiful strawberry blonde hair. Medical advancements were miracles, really.
“Oh, move, Neil,” Mae muttered, pushing her much larger husband out of the way. Her mother bounced out the doorway, and gave her daughter a hug first before doing the exact same thing to a still quiet Andino. Mae pulled back, and gave him a look. “You are handsome.”
Haven grinned.
Andino blushed, and cleared his throat. “Thank you.”
“He is, isn’t he?” Her mother glanced back at her husband. “Isn’t he?”
“Mae,” Neil started to say, “I am not going to—”
“What, he is!” Mae smiled widely again. “I hope you like steak.”
“Love it,” Andino said.
“Good. You can help Neil cook. I paint—I don’t cook.”
Andino’s laughter filled the front yard. “I can absolutely do that.”
Her mother gave Haven a look. “And he cooks, too. I approve.”
Neil only laughed.
Because really, what else could they do?
Yeah, it was going to be great.
It couldn’t be anything less.
• • •
The movement around Haven’s still form seemed chaotic, and while she knew this was a big day … these women, and even her, had every single reason to rush, all she could do in that moment was stand there and watch.
How long had she wondered …
How often had she asked …
Haven never thought—after everything that happened—this day would be possible for her and Andino.
Their wedding day.
So, maybe her still daze could be excused because this was all a little surreal for her. Oh, she was happy. So happy. She wanted Andino more than anything else in her life—hadn’t she proven that time and time again?
It was only Andino’s mother stepping in Haven’s line of vision that broke her daydreaming. Kim wore a soft smile—as proud of a mother as she could be. The woman really was sweet, and wonderful.
All the Marcellos were, really.
They were just … protective.
Careful.
A little too cautious about those they allowed inside their family, and what the consequences might be when they did allow someone as close as Haven now was with them. And she understood, too.
They had something to keep safe.
This life.
Their love.
All of it.
She didn’t blame them for the hesitance they might have felt about her, or the warnings they’d repeated again and again. None of it had been personal … not when business and family was on the line, too.
Haven knew this now because she was one of them.
Or she would be.
Soon.
And once that little fact had become officially decided—although Andino hadn’t really given anyone a choice in the way he handled his business to get what he wanted—the rest of the Marcellos were quick to do what they needed to do for Haven. Anything and everything—she was pretty sure if she asked, they would try to give her the world.
She had a family.
A beautiful family.
She also had a second one, now.
“Did you decide?” Kim asked. “Birdcage, or traditional for the veil? Jordyn brought both.”
Across the room, the woman in question held up both options for Haven to decide.
“What do you think?” Haven asked. “I like both.”
“If we were in a church,” Kim said, glancing over her shoulder at her sister-in-law, “then I would say traditional. But we’re not in church, and the birdcage would fit your dress better. But that’s my opinion. This is your day. And you can have whatever in the hell you want.”
“Yes, she can,” Catrina called as she slipped between the rooms. “And you should choose the birdcage!”
Haven laughed. “Birdcage, then.”
Kim nodded. “Sounds good. We should start getting you ready beyond …” Her future mother-in-law waved a finger at Haven. “This. You can’t walk down the aisle in a robe.”
True.
Although, Haven didn’t think Andino would care how she came down the aisle to meet him, or what she looked like as long as she did it. He would be there to meet her at the end, of that, she had no doubt.
There was no need for cold feet.
Not today.
“Let me grab your dress,” Kim said.
“Thanks,” Haven replied, smiling.
At least her makeup and hair was done—one less thing to worry about. A quick check of the clock on the bedroom wall told her they were getting dangerously close to the time the wedding was supposed to start.
From the moment she woke up that morning in the Marcello mansion, no one stopped moving. That’s sort of what happened when you only had a month to plan a wedding, and there was a mafia war raging on the streets outside of their safe homes. Everything had to be planned down to the finest of details—nothing could be left to chance.
Even their safety—given how violent and dangerous the streets were right now with the Calabrese family on their rampage—was taken into account every step of the way for this day. In fact, while they were safe inside the Marcello mansion, and would be until the dinner and reception later that night in a Manhattan hotel, there was an enforcer posted at the doorway of Haven’s room.
None of the women questioned his presence. He barely said a thing, and they didn’t even acknowledge him. Not that he seemed to mind—he was there to do a job, and very little else.
He was not the first guard she noticed today.
Or the second.
Apparently, there was a small army of them.
Nothing left to chance.
“Has anyone heard from my mom or dad?” Haven asked.
Stillness and silence responded back to Haven’s question. The wedding had been last minute, and despite her mother’s cancer recurring, her father promised to be there. His flight should have left the night before. An early morning flight that would allow him to get in early. Her mother couldn’t come—fucking chemo—but she promised to take lots of pictures for her, and call her right after the ceremony.
Her parents barely batted an eye about the fact she was marrying a man they only met on a couple of occasions when Andino was able to fly down to Florida with her. They never questioned her beyond, are you happy? And when she said yes, they were all too willing to congratulate her.
It’s why she loved her parents.
She wanted them here.
“I can grab your phone,” Catherine, Andino’s cousin, said, “and you could call your dad?”
“Thanks, that’d be great.”
Catherine quickly left the room while Jordyn closed the door right after. With a bit of privacy from the guard, it allowed Haven to slip into her dress when Kim pulled the mermaid-style, lace-covered gown from the thick garment bag. How she had managed to find a dress this beautiful with it’s detailed bodice and elbow-length, sheer sleeves in such a short amount of time … never mind the fact it fit her like a glove without any tailoring … she would never know.
Luck, probably.
Or the universe was giving her another sign.
This day was meant to happen. Andino had always meant to be hers. Haven couldn’t wait to keep him. Forever.
Kim was just finishing doing up the last of the small buttons on the back of Haven’s dress when Catherine entered the room again. She knew just by the look on the woman’s face that … something was up.
“What is it?” Haven asked.
Catherine flashed Haven’s phone. “There’s a couple missed calls from your dad. Voicemails, too.”
Of course.
Because her dad still didn’t understand the concept of texting. Hated it, really. It amused Haven to no end, but not today.
“Let me see,” she said, holding her hand out.
Catherine was quick to hand the phone over. Haven wasted no time unlocking the screen, and dialing the voicemail. She listened to her father explain that he needed her to call him as soon as she possibly could.
Haven’s heart sunk a little lower.
She should have kept her phone on her—someone else took it away because no distractions. This day was supposed to be for her and Andino, and nothing else mattered.
Her father picked up on the second ring with an instant, “I am so sorry, baby.”
Haven blinked, aware that everyone in the room was watching her all of the sudden. She didn’t mind attention, usually, but she had a feeling whatever her father was apologizing for wasn’t going to leave her very happy.
“For what?” Haven asked.
In the background of the call, she could hear muffled voices complaining, and getting louder with every passing second.
“The plane had an engine issue as we were taxing out to the runway,” her father explained. “They couldn’t get another one on standby. I won’t be taking off for another hour or more. I’m not going to—”
“Make it in time,” Haven whispered.
She wasn’t really the kind of woman who cried, and yet, the sharp realization that neither of her parents would be there on her wedding day was the heaviest weight sitting on her chest all of the sudden. She felt the telltale prickle behind her eyes that said tears were threatening to fall.
She didn’t want her father to know that, though.
“I’ll be there in time for the dinner, at least,” he said. “I am sorry. I wanted to be there. Your mom, too.”
“I know, Daddy. It’s okay.”
“It’s not,” he muttered thickly. “I’m supposed to walk you down the aisle. That’s what father’s do. That’s what I wanted to do, Haven. You only get married once.”
She laughed, but it sounded weak. “Maybe we’ll do this again, then, in a few years just so you can walk me down the aisle.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“I know. Please don’t feel bad, okay?”
“All right. Still will, though.”
No doubt.
Across from her, Kim mouthed, “Get the new flight time.”
Haven repeated the question to her father, and once he rattled off the approximate time, she gave it to Kim. She turned her back then to the other women so that she could privately say goodbye to her father. She still had to finish getting ready, after all. This day was going to go forward whether he was there or not, even though she wanted him there so badly.
“I’ll see you tonight, Daddy,” Haven said. “I love you.”
“Love you, too. Try to call your mom.”
“I will.”
Haven hung up the phone, but kept her head lowered even as she turned to face the room again. She really just needed a second or two in order to get her sadness under control. This was still her wedding day.
“I’m sorry,” Kim murmured.
Haven shook her head. “Things happen, right?”
It wasn’t like they could control everything.
No matter how powerful they were.
“Yeah, but we still want someone there, too. That doesn’t change no matter what.”
“True. I really wanted at least one of them here. I know I could walk myself down the aisle—I just wanted him to do it for me.”
“I have an idea,” Catrina said out of the blue, smiling slyly. “Give me five minutes.”
The red-headed woman didn’t give anyone the opportunity to ask her anything before she was gone from the room. Kim and Jordyn, on the other hand, distracted Haven with putting the finishing touches on her look including another layer of lipstick, and placing the birdcage veil. Kim was just clasping the rope of diamonds—a gift from Andino’s grandparents—around Haven’s throat when an unexpected form graced the bedroom doorway.
Dante Marcello had an … imposing way about him. Even on his good days when the man was in a pleasant mood, it was sometimes hard to tell. Right then, however, he smiled when Haven’s gaze met his. Behind him, Catrina gave her a wink and a nod.
“Would you give us the room?” Dante asked.
Kim shot Haven a reassuring smile before she slipped out of the room with Jordyn close on her heels. Dante waited until the women were out of his sight before he stepped inside, and closed the door behind him. Haven wasn’t the type to get nervous, really, but Dante had that effect on people.
Up until recently, he hadn’t exactly been fond of her.
“First things first,” Dante said, his smiling softening as he looked her over, “you look beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m sure I’m not the first to tell you that today, and you can rest assured I won’t be the last. Second—I need to apologize.”
Haven’s head snapped up, and her eyes widened. “For what?”
“For not giving you a chance at first.”
“Oh.”
Dante chuckled under his breath. “They call me a traditionalist—my brothers, I mean. They say in our life, I am the one who is still stuck trying to keep everything as it always was, and I don’t like change.”
“Are they wrong?”
“Not at all.”
Haven smiled; she couldn’t help it. “It’s okay.”
“It isn’t,” Dante returned. “Time moves forward, and the rest of us—mostly me—needs to get in line. The person who comes after me can’t be expected to be me, or do everything as I would. That’s not how we continue to thrive in our life.”
Andino, he meant.
Haven understood.
“And I hope you’re ready, too,” Dante added, “for everything that’s about to change in your life. It’s not easy to be this man you’re staring at—it’s harder to be the wife of a man like this, Haven.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“Do you?”
She knew enough to know she wanted it.
Wanted Andino.
“Yes. I’ve never been more ready.”
Dante grinned. “Good. Now, I have a … well, let’s call it a wedding gift, of sorts, for you.”
“You didn’t have—”
“I do. We all do. Your friend … Valeria Gomez.”
Haven blinked. “What about her?”
“About a month ago, Andino asked me to use some of my contacts—I have the very best given how long I have been around, and who my wife is—to find your friend, or whatever information I could pull.”
Why did her chest feel so tight?
Why was she scared to ask … “Did you find her?”
“We believe so,” Dante murmured. “In Mexico, it seems. When she up and left from your place, did you notice anything strange? Someone following you or her? Did she mention—”
“No.”
“And your place was—”
“Fine,” Haven said quietly. “Nothing was out of place. A couple of her bags were gone. She left a lot of her stuff, and Maria’s.”
“She didn’t have very much to begin with, did she?”
“More Maria.”
Dante cleared his throat. “But what she had, I assume, would be important to her?”
Haven nodded. “She left her mom’s necklace behind. A picture of her sister.”
“And she wouldn’t have left those, you think?”
“Probably not.”
“I have every reason to believe Valeria was taken by force, but in such a way that it would look to you like she decided to take off again.”
God, she didn’t want to ask.
“By the cartel?”
“The Gomez cartel,” Dante confirmed. “She’s married to the son who runs the majority of the operation—Andino said you had that information.”
“She never told me that, though,” Haven admitted. “She never told me anything about why she ran from Mexico.”
“Because she probably didn’t want to be married to him.”
That prickling feeling behind her eyes was back. The tears were threatening to fall again. Dante didn’t miss it.
“Haven,” he said gently, “we know, and so that allows us to do something now. Or call someone who can do something for your friend. This is something for another day. And we will get to it, I promise. Today, though, is all for you.”
“Soon?”
“As soon as we find the right man to retrieve her safely.”
What else could she say?
The only thing that felt appropriate was simply, “Thank you.”
Dante waved a hand. “It’s a little thing, that’s all.”
Haven didn’t think it was so little … nor would it be easy, or safe. She didn’t know a lot about cartels, but what she knew was enough to tell her this wouldn’t be easy at all.
For Val, though …
Well, it might be worth it.
“Also, my wife mentioned something,” Dante said, bringing Haven’s attention back to him for a moment. “Your father is stuck somewhere, huh?”
“Engine problems.”
Dante frowned. “I’m sorry.”
“Shit happens.”
“At the worst possible times.”
That made her laugh. “Right?”
Because where was the lie?
“I was hoping,” Dante continued, “that you might give me the honor of walking you down the aisle. I want to welcome you into our family, Haven, and make it very clear that this is where you belong to anyone who might be wondering where I stand. And what better way than to be the one who walks you to your future?”
Haven stared at the man, quiet and still. “Really?”
“Really. If you would allow me to. It would be the greatest honor for me to do this for you, Haven.”
Well, then …
“Okay,” she said.
• • •
Dante peered around the grand hallway that led into the main ballroom. All the sheer tulle hanging from the ceiling only accentuated the vaulted aspect. Soft lavenders and pale pinks melted together in all the decorations.
It was beautiful.
“They really came together for this, didn’t they?” he asked. “Our wives certainly know how to decorate this place.”
Haven agreed. “It’s something else.”
“As long as you like it.”
“I do.”
And she was so grateful.
The music changed in the ballroom—the muffled noise filtered out beneath the cracks of the closed door. Haven took a deep breath, and relaxed. It was almost time.
Dante smiled down at her. “Ready?”
“You don’t even have to ask.”
“Thought I should give you one last chance to escape the Marcello craziness. It’s only fair.”
“Nowhere I would rather be.”
Dante squeezed her hand that was tucked into his elbow. “Well, then let’s get you married, Haven. By the way, your father’s plane landed twenty minutes early, and with the way my man drives … he will get here in lots of time to see you before we move to the reception.”
The doors opened in front of them as relief swept through Haven. “Tell him not to drive too fast. My mom needs someone, too.”
Dante chuckled. “Not to worry—as of tomorrow, your mother will have the very best doctors working on her case, and there won’t be a single thing she has to fret over except getting better. And she will get better, Haven.”
Haven stared straight ahead even as Dante’s words filtered into her mind, and the people stood from their chairs. With a gentle tug of his arm, Dante moved them forward one slow step. She barely even realized how quickly they walked the aisle, and that she smiled the whole way.
Because once she laid eyes on Andino, nothing else really mattered. Once she saw him waiting there just like he promised … everything else faded away.
As it should be.
Tall, dark, and handsome. Three-piece suit, as always.
Her entire life was waiting.
He was standing right there.
Andino had a hand out for her to take the second she was close enough to do just that. Heat shot through her palm when her skin connected with his. An electric sensation that passed through her soul, and touched her very heart. Soft, and sure, yet his grip was firm, and possessive. She answered that back by tightening her own hold on him.
“Thank you,” he said to his uncle.
Dante nodded. “Always, nipote.”
Dante left her side, then, and while the priest said something … she was too busy staring at Andino. He was looking back, too.
“I love you,” she whispered.
Andino smiled. “Ti amo. Sempre. That’s my vow to you—forever, Haven. I will love you forever.”
She knew it was true.
This ending of theirs—this happily ever after—was not really the end. Not all endings were tied in a perfect little bow. Not everything could be easily summed up when their story was one with many roads yet to go. There was more yet to come for them.
More love.
More life.
More everything.
This ending was their beginning. They were just getting started, and life had so much more to offer and teach them.
And she couldn’t wait to learn.