Chapter Ten
“Are you ready, Gabriel?” Nino put a hand on Gabe’s shoulder, turning him from the mirror to look him in the eye, the scrutiny in the old man’s gaze telling Gabe that his grandfather wasn’t asking if Gabe was ready for the ceremony.
Was he ready for this life? This wife? This change?
“I’ve never been more ready for anything, Gramps,” he said with a wink.
All of the groomsmen had left the villa to go to the beach for the ceremony, leaving Nino and Rafe with Gabe for the last minute. It was as if his brothers, cousin, brothers-in-law, and father understood that before he walked onto that sand, Gabe needed one last moment with the men he was closest to. One not quite six, one not quite ninety, both perfect in Gabe’s eyes.
He looked over at Rafe, who sat uncharacteristically quietly in an oversized chair, holding the pillow that carried the rings, his little feet swinging, his crisp white shirt and tie slightly obscured by the Spider-Man-themed sling Aunt Vivi had picked for him.
“What about my Ring Man? You all set?” Gabe asked.
His smile was shaky, and he nodded, making Nino and Gabe share a look of concern.
“Hey, kid, your sins are forgiven,” Gabe assured him, coming closer to kneel in front of him. “You know what you did wrong and you know you scared the sh…stuffing out of us.”
“You can say it,” he whispered. “Poppy’s not here.”
“That’s not why I don’t swear around you, Rafe. I want you to be better than I am.”
His little eyes filled, shocking Gabe. “I’m sorry, Dad.”
“I know you are.” He reached forward and hugged his son, his heart swelling with love. “But I want you to forget about it and have a good time tonight. Mum and Dad are finally getting hitched. Same last name, one big family.” With more to come, he hoped. “Big party tonight with dancing on the beach.”
Rafe squished his face in disgust.
“I know,” Gabe said. “Dancing sucks, but the food will be awesome.”
“You’re not mad at me?” he asked for at least the fiftieth time since they got home.
“I’m not mad, I’m not disappointed, I’m not anything except ready for you and me and Mum to have one last name. Rossi.”
“The best name in the world,” Nino added, coming over to put his dinner-plate-sized hands on their shoulders. “You know what it means to be a Rossi?” Nino asked.
Rafe blinked. “I get to be a super-secret spy someday like Dad and Mum were? Or an FBI agent like Uncle Colton?”
Gabe curled his lip. “We’ll keep you out of that hotbed of cluelessness, but I don’t think your great-grandfather means what are you going to be when you grow up. He means what you are now. Right, old man?”
Nino drew his bushy brows together and reached to his own bow tie, adjusting it with no small measure of pride. “It means, first and foremost, you are Italian, the country where I was born.”
“So I’m going to cook?”
“You already cook,” Nino assured him. “It also means you come from a long line of…” He took a deep breath and looked up, thinking of the right word and making Gabe lean a little in curiosity. A long line of what? Do-gooders? Investigators? Bodyguards?
When Nino didn’t finish, Gabe did. “Gun-toting, hand-waving, opinion-giving badasses.”
Rafe smiled but looked up at Nino. “What were you going to say, Great-Grandpa?”
“I was not going to say badasses.” He sliced Gabe with a look, then his expression softened. “But I guess it was the same thing. I was going to say you come from a long line of people who do what has to be done even if it seems difficult or scary.”
“Like going out in the storm to find the rings?” he asked.
Gabe gave a soft laugh. “Not exactly. It’s one thing to be a badass. It’s totally different to behave like a lunatic. The long line of badasses also has to demonstrate some common sense up here.” He rubbed his knuckles on Rafe’s head in a light tease.
“And in here.” Nino leaned forward and put his huge, spotted hand on Rafe’s chest. “Every Rossi has a good heart.”
“Well, there is JP,” Gabe joked. “Every family has one of those.”
“A good heart,” Nino repeated, ignoring Gabe. “And we use it to make decisions out of love. Like the one your father is making today.”
“You love Mummy,” Rafe said, a little mystified by the whole idea.
“So much it actually hurts.”
“Yeah.” Rafe looked down, a little boy embarrassed by the gooey conversation, no doubt. But then he looked up and met Gabe’s gaze with one that was clear, sharp, and freakishly mature for his age. “I love her that way, too. And you.”
Son of a bitch, he was going to weep like a wimp on his wedding day. He held it together and gave Rafe another hug, thanking whomever or whatever decided his life should be this perfect. How the hell did he get so lucky?
Nino smiled and gestured for the two of them to get up. “It’s going to hurt more if she beats you to the altar. Let’s go, men. We have a wedding to attend.”
Rafe scooted off his chair, using his sling to brace the pillow with its well-tied rings, and the three of them walked outside to a shockingly gorgeous sunset.
“Bareass Bay never looked better,” Gabe whispered to Nino.
“I heard that, Dad.”
Gabe snorted and gave his son’s head a playful poke, but kept his gaze on the tones of tangerine and turquoise in the sky, the air crystal clear and fresh, like paradise had been washed clean by the storms.
Gabe and Nino delivered Rafe to Ari, the wedding planner waiting for him. Then they walked over the small wooden bridge, taking in the sixty or so people who sat in rows of white-backed chairs waiting for the wedding to start.
“I never thought your day would be this traditional,” Nino said. “I mean, it is you. I figured you’d hang off helicopter blades or tie the knot on a hillside in an unknown location.”
Gabe laughed as they reached the sand and walked down the planks that created an aisle, smiling at the familiar faces who turned to see the groom and best man arrive. He nodded to some distant cousins, including Johnny Christiano, a good guy even if he worked for the overrated Bullet Catchers up in New York. “Lila wanted the whole white wedding on the beach thing.”
“And you want to make her happy.”
He shot his grandfather a look. “Do you have any idea what I went through to prove that to her today?”
“Poppy told me.”
“She did?” Gabe tried not to show his shock as he glanced over the crowd and checked out the row of impressive men standing up for him. Zach, his cousin, the only human who made Gabe wish he could wear an eyepatch. Marc, his older brother, a sharp investigator and loving father. Colton Lang, his brother-in-law born with a stick up his ass that only Vivi could remove. Mal was there, of course, another in-law like Lang. Even JP looked right as a groomsman, though he’d probably piss Gabe off before the night was over.
“So what did you think of today’s escapade?” he whispered to Nino.
“Stupidest thing I ever heard in my whole life, Gabriel.”
“Seriously. Thank you.”
“But it told me everything I needed to know about this marriage,” Nino added.
They reached the front, and Gabe slowed, more interested in what his grandfather was going to say than the sea of well-wishers, family, and friends who’d come to Florida to witness this wedding. “Like what?” he asked.
Nino smiled up at him, his old brown eyes misty. “That you and Lila will be just like me and my Monica.”
“That’s high hopes, old man.” He didn’t remember his grandmother too well, but years of hearing about her had placed my Monica on a pedestal few women would ever reach. “What makes you think that?”
“Because you love her more than you love yourself, and that, Gabriel, is the key to a long and happy marriage.”
“You think?”
“And lots and lots of…the good thing.” He lifted one bushy brow. “And I don’t mean chicken cacciatore.”
Gabe snorted and got into place. “On that note, let’s do this.” He turned and surveyed the crowd, acknowledging friends with smiles. He threw an air-kiss to his mom and a nod to Dad, next to her in the front row. Suddenly, music started pouring out of the speakers, and Gabe’s smile faded.
Holy shit. I’m getting married.
“You okay?” Nino whispered, probably sensing Gabe’s sudden full-body shock.
Was he? Did he really want to settle down forever with just one woman? After the life he’d led?
He swallowed and kept his eye on the back of the makeshift church on the sand, where a row of women lined up in different shades of the same simple and elegant gown. Vivi, in a peach tone, her dark hair tamed into a smooth style, her pixie-like features more beautiful than ever. Samantha, in pink, whose gaze went immediately to Zach. Gabe leaned forward to see his cousin, his hands-down favorite guy in the family. Zach stood military straight like the former Army Ranger he was, his one-eyed gaze straight ahead, a hint of a smile on his lips as he looked at his wife.
Then Devyn, Marc’s wife, floated in on a cloud of pale blue, and finally, Chessie, who wore lemon yellow and the rare choice of contacts instead of her usual glasses, so everyone could see the blue eyes that only two Rossis had. Well, three, including Rafe.
That little guy came next, walking slow and serious next to tiny Gabrielita, who wore white and the expression of an overwhelmed girl as she dropped flower petals from a basket. When she slowed her step and fear suddenly crossed her precious features, Rafe leaned closer and whispered something to her, and she continued.
Gabe’s damn heart shattered into a million pieces.
Nino gave a slight whimper, and Gabe glanced at him, not at all surprised to see tears in the old man’s eyes. “I love that boy,” Nino said. “He’s you, all over again. Bad to the bone and good to the core.”
“The good part comes from Lila,” Gabe whispered.
“You can say that again.”
Rafe and Lita arrived at the front. Chessie took her daughter’s hand, and Rafe looked up at Gabe with a question in his eyes. Gabe gave him a thumbs-up, and was rewarded with the brightest smile he could remember.
The music shifted to a different chord and slowed a little, drawing every eye to the other side of the beach. Behind him, the sun sent a golden glow over everything, including… Oh God. Look at her.
Was he ready to marry her? Change his life and build a new one with her? Love her more than he loved himself?
A thousand times yes and more.
He felt his jaw go slack as Lila floated in with no escort, just as she wanted to.
Her father and mother had to be watching, Gabe thought, from that special place in heaven for innocent lives lost on 9/11. But she was perfect as a solo bride. One last time, Isadora Winter, who had given up her name, face, and identity to fight people like the ones who took her parents, would walk alone. Now, she’d be Lila Rossi.
And she’d never be alone.
She held her head high, her blond hair shining in the light, her dark gaze locked on Gabe. The tiniest smile lifted her lips as she slowly came up the aisle on the white runner, clearly enjoying this moment when she gave up her independence and last name to irrevocably tie her life to his.
Gabe had no doubts. No doubts that this would be a long and happy marriage. No doubts that they belonged together forever. No doubts that they would spend the rest of their lives laughing, working, building a life and family and love.
She finally reached the end of the aisle, and Gabe took a step forward to join her, taking her slender, smooth hand in his and gesturing for Rafe to come stand with them, as they’d decided.
Her eyes glistened as she looked up at him. “Gabriel, my angel,” she whispered.
“Isadora, I adore ya,” he countered under his breath, as always.
He lifted her hand and brought her fingers to his lips, then turned to the minister who would guide them through their vows. Love, honor, cherish, and, hell, obey. Of course he would. He would do whatever it took to keep her happy today, tomorrow, and for the rest of eternity.
* * *
Read on for a Bonus Barefoot Bay Short Story!
But first, would you like to read the books featuring the characters who appear or are mentioned in BAREFOOT DREAMS? Here’s a complete list of who’s who and where to find them! ALL of my novels stand entirely alone and can be read in any order…but this is the order in which they were written:
The Guardian Angelinos Series
(Zach and Samantha)
(Marc and Devyn)
(Vivi and Lang)
The Original Barefoot Bay Quartet
(Lacey and Clay)
(Jocelyn and Will)
(Zoe and Oliver)
(Tessa and Ian)
The Barefoot Bay Billionaires
(Amanda and Zeke)
(Frankie and Elliott—and the Goats!)
(Liza and Nate)
The Barefoot Bay Brides
(Willow and Nick)
(Gussie and Tom)
(Ari and Luke)
Barefoot Bay Undercover
(The Prequel—Gabe and Nino!)
(Kate and Alec)
(Chessie and Mal)
(Gabe and Lila)
Barefoot Dreams (Gabe’s Wedding)
Barefoot Bay Timeless
(Emma and Mark)
(Beth and Ken)
(Libby and Law)
Special Mention: TAKE ME TONIGHT (A Bullet Catcher Novel featuring Johnny Christiano and Sage Valentine—one of many romantic suspense novels in the Bullet Catchers series.)
For details, excerpts, and more information on all of my books, visit and be sure to sign up for my newsletter to receive a FREE copy of SPACE IN HIS HEART, a stand alone romance with suspense.