“If Mom starts crying or you two start making out, I’m out of here,” Jax threatened.
“Before cannoli?” Franklin grinned.
“Of course, not! After cannoli. I’m not an idiot.”
“Yes, you are,” Carter and Beckett chimed in.
Jax kicked both his brothers under the table. But Phoebe was too happy, her heart too full, to yell at them.
“Are you joining us for lunch?” she asked her husband hopefully.
“I think my boss will allow me to take my lunch break,” Franklin winked. “In fact, I think we’re all joining you.”
He whistled through his fingers, and everyone on the patio rose from their seats.
The table that had been hidden behind a palm dropped their menus and Phoebe clapped her hands over her mouth. Michael, Hazel, and Donovan Cardona grinned at her.
And as an off-key rendition of “Happy Birthday” began, the Pierce girls appeared at the patio gate. Joey and Summer, each holding three bottles of champagne worked their way toward her. They were followed by Gia, Emma, and Eva—reliving their restaurant days working for their father—carrying trays of delicate stemware.
Elvira, her dearest friend in the world, was last in the procession carrying a cake that had entirely too many candles on it.
Franklin kissed Phoebe’s knuckles as the song reached its blaring crescendo.
She stood and looked around the patio crowded with her wonderful family and friends. Anthony Berkowicz, son of Rainbow and Gordon and the lone employee ofThe Monthly Moon,jumped out from behind a palm and blinded her with the flash from his camera. Joey shoved him back behind the plant. Nikolai, her other handsome step-son-in-law, stepped forward with his professional camera and grinned at her before capturing the moment.
“I don’t know how to thank each and every one of you for the role you’ve played in making my life so wonderful. I don’t know if I ever can. But I do know this, I’m grateful for you all every single day. You’re more than friends and neighbors. You’re family, and I’m so lucky to have you. And now I’m going to sit back down before I start blubbering.”
There was laughter and applause and a few tears from the crowd, her family.
As the cake was cut, the bubbly popped and poured, Franklin cupped her face in his big hands. “Happy birthday, my lovely wife.”
He kissed her lightly, sweetly, and even then, her heart sang with the joy of a woman who was truly, deeply loved.
