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“Sister Iva gave it to me.” His eyes were somewhere else, fixed on the past trapped in his head. “Another family had been and gone, and they’d chosen another kid. Like always. She found me crying in one of the cupboards, and I told her that I thought I would never have a family.”
Hearing Nico’s stories always hurt like hell. Marianna walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her cheek to his chest. He smelled like lemons and oregano leaves, fresh from their trip to the market earlier that day.
“She told me that one day I would leave the orphanage and that I might be on my own for a while. But that eventually I would find the people who were meant to share my life and, in the meantime, the cat would be my family.” He rested his cheek against her hair. “I carried that damn thing everywhere.”
“And now you’ve found your family.” She blinked back her tears, squeezing him as tight as she could. Every day she told him that she loved him, hoping that with enough repetition he would start to let go of the past. “Not just me and Katherine, but my brothers and Felicity. And Dion and Jules.”
That had been the biggest surprise of all. After their rocky start, Jules had taken the time to get to know Nico, and they had much in common. And her brothers had eventually been won over too. Matthew now worked for Precision Investments as an innovation consultant, putting his tech skills and wild business ideas to profitable use. It was good to have one of her brothers in Corfu year-round.
As for the others, well, they were all on the island now, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the first in the next generation of the Halsey-Gallinas family.
“We’re all your family,” she said. “Not because we’re connected by blood, but because you chose us. Because you let us love you.”
“I wouldn’t be here without you,” he said. “You know that, right?”
“I do.” She grinned up at him. “I’m pretty awesome.”
He chuckled. “Yes, you are.”
At that moment, a cramp seized her belly, gripping like a fist and squeezing her hard. “Oh my god,” she gasped, clamping her eyes shut for a second until the feeling passed. “I think it’s happening.”
“Are you ready now?” he teased, excitement dancing in his dark eyes.
“Not even a little bit.” She pressed her hands to her belly. “But I’ve got you and I’ve got our family. That’s all that matters. I love you so much.”
“I love you, too, Marianna. I can’t wait to meet our little girl.”
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Acknowledgments
Every book is a team effort, but this one was even more so. I must thank my husband for taking me on my first overseas trip back in 2005 and for igniting my desire to travel. Though our travel styles are not exactly compatible, there’s no one else I’d rather have by my side as I see the world. All the wonder we’ve shared on our trips was poured into this book.
Huge thanks to Liz Pelletier for helping me to bring this story to life. Your editorial input and the push you gave me to keep digging into these characters is what made me love this book so much. Thanks for your encouragement and support of my writing.
Thank you to the team at Entangled for always being a great group of people to work with. Thanks to Hannah for your incredible attention to detail during copy edits (and for teaching me about octopodes!). Thanks to Jessica, Riki, Katie, and Debbie for continuing to support my books, for answering my questions, and always being super friendly and responsive.
Thank you to my incredible agent, Jill Marsal, for everything. I could write an entire book on all the ways you help keep me on track. Thanks for your words of wisdom, most of all.
Thank you to all my writer friends, especially to Jen Hayward for saying “of course you can write an accidental pregnancy/marriage of convenience story.” And thanks to Denise for being my conference buddy and dragging me out of my introvert shell at regular intervals. Thank you to Demetra for agreeing to provide input at the last minute with such short timelines! I really appreciate it.
Lastly, thank you to my coffee machine. Without you, I would not function.
