“It’s really that serious?” Dante leaned in closer to Angelo.
Angelo nodded. “Kara’s father was in the Irish mob in Dublin. His second-in-command needs Kara to legitimize his claim to her father’s empire.”
“Shit…” Dante muttered. “The actual Irish mob?”
“Yeah. Hence my worries,” Angelo replied. “I called the Cabrinis. They’re going to help if necessary.”
“You called the Italian mob?” His brother met his gaze. “I thought you planned to stay clear of them?”
“I do. But they understand the kind of threat Kara is facing better than anyone else. I need their help. We can’t go to the police.” He’d only told Dante the broad strokes of what was going on, but that was enough. He shared a look with Dante and in that moment he knew what he truly wanted.
“When this is all over? What will you do?” Dante asked.
“Marry Kara, if she wants me.,” Angelo replied without hesitation. “Because I’m in love with her.”
Dante chuckled. “And you’ll both live happily ever after?”
Angelo smiled. “Yes. We will.” He’d spend the rest of his life making Kara happy, giving her the life she’d been denied all those years. It would be one hell of an adventure.
If… if she loved him back and if she said yes.
“Come on, let’s get on the ice.” Dante slapped Angelo’s shoulder and they joined his family on the rink. Angelo wasn’t a great skater, but he was good enough to keep up with Kara as they moved around the rink in wide circles.
“I had no idea you could skate,” he said as he caught her gloved hand in his. He was fascinated by the way her red hair blew gently back from her face as she skated beside him. Angelo narrowly missed crashing into another person because he was so caught up in watching Kara smiling as she moved on the ice.
“It’s been over a decade since I have, but my mother taught me. When we had a chance to go skating we did. I hadn’t realized how much I missed this.” She beamed up at him, and he was relieved to see the shadows gone from her eyes. Last night had left them both feeling raw and vulnerable, but coming to the skating rink with his family had been a great distraction.
“I think Nicholas and Millie are convinced you hang the moon,” he told her.
“They are the sweetest kids.” She smiled as she watched them.
Angelo felt strangely nervous as he took a moment to collect himself, then spoke.
“Would you want kids? Someday?” Angelo asked her.
She took a long moment answer. “Yes… if I knew that my father’s men would leave me alone, if I had a stable job… if I was safe and with a man who would be an equal partner raising them. I’ve seen the toll of being a single parent. It’s hard, andmy mother was amazing. But she deserved help, rest, time away from me to be herself and to find out who she was without just being a mother. I would need a husband who would share in everything equally so we could both still be our own persons and not just parents.”
That was a lot of “ifs” Angelo knew, but he felt confident he could make them all happen.
“And you’d be okay with a man who’d cook you the best food every day?” he added with a grin.
“Yes,” she replied seriously. “Cooking would be a much desired skill in a man since I don’t have that much desire to cook.” She laughed at herself in a light way rather than a self-deprecating way.
“It’s a good thing, to want equal partner in life. I want the same.”
They skated around two people who were moving together awkwardly as they tried not to fall on their backsides.
“And you? Would you want kids?” Kara asked him.
“I would, whenever the time is right with the woman I love. Kids with red hair and big blue Irish eyes…”
She spun around to face him, her movements on the ice elegant as she skated to a stop and he slowed to a halt too.
“Angelo… you haven’t written a cookbook yet, have you?” Her sudden change of topic confused him.
“No, not yet. I’ve been a little intimidated to think about it. Why?”
He had done dozens of interviews for newspapers, and everyone asked him the same question. They all wanted a cookbook, but he had no idea where to start with such a project.
