Page 225 of Made in Love and Blood

“What it took to get it.”

He wasn’t gonna die with all this money and they wouldn’t bury him with it, either.

He stepped close enough to hand over the folder so that she could look over the details of the property sale while he turned back for the bag. Pulling the square velvet box from the bag, he spun on his heel to open it for Frankie to see.

A bracelet, matching the one she still wore for her new brother, waited. Only now, pink diamonds glittered around the band.

“Inscribed just like SJ’s,” he told her.

Frankie gasped sweetly. “I wondered!”

“There’s a ring for Nico, too. I’ll give that to him before we get started today.”

“Give it to me, please.”

He handed the box over, and Frankie went to work pulling the bangle from black silk to fit on the opposite wrist of the white gold and blue sapphire one that she rarely took off.

“Perfect,” she said, shooting a smile his way.

He already had that third gift waiting. A key chain. It held two keys.

“This one is for the new house,” he said, pointing at a silver key in question.

“And the other?”

A copper-colored key hung with a tag attached. A number stamped on it.

“Storage holding number fifty-three,” Salvatore explained to his daughter. “Everything inside, is yours.”

Confusion lit up her pretty face. “Storage for what?”

Now came the hard part for him, anyway. “Your mother’s things. Her paintings. Her wardrobe. Jewelry. Bags. More, too. Just...Anything I didn’t...”

“It’s okay,” his daughter whispered.

“It seemed like the right time to give it to you,” he said quietly, staring down at the keys in his hands. “Who else should I give it to, anyway?”

“It’s the perfect time.”

He peered up in just enough time to catch Frankie before she slammed into him for a hug that took his breath away from how hard she squeezed.

“I still haven’t decided if I’m ready for what today means,” he admitted against the top of her head.

“You’re ready. It’s just scary.”

Two things could be true...

•••

Behind the large, closed doors keeping the aisle and guests from view, Frankie tittered next to her father. Just ahead of them, Vanna knelt to fix the crinoline that peeked out from beneath the sweeping skirt of Carmen’s blue gown.

For once, the girl looked closer to her actual age.

“I’m okay, Mama,” Carmen muttered.

“Well—”

“I got this.”