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“I hope so,” Harold says.
Rosie laughs. “Ignore her, Harold. She loves picking on people.”
“I called him the poshest man in America,” she cries, smiling. “I’d label that a compliment.”
We all chuckle, but I keep something back, a piece of me that has to be ready for war no matter what happens. I grip the steering wheel hard, despite myself, despite knowing that remaining calm is the best way to make this work.
But my anger is less obedient today than it normally is.
These motherfuckers are tailing me when I’m with my woman, with my future mother-in-law, with the man who cared for my father in his final days.
Who the fuck do they think they are?
Rosie reaches across, touching my forearm.
“Relax,” she whispers, just loud enough for me to hear as Jackie and Harold keep bantering from the backseat. “We’re all going to be okay.”
I relax my hands with an effort, and then she touches my face and I smirk, realizing I’m clenching my jaw, too.
“There,” she smiles. “All better, right?”
I smirk. “Yeah, except it’s hard to focus on the road when you’re sitting next to me.”
“Hey, enough of that,” Jackie smiles.
I chuckle. “Sorry, ma’am.”
“See?” Jackie flares, full of life. “This is a man who understands manners. I told you he was a keeper, Rosie. I’m glad you’ve taken my advice for once.”
Rosie giggles, rolling her eyes.
“I’m glad I followed your very wise advice as well, Mom.”
She throws me a look, all silent communication, as though the years have fallen away and we’ve already been married for decades. I can read every tiny change in the implications of her expression, detect every tic of her eyebrows and quirk in her lips.
I know what she’s saying.
I’m so happy you’ve won mom around, her eyes blaze.
I nod, letting her know I understand how important this is for her.
She smiles wider, nodding in return.
We could trade whole songs in this way, through glances alone.
“I should ask you if you have honorable intentions, though, young man.”
I smirk as I guide the car around the soft bend in the road, glancing at the rearview to note Vito’s jet-black sedan trailing after us. Whoever’s behind the wheel deserves to be fired for their shitty effort.
“Young man?” I chuckle. “It’s a long time since I was called that.”
“You’re—what—fifty?”
“Mom,” Rosie says.
“I’m forty-two,” I tell her.
“That’s young to me,” she declares. “Or are you trying to dodge the question?”
“No, ma’am,” I tell her. “My intentions are to be with your daughter forever. My intentions are to keep her safe and as happy as a man can keep a woman.”
She laughs quietly.
“Very nicely phrased. See that, Rosie? He left himself some wriggle room there. As happy as a man can keep a woman. And we all know how difficult it is for them.”
Rosie throws me a look of apology, but I find myself grinning, enjoying the bantering back and forth.
“I’m going to make your daughter happy, ma’am,” I say. “And we are going to give you grandchildren. I may be old-fashioned, but I’ve chosen your daughter, and nothing will ever change that.”
She smiles, clasping her hands to her chest.
“That’s wonderful,” she says. “Just wonderful. What a lovely thing to say.”
“Are you done with the interrogation now?” Rosie giggles, lifting up Chopper and cradling the little terror to her cheek. “I want everybody to get along.”
“We are, we are,” Jackie says hastily. “A mother has to check.”
“She’s right,” I tell Rosie. “I’m relieved you have somebody who cares about you so much. Loyalty means a damn lot. Excuse my language.”
“What—damn?” Jackie cackles. “I don’t embarrass as easily as that, Ryland. But I agree. Family means a fucking lot.”
“Mom,” Rosie cries, giggling. “Please don’t say stuff like that.”
“What do you think, my dear Prince Harold?”
I smirk at him in the rearview.
“You’re a prince now?” I say.
He shrugs, sheepish. “I am whatever my lady requires.”
I chuckle, shaking my head. “Try not to work him too hard, ma’am. I don’t think he’s a match for you.”
“I’m going to die,” Rosie sighs. “Chopper and I aren’t listening anymore. This is so embarrassing.”
Everybody laughs and I lean back, focusing on the calm flow of traffic, the smooth road sliding beneath the car.
If it wasn’t for the men lurking far down the roar, a little black speck in the rearview, I could pretend that this is a nice family outing.
I wouldn’t have to think about blood, and death, and fighting, and all that’s required to keep my family safe.
“Are you okay?” Rosie asks me quietly, as Jackie and Harold banter in the back.
“Yeah,” I say, letting out a heavy sigh. “I just want this to last.”
“It will,” she says firmly. “It has to.”
I nod, taking some of her fierceness and letting it burn inside of me.
She’s being strong for our family.
I have to do the same.
Chapter Nineteen
Rosie
I stand at the window, peeling back the curtain to peer out at the forest. The trees have been cleared in the area immediately surrounding the cabin, but beyond that, the trees are thick, devouring what little is left of the light.
