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“You’re a pregnant Hollywood actress who’ll be a few months along at the wedding. You’re already a cliché.” He winked. “We’ll leave people guessing about whether we’re taking our stunt to the extreme by actually getting married.”
“So our love isn’t real?”
“Snow, if my feelings were any more real, they’d be jumping around like the Seven Dwarves.”
“Funny, Serenghetti.”
And then he proceeded to show her just how real they were...
Epilogue
Two months later...
Chiara mingled with other Serenghettis who’d gathered for Serg’s sixty-seventh birthday barbecue on a hot August afternoon in Welsdale. She was still getting used to these family get-togethers. They were a world apart from her past experiences with her own family. Serg and Camilla’s home brimmed with animated voices and laughter.
Still, her relationship with her father had come a long way. Her father was in rehab, but he’d already announced he’d like to become an addiction counselor. And Odele had been and continued to be like a second mother. She’d already started shopping for baby clothes. And now, of course, Chiara had the Serenghettis, as well.
“The food is delicious,” Marisa announced as she stepped onto the patio bathed in late-afternoon sun. “I feel even more like an overstuffed piñata.”
Chiara smiled at her sister-in-law. “Now, there’s a metaphor for being pregnant I haven’t heard before.”
In a nice surprise, shortly after her own pregnancy had gone public, Cole and Marisa had quietly announced they were expecting, too. Her sister-in-law was only a month further along. Naturally, Chiara thought, there’d be another female Serenghetti to take this journey with.
Marisa sighed. “I know what a chicken cordon bleu feels like.”
“A ham?” Jordan asked, having overheard.
His sister-in-law shot him a droll look. “Funny.”
“Just don’t have a surprise birth,” Jordan teased. “Mom wants a chance to plan for a big event for once.”
Chiara bit back another smile, and then looked down at her plain platinum wedding band and large canary diamond solitaire engagement ring. She and Rick had had a quick wedding in Las Vegas with just immediate family present. It had been small, intimate and private, just like they’d wanted. There’d been no press, though they’d given Melody an exclusive after the fact.
Now as Marisa and Jordan stepped away, Rick came up and settled his hands on her shoulders, kneading them gently. Chiara nearly purred with contentment.
“How are you feeling?” Rick asked in a low voice.
“Like my next role should be as a pregnant stuntwoman,” she responded.
“You’d be great. I’ve got just the vehicle.”
“I feel like a starlet who has slept her way to the top with the studio boss.”
He chuckled. “Snow, we’re partners now.”
At home and at the office. She and Rick were starting their own production company. He’d vowed to support her career in any way he could, and that included helping her find appropriate acting roles. For her part, she wanted to respect Rick’s preference to not be in the glare of celebrity. She’d done interviews herself, but he’d insisted that as her prince, he needed and wanted to be her escort to public events.
Just then, Serafina, Marisa’s cousin, stepped onto the patio and then frowned as she spotted Jordan.
“Uh-oh,” Rick said in a low voice for Chiara’s ears only. “Trouble.”
As if on cue, Jordan gave a lazy grin, and then sauntered toward Serafina with a gleam in his eye.
Chiara smiled. “Only the best kind for those two.” Then turning, she snuggled against Rick as he draped an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t you agree?”
Her husband winked and gave her a kiss. “Definitely. You’re the best trouble I ever had, Snow. And then love had walked in for us.”
* * * * *
