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“Ren—”
“No, just hear me out. My lawyer said the next court date should have her with me permanently. I want us all together, as a family.”
“I—”
“As soon as possible. We can do a small ceremony and always have a big wedding if that’s what you want, but I’m just thinking—”
“Yes.”
He pulled back slightly, gazing down into her eyes with love. “You’re serious?”
“Aren’t you?”
His breathing picked up as he looked down at her and she noticed his eyes were brimming with unshed tears. “I couldn’t be more serious. Two weeks, Trina. The hearing will be over and we can all be together.”
“Can we find someone to marry us that quickly?”
“Martin’s ordained.”
Katrina let out a short laugh. “Is there anything he doesn’t do?”
“So in two weeks,” he said, ignoring her question, “you’ll marry me.” He worded it like a statement, one that shown in his dark, piercing eyes.
“Yes, Ren. Yes, in two weeks, I will marry you.”
His kiss was soft, sweet, a mere whisper of his lips against hers. “I have something for you.”
“You’ve already given me the ring.”
“No, this is something else.” He moved and stood, holding up one finger to let her know to wait where she was. She looked around the room when he was gone, noting that the placement of everything was absolutely perfect, the feeling of calm, of peace, of serenity settling down in her soul.
“Judith was right, you know,” she commented as Lorenzo returned with a wrapped box.
“I wouldn’t tell her that; it might go to her already enormous ego.”
“Let’s play nice. She’s family.”
“Yes, she is.” Lorenzo knelt in front of her and handed her his gift. “I’ve been working on these since I first saw your apartment. Funny how they’ll fit in just fine here.”
She tore at the paper, handing him the scraps before she opened the box. Enclosed in tissue paper were handmade picture frames, each one with a photo from their lives together.
There was the picture Judith had taken of Katrina, Lorenzo, and Justin the first day of their freshman year.
There was their first official date.
There was the four of them—Katrina, Lorenzo, Justin, and Judith—taken at the prom.
There was another of the four of them at the grand reopening of Cade’s.
The final picture was of Katrina, Justin, and Miranda, a candid shot that had been taken at Cade’s the night of the grand reopening, and it looked so right, so natural, the three of them, no matter the timing hadn’t been the best.
“We’re going to have real pictures soon,” Lorenzo said as Katrina looked back up at him, her eyes swimming with tears.
“These are perfect, Ren. They’re so perfect.”
“They’re us. Our family.” He moved the pictures aside and took her hands in his. “And if I hadn’t gone to Willow Creek Road, there’s a chance that none of this would have happened.”
“Knowing now what you’ve been through...Ren, I’m not sorry that you got out. I’m sorry for the time we lost, but we have our whole lives to make up for it.”
