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“Hi, babe,” Massimo says, leaning in to kiss me.
“Hi. What’s going on here?” I ask.
“Daddy, can we start?” Leandro asks.
“The boys have a surprise for you, and yes, boys, go ahead. I’ll sit down next to Lena so you can start.”
Lucio stands, and he sprints over to Leandro and whispers something in his ear. Massimo is sitting to my left and reaches for my hand, curling his fingers with mine. I look at him and whisper, “What are they doing?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s a surprise for me too.”
He has that mischievous look, and I don’t believe for one second that he has no idea what they’re up to. When the boys are done whispering to each other, they separate, and both stand before us.
“Ready. One, two, three,” Lucio says. In unison, they shout, “Lena, will you marry us?” Both boys start jumping up and down and then run over to Massimo, who hands Lucio a box. Together they open the box and give it to me.
I glance over at Massimo, tears rimming my eyes. He reaches out, runs his thumb across my beauty mark, and mouths, “I love you.”
“Lena, is the answer, yes?” Leandro squeals.
“Yes, boys, of course, I will. I love you with all my heart, and I want nothing more than to marry your dad.”
“She said yes, Daddy! She said yes!” Lucio screams, and both boys start jumping up and down again.
Massimo takes the box from my hands, removes the ring from it, the same one he proposed with years ago, and slides it halfway up my finger. His dark brown eyes are soft and lock with mine. “You’re my better half, and I want us to spend the rest of our days together. You make me whole. Will you be my Mrs.?”
“The answer is always yes,” I whisper, my heart thundering in my chest. He finishes sliding the ring on and kisses me softly.
I rise from the couch and kneel on the floor. “Boys, come here. I want to hug you both because you’ve made me so happy with your surprise.”
The boys both rush me, and I pull them into an embrace, one in each arm, squeezing them tightly. “I love you both so much. Thank you. Your surprise was the best one in the whole world.”
Massimo kneels behind them and wraps his arms around them so that we’re all huddled in a family hug. Tears are streaming down my cheeks. What started as a terrible day turned out to be a perfect night.
“Our appointment for the tasting next week was pushed back to 1:00 p.m. I’ll call Luci later to let her know. Will you call Dom?”
Dom and Luci are attending the tasting with us to help us decide. We thought it best that someone come with us in case we can’t make up our mind. Luci is my Maid of Honor, and although Rocco is Massimo’s Best Man, Dom is coming with us because he’ll help with the wine pairings. Besides, he and Luci are still an item, so we plan on going out that night after we finish at the Crane Estate.
“Yeah, I’ll let him know.”
“You want me to do homework with Lucio, and you can take Livvy and Leandro?”
“That works.”
After the boys play with Livvy for a little while, Massimo and Leandro leave to take her for a walk, and Lucio and I sit at the dining room table to do his homework. He usually doesn’t need much help and can finish on his own. As he’s working through it, I catch up on some work emails.
When he finishes, Lucio says, “Lena, my teacher gave us this list today. It’s for summer reading since school is almost over. Can we go to the library soon?” I take the sheet of paper he has in his hands.
“Yes, we have to return the books we borrowed last time. Tomorrow when you get back from school, we can go if you’d like.”
“Yes, please. I love it when you take us to the library. It’s one of my favorite things to do.”
“Mine too, buddy.”
MASSIMO
Lena is putting the boys to bed while I finish cleaning up from dinner.
When I reach the top of the stairs, I see the light in the boys’ room still on and am ready to find out why they’re still awake but see that Lena is with them. I quietly approach the door to watch them. The three of them are lying on the bottom bunk bed, a full-size mattress, with Lena in the middle. Lena is reading to them. Lucio is tucked into Lena’s side, and he’s playing with her hair. Leandro has his head resting on Lena’s chest with her rubbing his back. Since Lena and I moved back in together, they like it when she reads stories more than when I do it. So, whenever it’s possible, Lena does the bedtime routine with them.
