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Chapter Twenty-Nine
Duncan
The last few weeks have been nothing short of trying, and both Willow and I knew that. With Felix being dead it doesn’t serve to ease our minds at all. His death means nothing, the threat is still there with the Italians, and the Clans need to do their best to prepare everyone for whatever is to come – if we even know what that is. Gabriele DiGiovanni is unpredictable, and everyone is looking to Baptiste Funar and his wife at this point. I can’t blame that for doing it, though. Baptise’s wife is the sister of Gabriele. In a sense, you could say we have an enemy right under our roof. Ion had informed all Clan leaders that she was to be questioned, and they would come to a conclusion on whether or not she knew any of this. Personally, I believe she doesn’t have any part in it. The look on her face when her brother’s actions were brought to her attention in front of the other Clan members at the meeting this morning had shown me that. She had gone on to tell us about how her family treats women, and how she had gotten out for a reason, not marrying Baptiste for love, but for safety.
Willow, Natasha and Mariana had all stared at her intently. I’m sure they were understanding of the prior struggles she had been through, but regardless, she is the sister of our enemy and must be treated as such. We will always put our families first, even if they are the monsters we fear. I have seen this done so many times. Nothing surprises me anymore.
I had spoken with Natasha, Mariana, and even Katya in private and told them about the surprise I have for Willow. It’s something that will mean the world to her, and as we sit on this plane I can’t help but smile in her direction, thinking of how she’ll react to the first of my surprises.
The next hour passes us by, and we start to descend to Dublin, Ireland to land. Willow has been asleep in her seat, not even realizing that we were headed in the wrong direction. My plan couldn’t be going more smoothly. She stirs in her seat, confused as she looks on the monitor and see’s our destination. “Where on Earth are we going?”
I smile. “You’ll see. Just be patient.” I know as I tell her, she’s already struggling internally. There is a lot that I know about my beloved Willow, and one of those things is that she isn’t a patient woman. Not to say in the least.
The plane lands, and after we disembark, we walk in the direction of our private car which takes us to our destination. Willow gives me confused looks the entire time but knows better than to ask questions. She knows that I won’t tell her where we’re going, no matter how much she begs and pleads to know the answer.
Fifteen minutes later, and we’re almost on the outskirts of Dublin, right where my surprise is for her. “Take a look at your website real quick, will you?” I instruct her and watch as she pulls her cell phone from her purse and follows my instructions. Willow furrows her brows in confusion, and directly after, her eyes light up like a child seeing fireworks for the very first time.
“Seriously!” she screeches, placing her hand over her mouth in shock. Her eyes are filling with tears, and I nod. The car comes to a stop, and I grab her hand.
“Let’s take a look at your brand new baby,” I say to her, smirking to myself. I’ve just won fiancé of the year. I open the car door and survey the surrounding area before I allow her to exit, pulling her hand to let her know it’s clear. When we step out onto the cobblestone street, she gasps and begins to jump up and down, showing me all of her excitement.
“I can’t believe you did this. Thank you so much. Oh my goodness, I would’ve never imagined this…” Willow stares at her restaurant, Decadent. She never hides the fact that Delish is her baby, a small pastry shop café that offers a variety of yummy treats. But she’s always wanted more then Delish, telling me about Decadent ages ago. Her starting point was always going to be the café, but she wanted to open a series of restaurants as well, and with the Clans behind her on it. I simply helped make her dream a reality. Well, me and the bullheaded women of the Clans.
“How…” she murmurs, walking towards the front door and pulling it open, stepping into the modernized space with country accents. It’s the perfect combination of two worlds; the old and the new.
“I had a chat with Mariana, Natasha, and Katya. They adore you and want you to continue to follow your dreams even though you are the head of a Clan now. Just because your responsibilities changed doesn’t mean that they expect you to give up what makes you happy. Mariana and Ion also agreed that it was a great step in the right direction to make more of the Clans money legitimate. They’re investors in your expansion for Delish and Decadent.”
“I’m in total shock. I don’t know what to say right now…”
I chuckle, “Well, you’re about to be in even more shock. I spoke with both Ion and Mariana about my intentions to marry you, and I told both of them that I didn’t give a fuck what they had to say, that I was going to marry you either way. My heart belongs to you, Willow. I think it has for a very long time, and given what we’ve been through these last few months, I know that I don’t want to live another moment without you being mine, in every sense of the word. I want my ring on your finger, I want you in my bed cuddled up to me every night, and during the day, I want you by my side. I want the possibilities of our future, and I want our child to see what a family should look like.” I bend down to one knee and pull out the custom engagement ring I had made for Willow; it’s a rose gold with a beautiful, princess cut diamond on the top, just what Willow deserves and more. “I would be honored if you’d agree to be my wife and spend the rest of my days with me.”
She jumps in to my arms all of a sudden and plants those perky lips right on mine. I grumble out at her, rubbing my hand on her now small baby bump. She pulls her head back, giving me a baffled look. “You need to be more careful. Our kid is in there.”
Willow lays her head against my chest and giggles, staring at her hand as I slide the ring onto her finger. “You’re stuck with me now.”
“I was never going to get rid of your ass. You’re too stubborn,” she murmurs, kissing me on the cheek, looking around the restaurant.
Even though there is a pile of shit headed our way, I know that we’re going to be just fine. We have each other and knowing that, we can make it through anything.
