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I nodded and wrapped my arms around him again. Another squeeze and I was thankful that he was alive. A tear escaped and ran down my cheek. The thought of losing him terrified me.
“We should all have dinner,” he declared.
“What? But…” I trailed off.
He wiped the tear off my cheek with his thumb. “My love, let’s get everyone fed and home safely. We still have a lot to do before we can get married tomorrow.”
I didn’t know how that would be possible if his father was dead. “Is that still happening? Are you sure? I understand the need to postpone.”
He looked at me with such passion and fervor.
“Yes, absolutely. Now, more than ever, we both need this marriage and it was the last thing my father wanted. So I’m going to make sure it happens. You wanted to be a partner. You’ve got it because now you’re to be married to the don tomorrow. Are you ready for everything that comes with that?”
I was more than ready to take everything on, as long as I was beside Luciano.
I simply nodded and turned back to the crowd without releasing his hand.
“Everyone please have a seat so we can eat and discuss the events that just happened. The wedding will go forward as planned tomorrow. Our enemies were trying to make a last ditch effort to stop the wedding, but we won’t let them.” I waited for Luciano to take over, it was his news after all.
“We loved Angelo Romano.” He sniffed. “Due to his untimely death, I’ll be stepping up and taking over my father’s place. This wedding is more important than ever,” he finished for me.
My father immediately stood up.
“That wasn’t part of the deal. We were coming to Angelo for protection. This is all null and void,” he yelled before throwing down his napkin on the table. He made his way angrily toward the exit.
I yelled after my father and shut him down. “Father, Luciano is going to offer the same protection, and it doesn’t matter whether you like it or not at this point. I’m marrying him regardless of your agreement.”
My father stood there staring at me—obviously trying to think of a way out of this.
Luciano gave me a side hug.
“That’s exactly the kind of thing you’ve needed to be able to do,” he whispered in my ear.
My father reluctantly came back to the table, red faced, and took a seat next to my mother—who tried to say something to him, but he threw his hand up in the air, and she instantly shut her mouth.
“Everyone go ahead and start eating. We’re going to make a few adjustments, but everything should be on schedule.” He waved and tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. I rubbed my hand up and down his back to try and soothe him.
Luciano was talking to a few other members of the dinner party as I stepped over to talk to the coordinator with Stefano by my side.
She was still thoroughly freaked out and upset.
“Look, tomorrow can still go off without a hitch. We just need a new location.” I couldn’t help but look hopeful.
“Oh, no. I can’t pull it off by tomorrow or put it together that quickly,” she protested.
“No one is going to mess with us again. There will be over five hundred mafia members in attendance between two families,” I hurried to reassure her.
“That’s just the problem. You’re gonna all be together. What am I gonna do with that? That makes it where you’ll be even bigger targets and there’s no other church in town that’s big enough for that. After today’s issue, no one’s gonna want to take the chance on their building being ripped to shreds.” Natalie took a deep breath and tried to calm down.
“This is not the first emergency I’ve had. We can manage it. I’m getting married tomorrow.”
“Why don’t we just use the estate grounds?” Luciano overheard my words and joined us. “That will be workable, but I want a cross at the end of the aisle where my father would have sat.”
We made a few new plans with Natalie to work out the details.
“You’re to direct any questions to me,” Stefano said to Natalie as he agreed that he could handle anything else that came up.
Natalie sighed and got to work. She was owed a big bonus on this commission.
