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He takes my hand in his and gives me a soft kiss on the lips. “Come find out.”
Then he leads me out of the room, along the hallway and toward the main house. The guard stationed outside the door that leads to the living quarters opens it as we reach it, giving us a quiet word of congratulations as we pass.
“Thank you,” I whisper before Dante leads me to the kitchen. I hear muffled voices and laughter as we approach. But when we walk inside a few seconds later, we are showered with rice and congratulatory cheers. Lorenzo, Anya, Joey, Maximo and Toni clap for us. Lorenzo even has a faint smile on his face.
Dante has his arm around my waist, and I stand on my tiptoe so I can whisper to him. “Is Lorenzo smiling?”
“Yup,” he says with a grin. “You should take a picture. It’s a rare thing.”
“We have drinks,” Toni shouts as she walks to the table and picks up a bottle of incredibly expensive Scotch.
“And iced tea for the bride,” Anya adds as Dante frowns at his half-sister.
“Because this definitely calls for a toast,” Maximo says as he heads to the table too and helps Toni pour everyone a drink.
Maximo holds out a glass of Scotch in one hand and a tall glass of iced tea in the other, and with his hand on the small of my back, Dante guides us both to the wooden table. I take the drink and then have a seat on the bench, but my husband remains standing behind me with a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
“Toast!” Joey declares, drumming her fists on the table.
“We did the toasts already,” I remind them. Dante and Maximo each made one. They were beautiful too. Simple but beautiful.
Anya places her warm hand over mine and smiles. “These are the real toasts, Kat.”
“Oh?” I look around at their grinning faces. “Is this another tradition I don’t know about?”
“We did this after Lorenzo and Anya’s wedding,” Dante tells me.
“And we’ll do it after Toni’s, and mine and Maximo’s,” Joey says with a wicked grin.Did I hear that right?I glance at Maximo and his jaw ticks as he stares at her.
“You’re never getting married, Guiseppina,” Lorenzo says with a scowl.
“And I’m definitely not,” Toni snorts.
“I guess it’s all on you then, buddy,” Dante says to Maximo before he takes a sip of his Scotch, “or the tradition ends here.”
Maximo clears his throat. “To the end of tradition then,” he laughs and then downs his whisky in one before pouring himself another.
“I’ll start,” Joey says with a sigh and a roll of her eyes.
“To my favorite big brother and my second favorite sister-in-law,” she giggles as she holds up her glass.
“How much has she been drinking?” Dante asks, directing his question to Maximo.
“It’s your wedding. She’s twenty-one,” Maximo replies with a shrug.
“Not like I caneverget into any trouble with my constant bodyguard,” Joey adds. “Anyway, I was playing. That wasn’t my toast.”
“Get on with it.” Lorenzo sighs.
“Fine,” Joey snaps. Then she raises her glass again. “I never thought thatanywoman would capture my brother’s heart, Kat. I know I was kind of a bitch to you when we met —”
“Kind of?” Dante says with an arch of an eyebrow.
“Yes, but that was before I knew how much you meant to him, and also before I knew how much you would come to mean to me,” she adds as her eyes shine with tears. She shakes her head, as though annoyed with herself for getting so emotional. “I cannot wait to be an aunt and corrupt your little angel, and I’m so glad that you’re here to dilute some of the testosterone and toxic masculinity in this house,” she adds triumphantly. “To Dante and Kat.”
“Dante and Kat,” the others echo before they all down their Scotch and Maximo pours more.
“Anya,” Lorenzo says quietly, and she obediently raises her glass.
