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“Yeah, mate,” Jagger said from the couch, looking it over. “You look top-notch, man. Perfect.”
A real compliment coming from my flash friend.
“She’d be so proud of you, boy.” Elsie clasped my face between her little palms, gray eyes shining behind round glasses. “Of the man you’ve become. But also of the world you’ve made for yourself with those girls. All she ever wanted was for you to be happy.”
I swallowed hard again, then leaned down to kiss her soft cheek. “I couldn’t have done it without you, Els. You’ve been my mum when she couldn’t. Thank you.”
“Oh, dear, dear. None of that.” Elsie batted me away, then dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. “Though I will miss having you around.”
I watched her fondly, wanting another way to show her my gratitude for everything she’d done in my life.
“You know you can just stay at Mayfair, Els. You don’t have to keep your flat in Croydon after I move to New York for good.”
Elsie was a stubborn old girl. She’d kept the same little house in South London where she and her husband had lived for the short time they’d had before he passed away. Heart attacks, man. Lethal.
“Oh, no, I don’t need anything that fancy, goodness me,” she said. “Can you imagine me living in that castle of yours? I’d be expected to pop over to Buckingham Palace for tea, wouldn’t I?”
I chuckled. “Just say the word, Els. I don’t know if we’re going to sell it yet, but until then, it’ll just be sitting there empty. You might as well have use of it.”
“What about me?” Jagger asked. “How come I don’t get an invitation to the palace too?”
I snorted. “Mate, with what I pay you, you should be able to buy Buckingham Palace if you want it.”
Granted, the same applied to Elsie’s salary, especially now that she was promoted to CFO of the Parker Group, but she wouldn’t have wanted me to point that out, even in front of Jagger.
My friend just smirked knowingly and stroked his goatee. “True. The girlies in Camden would miss me too much if I left, anyway.”
“You really don’t think you’ll come back again after the title is settled?” Elsie wondered. “I should imagine you’d want to keep a home in London.”
I mumbled something about yes, maybe, but truthfully, I wasn’t sure. We could maybe fix up the flat in Croydon or find something smaller near Hyde Park. But London was feeling less and less like home these days—probably because my real one lived on this side of the ocean. Maybe one day, I’d convince Francesca to try relocating again. But despite the fact that there wasn’t a decent pub in New York and I couldn’t find a good pasty if my life depended on it, I wasn’t sure I cared so much about living in London anymore.
I’d finally learned the truth: that family meant more than the right food or buildings or accents or the rest. Family meant who’d be there for you no matter what, who’d show up when you needed them, every time.
I didn’t have that in England. Maybe with Jagger and Els, sure. But Ces had a whole mass of them here, and therefore, so would my children. I couldn’t deny them that. The Zolas were still coming round to me—I had a feeling that Matthew was itching to break my nose if he could. But I knew it was only a matter of time before they accepted me as one of their own.
Turns out, I could be patient after all.
In fact, I was looking forward to it.
“Xav,” Jagger pulled me out of my thoughts as he stood and nodded toward the lift. “It’s time, mate.”
I straightened and adjusted my tie once more, almost like I was going into battle. At the very least, the unknown.
See, I’d been a lot of things in my life.
Son. Bastard. Heir.
Friend. Chef. CEO.
Duke. Father. Fiancé.
I’d chased them all with everything I had, poured my blood, sweat, and sometimes even tears into every label.
But husband felt like the most important title of all. And I was determined to do it right. To only hold it once.
“All right,” I said. “Let’s find Francesca. I’m ready to make my girl into my wife.”
TWENTY-TWO
