Coming Home (Morelli Family 6)

“Of course you do. For your wedding, I’m gonna hire a Sinatra impersonator instead of a band.”

Her eyes widen. “Yes. Yes, do that. Man, I’m gonna have to find a dude just so I can have this party. It sounds awesome.”

“Ra—”

“Don’t.” She gives me a firm eyebrow raise before turning her attention to my head as she situates the veil.

“I’m just saying.”

“Say anything further and I’ll fuck up your hair,” she threatens.

Bella pops her head in the room, her eyes alight with urgency. “Are you guys ready yet? We’re supposed to be out there already. The guys are just standing there waiting.”

“Well, the show can’t start without the bride, so they’re just going to have to suck it up,” Francesca states.

“We’re almost done,” I assure my future step-daughter, waving her inside. “How do I look?”

She comes inside, her urgency melting away as she looks me over and sighs happily. “Like a princess.” Her gaze darts to mine with excitement. “I saw Dad, too. He looks really handsome.”

My stomach quickens with excitement—absurd, since I’ve seen the man nearly every single day for more than four years, but it never stops thrilling me. The prospect of seeing him waiting at the end of the aisle to marry me?

I take a breath and let it out, overcome with a sudden wave of nerves. Meg steps aside and Francesca moves out of the way of the mirror, and there I am, looking like a real bride. My long blonde hair is parted on the side and curled, gathered and placed over my right shoulder. My veil is arranged beautifully, the delicate netting trailing behind me. My second choice dress is even prettier than the first, I decide in this moment, as it hugs every curve. Thank God I’m not really showing yet. If I’m naked, you can see the curve of my waist is different, but confined in this dress you can’t tell. The white gown is ruched and flares out at the bottom with matching embellishments where the dress flares, and between the breasts of my sweetheart neckline. It’s strapless, so my shoulders are bare, and despite her grumpiness, the makeup artist did a stellar job on my face.

“Oh, we forgot this.” Francesca grabs my gold and white bouquet and hands it to me. “I want copies of all the pictures,” she states, grinning at me. “All of them. I’m so happy, I can’t even stand it. I’ve been waiting for this day for so long, and I thought you were going to let him get away with never making it happen.”

“Well, I probably would’ve,” I allow, shrugging.

“I guess you can thank Vince for one thing, at least,” Meg remarks. “Boy, did that kid get Mateo’s priority list in order. Item one: Mia. Item two: Mia. Item three: Mia.”

“Okay,” I say mildly, rolling my eyes. I can’t take my eyes off my reflection, though—I’m a bride. I totally look like a bride. Glancing at Francesca, I add, “Has Sal said anything about Vince? I haven’t been able to talk to Mateo all day. He’s definitely not here, right?”

“As far as I know, everything’s good. I haven’t really seen Sal since we got here, though.”

Meg pipes in, “There’s a literal army of men outside this theater. If he gets through, it’s only because he’s wearing his cloak of invisibility.”

Francesca nods. “Yeah, I’m guessing he’s not that good. I do know he has a special talent for getting into places he’s not supposed to, but—that was probably the least helpful thing I could have possibly said.”

“Also faintly dirty and highly awful,” Meg says, grimacing. “I want to make it a sex joke, but I can’t because the Morelli men are fucked up sex thugs and I can’t deal.”

My eyes widen and I turn to see if Bella is still lingering, but there’s no sign of her. “Can we not? There are little ears running around all over the place.”

Burying her face in her hands, she makes an exaggerated noise of aggravation. “Okay. I’m good. Let’s do this.”

I take one last look in the mirror while they file out. Up until now the day has gone by pretty quickly, but I want to remember every moment. I like to be called just about anything as long as it starts with “Mateo’s”—but today I become Mateo’s wife.

I stifle the urge to bend down and pick up my dress and head out of the room to follow the other ladies down the hall.

Our wedding is at a huge, gorgeous theater in downtown Chicago. It had to be sectioned off to meet our needs—there’s a cocktail hour following the wedding ceremony for the guests while Mateo and I take advantage of the gorgeous venue to get some wedding photos. It’s perfectly fitting that my favorite showman and I will be getting married in a theater.