***
“We get to be flower girls!” Serena, one of Luc’s twin girls told me excitedly. “Look at our dresses!”
“I was there when Mommy picked them. They’re perfect,” I told her, fingering the pretty white lace.
She climbed on my lap and put her arms around my neck. “Where’s your dress? I wanna see it. But we can’t show Uncle Tommy. It’s bad luck.”
“You’ll see it when I get dressed tomorrow,” I told her, playing with her dark ringlets. “Y
ou can help me with the buttons maybe? I think that’s part of the flower girl’s job.”
“I’m a flower girl, too!” Katrina chimed in from the floor, where she was shaking a rattle in front of her baby brother, who was on a play mat.
“I know. I’ll take as much help as I can get from both my flower girls.”
Tessa’s boys, Lucas and Antonio, were outside with Dario, on the beach, playing in the sand with shovels and plastic pails. I couldn’t fight the little belly flip at the sight of him in his board shorts, shirtless. That Adonis belt on him? God…
“How is he single?” I muttered, half under my breath when I first spotted him on the beach.
“Because he’s a man whore,” Luciana whispered. “He was engaged to this royal bitch and she broke his heart and he’s been a player ever since.”
“That’s sad,” I said.
“Mm hm,” Luc agreed.
***
It was almost dinner time and it had been a crazy day in the city with the shopping, going for lunch, and getting my nails and waxing done. There had been a minor argument between Luciana and Tommy on the phone when he refused to let her hire a make-up artist to come out and help me get ready in the morning.
In the end, she told me Sarah offered to do my make-up and hair, which stopped the argument. Sarah was currently altering my dress to make it a perfect fit (not that it was far off). She’d done my hair and make-up for my very first date with Tommy. She knew what she was doing. Luc argued she had all the kids to look after while we got ready for the wedding, but Lisa said we’d all pitch in, including Eddy so it’d all work out.
We were going to have a simple beach ceremony under a beautiful arch, and would have a marquee tent set up for our dinner with all sorts of tulle and white flowers as well as fairy lights.
We were having a multi course traditional Italian wedding feast and it was all being recorded by a photographer and videographer team. We also hired a local and very talented acoustic guitar player who would play music while we exchanged vows. We had the officiant. Tommy’s tailor back home had done the tux for Tommy and Dario had brought it along with his own.
I had a playlist ready for dancing with my Bluetooth speaker. And everyone was going to be in the wedding. Dario would be Tommy’s best man, Eddy an usher, Tess and Luc my matrons of honor and Sarah and Lisa would be my bridesmaids. The kids were all going to dress up with the girls in white lace and the boys in little summer tuxes. The girls would throw flower petals and the boys would throw birdseed afterwards.
It was just going to be us, but it was going to be beautiful.
My white dress was simple but exquisite (though crazy-expensive) and off the shoulders. I tried to say I was going to go barefoot, refusing to buy shoes, given that we’d be getting married in the sand.
Luc bought me shoes anyway, telling me that I’d want them for our first dance and the photos, and for the breaking of the vase.
“Like, mazel tov? We aren’t Jewish and if we were, isn’t it the groom that does that part?”
“It’s also an Italian thing. Bride and groom break the vase together. The number of shards represents how many years you’ll have a happy marriage.”
She chose a pair of white sparkling glittery stilettos. They were awesome. And when I put them on with the dress, they did look pretty fantastic.
***
Dinner on the eve of the wedding was chaos. I stayed out of there, letting Sarah, Luc, and Tessa deal with the food. Eddy, head chef and restaurant manager at Venetia back home even stayed out of there, joking that too many cooks in the kitchen was a bad idea. Make that too many cooks in a Ferrano kitchen and the handguns could come out.
Tommy laughed big at that, throwing his head back as he did. It was good to see and hear.
***
The family being there was so much fun for me. I loved having a busy house with kids and laughter. This was life at Rose and Cal’s and what I wanted for my own life.