Alessandro
“With the power vested in me by the state of Pennsylvania, Gabriel Varasso, you may now kiss your bride.”
I smiled and clapped along with the rest of my family as Gabriel leaned forward, taking Stacy’s neck between his hands and pulling her lips to his. I had to give them credit. To successfully pull off a whole wedding in a week was an impressive feat to be sure. Willow and I took almost a year to plan ours. It helped that Stacy was a simple woman and really just wanted her friends, family, and a white dress. It wasn’t a traditional wedding gown but was a white, sleeveless sundress with a lace overlay, and she had white daisies threaded into her blonde hair. It was perfectly Stacy, and as I watched Gabriel smile at her like she was the only thing in the world, I was glad he’d found her.
Even amidst all of the insanity our family had suffered from in the past year, Gabriel still managed to wander out and find a wife of his own. I never would have pegged him to end up with someone natural and eccentric like Stacy, but in a really weird way, she was his perfect pair. She kept him grounded, and someone to keep us grounded was something all of the Varasso men needed desperately.
I stared across the aisle from where Stacy and Gabriel were standing and let my eyes land on my own wife, Willow. She looked absolutely beautiful in her blush sundress, with her brown hair half up and half down. Our eyes locked for a moment, and she smiled at me, and my heart did a little backflip. We’d been together for over ten years, including dating, and I still never got tired of that smile. It lit up my world. It was my reason for getting up in the morning. She kept me grounded, and I loved her more than anything else.
Gabriel took Stacy by the hand and pulled her down the makeshift aisle of the outdoor wedding, and our friends and family on either side of them pulled poppers, sending confetti cascading into the sky. When they’d reached the end of the line, Luca and Molly folded in toward one another, linking arms, followed by Marco and Kelly, and finally, Willow and myself. When her arm was linked in mine, I couldn’t resist the urge to lean over and kiss her on her forehead. She threw a little glance of confusion at me, but I ignored it. It was no secret that I loved her—it was bound to creep out.
Once we were out of the way of the reception, the wedding staff we’d hired ushered the attendees away to where a massive white tent had been set up for the ceremony. The wedding photographer took a variety of photos—some of the bride’s party, some of the groom’s party, some of just the bridesmaids, some of just the groomsmen, some of Stacy with her parents, and some of Stacy and Gabriel with her parents. I stopped keeping track after a while. We stood in a little clump off to the side while Gabriel and Stacy posed for a variety of pictures of just the two of them.
“A wedding in a week,” Willow muttered. “I can’t even imagine.”
“They did what they had to,” Luca replied, standing nearby. “I think if we were staring down then what we are now when I met Molly, I’d have married her in a week, too.”
Marco had one hand around Kelly’s back and the other resting on her engorged stomach. She was eight months pregnant and would be popping pretty soon. Fortunately, Maine wasn’t that far away, so we could have her driven in for the ceremony, but she looked exhausted already.
“You okay, baby? You look tired,” Marco commented.
“Well, I am carrying a whole human inside of me,” she replied, “so yes, I’m tired, but I’m okay.”
“I think photos with the bridal party are done if you guys want to head over to the reception,” Molly said. “It’s not like it’s far. If we need you, we can get you.”
Music was starting up from inside the tent, and the air was already filling with the delectable smell of the preparation of dinner that Molly had designed specifically for the wedding. Fairy lights hung from the edge of the tent, and orchids were placed everywhere around the garden. For being thrown together in a week, it was a pretty amazing wedding. Having a lot of money and a forty-acre estate certainly helped the cause, but the wedding itself wasn’t all that expensive. It was full of Stacy’s little touches and was perfect for them.
“You guys, really,” Kelly said, running a hand along Marco’s face. “I’m okay. Really. It was an eight-hour ride here, and it will be an eight-hour ride back. I’ve got plenty of time to not be on my feet. I’m fine standing for now.”
No one pressed after that. We stayed standing in the group, paired off by couples, until Gabriel and Stacy were done with their pictures, then we made our way over to the tent as a group. Everyone clapped as we walked in and took our places at the wedding party table. It was round, per Stacy’s request, despite the fact that everyone else thought it should be rectangular. Stacy didn’t really explain her insistence, but once we were around the table, it all became clear. Luca was talking to Marco, Gabriel was talking to me, and the wives took turns talking to one another. We were a tight-knit group that liked spending time together. A long table would have restricted us to whoever was immediately to our left and right, so the round table suited us much better.
Dinner was served—garlic and herb braised eggplant steak for the vegetarians and garlic and butter braised steak for the meat-eaters. Stacy was vegetarian, working on vegan, and Gabriel had taken up the diet in support of his wife, so they both had the eggplant. Kelly did too since she’d developed a meat aversion in pregnancy. The rest of the brothers, Willow, and Molly all had steak. We ate and drank, and then the dishes were carried away, and dance music started. Luca and Molly left almost immediately, always desperate for a moment to act like a normal couple, and Gabriel and Stacy went, as well. Marco and Kelly grooved as best they could in their seats, and Willow and I stayed sitting and still, just enjoying the atmosphere.
“No dancing for you two?” Kelly asked after a while.
Willow and I both looked at each other, knowing the truth between us, but also that we weren’t sharing it with our family for the time being. “No,” Willow answered for us. “I’m not much of a dancer.”
Marco laughed. “You certainly seemed like one at your wedding.”
“Well, when it’s your wedding, you get the mysterious dancing superpower,” I joked, trying to keep the conversation light and away from the truth.
“I suppose that’s true,” Kelly said, staring out longingly at the decor and guests. “I’ll be happy when we can have a proper wedding.”
Marco leaned over and kissed Kelly’s forehead. “Soon, my love.”
Kelly and Marco had to forego a formal wedding when they got married because they were both in the witness protection program and already expecting their first child. They were planning a formal wedding when they found out they were pregnant with their second child, and a certain traumatic event threw all of the Varassos back into the thick of the organized crime business. She was due in about five weeks, and we were supposed to end things for good before then. I hoped that by this time next year, we were all sitting around a table at Kelly and Marco’s wedding instead, stress-free, and hopefully…
I looked over at Willow, and when she noticed my stare, she looked up at me. “What?”
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
…hopefully, all together.
Luca came back from the dance floor and sunk into a seat, sweat pulling at his forehead.
“Where’s Mol?” Marco asked.
He pointed over his shoulder. “Stacy’s mom stole Gabriel, so Stacy stole Molly.”