Keeping his bride

EPILOGUE

Nicholas

EVEN THOUGH OUR lives have been pretty much turned upside down with my sister’s disappearance, it’s Selina’s birthday today, and I’m determined to make it a great day for her. I can internalize everything, worry about it all later and manage to keep a smile on my face. I can do that much at least for my girl. She deserves nothing but the best today.

It’s been a week since Aria called me. We haven’t heard anything else from her, but Aldo has been gathering as much information as he can on the man who bought her. Soon, we’ll be traveling to where my sister is being held captive and rescuing her. But for today, it’s all about Selina and celebrating another year of her being on this earth with all of us.

I’ve been preparing her party for over a week now, keeping my mom, who has been sick with concern over Aria, busy and distracted. Mom picked out all the decorations and the food. I kind of just stood aside and let her take control of everything.

Keeping my mother occupied wasn’t an easy task, but it definitely worked. I saw her smile today while we were putting the decorations up, and I haven’t seen that smile since before Aria went missing. And the fact that she’s not still in her bed, crying and is actually up and awake, running around, decorating and making a fuss over every little thing is a wonderful sight to see.

Selina has no idea I was even planning anything. I played it off that I had no idea of her upcoming birthday. And I can’t wait to see her face when she walks into the kitchen, which looks like a party shop exploded inside of it.

My mom decided on the colors rose gold and brown. There are helium balloons floating near the ceiling, streamers, a happy birthday banner with Selina’s name on it hanging in the back of the room, complete with a huge balloon arch with the number twenty-four under it. A huge three-tier birthday cake sits front and center on the island, surrounded by lots of Selina’s favorite foods and snacks; and, of course, there’s a giant container of mint chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer.

“Think she’ll like it?” my mom asks, fussing with the candles on the cake. She wants to make sure everything is perfect.

“Mom, Lina is going to love it,” I assure her. I strain to keep the smile on my face. I can see the tiredness in her eyes, and I know she hasn’t slept much since Aria went missing. I can’t even count the number of times I came downstairs in the middle of the night and saw my mother sitting in the kitchen, crying to herself.

My dad sits at the island, swirling a glass of whiskey in his hand, his tattoos peeking out from the cuffs of his black suit jacket. “What’s not to love? I think it looks great, honey,” he tells her.

Mom walks over to him and places a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, Luca.” Then, she turns to me and says, “Now we just need the birthday girl.”

“On it,” I tell her before grabbing my cell phone. I send a quick text to Selina’s new iPhone, asking her to help me in the kitchen with something.

Her response is: What did you burn this time?

I can’t help but grin. She knows I’m a disaster in the kitchen, having helped me put out numerous fires and throw away a lot of ruined dinners. I swear I could burn water at this point.

“She’s coming,” I tell everyone.

Benito walks in a moment later. “Am I late?”

“No, you’re just in time,” I tell him.

He makes a beeline for the cake, intending on swiping his finger through the thick icing, but my mom quickly slaps his hand away. “Don’t you dare touch that cake, Benny,” she scolds him.

“Sorry, Verona,” he says sheepishly before going to take a seat at the island beside my father. He harumphs in disapproval and then pops a chip into his mouth, surreptitiously watching my mother out of the corner of his eye to make sure he doesn’t get in trouble for sneaking a potato chip.

I shake my head and chuckle. Only my mom could slap a huge beast like Benito and get away with it.

A few minutes later, the door opens and Selina walks into the room as we all yell, “Surprise!”

The look on her face is priceless. She’s completely shocked. And then…her face crumbles as tears instantly fill her pretty eyes. She looks around the room and whispers, “This is all…for me?”

“Of course, beautiful,” I tell her before scooping her into my arms in a huge hug. “Happy birthday,” I whisper into her ear.

“I’ve never had a birthday party before,” she confesses in the crook of my neck while wrapping her arms around my waist and squeezing me tightly.

“Just another one of your firsts that I get to claim,” I tell her before pulling back and pressing a kiss to her lips. “Now, go blow out the candles and make a wish.”

My mom has just finished lighting them by the time I let Selina go, and she walks over to the island. Little flames dance in her beautiful blue and green eyes as she stares at the cake with the biggest grin on her face I have ever seen. “Wow,” she whispers in awe. “That cake is almost as big as Benito,” she quips.

Everyone laughs, and Benito just shrugs and nods his head in agreement. My mom went all out on the cake, and now I’m glad that she did. It was all worth the look on Selina’s face.

“You better blow them out before the house burns down,” I joke.

Selina laughs and then closes her eyes before blowing all the candles out in one breath. Everyone in the room claps.

“I’ll cut the cake,” my mom announces.

“I’ll help,” my dad offers.

As the two of them work as a team on the cake and Benito puts his huge muscles to the test scooping the ice cream, I pull Selina aside and ask her, “So, what did you wish for?”

“I wished for Aria to come home,” she says in a whisper.

Of course Selina wouldn’t wish for anything for herself. She’s fucking amazing like that. “That’s a great wish,” I tell her before placing a kiss on her forehead.

Pulling out my phone, I text Renato to join us for ice cream and cake, but he refuses. He’s down in the control room with Aldo, combing through notes, documents, and internet leads. My friend hasn’t been the same since my sister went missing. He’s just been…lost.

If Aria could only see what all of us are going through right now, I’m sure she would come home in a heartbeat if she could. I just hope she’s okay, wherever she is.

“Birthday girl is first,” my mom announces, handing Selina a plate full of food.

“Thank you,” Lina tells her with a huge smile on her face. I’ll never get tired of seeing that smile. She’s been so happy since she’s been home. I can only hope to see that same happiness on Aria’s face soon.

“Nico, you’re next,” Mom says before handing me a plate.

“Thanks,” I tell her.

We all sit around the kitchen, eating, talking, laughing and enjoying each other’s company. There’s nothing like a birthday party to bring family together. And that’s exactly what we are. One, big, happy family.

Selina

After the birthday party, Nico informs me that he has yet another surprise. I don’t know if I can handle any more surprises for one day, but he assures me that I’ll love it, so I go along with his plan.

When the car comes to a stop, Nico says, “Okay, you can open your eyes.”

And so I do. Confused, I stare around the familiar parking lot and eye the beach and ocean in the distance. My face instantly lights up when I turn to him and ask, “We’re going surfing?”

He chuckles. “That’s not exactly what I had planned.” He gets out of the car and comes over to open my door. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

He grabs a bag out of the backseat and then we walk hand in hand down to the beach. The smell of salt water and the sound of the ocean waves crashing against nearby rocks soothes my soul. The beach isn’t crowded at this time in the evening, and it’s almost like we have the whole place to ourselves except for a family building sandcastles near the water and a few fishermen by the pier.

Nico pulls a blanket out of the bag and shakes it out before laying it down on top of the sand. Then, he kneels down on it and motions for me to sit. I sit down on the blanket, cocking my head to the side as I watch him pull numerous things out of the bag. I still have no idea what he’s up to.

I watch as he places down a few juice boxes. The label looks so familiar, and a memory niggles at the back of my mind. Next is a bag of Doritos. Oh god, I haven’t had them in forever. Then a container of…chocolate and marshmallow cookies.

His words from that day come rushing back to me. “I’ll pack us those juice boxes that you love, a bag of Doritos, and some of those chocolate and marshmallow cookies that you keep sneaking out of the jar in the kitchen.”

And then he pulls out a container and unsnaps the lid. All the air leaves my lungs in a rush. “You made me PB and J with the crusts cut off,” I whisper, my voice breaking. It’s the picnic date we never got to go on because my mother took me away. “You remembered,” I tell him, my voice full of emotion.

“I remember everything about you, Lina,” he says softly.

I crawl over to him and place my lips against his in a heated kiss. “You’re amazing. Do you know that?” I ask him when I pull away.

“I know, but it’s still nice to hear,” he jokes.

I can’t help but laugh.

We eat our picnic lunch in peace, enjoying the sounds of the ocean, kids playing in the sand and watching the sun begin to set on the horizon. After we finish eating, Nico hands me a small box.

“What’s this?” I question, staring at the box with a raised brow.

“It’s your birthday present,” he says with his lips tilting up in a smile.

My brows furrow. “But you already gave me, like, a gazillion presents today.” He’s done more than enough to make my day special. In fact, he’s gone above and beyond.

“Yeah, well, this is the most important one,” he informs me.

I open the box slowly and carefully and am stunned to see a ring in the middle. It’s not a big flashy diamond, and I couldn’t be happier. Nico knows I wouldn’t want something like that. No, instead, this is a handcrafted ring with little words stamped all over the thick, white gold band.

“I wanted to give you something that would mean something to you. To us,” he explains.

I carefully take the ring from the box and look at the words etched into the band. Tears burn the back of my eyes as I read over the tiny quotes. “We’ll always have Paris,” I recite. “If you’re a bird, I’m a bird.” I can’t help but smile. The Notebook is definitely one of my favorite movies now. We’ve been watching so many sappy love movies lately, and I wondered why Nico never minded. Now I know why. He was waiting to see which quotes meant the most to me so that he could do…this.

“I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone.”

Who knew I would be such a big Lord of the Rings fan? I know Nico was happy about that one.

“I’ll never let go.” My face grows very serious as I meet his gaze and adamantly tell him, “I would have made room on that door for you.”

Nico chuckles. “So, do you like it?”

I shake my head. “No, I don’t like it. I love it. It’s absolutely perfect, Nico.” I tackle him backwards onto the blanket, placing numerous kisses on his face before saying, “It’s perfectly us.”

Nico takes the ring and slips it down over my left ring finger. “Lina, will you marry me?” he questions with a grin.

“Yes, I will marry you,” I answer without even hesitating.

I place a kiss on his lips before settling down beside him on the blanket as the last rays of sunshine cast over us, warming my skin.

“So, do you want a big wedding?” Nico asks as he holds my hand, staring at the ring on my finger.

I shake my head. “Just you and me. And your family.” Then I quickly add, “But we’ll do it after Aria comes back home.” The wedding wouldn’t be complete without her here with us, and she will be here for it. I can sense it deep down inside of my bones.

“That sounds perfect,” Nico says, humming in approval while kissing the top of my head. “I love you, Lina,” he whispers into my hair.

“And I love you, Nico,” I whisper back. “Forever.”

“Forever,” he agrees.

THE END

Continue reading for book 3