Chapter 9 - The Wedding Lily Planned
A year later, Dominic proposed.
Not at a mansion.
Not at a restaurant.
At table 17.
He took me back to Beluchi's.
The same booth.
The same corner.
The place where Lily had once climbed onto the seat and changed our lives.
He knelt.
“Mara.”
I cried immediately.
“Don't.”
“I haven't asked.”
“I know.”
He laughed.
Then he opened the box.
“I spent my whole life believing love was a weakness.”
He took my hand.
“Then your daughter walked into my restaurant and destroyed that belief in one afternoon.”
I laughed through tears.
“She has that effect.”
“She taught me that protecting someone doesn't mean controlling them.”
He looked at me.
“It means standing beside them.”
I looked at Evan.
He had come with Lily.
He smiled.
He knew.
Dominic continued.
“I can't promise you a perfect life.”
“I don't want one.”
“I can't promise there won't be danger.”
“I know.”
“But I can promise you that you'll never face it alone.”
He held up the ring.
“Mara Hale, will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
Lily cheered.
Evan applauded.
Isabella cried.
Even my mother smiled.
The wedding was small.
No criminals.
No hidden weapons.
No secrets.
Just family.
Lily carried the rings.
Mr. Buttons had been repaired and wore a tiny bow tie.
When I walked down the aisle, Dominic looked at me exactly the way he had looked at me that first night.
Not with suspicion.
Not with fear.
With recognition.
Like somehow he had always known.
After the ceremony, Lily climbed onto his lap.
“Are you really my stepdad now?”
Dominic smiled.
“If your mom says yes.”
Lily turned to me.
“Mom?”
I laughed.
“Yes.”
She hugged him.
“Good.”
I watched them.
And realized how far we'd come.
A child who had once crossed Manhattan alone because she didn't want her mother to miss dinner had somehow brought two broken families together.
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She had told a mafia boss everything.
And in doing so, she had told the truth nobody else could.
