“Your story would be much more touching if my father hadn’t had a second family in Venice,” Luke said.
Alessandro shrugged one large shoulder. “Your father was human, but he loved you. I miss him every day. You still have your three brothers, Luke. They’re not perfect, but treasure them while they are with you. None of you will be here forever.”
Luke stared into the fire, losing himself in the flames as he thought about his brothers. He couldn’t imagine how he’d feel if he were to lose one of them.
“Gio may drive you crazy, but he and Julia welcomed your lady friend into their home.”
Luke looked at Alessandro in surprise. “They did what?”
“I hear Cassie is staying with them until you return for her.”
Luke frowned. “I thought she was going back to Ohio.”
Alessandro shrugged again. “Women. They do as they please.”
“Did you see her? How is she?”
“This Cassie. Do you think she is the one for you?”
“I thought so.”
Alessandro stood. “Don’t confuse how you feel today with what is in your heart. Get some rest tonight, Luke. Your head will be clearer in the morning. But either way, be honest with her, and don’t make her wait too long. She deserves that much, no?”
“Yes.”
Luke walked Alessandro to the door, and they hugged briefly before Alessandro left. Yes, Cassie deserves the truth.
And I’ll tell her how I feel—as soon as I figure it out for myself.
Chapter Nineteen
A week later, Cassie put her luggage down just inside the door of her kitchen and didn’t know if she should laugh or cry when she saw Tilly sitting at the kitchen table waiting for her. The trip home hadn’t been an emotionally easy one, and part of Cassie wanted to crawl into bed, turn off the lights, and sob, but she was equally grateful to have someone there who wouldn’t let her do that.
Cassie hung her coat on the hook in the kitchen, poured herself a cup of coffee from the pot Tilly had evidently made for them to share, and sat down across from her friend. She’d called Tilly when she’d decided to stay in New York, but hadn’t spoken to her since Patrice’s funeral.
Tilly took a moment to study Cassie. “So, where is he?”
Cassie sipped her coffee before answering. She attempted to gather her strength to answer the first of what was likely only the beginning of a long list of questions from Tilly. “He’s in New York with his brothers.”
“When is he coming here?”
After letting out a long, shaky sigh, Cassie said, “I don’t know if he is.”
Tilly pushed a tray of brownies toward Cassie. “Chocolate always helps.”
Cassie smiled sadly and bit into one. Her eyes rounded. “Did you make these? They’re amazing.”
Tilly didn’t look as impressed. “Annabelle Sable made them. She asked me to ask you if she can continue working here even though you’re back.”
Cassie took another bite and savored the taste. “I wish I could afford to hire someone. These are fantastic.”
Tilly wrinkled her nose. “I don’t believe you’d have to pay her. She and the others had a hen party here every day. Honestly, I don’t know how I survived it. I stayed over at Myron’s house so I could have some peace in the mornings.”
Cassie choked on her coffee. “You stayed over at Myron’s house? Did the two of you . . . I mean . . . you didn’t . . .?”
Tilly rolled her eyes. “Have sex? You can say the word, Cassie. You won’t shock me. I lost my virginity back when you were no more than a twinkle in an angel’s eye.”
“So? Did you?”
A small smile curled Tilly’s lips. “We did.”
“And?”
Tilly’s cheeks turned pink. “Viagra is a beautiful thing. Now eat another brownie. You look thinner than when you left. And don’t think you can change the subject. What happened with Luke?”
Cassie took another square but instead of eating it, she broke it into small pieces on her plate. “It was tough, Tilly. Hard to wait for him and harder to leave without him.”
“Then why did you?”
“He asked me to. He said he needed time to sort some things out.”
Tilly nodded slowly. “Did he go to his mother’s funeral?”
Cassie’s mind filled with images of that day while she continued to tear apart the brownie. “He did. He stood in a receiving line next to his brothers. It was beautiful and sad at the same time. She wasn’t a nice woman, but somehow she brought four amazing men into the world. I can’t begin to tell you how kind Luke’s brothers were to me during the days that led up to her funeral. No one knew if Luke would even come back for it. I should have felt out of place, but everyone was so warm and welcoming. I think the funeral helped Luke appreciate his family more. The line of relatives was out the door and never ending. It was odd to see that many people show up for a woman not many seemed to care for.”
Tilly laid a hand on Cassie’s. “No one goes to a funeral for the dead.”
Except me, Cassie thought. I went for you, Emma. Cassie held Tilly’s hand in hers. And I don’t regret one moment of the journey you sent me on. I’m not afraid of being alone anymore, Emma. Because I see now that I’m not. I’ll have a baby someday, maybe with that man, maybe on my own, but it won’t be my only family.
As if on cue, a sharp knock on the door disrupted them, followed by Bonnie sticking her head in and saying, “Oh, good, you’re back. Tilly, you were supposed to call me when she got in.”
Tilly smiled. “At my age, who can remember anything?”
Bonnie laughed and joined them at the table. “Don’t you try to pull that ‘I’m too old’ crap on me. Your mind is as sharp as a tack. You just wanted to be the first to get the scoop.”
“Maybe,” Tilly acknowledged with a shameless shrug.
“So, what did I miss?” Bonnie asked.
Cassie caught her up quickly. When she finished, Bonnie sat back in her chair, folded her arms across her chest, and pursed her lips in frustration. “I was sure he loved you.”
Cassie studied the last sip of coffee in her cup. “I think he does, but sometimes that’s not enough.”
“Bullshit,” Tilly said harshly.
Cassie and Bonnie both sat up straighter at her tone.
Tilly continued, “Do you want me to speak to him? I’ll tell him no matter how beautiful his face is, no one is going to care as long as his head is stuck that far up his ass.”
Cassie was the first to burst out laughing. Bonnie quickly followed suit. They laughed so long tears were running down their cheeks. Tilly gave in and started laughing, also.
Tilly’s son walked into the kitchen and looked at the three women in hysterics around the table. He picked up one of the brownies and sniffed it. “Mom, it’s getting late. You should come home.”
Unable to stop laughing, Tilly said, “Cassie, Jimmy thinks you’re feeding me funny brownies.”
“Funny?” Bonnie asked.
“You know, the illegal type.” She turned to her son and said, “You worry too much, Jimmy. There’s nothing in these brownies, but even if there was, I’m eighty. All drugs should be legal after a certain age as a reward for making it this far.”
“I’ll be in the car,” her son said with a frown.
Bonnie held her next burst of laughter until after Jimmy was out of the house. “Tilly, how did someone like you have someone like him?”
Cassie chimed in, “Hey, he loves you. He just thinks I’m a bad influence on you. Wait until he hears about you and Myron. He’s really going to hate me.”
Bonnie leaned forward. “Myron? As in ‘I’ve wanted you my whole life, Tilly’ Myron? You finally slept with him and didn’t even tell me? Tilly, how could you?”
Tilly adjusted the front of her blouse modestly. “I have a reputation to protect. So don’t let it get beyond this kitchen.” She studied her freshly painted nails. “Now which one of you wants to go outs
ide and tell my son to go on home because I’m sleeping at Myron’s tonight?”
The three ladies started laughing again until they were gasping for air. Cassie thought about Luke and how much she wanted him with her, but she didn’t feel the need to hide and cry anymore.
She was home.
And, with or without Luke, she was going to be okay.
***
A few days later, Luke sat with his three brothers at a table in Richard’s posh, uptown restaurant. The food was phenomenal as usual, but Luke was too distracted to appreciate it.
Midway through the meal, Luke laid his fork down on the table and said, “I asked you all to meet me here because I want to announce a few decisions I’ve made.”
Nick’s eyebrows rose comically and he looked back and forth between the serious expressions on Gio’s and Max’s faces. “I bet I can guess them. I’m really good at this.”
Gio took a swig of his drink and said, “Let Luke speak, Nick.”
Max lent his support to Nick. “Do we have to pretend to be surprised?”
Some of Luke’s tension about speaking to his brothers dissolved. There would likely always be a layer of sarcasm in their banter with each other, but lately it was said humorously and not defensively. “I’m leaving New York,” Luke said. “I’ve handed in my resignation at the hospital and have started the process to get licensed in Ohio.”
“Shocking,” Nick said dryly.
Gio laid a hand flat on the table. “Don’t forget you agreed to one Sunday dinner a month at Uncle Alessandro’s home. I’m not going without you.”
Max laughed. “I think all the children running around makes Gio nervous.”
“I’ll fly back for it,” Luke said, finding it easier and easier to smile.
Gio waved a thumb at Nick. “Nick has this crazy idea that we’re having a triple wedding in the fall. I don’t know how he did it, but the women are excited about it now. You need to be part of that, also.”
Luke tapped his fingers on the table beside his plate. “I don’t want to be part of a triple wedding.” A strained silence fell over the table. Luke continued, “It needs to be a quadruple wedding or nothing.”
It took a moment for his brothers to get what he’d said then a general laugh erupted from them.
“Congratulations,” Max said, and clapped a hand on Luke’s back.
“That was one of my guesses,” Nick said with a self-satisfied smile.
“Did you ask her yet?” Gio watched Luke’s face closely.
Luke’s eyes shifted uncomfortably beneath the scrutiny. “I bought the ring.”
Nick burst out laughing. “You’re announcing you’re marrying a woman you didn’t propose to yet?”
Luke raised a hand in defense. “I didn’t take out an ad in the newspaper. You’re the first people I’ve told.”
Max brought a hand to his forehead. “Have you spoken to Cassie since you sent her back to Ohio?”
Luke frowned. “No, but I told her I would go to her after I cleared up a few things here.”
Richard appeared at the table in his chef whites. “How is everything tonight?”
Nick joked. “Fantastic. Luke announced he’s getting married. He decided to join our wedding-fest. The only problem is he hasn’t asked Cassie yet.”
Richard’s lips pressed together as he tried not to smile. “It’s customary to do it in the reverse order, but Luke has a good plan I’m sure.”
“I am closing up my apartment here in the city. I resigned from the hospital and will soon be licensed to practice medicine in Ohio. Everything is set.”
“And the proposal? What of that?” Richard asked.
Not sure what Richard meant, Luke said again, “I bought a ring.”
“Mon Dieu,” Richard said and spoke to himself for a moment in French. “If you don’t do better than that, I will never hear the end of it from Maddy.” He snapped his fingers. “Have I ever asked you for anything, Luke?”
“No.”
“But I have always been there for you whenever you needed something, yes?”
Luke answered cautiously, “Yes.”
“Please ask my wife to help you plan this proposal. She has been so sad since the funeral, and she thinks you’re still upset with her. Maddy is good with things like this, and it would mean a lot to me if you included her somehow.”
Luke sighed. “If Maddy gets involved, the whole Andrade clan will show up.” As he said the words, he thought about what Cassie had said she yearned for more than anything else. Family. He said slowly, “The whole Andrade clan. Richard, you’re a genius.”
Chapter Twenty
As soon as Cassie received a package from a courier, she threw on her coat, stuffed the envelope in her pocket, drove over to pick up Tilly, and called Bonnie at her restaurant to tell her they were on their way.
Within moments she and her two closest friends were huddled at the end of the restaurant counter. Cassie laid the unopened card down between them.
Bonnie picked it up and inspected it. “Are you sure it’s from Luke?”
“It has to be,” Cassie said. “It came with three dozen red roses.”
Tilly grabbed it from Bonnie and handed it back to Cassie. “The only way to really know is to open it.”
Cassie held her breath and hugged the card to her chest. “This could be his way of saying thank you, but goodbye.”
Tilly waved a hand in the air. “Suspense is wasted on people my age. I don’t want to be dead by the time you figure out if Luke has come to his senses. Open the damn card.”
Cassie tore it open. “It’s an invitation with directions for how to RSVP.”
Bonnie chewed her bottom lip. “He’s inviting you somewhere. That has to be good news.”
Cassie turned the card so her friends could read it. “He’s inviting us.”
“Us?” Bonnie and Tilly asked in unison.
Cassie read over the invitation again. “It says I’m invited to an Andrade family gathering on Slater Island this coming weekend. I can bring as many guests as I wish as long as I call this number and tell them how many. Everyone should bring at least an overnight bag and be prepared to spend the weekend.” Cassie took out her phone. “He disappears, and then this? I should tell him where he can shove it.”
Bonnie snatched her phone from her. “Oh, no you don’t. This is his big romantic apology. It could be where he proposes to you. Don’t kill the romance by calling him.”
Cassie looked to Tilly for her opinion.
Tilly nodded in agreement. “Telling him off might feel good, but is it what you want to do? The problem with your generation, Cassie, is that you often choose instant gratification and cheat yourselves out of what would have been better if you’d had a little patience.”
Confused and afraid to believe in anything as good as what seemed to be happening, Cassie asked, “What if it’s not an apology or a proposal? What if this is a fundraiser or something he invites everyone to?”
Tilly raised one eyebrow and said seriously, “If that’s the case, we take him aside and beat the tar out of him. Then we come home and have a toast to the most clueless man on the planet.”
Not too much was scary when Tilly broke it down that way. Cassie smiled, hopped up and down with joy, and waved the invitation. “I’m going to an Andrade weekend.”
“We,” Bonnie corrected with a whoop of joy. “There is no way you’re going without me. Can I bring Greg? We don’t close up our restaurant often, but this will be the vacation we could never afford. I’ve been reading online about the Andrades. I can only imagine what kind of party they would have. Please say yes.”
“The invitation says I can bring as many as I’d like, so that means yes to your husband. Tilly, are you in? Do you want to bring your son?”
“Jimmy?” Tilly snorted. “Not if we intend to have any fun. I might bring Myron, though.”
Bonnie chuckled. “Ooh, Tilly has a boyfriend.”
“We were going to take
it slow, but—”
Cassie finished for her, “At your age, who has time?”
All three of them burst out laughing.
Tilly said, “Exactly.”
Cassie called the number on the card and spoke to a woman who sounded as if she were someone’s secretary. It was all very business-like, even though Cassie felt giddy as she told the woman she was RSVP’ing for five. Two couples and herself.
“That’s fantastic, Ms. Daiver. If you give me everyone’s address, I will have a limo pick you and your guests up on Saturday afternoon.” Cassie did and the woman continued, “You’ll be flying out of Toledo on a private plane so there are no luggage restrictions. Mr. Andrade has arranged a selection of services you may choose from for the days leading up to your departure. Would you like me to list them?”
Cassie put the woman on speakerphone and motioned for Tilly and Bonnie to lean in. “She wants to know what we want to do before we go.”
The woman described a day that started with visiting a famous spa in Grand Rapids then shopping at a variety of designer dress shops in Perrysburg. “Or we could have everything come to you if you prefer.”
Silently, Bonnie mouthed, “Oh, my God.”
“This is too much,” Cassie said. “We can’t say yes to this.”
Tilly looked less impressed. She whispered, “I respect that Luke doesn’t flaunt his money, but let the man try to impress you this once.”
“Yes,” Bonnie clapped in excitement. “Please let him try to impress us . . . I mean you.” She laughed. “Come on, things like this don’t happen here. I am going to enjoy every moment of this right along with you.”
Cassie mulled it over. She didn’t want Luke to think his money played any part in how she felt about him. For that reason, saying no might be better. On the other hand, he’d taken his time deciding how he wanted their relationship to move forward. They’d been on an emotional rollercoaster with a particularly bumpy ride the last couple of weeks. If this was his way of apologizing and showing her he cared, maybe Tilly was right, and she should let him put some effort into it.