Finding Gary (The Romanovsky Brothers Book 4) (32 page)

“I love you,” she whispered.  “I never stopped.  Not for a second.”

“All I know how to do is love you, Zo.”  A tear slipped out of Val’s eyes.  “You are the only woman I have ever… will ever love.”

Zoey reached up to catch the teardrop, but Marcus beat her to it, reaching out and catching the tear under his fisted palm.  The pacifier that was still in his hand caught Val in the eye, making him squint with a deep belly laugh.

“Thanks, buddy,” Val said, smiling and running his hand down the back of Marcus’ head.  “You don’t like seeing Daddy cry do you?  Hey, do me a favor and stop leaping over the edge of shipping docks, alright?”

Zoey sniffled, watching the exchange.  “I want to be a family, again, Val.”

Val met her eyes, and his teeth nearly chattered with his fight to hold it together. “We were always a family, baby.  From the moment we all laid eyes on you that night in Jersey; we were a family.  That never stopped, and it never will.”

Zoey blubbered, but he caught her lips in a kiss before it could bloom into a full on sob, and this time, they disappeared so deeply into the embrace, they didn’t even notice the rest of the family closing in on them until they felt their arms closing in around them from all angles.

Zoey only pulled back from the kiss to meet Bette’s eyes.  Sniffling, Zoey leaned over and offered Marcus to her.

Bette’s lips fell at the corners, and she mouthed a thank you to Zoey as she accepted her grandson, bursting into tears when she had him in her arms for the first time.  

Then the family sank into another group hug, and they didn’t pull back until every tear had dried.

Epilogue

The sultry strings of Etta James’
At Last
sailed across the beautiful Brooklyn rooftop.  The crispy white lounge chairs that usually dotted the roof had been moved away making room for dozens of tables dressed in silver cloth, topped by gothic white centerpieces.  The long strings of paper lanterns that usually glowed in haphazard yellow crisscrosses overhead now radiated white.  They stretched the length of the roof, making the sterling silver table settings glimmer, and the eyes of the well-dressed guests glow even more than they already did as they watched Zoey and Val move to the center of the roof, hand in hand.  The skyline glowed in the distance, but as Zoey and Val faced each other on the dance floor, all she saw was him.  She was the first to smile, and Val returned it with a heavy sigh. 

“How can you still be nervous?” she accused; the playful smile never leaving her face as he brought his strong arms around her waist and pulled her in—so tightly their stomachs met. The flare of her mermaid dress curved against his black slacks as they swayed. “You’ve gotten through the proposal, the ceremony and half of the reception.  I haven’t even demanded that you do some synchronized dance that we can put up on YouTube… and yet you’re still nervous.”

“I’m not nervous,” Val said, his eyebrows tightening as he searched her eyes.

“I can feel your heartbeat slamming into my chest.  This corset top is, literally, four layers deep Val, and I can still feel it.”

“That’s not nerves, baby.  That’s you.  That’s my heart in complete disbelief that this day is actually happening.”

Satisfied with that answer, Zoey locked her arms tighter around his neck.  She didn’t even notice their noses brushing, their foreheads meeting, and their eyes falling shut simultaneously until the people watching them seemed to coo in unison.  She pulled back and took in the people surrounding them, giving them a sheepish smile after she realized her and Val had momentarily disappeared into another world.

The eyes of all the people she loved most looked on as she and Val swayed to the music, and she was distantly aware of his hands roaming as they did.  She didn’t have the heart to stop his hands when they came a little too close to the swell of her ass, not even when her eyes landed on Tony and Bette, embracing as Bette slapped non-stop tears from her face.  Every time she swatted one away, Tony pulled her in tighter. Marcus, as always, was stuck to his grandmother’s hip like glue, his head tucked snugly into her neck, arms and legs locked tight around her body.  Zoey was still in awe at how fast he was growing.  Two years ago, he couldn’t get his legs all the way around Bette’s waist like that.  Now they were locked around her like two combination locks, and Bette had no hope of escape.  Not that she’d ever want it.

Next to them, Roman cradled Penelope on his hip, who slept in her father’s hold, her blonde spiral curls crushed against the shoulder pad of his suit.  From Bette’s arms, Marcus stared at Penelope, every once in a while leaning over to poke her with a gentle finger.  Zoey smiled softly.  As always, Marcus refused to allow his cousin to sleep while he was awake.  In his world, there was simply too much fun to be had to waste precious time napping.  Penelope, of course, remained knocked out.  It was her favorite pastime, after all.  Angie, cradled in Roman’s other arm, fluttered her eyes at Val and Zoey, looking right on the heels of her sleepy daughter after a long night of partying.

Zoey’s smile widened as her eyes flitted over to Gary, who was clinging Reggie’s forearms from where Reggie had them wrapped them around Gary’s neck from behind.  They swayed with gentle smiles.  Leo and Jessica swayed next to them as well, and knowing it was taking every inch of willpower Leo had to give she and Val their moment, Zoey found herself nodding her head at him, inviting him onto the dance floor.

Leo didn’t have to be asked twice, dragging Jessica after him onto the floor a moment later.

When Val snuggled his face into her neck, Zoey was pulled back into the world that only belonged to her and him.  She buried her nose into his hair with a smile, dragging her nails through it at the same time.  His scent stole a groan that pushed past her lips.

“The day you brought me to this rooftop for the first time,” Val said, kissing her shoulder blade between words as he ran the beds of his fingers up and down her arms.  “I would’ve never thought, in a million years, that you were on the verge of making all my dreams come true, Zo.”

Zoey smiled.  “I didn’t either.  I knew things would never be the same.  But married?  With a kid?  Never in a million years.”

Val lifted is head and pressed his lips against her ear.  “Thank you for loving me, even then.  Thank you for loving me enough to offer to give me Marcus, even when I was too cowardly to tell you how much I loved you.”

“You’re anything but a cowardly,” she whispered.  “You’re the strongest man I’ve ever known.  A man who’ll do anything to protect the people he loves, even if it comes at the expense of his own happiness.  His own safety.  I’m so blessed that you’re my husband.”

“I can’t believe you’re my wife.”

They laughed softly, lost in their own world again, and soon, all of the guests surrounded them on the dance floor.  Etta James left the building, and a faster beat kicked in, prompting excited hoots and hollers as the dancing went from slow to fast.  Soft to hard. Classy to straight up ratchet.  And it remained that way, the joy and laughter filling the air and floating up into the starry night sky, where it stayed for hours.

By the time Zoey had torn herself away from Val and the dance floor, she was short of breath from all the dancing she’d been doing.  She swept her bouquet up from the table she and Val had yet to sit at, covered with plates full of half eaten food and drink.

“It’s time!”  She cried, holding her hands up in the air and reproaching the dance floor.  The DJ turned down the music, causing everyone to look at her curiously.

All the females on the roof squealed with excitement as Zoey held up the bouquet, clamoring around her, bouncing up and down and clapping excitedly.  Soon, the excitement took a turn, elbows flew a tad too hard, nudges with a tad too much “love”, and smiles ebbing into frowns as the women primed themselves for the bouquet.

Zoey chuckled and looked over the rapidly thickening crowd of women, catching eyes with Jessica and Angie, who were both standing off to the side shaking their heads.  Zoey threw them both a look, knowing that, before those two had gotten the bands gleaming on their left ring fingers, they’d be the first ones in line to clamor for the bouquet. 

With a grin, Zoey turned away from the girls before her and bent forward, primed to toss the bouquet.  She counted down from five, giving little looks over her shoulder every now and again to make sure they were ready.

“Three… two… one!”  She tossed the flowers over her head and spun on her heel, immediately seeing that she’d put a little too much elbow grease behind her toss as the bouquet went soaring over the heads of the female guests clawing for it and into the dance floor where the more sensible people were watching in amusement.

Zoey’s eyes followed the flowers all the way across the dance floor, her eyes moving in a half moon shape as they finally came to a landing right in Gary’s hands.

Gary stared down at the bouquet, looked to his left where Reggie was chuckling at him, and then rolled his eyes when the entire rooftop broke out into applause.  He gave a little bow and then insisted that he hadn’t even been trying to catch the damn bouquet when the female wedding goers came over to jokingly berate him.  He held both his arms out at his sides, a few petals escaping from the bouquet, shoulders high and green eyes big as the girls pushed and shoved him playfully, attempting to swipe the flowers from him.

“It wasn’t meant to be for you tonight, sweetheart,” Gary said to one of the girls, smirking.  “It landed right in my hands, what do you want from me?  Work on that vertical jump and maybe you’ll catch the next one.”

Only when he’d fought most of them off, and they petered away, did Gary turn and meet Reggie’s eyes.

They shared a secret smile as Reggie snatched the bouquet out of Gary’s hand.  Both leaned in for a soft kiss; flowers smashed between them, and Zoey moved her eyes away, unable to stop the blush from hitting her cheeks.  Perhaps she
hadn’t
put too much elbow grease behind that toss.  The flowers had gone long, she realized, but had landed right where they belonged.

The party continued into the night with guests saying their goodbyes and petering off until Zoey found herself surrounded only by the people who’d been there from the beginning.  By the time only the Romanovskys, Angie, Jessica and Reggie remained, Zoey was on her last leg.  She and Val leaned side by side on the balcony, their backs to the New York skyline, facing Table 1, where the family had been placed for dinner.  

Jessica sipped a cocktail from where she sat on Leo’s lap at the head of the table.  Next to them, Bette was next to Tony with both Penelope and Marcus on her lap.  Marcus had hit the dust shortly after the bouquet toss, passed out with his head cradled on Penelope’s, who also remained out cold. The band on Bette’s ring finger glowed from where she was running her fingers softly through Marcus’ curls.  Gary and Reggie were still on the dance floor, the only ones left, cuddled close and off in their own world in much the way Zoey was sure she’d been off in hers during she and Val’s first dance.  Zoey looked to her left where Roman had his arms around Angie from behind, both drinking in the view.

“Okay, guys!” Zoey beamed.  “I wanted to wait until everyone else was gone…” She held her arms out, waiting for Gary and Reggie to make their way towards the table from the dance floor to continue.  “Because you’re the people I love most, and I wanted to give you all one last surprise…  a little something from me to you.”

“You’re giving us a surprise… on
your
wedding day?” Roman asked.

“Because the fact that someone married Val isn’t surprising enough?” Leo asked.

Jessica elbowed him just as boisterous laughter rang in at Leo’s burn.  Zoey heard Val cursing Leo under his breath, and didn’t have to look back at her new husband to know he surely had fire in his eyes.

“Hey, easy. That’s officially my husband you’re talking about, Sir.”  Zoey held up a finger.

Leo rolled his eyes.

“And this surprise is for him, too,” Zoey said, looking back at Val.  “It’s for all of you.”

“Are we going to get our surprise sometime this year, or…” Gary asked, just as a caterer swept in next to him with a glass dish in his hands.  He dropped it down on the table without a word, stood tall, met Zoey’s eyes, and walked away.

Gary watched him go.  “That was weird.”  He said, looking back at Reggie and then at Zoey.

Zoey motioned to the glass dish the caterer had dropped, a massive smile on her face.  “Surprise!” 

“That’s our surprise?” Bette asked, lifting an eyebrow.  “What is it?”

Zoey feigned offense.  “Do you really have to ask?”

When the confused expressions around her deepened, Zoey pushed away from the balcony, holding her dress up as she moved to the table.  Leaning over, she took the aluminum foil that had been secured around the dish and ripped it off.

The moment the dish’s contents came into view, gasps of horror filled the air.

“It’s my famous lasagna,” Zoey beamed, meeting the eyes of each and every person at the table.  “The lasagna you all love so much!” She shot Val a look just in time to see disgust awash in his eyes.  He fixed his face in the next instant, standing tall and giving her a warm smile, but not quickly enough for Zoey to miss his sudden about-face.

She threw her gaze to Gary, who avoided her eyes at all costs.  Leo, who pressed his lips together.  Over her shoulder to Roman and Angie, who both wiped the frowns off their faces almost as quickly as Val had.

“I like lasagna,” Jessica said, leaning over to survey what was in the dish.

Leo pulled her back like the dish was on fire, raising his eyebrows.  “I thought you said you couldn’t eat another bite after the four-course meal we just had, baby?”

Jessica gave him a look.  “You’ve been married to me for almost a year, and you still don’t understand that my stomach is a bottomless pit?”  She nodded to the dish.  “I could eat that whole thing and still want to stop at the taco truck on the way home.”

“Baby?  You’re full.” Leo gave Jessica a look.  “Trust me.”

“You’re full,” Gary cosigned.

“Very full,” Bette said.

“Why is she full?” Zoey asked, giving them all a confused look of her own.  “If Jessica wants to eat, let her eat.”

“Your lasagna sucks,” Gary beamed, out of nowhere, causing all eyes to shoot to him in shock.

Zoey stood tall, slapping her hands on her hips.  She fought back a smile, shocked that it had been so easy to get the truth out of him.   She’d prepared herself for a lengthy battle.

“It sucks?” she cried, meeting everyone’s eyes.  “For years, you guys have been telling me how much you
love
it.  You ask me to cook it all the time.  I’ve seen you eat it.”

Dead silence.  From every angle.

Zoey feigned more surprise.  “Does everyone feel this way?”

More silence.

Then, Bette sighed.  “It’s abysmal, sweetheart,” she moaned.   Bette’s pained confession set off a quick domino effect.