Fast Forward (28 page)

She lifted her chin in that cute, headstrong way of hers. “Ask and you’ll find out.”

In the distance, I caught the sound of a bird singing. It echoed across the open ground around us. I filled up my chest with air and the frozen sensation stung my lungs.

“Cassandra O’Malley, do you want to be my wife?”

With her gaze locked with mine, she answered, “I do.”

The bird kept on singing as if it was spreading the good news to the whole world, but the outside world didn’t exist anymore for Cassie and me. For the first time, we allowed ourselves to be just the two of us.

Finally, Cassie shut her eyes tightly and opened them again. She pressed her lips together, then inhaled sharply. “So now, tell me what happened in Kansas City.”

EPILOGUE

Cassie ~ Palermo, Sicily, Italy

There really was something about the Italian language.

It made pretty much anything sound crazy romantic, as if each word had been designed to get
la signora
into bed. Listening to Josh’s deep, mellow voice, declaring that his life was mine, sent me spinning into Romantic Heaven.

Io, Joshua, prente te, Cassandra, come mia sposa

E prometto di esserti fedele sempre,

Nella gioia e nel dolore,

Nella salute e nella malattia,

E di amarti e onorarti

Tutti I giorni della mia vita

I hung on every syllable that floated out of his mouth and hoped that I wasn’t gaping. He didn’t stumble, but kept my shaky—and hopefully not too clammy—hands in his. They felt strong, steady and… sweat-free.

Earlier I’d been overwhelmed when we’d stepped into la Chiesa di Sant’ Agostino. Josh told me the church was an example of ‘Romanesque Gothic.’ I had no idea what ‘Romanesque Gothic’ meant, but it was even more beautiful than it sounded. Then he’d led us to the back of the church and broke into his impro
in italiano
.

“What is he saying, Mom?” Lucas tugged at my dress. You could always count on him to kick romance right in the butt.

Josh’s gaze broke slowly away from me to settle on the little man standing next to us, all brown eyes and hair. The Sicilian sun had given his skin a hint of toffee that matched his dad’s. They both looked good enough to eat.

“I’ve told your mother I’ll love her forever.” Josh pinched Lucas’s nose as he often did to tease him.

“Again?”

“You can never say ‘I love you’ too often, Champ.”

“Are you going to kiss her again?” Lucas’s eyebrows wiggled at Josh as he posed the question.

I quickly scanned the interior of the church looking for the silhouette of a priest or a guard. “I’m pretty sure kissing in a church in Sicily isn’t quite the thing to do.” At least, not the French kiss I had in mind.

Instead, Josh brought my hand to his lips and brushed each knuckle with the same gentleness he’d have used on a newborn. I was in the perfect place to thank God for giving me Josh not once, but twice.

Another family of tourists moved closer to where we stood and broke our moment. We made our way out of
la Chiesa
and started strolling down
la
via Francesco Raimondi
. I
loved
saying all these names out loud and let the foreign words caress my tongue.

We were careful to avoid the midday heat, so all the sightseeing was scheduled for the morning or late afternoon. In another nearby
chiesa
, the clock struck five. In Sicily, even the sound of a freakin’ bell had a touch of magic about it.

“Can we go to the market now?” Lucas begged. He looked up at us with his perfect pout that made my heart melt and burst at the same time. Wherever we went, he’d taken the habit of inserting himself between us, clutching our hands tightly. Josh and I missed holding each other’s hands though. So during our ‘date’ nights—and by ‘date’ I mean a quick bite out at a local place—our hands stayed glued together as if some Hubba Bubba had gotten stuck between our palms.

“We promised you we’d go there and you’ve been so well-behaved, you might even get a treat.”

My answer made Lucas squeal and jump up and down a couple of times. Soon we turned into
Il Mercato di Capo.
It was a long street market alive with hustle and bustle. I’d never seen anything like this before: a jumble of vendors’ stalls, selling everything delicious under the sun, from oranges to tomatoes to freshly baked bread and fish that swam in little buckets.

“Yucky!” Lucas grimaced. “It stinks.”

“Lucas!” I gently scolded him. I had to say though, it did stink. I’d never liked fish.

We hurried away from the area where the fishmongers were gathered. Twice Josh guided us out of the trajectory of those cute, murderous little Vespas. They bolted along the market streets, from one narrow alley to another, as if nothing or no one was standing in their way.

I let out a stressed breath when we escaped from
Il Capo
and plopped down at a table outside a coffee shop, with Josh and Lucas on either side of me. By that point, I was craving an Italian ice cream as badly as my son was. Lucas settled for his new fav—
fragola
and
pistachio
—and I indulged in a
cioccolato fondente
. When we came back to our table, Josh had ordered a Coke for himself.

“You don’t know what you’re missing,” I tempted him by rolling my eyes after my first bite. The corner of his mouth curled upwards. There was a couple of silent seconds which were soon shattered by Lucas.

“My friend Charlie, he’s allergic to fish and, if he eats some, he has all these yucky spots popping on his skin, like EVERYWHERE.”

Josh started asking Lucas questions, but I struggled to keep my attention glued on poor Charlie’s story.
Cioccolato fondente
was about as good as it got. I enjoyed how the ice cream melted on my tongue. It managed to feel both cold and smoldering.

Cioccolato fondente
was good, but watching my two men lost in their own chit-chat topped the happiness chart. Lucas had come to live with us for good February last year and the adoption had been legalized right before last Christmas. I savored every second of our time together.

It was now two years since Gran had passed away, which had soon been followed by Alfredo’s death. We’d kept our promise to him and, as soon as the summer holiday and a break in Josh’s work schedule had allowed, we’d flown to Sicily. The Guidi family had come from a village an hour’s drive from Palermo and we were heading there tomorrow.

My eyes rolled once again, but this time it was to check the tiny slice of sky visible between the tall buildings bordering the narrow alley. I winked at Gran and Alfredo and, deep in my soul, I knew they were at peace. Our life was not perfect. Dammit, our family sure wasn’t perfect, but we were together and I was plain grateful for it.

If we were here today, enjoying a gelato in Palermo, it was also thanks to those who remained and who loved us: Josh’s mom, Miranda, back in Steep Hill; Woodie and Clarissa and their sweet, red-haired little girl, Quinn.

I was thankful to Shawn and Sam who had flown to Kansas City to meet Trisha and the judge after the photo debacle. Even Will, my agent, had put a good word to explain my relationship with Shawn. And it was all Josh’s doing. He’d orchestrated that while I’d been in Steep Hill. I’d seen a lot of Shawn over the last year since we were co-writing most of the songs on his latest album. I’d penned a few songs for myself too... One of these days, I might come back on stage.

Andrea Loretti and her husband had backed down from their crusade to adopt Lucas. I think Josh had something to do with that too. Andrea was fostering now. Lucas and I had visited her a couple of times and, of course, she’d baked us a truckload of chocolate chip cookies.

“Mom, have I been here with my mommy and my daddy before?” Lucas’s question startled me.

“You mean
here
, like this exact gelato place?” He nodded. “I don’t know if you came
here
,
here
before, but you travelled to this city with them when you were a baby.”

He chewed on my answer while he finished the
fragola
of his ice cream. It was still difficult for him to reconcile his fading memories of Jenna and Chris with our life in D.C. Coming to Sicily was a way to keep that part of him alive and build new memories.

A man dressed all in black with a white mask had started a street mime performance a few yards away.

“Can we stay and watch him, please?” Lucas asked.

Josh took a napkin and wiped away the ice cream that was smeared over Lucas’s face. “Go, but stay on this side of the crowd so that we can see you.”

Lucas climbed down from his chair and hurried away.

“A penny for your thoughts” Josh took a sip of his Coke.

“Nothing. I was totally fixated by Charlie’s fish acne.”

“You’re not fooling me, Cass.”

I shrugged. “I was thinking of the family we’ve made, the three of us, and the one we have with our friends.” Josh extended his arm and entwined his fingers with mine. I gazed down at our hands joined…hopefully forever. “In the end, family is much more than just blood.”

The sound of Lucas giggling drew my attention back to him.

Josh brought my hand to his lips and kissed it with the same gentleness he’d done in the church. “Family is about love, and love is something we have plenty of.”

Fast Forward (Second Chances # 2)

If you feel like leaving a review for
Fast Forward
, you can do so on
Goodreads
or wherever you purchased it.

Thank you,

Marion
❤

You Turn (Second Chances # 3)

Are you intrigued by the mysterious Zach Murdoch? Want to know more about him? Then let’s travel to Paris, France, in May 2014 and find out about Lenor’s second chance at love…

Second Chances # 4

Many readers of
Oxford Shadows
(The Oxford trilogy # 2) and
No Reverse
have shared with me their ‘affection’ for the deliciously roguish Sam Blackhawk. Let’s follow him when he looks for his own ‘Forever’ in August 2014.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would
never
have written Cassie and Josh’s story without the support of some very kind-hearted, inspiring, passionate people.

… Claudia at
PhatPuppyArt
and Teresa Yeh at
Teresa Yeh Photography
, for making Josh and Cassie look so cute and sexy;

… Chris Eboch, for your calm and positive attitude;

… Steve Parolini, for being a hero (yes, you are!);

… L.J. Anderson at
Mayhem Cover Creations
, for dancing the tango with me;

… Sara O’Connor at
Gliterary Girl
, for your flair and making my website look so very ‘gliterary’ too;

… Julie at AToMR, for answering my long emails and being always so professional and thoughtful;

… Teresa, for being a rock;

… Ginny H., for being an early fan and your delightful, dry sense of humor;

… the
Ballet Gang
moms for being simply awesome women;

… my parents, for always asking for updates on ‘the’ book and getting an exasperated sigh in response;

… my little girls, for the strength you give me, ALWAYS;

… Hector,
well
, for EVERYTHING and inspiring some of the best lines;

… All the bloggers, who spread the word and warmed my heart: Autumn at
The Autumn Review
, Damaris at
Good Choice Readings
, Ing at
As The Page Turns
, Ellen at
Always YA At Heart
, Raina at
The LUV’NV
, Nathalie and Ali at
SeekingBookBoyfriends
, Chucha at
BookFreak
, Savannah at
Books With Bite,
Sarah at
Head Stuck In A Book,
Sonia at
SBookLover
, Carrie at
The
Muse Unleashed,
Brenna at
Two-Tall-Tales
, Jessica at
Lovin’ Los Libros
, Jenee at
Jenee’s Book Blog,
Katie at
Katie’s Books
, Bethany at
The Reading Vixens
, Ashley at
Chiquita Blog
, Cerian at
The Rookie Romance
, Shelley and Courtney at
ReadingBooksOrDie
, Jennifer at
The Tale Of Many Reviews
, and so many more.