Page 76 of Ties That Bind Us

“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss your bride.” Oscar beamed.

I snaked my arm around Ava and pulled her to me tightly. She giggled, blushing as my lips grazed her cheek. She tilted her chin up to kiss me, and I pressed my lips to hers passionately. Nothing had really changed, but it felt like I was kissing her for the very first time—and in a sense I was. As my wife.

When we finally broke apart, we were both breathless and smiling uncontrollably. Oscar had us fill out the license and signed it as our witness before leaving us.

“I can’t believe we just did that.” She let out a sharp laugh and covered her mouth slightly.

“Well, believe it, baby. We’re married!” I pumped my fist in the air in excitement, flashing her the ring on my finger.

“We’re married,” she repeated, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

“Let’s go celebrate.” I scooped her into my arms and carried her bridal-style all the way back to our villa. She pretended to fight me the entire way, but it was the first time I had really seen her smile without holding something back. She was free, and she finally starting to realize it.

The last days of our trip flew by in a blaze, mostly because we hardly left the room. Ava and I were trying to soak in every last second of alone time we could, someday when things blew over, I’d bring her back here and we’d actually see some of the sights. I knew once we touched down in New York, shit would hit the fan. Alessandro had to have heard by now that his plan had been foiled, and who knew what he would do to try to break us apart this time?

Now, though, there was no way he’d be able to. Ava was legally my wife, and there wasn’t a damn thing Alessandro could do about it. I had quadruple checked that everything about this marriage was legal and binding and there were no loopholes he could find.

I watched as she stared out the window of the airplane, a million miles away. This trip had been life changing in more ways than one, and I could only imagine what was going through her head. Our marriage was probably the least of it. I had dropped some serious bombshells about her father, and I knew that had to be hard to stomach. It could have derailed my entire marriage plan but luckily, Ava had trusted me. I’d be right by her side as she processed it all, but I knew some of it had to be done on her own. I could protect her from him in the future, but I couldn’t fix the damage he had already done. How a man could do that to his own family, I’d never understand.

“Where is your head at, beautiful?” I rested my hand on her knee, rubbing the inside of it gently with my thumb.

She sighed, not answering at first. “I was just thinking about our kids,” she finally said.

Kids? What. . . . Did she just. . . . She must have read the expression on my face because she immediately backtracked.

“I’m not pregnant.” She shook her head wildly. “God, no, that’s not what I meant. I was just wondering what their lives would be like. I always imagined I would raise my children away from all of this.”

I needed to broach this conversation carefully. “Baby, look.” I turned to her. “I know this isn’t exactly how either of us imagined things, but I swear I will do whatever I can to give you and our kids a normal life.”

“You know, I always thought my childhood was normal. I figured everybody’s family was like that,” she said.

“The way your dad treated you, and continues to, is definitely not normal. I’m sorry you had to go through all of that, but I can guarantee you, you won’t have to anymore. And neither will our children. We will have as normal a life as possible.”

“Is it even possible to be part of the Mafia and have a normal life?” She laughed anxiously.

“Of course it is, if we try hard enough,” I assured her. “My brothers and I played sports, went to public school, everything. And we always had a choice of whether or not we wanted to join. Our sons will, too, I don’t want to force this on them.”

“You’ve already decided we’re having sons?”

“Absolutely. At least that’s one thing your dad and I agree on. Girls are tough.” I laughed. The thought of having a tiny Ava running around was more than I could handle. I had my hands full with her already, and if I had a daddy’s little girl to worry about, I’d be a wreck.

Her expression clouded when I mentioned her father again. “What if my dad is upset that we did this?” she asked, clearly coming off of the initial high of the wedding and realizing the repercussions.

“He’s going to be,” I said definitively. There was no doubt in my mind Alessandro was going to raise hell when he found out what we’d done. “But, baby, none of this is about him. This is about us. You and me. Do you regret getting married?”

“Of course not.” She shook her head. “I’m happier with you than I think I’ve ever been.”

Relief washed over me. “Then nothing else matters. Whatever happens next, we will face it together.”

“Is your family going to be upset about it?” she asked.

I chuckled a little. “My mom will probably be pissed that she wasn’t there, but I think overall they’ll be pretty excited. They love you.”

“You’re right. It doesn’t matter what other people think.” She smiled and nestled into my shoulder. “I wish we could have just stayed there forever.”

“Me too.” I kissed her forehead. “But responsibility calls. At least you still have another week off from class, that will be nice.”

“Yeah, I’m going to try to find an internship in that time, though.” She sighed.

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