I take my seat and sample the wine before giving the nod for our glasses to be filled. I lift my glass for a toast.
“To finding your other half,” I croon.
Liz blushes and ducks her head as she takes a small sip. I don’t think I will ever get tired of this shy side of her. This woman has so many facets. It’s like I’ve been peeling back layers and I love what I find with each depth I reveal.
“This is really more than what I was expecting. The roses blew me away. Thanks, Dante.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” I say and think of the ring in my pocket. This is the perfect place to propose. It’s where my family’s legacy started.
Tonight will be a new beginning.
Lizzy
I pat my full stomach, I’ve been to several of the Di Lorenzo restaurants, but this is by far the best meal I’ve had from one.
“That was amazing,” I sigh as I sit back in my seat. “You have a great chef here.”
Dante smiles. “Actually, Dario and Carleen did me a favor. They cooked for us tonight.”
“Oh wow, I feel so special.”
“You are. I wanted tonight to be special for you, for us.”
I tilt my head and study him. Dante does everything with purpose. I’m not going to ignore all he has done today.
I grin at him. “What are you up to, Mr. Di Lorenzo?”
“First, I know you wanted this to be just us tonight, but someone found out what I was up to and wanted to be here, so I hope you can forgive me,” he says.
Bella appears with a huge smile on her face. She’s dressed up in her Book Princess outfit I made her. I push my chair back and open my arms for her to sit in my lap. She wraps her arms around my neck and gives me a squeeze.
“Hey, you,” I say and kiss her little nose. I look to Dante. “You are more than forgiven. Now all my favorite people are here, but what’s going on?”
“We want to ask you a question.”
He stands and reaches into his inside suit jacket pocket. My mouth falls open when he drops to his knee. I can’t hold back the tears.
“Stop crying, Mommy. We only want to ask you to marry us,” Bella says innocently.
I start to cry harder when Bella calls me Mommy. I love this little girl so much. It’s an honor to have her call me Mommy.
Dante snorts a laugh and shakes his head. “That was my part, Bella.”
“Oh, sorry.”
Dante moves closer and kisses the top of her head. “It’s fine. Lizzy, I think you already know how crazy we are about you.” Bella nods her head. “I remember the exact moment I knew I was in love with you. You looked over your shoulder after emptying your stomach and gave me this smile I’ll never forget. Right in that moment, I knew I was in love. I could name a million things about you I love.
“With each day I spend with you, I lose another piece of my heart. I swear, I never saw you coming, but now that you’re here, I don’t want to let you go. Liz, baby, will you marry me?”
“Us,” Bella says in exasperation.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. Will you marry us? We are a bit of a package deal.” He gives a little shrug and pulls a playful face at Bella.
She takes the ring box from his hands and holds it up at me as she turns to look expectantly at me. When I don’t answer right away, she gives me the best puppy eyes I’ve ever seen. I laugh and squeeze her little face.
“Yes, I’ll marry you, and you,” I say, looking at Dante with my last word.
“Yes, it was my dress. I told you.”
Dante palms her forehead and leans in to kiss me before pecking her cheek. “You were so right. I couldn’t have done this without you. I love you too, munchkin.”
“I love you too, Daddy.”
I hold a shaky hand out as Dante plucks the ring from the box. It’s stunning. The center diamond is surrounded by a halo of diamonds and the three-row band is covered by diamonds. It’s definitely a showstopper.
“Wow,” I exhale as Dante settles it into place.
“You did it. You got me a new mommy, who loves me,” Bella sings.
Dante looks to me and swallows hard. His eyes get suspiciously misty. More tears fall from my eyes when Dante pulls me to him to kiss me deeply. He breaks the kiss to whisper in my ear. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I love you both.”
He places his forehead to mine. “I know.”
Chapter 44
Is This Love
Lizzy
I’m still floating on cloud nine. After the proposal, we had dessert as a family. Bella passed out from all the excitement before we made it back to the house.