Page 101 of Without You, Scotch and Sammy 2

Angelo stands beside me, with his hand on my shoulder and a goofy smirk on his face. “Biggest fucking gamble I ever saw in my life.”

I laugh softly, turning my head an inch, but my eyes stay on my wife. “Don’t say fuck in church. Don’t put that juju on me.”

He chuckles and steps back. “Sorry.”

Marc stands beside Ang with a similar smile, then Luc stares at the girls opposite him wearing a smile lightyears different to the filthy smirk I expect from him. Alex and my dad stand on the end with matching prideful eyes, and my heart continues to thump dangerously. This is my family. I’m the luckiest son of a bitch in the world.

Britt and Meg stand on my right, beside Kari and the twins. They’re all wearing matching stunning purple, floor length gowns. The other girls stand with shimmering tears in their eyes and tissues in their hands, but neither Britt nor Meg cry. They stand there with pure trouble in their eyes and sassy smirks.

What did they do?

I watch Sammy move slowly toward me, matching her steps to the acoustic version of a song I wrote for her, wearing a princess cut gown that she never got to wear the first time we did this, and she brushes fingers with my mom as she passes.

Sammy and Lily put in notice on their shitty apartment the same day she gave our daughter my name.

I’m a simple man. I don’t need much in life. I don’t need riches or notoriety. I don’t need all the material things in life. I just need my girls, and a comfy and warm bed to tuck them into each night.

I’ve slept in the same bed as my wife every single night since the day I adopted Lily, and we only fight sometimes – when I bring the wrong candy home.

Sammy finally got to keep that family she so craved. The family I promised her a long time ago, and true to my word, sometimes the guys sleep on our couch. They have homes within a ten-mile radius of my apartment, but sometimes they just want to be with us. Fine by me.

She stayed off work for a few more months after she moved in with me. She’d intended to go back soon after Lily’s adoption was finalized, but after I moaned that I didn’t want her to leave so soon, she relented and my girls stayed home stacking blocks and knocking them over for a little while longer. It does a man’s heart good to know his girls are safe and happy at home. I finally had something to come home to.

Eventually, Sammy decided her degrees were going to waste and her brain was turning to mush, so she went back to work. Lucky for me, she transferred out to our tiny town and she never has to go into the city anymore.

Even an hour away is too far for me.

I smile as she reaches the top of the aisle, then I take her soft hand in mine and pull her against my chest. “Hey Ricci.”

Forty-eight of the fifty or so people in attendance today continue to wipe their noses and watch in silence as Sammy and I finally reunite. But Meg and Britt cackle and snort, falling into each other in an attempt to keep their laughter under wraps, but failing miserably. If I weren’t so blissfully happy and preoccupied with renewing my vows, I might be concerned.

“Ignore them,” Sammy murmurs, standing on her toes and pressing her soft lips to mine. “They’re just being turds.”

“What did they do?”

Sammy snickers and steps back in place so the priest can marry us. “They’re trouble. I’ll tell you later.”

Britt and Meg howl and cry behind Sammy, and Sammy’s face burns red. “I’m begging you to ignore them, Sam.”

I chuckle, then playfully glaring at the girls, I finally turn back and nod at the priest.

“Dearly beloved, we’re gathered here today…”

Sammy mouths the words ‘I love you.’

I smile the smile of a man who has everything he’ll ever need in life. “I love you, too.”

***

Epilogue 2

A little somethin’ extra

Marcus

I step toward Meg as Angelo storms away in search of the girls. “What’s the problem here, Poot?”

“Fuck,” she bites off. Her stunning silky hair swishes and tickles the delicate skin of her exposed back, and her purple gown sparkles in the ballroom lights. “Please, just go away.”

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