Page 90 of Fourth Wall

I gently slid the ring onto Maeve's finger with trembling hands, and she immediately dropped to her knees. Leaning in close, I whispered, "If you stay on your knees, I might have to take you over my knees right here." She laughed softly, and I kissed her before lifting her back up.

"What's all this noise?" Maeve turned to look toward the house as I guided her through the yard and into our living room. To her surprise, her mother stepped aside, and we walked into a room filled with all our friends. The living room was decorated with rose gold balloons, a lavish charcuterie feast spread across the kitchen island, and hundreds of vases filled with white flowers, arranged by Gianna, adorned various corners.

"What is this?" she asked, bewildered.

"Surprise!" everyone shouted in unison.

"It's a celebration of our engagement," I whispered in her ear. "I never got to actually celebrate my last marriage, so this one's for me."

She pulled back, narrowing her eyes at me. "You threw a party for yourself? You hate stuff like this." She was right; I used to hate this kind of extravagance, but things had changed, and so had my perspective. I wanted to be happy. I wanted to be surrounded by people who loved me and cherished me.

“Yeah, I finally have a family, and I wanted to be able to share the good news with everyone.”

She reached up and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. I put my hands on her stomach quickly. Hopefully, no one paid too much attention to the gesture.

Elio and Gianna were the first to come over to congratulate us then, Julian, Tatum, and James.

Gianna was due any day now. Elio was constantly worried she was any second away from going into labor and was never too far away from her. She came up to me and gave me a quick hug.

“Maybe you guys will be the next to have another little one?” She asked, and I only laughed. Little did she know.

“Yeah, maybe.” I turned around with a smile forming on my cheeks. This was what family was meant to feel like. This was what family was. Blood or not, the bond here was undeniable and unbreakable.

Sarah and Pat came over to me next and gave me a huge hug in unison.

“We are so happy for you,” Sarah said.

Pat followed up with, “Thank God we actually like you.”

“I appreciate you guys for taking me into your home. I love your daughter and granddaughters so much. I didn't have much of a role model growing up, but the way that you love your family makes me want to be better and do better for Maeve, Kinsley, and Kelsie.”

They both gave me another hug, and I reveled in the fact that I would have been in the corner just mere months ago while standing in a room with this many people. I would have never planned it, and I certainly wouldn't have appreciated all these people in my home. If I’d happened to be thrown in this type of situation, I probably would have gone off to fuck the first girl who threw me any sort of attention.

But today, things were different because of Maeve and the family she brought with her. She thought she had baggage, but it was baggage I was willing to shoulder along with her.

Julian came over to me last, and we both cheered with our sparkling waters.

“I’m proud of you, man.”

“She’s pregnant.” We spoke at the same time, and Julian just looked at me and then back down and laughed.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“Nervous as fuck,” I responded honestly.

“Me fucking, too.” He looked over at Tatum, who was due in a couple of months.

We both sat there and took a long sip of our drinks before any of us spoke.

“Life’s gonna look different for us, isn't it?” I asked.

“Probably.” Julian shrugged. “But we still have dreams to build an empire together. Next year, Alex will be running in the presidential race, and he has a pretty fucking good shot at it.”

“We are going to go Stateside, huh?” I chuckled as I asked because I never assumed that one day I would be the right-hand man to what we created. “An entire empire, keep the facade of a fourth wall to everyone else. We are this force to be reckoned with, yet here we are, raising families and having babies.” I laughed.

“Fourth wall…” Julian looked over at me. “I like that.”

“Here’s to our empire.”

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