Epilogue

"Happy Valentine's Day, darling!" Ruby greeted Tony at the door in a red silk kimono dotted with black hearts and tied at the waist with a silken sash. His stunned gaze fell to her bare feet, toes painted to match the scarlet wrap.

He shut the door hastily, not just to keep out the damp February air, but to prevent every man driving down Shore Drive from gawking at his beautiful wife.

"Well, hello to you." Recalling, at last, what he held in his hands, he thrust the bouquet of long-stemmed roses at her. "Sorry I'm late. I had to run over an old man and steal these 'cause all the stores were sold out."

She tsked her tongue. "Poor old man." Accepting the bouquet, she took a long, dreamy sniff. "They're lovely, thank you. How was work?"

He kept his eyes on her as he shook out of his parka, leaving him in just his Naval Working Uniform. After hanging up the parka, he unlatched his webbed belt and sidearm and hung them inside the closet, also. "Busy." After 5:00 A.M. wake ups every day this week, he'd been feeling worn out, but not anymore.

As he shut the closet door, the odor of burnt food hit the back of his throat. "Oh. What's that smell?"

"Dinner." Disappointment tugged at her lips before she turned and padded down the hall to their open-concept kitchen and living area. "The scallops didn't come out the way I expected." She made a beeline for the sink to tend to the flowers, hiding how crushed she was.

Tony hid a wry smile as he followed her. Her attempts at cooking usually ended in failure. "It's the effort that counts, Bella. You'll get the hang of it one day."

"Doubtful." She ran the stems under the faucet while hacking several inches off with their kitchen scissors.

Tony retrieved the vase from the cabinet that was too high for Ruby to reach.

"Thanks." She took it with a smile before adding water, flower food, and then the roses. Keeping her gaze averted, she set the vase on the windowsill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Tony put his hands on her silk-clad shoulders, turning her to face him. "Don't worry 'bout the scallops, Bella. We can always get takeout. So long as we're together, I really don't care what we eat."

Following her gaze to the dining room table, he discovered it was laid out for two, with the china inherited from her namesake, Grandma Ruby, a bottle of wine, and two tall candlesticks.

Her lower lip trembled slightly. "But I wanted it to be perfect."

"It is perfect."

She brightened slightly. "At least the salad turned out okay."

"And I'm on a diet anyway." He patted his rock-hard abs. "You want to eat now or later?"

"Later." She lowered her lashes demurely, adding, "I have a present to give you."

Guessing the gift she had in mind, Tony scooped her up, eliciting a squeak as he carried her toward their gas fireplace and the flames casting warm lights all over the room. Ruby had draped a fur throw over their L-shaped couch. "Nice." He laid her gently atop it, his lips like a heat-seeking missile homing in on hers.

"Mmm. Wait." One hand pushed against his shoulder, urging him off her. The other sank into his short, crisp hair, pulling him back for another kiss.

He chuckled against her lips. "I'm getting mixed signals."

"You're distracting me! I really have a gift to give you. It's right there on the coffee table."

Tony looked over, spying what looked like a box of chocolate wrapped in red cellophane and topped with a white bow. "You want me to open it now?" His hands went to the silken belt around her waist. "I'd rather unwrap you first."

She hesitated, her porcelain complexion blushing slowly to rose. "Later then."

Many minutes later, Tony collapsed along the length of the couch, pulling her with him and flipping the extra length of the fur throw over her bare back to keep her warm. He kissed her forehead. "I just love our life together." The only thing that could have made it better was for Katz to be in jail already, but the FBI had assured them that would happen soon. Not only had David Collum, the assistant, cracked when the FBI questioned him, but Yordan had been caught at a sobriety checkpoint driving a stolen vehicle. He and Collum had both promised to testify against Katz.

Ruby tilted her head back and smiled rather smugly. "I'm about to make it even better." She stretched out an arm, snagged his gift off the coffee table, then placed it on his chest. "Open it."

He gave it a shake. "Intriguing." What he'd thought was a box of chocolates proved too light. Using his teeth, he tugged off the sparkly white ribbon, then flicked off the lid and lifted out a white plastic test strip inside. Two pink lines suggested she was positive. "You have COVID?"

Ruby cast her eyes to heaven, but she clearly knew he was teasing her.

"You're pregnant."

She beamed. "Correct."

Astonishment, then wonder, then worry broke over him in successive waves, keeping him silent. This world was not a safe place.

"Seven weeks already." Her eyes glimmered like aquamarine jewels.

"Oh, man." Tony had never doubted they would get pregnant again, just not this soon.

"I know you'll just be starting med school. But at least we don't have to move, and my job gives me some flexibility."

The Navy was paying him to attend Eastern Virginia Medical School so long as he reenlisted for eight more years.

And Ruby now had an older male assistant to accompany her on interviews and to lighten her workload. Plus her Range Rover had been returned to her, so life couldn't get much better.

"Right." Tony nodded. God would watch over them. "I'm just processing, that's all."

Her quirked eyebrows betrayed a trace of worry. "Are you happy, though?"

He was only ever happy when Ruby was happy, which she really seemed to be, so— "Yeah, I'm ecstatic." He looked back at the two pink lines, marveling at what they represented. "We're gonna have a kid!"

"I hope he's smart like you."

"I hope she's beautiful like you." Tony slid a palm down her smooth stomach, until it rested over the slightest suggestion of a baby bump. "Wow, Mama's gonna be ecstatic."

Ruby pointed a warning finger at him. "Don't you say a word about it until I reach eleven weeks. That's when it's safe to tell people, and I get to be the one to tell Anna, not you."

"Of course." Tony grinned. His mother would never snipe about Ruby's skinny hips again.