Epilogue

Epilogue

Noel loved this man to pieces. He did. But if Fernando didn't start giving him opinions, he was going to smack his fiancé.

After all the drama that had gone on, Noel wanted to just be for a while. So he and Fernando had dated for six months before Noel had proposed. To say Fernando had been surprised and delighted was an understatement. Fernando wasn't normally one to brag, per se, but…the man had totally bragged about snagging a ring. For weeks. If he hadn't been so cute about it, he would have been insufferable.

During their dating period, Noel had met all of Fernando's children, the majority of whom were centuries older than Noel, including the infamous Franklin. Only two of his children were recently turned and technically only a few years older than himself. One thing was obvious though: they all loved their sire deeply.

Thankfully, though, not a single one of them took issue with Noel. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Some of them were already teasingly calling him stepfather. He still didn't know everyone all that well, but he was looking forward to that changing as he became a more permanent fixture in their lives.

Now, after a solid month of being engaged, Noel was trying to lock down their wedding date and venue. Which was always a tricky question but try doing it when the other man keeps saying "Whatever you want is fine."

It's not that Fernando didn't care. He was just so fixated on making Noel happy that he wanted whatever Noel did. Which was cute but not helpful.

Noel sat next to him on the couch, the options of venues spread out like a gambler's hand in front of them, and side-eyed the love of his life. His hand was poised to smack Fernando in the back of the head if he got even one more "Whatever you want."

"I want an opinion," Noel insisted.

Fernando seemed to sense he was on thin ice as he didn't default to his favorite phrase. "They all look splendid to me, Noel."

Noel knew that he had been married before, but he also knew not to bring that up, as Fernando's ex-wife had tried to murder him. Bringing her up when trying to plan their own wedding seemed like a faux pas. But it boiled down to: Fernando had experience planning a wedding. Noel didn't.

Ugh, fine, let's take this back to the basics. "First, verify for me: You want all of your children in the wedding party?"

"If we can, yes. That's all right?"

"That's perfectly fine." Noel had known that would be his answer, and getting Fernando to voice an opinion was his first segue into more decision-making. "All right, next question: Destination wedding or here at home?"

For a second, Fernando almost said his default phrase, then paused. "What's the destination option?"

Noel whipped out a brochure from the stack, which displayed a winery in northern Italy with stunning views.

A flash of wistfulness crossed over Fernando's face. "That does look beautiful."

Ha! Finally, an opinion. "Italy it is."

Seeming to realize what he'd just done, Fernando hastily backpedaled. "Wait, my heart, I meant you can do whatever you want—"

Noel stopped him mid-sentence by leaning in and smacking a kiss against Fernando's mouth. "Part of what I want to do is make my groom happy. You clearly like this idea. I do too, otherwise I wouldn't have presented it as an option."

"Oh." Fernando looked at the brochure again, clearly torn.

"Besides, I've never been to Italy. Don't you want to take a leisurely honeymoon afterward? Show me your homeland?"

He lit right up. "I didn't think of that. But it's true, you've never had a chance to travel. It's a splendid idea, my love. Let's go to Italy, then."

Noel smiled to hide his evil cackle. He knew how to wring answers out of Fernando even when he was being stubborn. Starting off as his employee definitely had benefits. "Perfect. We have our venue. Oh, how about you call and see what dates are available?"

"Yes, of course."

Noel sat next to Fernando as he promptly picked up his phone and made the call. The fluent Italian crossing his lips was beautiful to listen to, and the more he spoke, the more he smiled. He gestured for Noel's paper calendar and pointed out several possible dates. There was one in early October that looked great to Noel. Fall colors and no extreme heat were right up his alley. Noel gave a firm nod and the next thing he knew, Fernando was whipping out a credit card to put down a deposit.

Step One: check.

Now, how to ease Fernando into making other wedding decisions with him? Perhaps pulling in his eldest daughter, Analisa, would help as she was very enthusiastic about the whole wedding. She and Noel already had a Plan B for when Fernando started being impossible.

Well, either way, Noel would be married to this man for the rest of his life. To him, that's all that really mattered.