Epilogue

Epilogue

Lalani was catching her breath after a dance with Viktor when a very large arm slipped around her waist. She placed her hand over his arm. The multicolored ring, along with the white gold band, sparkled in the sunlight streaming through the window.

“Hello, Mrs. Hawkins-Santini,” Anthony murmured in her ear.

She smiled. “Hello to you. And I told you it was going to be Mrs. Santini.”

He kissed her neck as he handed her a flute of champagne. The wedding had been weeks in the making. She had insisted on waiting until Alana had recovered from the birth, so she could be the matron of honor. It had been perfect. All of the Santinis had shown up from his immediate family, along with a few others from the other branches. There was a squeal of laughter from the dance floor. Viktor had lifted Annalise above his head. The shy twenty-three year old was blushing when he set her on his feet.

“Should I be worried about Viktor there?”

She followed his line of vision and found Viktor dancing with Annalise, one of the English Santinis.

“No. She seemed like a capable young woman. I mean, they do call him the bad boy of ballet, but I have a feeling Annalise might hurt him if he pushed her too hard. And, for Viktor, he is just trying to make her time memorable.”

He chuckled. “She does know how to fight dirty. Her brothers taught her.”

She turned around and he pulled her closer. “Do you think we can steal way?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Definitely. We cut the cake, we took pictures and we danced with people. You threw the bouquet. That should do it.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Plus, I am looking forward to using that massive suite.”

They turned to leave and ran into Joey and Marcella Santini. They both stopped in their tracks. “Where do you two think you are going?” Joey asked.

“Oh, Josephina, let them go,” Marcella said. She kissed them both. “Go.”

Anthony gave Joey a kiss, then tugged Lalani out of the ballroom and into the hallway. By the time they turned the corner, they were practically running. She had pulled her dress up so she could keep up with him. He kept his hand in hers as they laughed all the way down the hallway. As they sped by tourists and staff, she knew in that moment, she had never been happier than she was running through a five star hotel holding hands with Anthony Santini.

Life didn’t get much better than that.