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Brooklyn

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

Athanasios and Brooklyn's Wedding Day

Months Later

"My God, I should’ve waited until the baby was born! I look like a barrel."

"What an exaggeration!" my mother-in-law says. "But you’ll probably have to go on a serious diet afterward, especially if our boy takes after his father. I gained almost sixty pounds during my pregnancy with Athanasios."

"Sixty?" Madison and I ask almost at the same time.

"Yes, he was born weighing almost nine pounds."

"Lord, by the end of this pregnancy, I’m going to need to be carried around. My feet are already killing me at six months."

"But you’ll lose the weight quickly. You’re young," my mom reassures me. "Now, enough talking, or we risk Silas, Soraya, and Joseph getting themselves dirty and walking down the aisle covered in filth."

The two boys are ring bearers, and Soraya is a flower girl. They look adorable in their formal outfits, but Eleanor is right: all that cuteness won’t last long if we’re not careful. It rained yesterday, and there are still small puddles in the garden.

The wedding will be outdoors, at the house Athanasios bought for us in New Canaan, near his parents.

Eleanor considered moving closer to us as well, but both Madison and the Kostanidis family protested, and I’m fine with that. I think it’s only fair that, just as I have Medeia, my sister should also have the support of our mom.

My mother-in-law will never be the sweetest person, but she is loyal and incredibly helpful, and to my surprise, the twins adore her.

We decided on a mixed ceremony, with a Catholic celebrant from my side and an Orthodox one from Athanasios’s family. He told me he’s doing it mostly for his mother, as he’s actually an atheist.

I don’t have any issues with blessings—the more, the better. What I truly want is to marry the man I love and leave the past behind.

He hasn’t mentioned Shelley Edward again, and once, when I asked, he simply said: You’re safe. It was both terrifying and comforting.

"Ready?" my father-in-law asks.

"As ready as I’ll ever be."

Five minutes later, I’m walking down the red carpet, focusing on not crying because I feel like a fairy tale princess.

Instead of looking at the man I want to spend the rest of my life with, I glance at the guests.

Everyone’s here—family and friends. Even the Kostanidis cousins, Odin and Christos, came with their wives, Elina and Zoe.

"Mamaaa," Soraya calls, turning around and blowing a kiss. Silas immediately follows suit.

I blow a kiss back to each of them, and it seems that’s all the encouragement they need to abandon their "duties" and run toward me.

I hug them, and the guests laugh.

I bend down to kiss the tops of their heads, and when I stand back up, Athanasios is in front of me.

"What were the chances of them sticking to the plan until the end?" he asks, smiling. "Thanks, Dad. I’ll take it from here."

He crouches and picks up both of my children, one in each arm, while my father-in-law heads toward the altar, hand-in-hand with Joseph.

I, however, can’t move, still caught on his words.

I’ll take it from here.

"Hey," I call to him, and all three of them turn their attention to me. I walk closer and pull them into a hug. "I love you and adore your protective nature, but you don’t have to carry this responsibility alone. We’ll take care of each other. That’s what families are supposed to do."