Chapter 102: Chapter One Hundred and Two

Frankie stood under the flower arch Nora and his vixen had spent the better part of yesterday creating. He continued to glance up at the window to Stephen’s room, where he knew her to be getting ready. The image of her peeking through the curtain kept replaying in his mind: her golden hair illuminated like a halo around her head thanks to the sunlight filtering through, her bright smile only comparable to the happiness shining in her eyes. It took all his effort to cover his face. Otherwise, he would have run up the stairs, thrown her over his shoulder and demanded that the priest marry them right then, audience or not. He needed her to be his, even in the eyes of the God he didn’t believe in.

As he stared up at the window in question, the curtain moved and his gut clenched. He looked out on the crowd of people here to witness a day no one in attendance thought would ever come to pass, including himself. His eyes were drawn to the large photo Gloria had insisted on blowing up of his brother. Stephen’s likeness sat in the seat beside where his mother would be. Stephen stared up at him and Frankie’s collar started to feel too tight.

Frankie pulled at his tie, feeling suffocated. It was hot, too hot for a fucking suit. While he’d managed to talk his dad out of a tux, he’d relented by agreeing to wear a three-piece getup. Too many layers. There were too many layers for this time of year. He yanked at the tie until it came free and he pulled the top button away so that he could suck in a breath. He stared down at the tie and remembered the beauty that was his bride as she’d looked down on him. Frankie closed his eyes and dropped his head. He felt someone step up beside him and sighed.

“Dad, could you…” Frankie turned, tie held outward, when the suffocation turned to a burning heat in his stomach.

“There’s only two people in this world who can call me daddy and you sure as fuck aren’t one,” Leo said, ripping the tie from Frankie’s grasp with a shake of his head and a slight lift of his lip on one side.

“What the fuck are you doing here?!” Frankie growled.

“Nice to see you too,” Conor said, stepping up beside Leo as he adjusted his own tie.

“I swear to fuck if Louis pops out from behind that bush, I’ll…”

“Louis is otherwise detained, unfortunately,” Leo said, looping the tie around Frankie’s neck before re-buttoning his shirt.

“I ask again, what the fuck are you doing here?” Frankie repeated.

Leo gave him a look of disappointment. “You’re getting married.”

“Something I did not disclose to any of you,” he said, looking pointedly between the two.

“That hurt,” Conor said.

Frankie snarled, his fingers itched to reach inside his suit jacket for his gun. “I didn’t tell you because I need you out there doing your fucking jobs. I stayed here and played house under the impression you all were out there hitting the pavement, searching every hole and cave for the slime that…”

Leo cinched Frankie’s tie tight, making him gag. He smirked proudly.

“Maybe you should teach Gloria that move,” Conor suggested. “She’ll need to learn every trick in the book if she’s going to have to listen to him jabberjawing for the rest of her life.”

Leo patted Frankie’s shoulder. “The bride wanted us here and the bride always gets what she wants.”

“She called you?!” Frankie hissed.

“Yup.”

“Traitor.”

“She thought you needed a best man,” Leo said, nodding out at the crowd, which was staring at the two overly large, obviously dangerous men who had joined Frankie beside the flower arch. What a picture they must present. “And since you were mine…”

Frankie guffawed. “Only ‘cause Lucy said if she saw Accardi standing beside you, she would refuse to walk down the aisle.”

Leo smiled big at the mention of his wife on their wedding day.

“That was a good day,” Conor said, his own eyes blissful, probably thinking of Mira, who had attended the wedding on his arm.

“Dude, you gotta move on,” Frankie said with a shake of his head, knowing he would never see the woman again. Even if he did, she certainly wouldn’t want anything to do with him.

“Shut up,” Conor growled, his bliss turning to hatred.

“Yeah, shut up, Frank,” Leo warned.

Frankie shrugged and glanced around. “Speaking of Accardi… Where is he? Is he otherwise detained too?”

Leo’s eyebrows shot to his hairline. “Oh ho, suddenly you want him here? Jee, maybe you should have called him then,” Leo said, clasping his hands in front of himself and racking his shoulders back. Frankie glared at him until Leo looked at him out of the corner of his eye. He rolled his eyes. “He’ll be here in a minute. Keep your panties on.”

Frankie’s body loosened. He really hadn’t wanted them here. He thought he would have felt better if he knew they were out there, tracking Ivan down. As far as he’d heard, the man had been spotted all over the Eastern Seaboard. Just as they’d get close, though, he’d evaporate like smoke. Sergei… Sergei was another matter. They knew he was in Chicago. But he’d gone underground. Literally. He was hiding away in some kind of bunker but he wasn’t being idle. He was preparing for war. There was a lot of buzz along the streets of Chicago that spread both east and west across the country. Accardi wasn’t sure of the numbers he’d gained, but they were in the thousands.

Frankie’s eyes swept over the crowd again. “Where are the girls?” Frankie asked, referring to Gen and Lucy, thinking it odd they wouldn’t be here with their men.

“Louis is keeping them safe,” Leo answered, not looking at him.

“Safe?” Frankie repeated. “Odd choice of words.”

Leo shrugged. “Accardi didn’t want the pregnant women in the middle of it all.”

“Middle of it all?”

“We should have gotten him a parrot as a wedding gift instead of that Walthar,” Conor pondered.

“Walthar?!” Frankie gasped, his eyes opening wide with excitement. Conor and Leo exchanged a look before laughing. Frankie shook his head, annoyed that Conor had succeeded in distracting him. “What the fuck is going on?”

Leo sighed and pivoted. He placed his hands on Frankie’s shoulders and squeezed.

“You’re about to get married. Your bride is a minute away from walking down the aisle. That’s what’s happening.”

“You think I don’t know you after all this time, huh?” Frankie whispered as the music shifted, telling him the bridesmaids were walking down the aisle. “You think you’re some kind of exception? What. Is. Going. On?”

Leo lowered his head. “No-thing.” But then he reached down and patted Frankie’s left chest and right hip, where he knew Frankie stowed the two handguns he never left home without. “Just checking,” Leo said with a wink before looking back out at the crowd.

Frankie stared at him, his anger filling his stomach with lead. “Leo…”

Leo placed a finger to his lips, then used that same finger to reach over and move Frankie’s chin toward the aisle. Frankie gasped, actually gasped, as he noticed the woman standing at the end of the aisle. He stood straight, the sight of her in her dress with her chestnut hair flowing around her face making his chest tight. She started to walk, holding onto the arm of Matteo Accardi, who gave him a slight nod with a smile that Frankie knew meant, “And you called me a sap on my wedding day.” Frankie didn’t care what he looked like. All he cared about was her.

By the time she reached the end of the chairs, he had regained enough of his senses to step forward. However, he had not regained enough of his senses to remember he was meant to wait to kiss her. Instead, he’d ignored all propriety and tradition by cupping her face in his hands and kissing her with every ounce of devotion he could muster. Someone cleared their throat… multiple someones, actually. Frankie pulled back but kept his eyes on hers, the honey melting into her gaze like the heat of his kiss had liquified her from the inside.

“Uh, and who gives this woman to this man?” Father Matthews asked with a chuckle that then wove its way through the crowd.

Frankie kept his hands on his bride but looked up at Accardi. Accardi smiled down at them and stepped away, holding her hand up for Frankie to take. “No one. Absolutely no one gives this woman to this man. She’s made this questionable decision all on her own,” he informed the priest with a nod of his head in approval at Gloria.

Gloria smiled, her eyes watering as she mouthed ‘thank you’ to the mafia don. Accardi nodded again, almost looking like he was trying to swallow a lump in his throat. He stepped back as if he meant to go sit in the crowd.

“Hey,” Frankie called. He gave a bob of his head toward the two men already waiting to stand beside him. “Get your ass in line.”

Accardi chuckled, shook his head and did as he was told. Frankie looked back down at Gloria Rubanov. “You ready?” he whispered.

She licked her lips. “Armed and ready,” she agreed with the same smile he’d seen her wear while looking down from the window, only this time, she was looking up and he didn’t have to keep himself from carrying her to the priest.