Page 129 of My Big Fat Shifter Wedding

After all, we’d been rehearsing for weeks.

“Hi, Papa,” I said, letting go of Keith’s hand only to reach for my father’s outstretched one. He had been waiting in the center of the square of grass we’d marked off for dancing, looking like an old Italian movie star in his tux with his salt-and-pepper hair slicked back.

“Hi, mi principessa.”

With that, he pulled me into the dance hold we’d practiced and the soft, gentle music started to play.

“O mio babbino caro~” the song began, and I would have thought that I’d long since run out of tears, but they commenced slowly, following the same tracks as those that preceded them, salty little trails of pure wonder and love.

“Mi piace, è bello, bello~”

We drifted across the floor, just my papa and me, my alpha and me. The music was saccharine as Kiri Te Kanawa’s lilting tones took us through the song.

“I am so proud of you,” he murmured, and I got the feeling that he wanted to rest his cheek on top of my head like he used to when I was young, but I’d long since grown too tall.

“Thank you, Papa.”

“You truly have become a beautiful woman. Inside and out. You are glowing, mi tesoro.”

“Sì, sì, ci voglio andare~”

It wasn’t a long song, something we’d chosen on purpose because while my father was many things, a jitterbug wasn’t one of them. But that was okay. We’d picked out a version of the song that had more than a minute of instrumentals so it wasn’t obscenely short or overstayed its welcome.

However, I was surprised when the ending approached and it felt like it was too soon. I was more than ready to start this new chapter of my life, but at the same time, there was so much history I was closing the book on.

“Just remember,” my father said, drawing me into an embrace so we swayed there during the final phrases of the song. “No matter what, you will always be my little, particular, brilliant principessa.”

“And you’ll always be my papa,” I whispered back, my voice warbling and barely audible.

He kissed my forehead. “Yes, I will.”

The song ended, and there was a swell of soft applause all around us. Amanda somehow teleported to my side, handing me another silk handkerchief, somehow knowing that I’d left my other one in the wedding dress’s hidden pocket when I’d changed out of it. It was for the best, really, because I’d already soaked that thing through.

While the crowd applauded, I took the time to dab at my face and compose myself, but once it faded, I threw my hands right back up in the air.

“Come on, everybody! Let’s dance!”

***

My feet hurt from dancing.

My face hurt from smiling.

My stomach hurt from laughing.

Even my neck hurt from lack of sleep and the weight of my hair and the ornaments piled into it.

In other words, it was the perfect day.

Everyone seemed to be having a blast, even the more curmudgeonly members of my pack who only attended such events as a formality rather than for genuine enjoyment. And considering how little food was left on the heated plates, it was safe to say they were all fairly satisfied too.

It was everything I wanted and more. Human and shifter, young and old. Immigrants and natural-born citizens. None of those divides mattered. In the end, we were all unified not only by love, but the desire to share that love. For so long, I had been terrified of telling Keith the truth because I thought it meant that I would lose him. That I had to choose. But there had been another option all along. I had just been too scared to even hope for it.

“There you are! I lost track of you for a bit, thought you and my son might have run off for an impromptu... foot massage.”

I looked up from the random chair I had dumped myself in to see Miss Angela. She made quite the dignified picture, even if her formerly perfect coif was now unruly and a slight sheen of sweat covered her face. However, I immediately noticed that she was leaning a bit heavier on her cane than she usually did, so I turned the closest chair out to face her.

“Please, sit down. And although my dogs are indeed barking, I’m afraid that your son and my husband”—God, it felt so amazing to finally be able to use that term!—“has been thoroughly monopolized by the nonnas.”