Wedding Dreams
(Second in Rescue Me Saga Extras)
“Let’s elope.”
From the venue to the dress, each step of the wedding-planning process has been filled with disagreements, but Angelina knows Marc’s the only man for her. She is determined to show Marc he’s hers, but has she truly earned his trust? Or will she have to pull out the cuffs from her Mistress A toy bag once more to find out?
“Sir, it pains me to have to do this.”
Marc wants to protect Angelina from the stresses their big Italian families create at every turn. After putting Angelina through hell before winning her acceptance to his proposal, he intends to show her she’s the first woman he has complete faith in. But when his ex-fiancée tries to disrupt the wedding, Marc also must prove to the Giardano brothers that he’s completely committed to loving, cherishing, and protecting their baby sister.
You’re cordially invited to attend the wedding of Marc and Angelina to see how they finally make their dreams come true.
Wedding Dreams
(Second in Rescue Me Saga Extras)
Kallypso Masters
Copyright © 2019
Ka-thunk! Publishing
Wedding Dreams
Second in Rescue Me Saga Extras
Kallypso Masters
Copyright © 2019
Ka-thunk! Publishing
Google Play Edition
E-book ISBN: 978-1941060346
Print ISBN: 978-1941060353
Original e-book version: May 20, 2019
Original print version: May 20, 2019
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
WEDDING DREAMS
Content edited by Meredith Bowery
Line edited by Jacy Mackin
Cover design by Linda Kuhlmann of Two Trees Studio
Cover images licensed through Shutterstock
and graphically altered by Linda Kuhlmann
Formatted by BB eBooks
This book contains content that is not suitable for readers 17 and under.
Thank you for downloading this e-book. Please be aware that this e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be reproduced, uploaded to share on Web sites, e-mailed, or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author, Kallypso Masters, at [email protected] or PO Box 206122, Louisville, KY 40250, or within the sharing guidelines at a legitimate library or bookseller.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction, sharing, or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (See www.fbi.gov/ipr for more information about intellectual property rights.)
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons—living or dead—or places, events, or locales is purely accidental. The characters are reproductions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
To discover more about the books in this series, see the Books by Kallypso Masters page at the end of this book. For more about Kallypso Masters, please go to the About the Author section.
Table of Contents
Cover
About Wedding Dreams
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Books by Kallypso Masters
About the Author
Get your Signed Books & Merchandise in the Kally Store!
About Roar (A Rescue Me Saga Spin-off)
The Rescue Me Saga
About Bluegrass Spirits (A Supernatural Contemporary Romance series)
Dedication
To Sara and Craig,
may all your wedding dreams come true
and married life be filled with countless blessings.
Acknowledgements
It takes a village to get one of my novels to the point of being “ready.” I had so much help from my readers in the Rescue Me Saga Discussion Group on Facebook. I’d like to especially recognize by name the readers of Italian descent who shared scenarios for how the wedding planning, ceremony, and reception could go down for Marc and Angelina. My thanks to Marianne Chiumento (Kitty Angel, Guilty Pleasures BR), Tammy Lenze, Kristen M., Gina Marcantonio, and Maria Palma for sharing your delightful stories. Of course, I always pick and choose, blend, and add my own dramatic flair, but you helped me see how reality looks.
As Marc embarks on his new career as an EMT, I also enlisted the help of Patryce Cornett, a fan and the wife (/manager!) of her firefighter/EMT hubby, Michael Cornett FF/NRP/FP-C. I first approached Patryce on Facebook for help with my Raging Fire series about Angelina’s firefighter brothers, the first novel of which I started serializing monthly this past March on the Patreon app as I’m writing it. (NOTE: Those who prefer a completed novel will get to read each professionally edited novel when they’re ready starting in 2020.) For Marc, as well as Tony and Rafe Giardano, Patryce helped me flesh out work schedules and an organizational chart for the fictional Aspen Corners Fire Department for these overlapping series. The amount of effort you put into the questions for that EMT college in Colorado, plus follow-up phone calls, Patryce, amazed me! Thanks so much and welcome to my team!
To my loyal, long-suffering, and totally awesome beta readers, especially Barb Jack and Lisa Simo-Kinzer, who never cease to amaze me in how many times you will reread my manuscripts to help me get them right and avoid new problems with each iteration. Patryce Cornett also came on board to beta read this one after I found her in connection with my first serial novel, Tony: Slow Burn (Raging Fire #1).
And thanks also to those of you who gave the early-early beta drafts of Wedding Dreams a read and helped shape the direction of the story in ways big and small—Margie Dees, Tammy Lenze, Gina Marcantonio, and Carmen Messing. Thank you all so much for giving of your time and effort.
To my content editor, Meredith Bowery, who helps me stay consistent within my Rescue Me Saga world and keep my timeline straight, and provides incredible insights into my characters whom she seems to know as if they were friends. And to Jacy Mackin, my line editor, who never lets me put out a sloppy book and challenges me when necessary to make it better.
To my proofreaders—Annette Elens and Christine Mulcair—for going over the final manuscript with fine-tooth combs and for polishing it to its shiniest. I’d be terrified to put out anything without you having one last look, Christine, and am happy to have Annette on board again for pre-publishing proofreading!
To my amazing cover artist, Linda Kuhlmann, who has been with me since 2011. I’ll miss you after you retire in July, but your amazing covers will keep my books hopping off book shelves forever!
Chapter One
“Let’s elope.”
Angelina tuned out their politely bickering family members sitting face-to-face across the six-foot round table. The quiet corner of her new restaurant, La Casetta, in Breckenridge had been the perfect place to meet on a slow Wednesday afternoon in late October. If only their deliberations had been so perfect.
Suddenly, Marc’s words registered. She turned to him, leaned in, and whispered, “What did you say?”
He nodded toward t
heir family members, keeping his voice low as well. “This is turning into a circus. They no longer give a damn what either of us wants. I say we elope and get on with the honeymoon and our married life together. We can put the money we save into the house.”
Marc was right, but elope? She couldn’t deprive her mother of giving Angelina the wedding both had dreamed of but was beginning to think it was more about their mamas’ wishes than it was about what Marc and Angelina wanted.
Each family was firmly entrenched on their own half of the table. Marc’s mother and sister, Carmella, sat to his right while Angelina’s mother and brother Tony were on her left. She’d invited Rafe, who’d agreed to help Mama with wedding costs as the current patriarch of the Giardano family. When his shift at the fire station had kept him away today, Tony agreed to fill in. He’d wound up sitting next to Carmella as the two families circled the wagons. The two barely acknowledged one another. They’d definitely gotten off on the wrong foot last year when Angelina had called Tony to pick her up after a misunderstanding with Marc. Sparks had flown between them that night at the café, too.
But if the two families couldn’t agree on more at this second planning session, they’d never progress to more important issues, like what size guest list each family would be limited to. So far, they’d disagreed on everything from the table decorations to the time of day for the ceremony to whether they’d have Jordan almonds as guest favors, plus so many other trivial matters. This latest round of negotiations was going nowhere fast.
Had everyone lost sight of the goal here—ushering Marc and Angelina into marriage? Before Angelina could bring the discussion back to where it needed to be—on reception plans—Mama asked if she’d consider increasing the size of her bridal party.
“Your cousin Martina would make a beautiful bridesmaid. After all, she’s flying all the way from Sicily.”
She hadn’t seen Martina in over a decade! Besides, both she and Marc had commitments from all their attendants.
“Mama, we talked about this months ago. I’ll be attended by Carmella,”—she smiled across the table at her soon-to-be sister-in-law—“and my friends Karla, Savannah, Cassie, and Pippa.”
While Carmella was the only one related to her or Marc by blood, Angelina had invited her family of choice first. When Marc added Tony at Angelina’s request, he had one more attendant than she did. She’d thought immediately of Pippa Trapani, her sous-chef, whom Angelina had spent more time with in the last year than she had Marc. The two had become good friends in the process of opening and running Angelina’s small Italian restaurant. Pippa had been thrilled to be included. And, with the establishment closing down for several days around the time of the wedding, Angelina was happy she’d have someone she could trust to run things while she was off on her honeymoon.
In addition to Tony as a groomsman, Marc had asked his brother Sandro and his military brother Damián, as well as his former search-and-rescue partner, Luke. Adam would be his best man. They wanted symmetry and had limited it to their closest friends and family members. There was absolutely no reason to add anyone else to the wedding party at this stage.
Before Angelina could address Mama’s disappointment over Martina, though, Marc’s mother asked, “Did you see the children who attended Kate Middleton at her wedding to Prince William last year? Those darling bridesmaids and page boys were delightful.”
Marc and Angelina barely knew any young boys and girls and had decided on Damián’s nephew, José, and daughter, Marisol, to fulfill those roles. “I’ve already chosen everyone who will be in the wedding party, Mama D. It’s all settled. All but two will be adults.”
“What about having you delivered to the church in a horse and buggy?” Tony offered. “I’m sure Matt could provide both.”
“Oh, I’m sure Angelina would prefer to go to the church in a Cinderella coach to marry her handsome prince,” Mama D said, smiling toward Marc.
“I don’t think there are any Cinderella coaches in Aspen Corners, Mama D’Alessio.” She felt more comfortable reining in her own mother, rather than her future mother-in-law, but she wanted to nip that in the bud now.
How were they going to arrive at an affordable wedding when they went off on such fantastic tangents? Neither family listened to her and Marc’s wishes, nor each other. Why couldn’t their families agree on anything? Perhaps they should have intermingled their families more since they’d announced their engagement, but they’d been too busy working and overseeing the building of their new home.
Her head pounded with what had become the mother of all headaches. Angelina rubbed her fingers between her eyes, trying to release the tension that had been building up since everyone had arrived for this late-lunch meeting. Marc’s mom meant well, but the disparity in her family’s ability to pay for what she wanted put unfair pressure on Angelina’s family.
“You and Marc could ride off in the buggy after the reception to my house.” Mama hadn’t been sold on the fancy coach idea, apparently. “You can leave your vehicle there and head off on your honeymoon.”
Conversation continued to buzz around her, but she was mentally spent.
“What do you say?” Marc whispered, stroking her thigh gently. He had to be aware of her stress level. “We can call them off here and now and find a little wedding chapel somewhere.”
“You tempt me, but I can’t, Marc. This wedding means too much to Mama. I’m her only daughter. When the boys marry, it will be up to the families of their brides to make the plans and foot the bill. This is her one shot at giving a daughter a wedding.”
“We can pay for our own wedding and do it our way.”
“I know, and we will pay for a lot of things, but Mama’s been saving money for my wedding since she saw me in my First Communion veil and dress.”
He grinned, bending close to her ear to whisper, “I’d like to see those photos. A preview of the big day.”
“Let’s hope my wedding dress will be a bit more mature.”
“And revealing.” His hand stroked down her back, but he groaned, probably because he was inhibited by too much fabric. “Perhaps with an open back like the one you wore at daVinci’s that first night we danced.”
“I’ve waited too late to have a custom design with only eight months until the wedding. The restaurant has kept me so busy, but I have several Say Yes to the Dress salon appointments in Denver the first Saturday in November. Hopefully, I’ll find the perfect one on my first day trying.”
“I’m going to love seeing you come down the aisle to stand by my side and speak your vows in whatever you choose to wear—but I’ll love even more removing the dress from your delicious body on our wedding night.”
“Angelina, dear, what do you think of that idea?” Mama D asked.
What on earth had her future mother-in-law just asked her? She needed to stop fantasizing about Marc undressing her and pay closer attention to this conversation. What she thought about having her son undress her? Heat infused her cheeks as she turned toward the woman and smiled weakly. Why she was embarrassed, when Mama D knew the two of them had lived together since the spring, was puzzling.
Marc came to her rescue. “Which idea in particular, Mama? It’s hard to keep up.”
“About having the wedding and reception at the resort.”
Angelina turned toward her mother, who appeared to be biting the inside of her lower lip to keep her temper in check.
“While I’m sure that would make for a beautiful venue, I don’t think so, Mama D’Alessio,” Angelina began. “I’ve always pictured myself being married in my family church in Aspen Corners.” She had fantasized about her own wedding dreams since childhood.
Mama relaxed somewhat at her words, and Angelina decided she needed to hold her ground on this point, if no other.
“But I’m afraid the church hall and even the church itself won’t be large enough to accommodate both of our guest lists,” Mama D’Alessio said.
“Angelina wants to have her we
dding in our home church,” Tony insisted rather harshly. While she appreciated him for speaking up, his lack of finesse in dealing with Mama D’s feelings made Angelina cringe inwardly.
Carmella bristled, glaring at him at first then turning toward Angelina and dismissing him. “Are there any larger venues in Aspen Corners?”
She tried to think of a bigger venue, but nothing came to mind.
Mama cleared her throat before Angelina could respond. “There have been huge weddings in our church for more than a century—some with two hundred or more guests. And everyone fit into the hall.” Mama’s voice had taken on a defensive edge as she glared at Marc’s mother. This dual family meeting was deteriorating rapidly. Angelina needed to fix this.
While Angelina tried to figure out how, Mama D continued, “I’m sure that’s fine for a small-town wedding, but this one will be twice that size. Maybe larger.”
“It will?” Angelina asked, her lunch souring in her stomach as she thought what this would mean for Mama’s bank account. Just who were all these long-lost relatives and friends they insisted on inviting? She thought the D’Alessios only had a few relatives in America when they arrived with Marc as a young man. Marc’s Gramps—a World War II Marine taken in and cared for by Mama D’s mother after being wounded in a battle in the Apennines of Northern Italy—for sure. How big could the man’s family be, and did Marc know them well?
“Papa and I have many friends who must be there as well,” Mama D chimed in, “and would feel slighted if not invited.”
Her and Marc’s preliminary list had consisted of only eighty or so people. It seemed they were about to be invaded by dozens, if not hundreds, of people she and Marc didn’t even know.
Carmella interjected, almost apologetically, “Our list is about two hundred and thirty, including plus ones. Some of them are business acquaintances, but most are friends of the family and Gramps’s extended family, many of whom live here in Colorado.” Marc had told her Gramps was the reason the D’Alessios had settled in Colorado in the first place. “Of course, not all who are invited would be expected to attend.”
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