Thundering applause followed, then the DJ played music for dancing. Luke pulled Maddie into his embrace, and they weren’t as concerned about the steps as they were just holding each other.
“So Mrs. Marchetti,” he said. “Do you think we should rescue your mom and dad from Lucy, Tommy and Winnie?”
Maddie glanced over her shoulder to where Grandpa and Grammy looked to be having the time of their lives doing the hokey-pokey with their grandchildren ages five, four and two and a half. She met his gaze, and he saw the twinkle of mischief in her own. Together they said, “Nah.”
“It keeps them from reverting to their stuffiness,” she said. “They’ve learned to open up and lighten up. Grandkids are the best thing that ever happened to them.”
“You’re the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said.
“I could say the same about you.” She gazed up at him with love shining in her eyes. “I can hardly remember the time before I was surrounded by a large, loving family.”
“I promise to do everything within my power to keep that particular expression on your beautiful, freckled face for the rest of your life.”
“Just be you,” she said simply.
“If good genes and a positive environment can turn a mutt like me into—”
“The best man,” she finished for him.
“If you say so. But I’m living proof that love makes anything possible.”
If he was the best man, it was because he’d learned from the best—his parents. Correction—all of his parents. And he could never thank them enough.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6768-2
THE LAST MARCHETTI BACHELOR
Copyright © 2001 by Teresa Ann Southwick
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*The Marchetti Family
The Last Marchetti Bachelor Page 16
