by LETO, JULIE
They entered the same room they’d used to sign the ketubah, only now it was empty of everything except a table, a small tray of food, two wineglasses, and a bottle of her favorite red. After promising to return for them in ten minutes, the rabbi left.
Anne couldn’t help but think of the line from one of Mike’s favorite films, The Candidate.
“So, what do we do now?” she asked, smiling.
Mike’s breath eased out of his lungs like a long-held sigh. “Well, I’m no Robert Redford, but we’ve just made it through the campaign of our lives. Kiss me.”
Without hesitation, she did exactly as he asked.
Epilogue
“SIRUS, SIT!” MIKE ORDERED.
The dog wiggled her way into her best impersonation of obedience, her mouth open and panting. He was holding her absolute favorite treat in the universe, which luckily, was easy to find in their Brooklyn neighborhood.
“Mike, stop torturing the dog and give her the ice cream,” Anne said, swiping a lick of her own confection.
He set down the cup of soft serve and the dog immediately dug in until her muzzle was covered in creamy goodness. He joined Anne on the step outside their nineteenth century brownstone and enjoyed the cool chocolate on his tongue and the feel of his wife sidling up closer to him. The tree-lined street brimmed with activity, not from cars, but with children dashing along the sidewalk ahead of their mothers’ strollers on the way to the park or to the main drag only a few blocks up where he’d purchased their ice cream.
“That’s going to be us someday,” Mike said, eyeing a father across the street who had his son perched on his shoulder.
“I don’t think I could carry you on my shoulders,” Anne teased.
He nudged her ice-cream cone so that a smudge of white cream tipped her nose. She protested, but wiped it off and smeared her hand on his shirt. Only fair, he supposed.
“I meant the kids,” he said.
“I know,” she replied, hooking her arm in his. “I hope they have your eyes.”
“I hope they have my sense of neatness.”
“So do I,” Anne agreed. “Then they can do my share of the cleaning.”
He chuckled, turning so that he could wrap his arms completely around her while they finished up their frozen treats. Sirus had already demolished hers and was nosing around for a taste of his, which he denied. Luckily, the little girl from down the block appeared and Sirus decided that allowing the child to pat her head was more interesting than begging for more ice cream.
Mike waved to the child’s mother and then settled into holding Anne. He remembered the time when he’d thought a moment like this would be impossible—when his Tourette’s would have made him a hard man to hold.
Apparently, all he’d had to do was find the right woman because at this moment, all he wanted to do was hold her for the rest of his life.
Dedication
To Michael and Anne, for proving that true love
isn’t something you just read about in storybooks.
To Alison, Judith, Olivia,
and Michele, for sharing the ride.
To Anne-Marie Carroll, for so many things,
I can’t even begin to list them all . . .
but in this case, for her eagle eye.
Dear Reader
WELCOME TO TRUE VOWS!
Since I’ve been reading and writing romance for . . . well, longer than I care to admit . . . I know that it’s a rare and wonderful experience when something entirely new breaks into our beloved genre. That’s what TRUE VOWS is—something new! Non-romance readers sometimes scoff at romance novels because they think, “That stuff never happens in real life.” These books prove that it does happen . . . and when it does, it’s wonderful.
To those of you who are seasoned romance readers—thank you for taking a chance on this new concept. I hope the books will appeal to that part of you that embraces the incredible power of love in the face of conflicts both big and small. To those of you who are new to the genre, but who love a good true-life story— welcome! I hope TRUE VOWS will satisfy your expectations and hook you permanently into reading more of this wonderful genre.
Working with Anne Miller and Mike Davoli to bring a romanticized version of their courtship to the page was a joy and an honor. I can only hope that I’ve done justice to this amazing couple. Anne is the kind of heroine I like to write about. She’s strong, independent, and ambitious, but also nurturing and creative. Mike is the quintessential romantic hero—confident, successful, smart, and funny. And he cleans! I mean, really, what more could a woman want?
Like the real people they are, they aren’t perfect. Their romantic road had some speed bumps, which is what made this such a great story to tell. I can report, however, that the happy ending you will experience at the end of the book is entirely real. And Sirus really is as charming in person as she is in the book.
Lastly, I want to give a shout out to Michele Matrisciani, Olivia Rupprecht (aka Mallory Rush), Veronica Blake, Peter Vegso, and the entire team at HCI Books for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this ground-breaking project. It’s been a challenge and a joy.
I encourage you to visit the official TRUE VOWS site, www.truevowsbooks.com, to interact with the couples and novelists, learn the latest news on the TRUE VOWS line, read about the next books in the series, and even have the opportunity to tell HCI Books your true love story for a chance to be the subject of a future TRUE VOWS book.
Happy reading,
P.S. I’d love to know what you think about the book once you’re done reading! Please visit my website, www.julieleto.com, or my blog, www.plotmonkeys.com, to let me know what you think!
Copyright
An Orion eBook
First published in eBook in Great Britain in 2013 by Orion Books
© Health Communications, Inc. 2010
The right of Julie Leto to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-4091-2899-1
The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Orion House
5 Upper Saint Martin’s Lane
London, WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK company
www.orionbooks.co.uk
