Barefoot Dreams Read online

  In a matter of seconds, Rafe could die.

  Chapter Eight

  Gabe barely hit the ground, rolling with the impact and popping to his feet. No fucking bolt of lightning would keep him from saving his son. He tore across the pavement, vaguely aware of the burning stench and stones jabbing his now bare feet.

  Water sluiced over his face as he ran toward the golf cart and Rafe’s helpless screams. He could image that tiny sneakered foot, just the right size to slide between the pedals and get caught, which would hold the accelerator down and trap Rafe in a moving vehicle.

  Gabe swerved around a parked car, watching that cart move closer and closer to a fall that could kill or badly injure his son.

  He would not die. Gabriel Rafael Rossi would not die.

  Rafe looked over his shoulder, screaming. “It’s stuck! Daddy! Mummy!”

  Two feet. He was two feet from the edge, and Gabe was still twenty feet from Rafe.

  He rolled over the hood of a car to get there faster. Leaped over a barricade that was there to prevent anyone from going near the ditch.

  Rafe was one foot from the edge when Gabe slid onto the mud, stumbling, running, reaching out as the front tires slid over the edge.

  “Daddy! Help me!”

  Gabe threw himself into the air to close the rest of the space, his fingers grazing the bar that held the cart canopy, but sliding as he missed the grip and the cart slipped in the mud.

  “No!” Gabe yelled, rolling and reaching again, this time getting the very edge of the cargo rail in the back, grasping it with every ounce of strength he could muster.

  “Daddy!”

  “Hang on,” Gabe ground out, using all his strength just to hold the damn thing, but the accelerator and electric engine might be stronger than he was, because the son of a bitch kept moving even as Gabe got both hands on it.

  His arms burned, and rain blinded him, and each second felt like an hour.

  “Rafe, we’re here,” Lila called as she got closer. Thank God she’d ignored the order to stay. “We’ve got you!”

  Slipping and sliding in the mud, she reached the cart and threw herself at the floor to free his foot, but her weight just made the cart move farther.

  Gabe pulled himself up and dug his bare feet into the mud and used his whole body to brace the cart.

  “Smash the brake!” Gabe ordered.

  “I will, I will. I got it!”

  Rafe jerked away from the steering wheel, and Lila pushed the brake pedal with her hand, but the cart was still sliding. “Get out! Get out!” Gabe yelled.

  She scooped Rafe with strong, capable arms and yanked him from the seat, falling backward onto the mud with Rafe on top of her just as Gabe let go and the golf cart went tumbling and rolling into the ditch.

  Rafe’s sobs were choked by rainwater that soaked both mother and son as they lay in the mud. Gabe fell to the ground to somehow shelter and protect the two people he loved most in the whole world. His body couldn’t cover them both, but he stayed there anyway, with Rafe screaming and Lila panting as all of them let adrenaline and relief flow through them.

  “Gabe,” Lila said. “Get off us.”

  “I can’t. I can’t move. I can’t believe what almost just happened.”

  “We need to get drenched.”

  He slowly lifted his head to see her face. “What?”

  “Rafe and I need to be thoroughly drenched in flowing water. I’m hoping that rain counts.”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “Maybe it’ll wash the stupid off both of you.”

  “Maybe. Off, Rossi, now.”

  Lightning flashed, but not as close as before. Slowly, he rolled off them, being extra careful of Rafe’s cast, landing on his backside in the mud.

  Lila sat with her arms still around their son, gently easing him up, patting him, cooing the soft sounds and words she used when Rafe went off the rails.

  He shuddered one more sob, too wrecked to even try to talk, falling into Lila like she was a human safety net. She turned him gently so she could see his face, keeping him on her lap.

  “Rafe, honey. Let’s do something fun.”

  Still speechless, he blinked at her.

  “Stand up with me, and let’s get totally and completely wet by the rain.”

  “Mummy?” It was all he could manage in the face of sheer madness, making Gabe fight a smile.

  “Go with it, kid,” Gabe said, standing to help them both up. “You might get a reduced sentence.”

  As they stood, Lila stroked Rafe’s face. She pushed back his wet hair and grazed the cast he had in a sling. “Look up, baby,” she whispered. “Get as wet as you can.”

  He followed the order, dropping his head back to let the rain splatter on his face. Lila did the same thing, stepping away from him to let them get thoroughly saturated to the bone.

  “Do what I do, Rafe.” Slowly, she turned him and herself like some kind of strange mystical dance, getting Rafe to imitate her every move. She held out her legs, and he did the same. Spread her arms, and he held out the one that wasn’t in a sling. A distant flash of lightning sparked the scene, making it more surreal than stupid.

  And it was pretty fucking stupid.

  “Gabe!” The call came from behind them in the parking lot.

  “You got Rafe! You have him!”

  They turned to see Zach and Samantha running toward them, followed by Vivi and Lang, all of them rushing to the scene.

  “We got him,” Gabe called back. Then, to Lila, “You done with the rain dance yet?”

  She smiled and nodded, all the pain and stress and fear gone from her face. “Yes, thank you.”

  “Holy cow, Rafe!” Vivi tore over to them, her black hair flattened by the rain, her face a sea of running mascara. “You scared the heck out of us.”

  Rafe looked down, instantly chagrined. “I’m sorry,” he sobbed, then leaned into his mom, who just stroked his back and shook her head to ward off any attack.

  “Let’s get him home, and we’ll talk about it,” Lila said.

  They all agreed in silence, turning to leave.

  “Dad?” His little hand reached out to Gabe’s arm. “Can I still be your Ring Man?”

  “Of course. You can do your hard labor after the wedding.”

  “Good.” He let go of Gabe’s hand, his blue-eyed gaze shifting from one parent to the other. “I had to look in every single golf cart and even had to hide when Mister Luke came here to find me.”

  “You hid?” Lila asked.

  “Under the golf carts.”

  Lila looked at Gabe. “He hid.” She rolled her eyes. “Come on, Rafe. Let’s get dried off.”

  “But I can still be the Ring Man, Mummy?”

  Lila sighed, wiping rain from her face. “I’m very upset with you, Rafe, and there will be a consequence for this action, but I won’t take the wedding away from you.”

  “Good.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny black pouch. “’Cause I found the rings.”

  Gabe couldn’t help the smile that pulled at his mouth. “You know what, kid? You’re going to make a helluva spook.”

  Chapter Nine

  “Hold still.” Gussie, the adorable wedding planner charged with making Lila look gorgeous on her big day, leaned over to press the false eyelash into place. “These are cry-proof, too. I promise.”

  “I won’t cry, trust me,” Lila declared. She’d made it through a ridiculously emotional day without shedding a single tear, hadn’t she?

  With one eye shut, Lila leaned an inch to the left to find Poppy, who was supposed to be enjoying the pre-wedding party, already tidying up the bridal dressing room. “Unless not crying is bad luck, Pop-Tart,” she called out, purposely using Gabe’s nickname to get her attention.

  “Your luck is good, Miss Lila. I checked with my, uh, sorceress.”

  “Did she say sorceress?” Gussie asked in a shocked whisper.

  “Source,” Lila supplied. “Can I open now?”

&
nbsp; “Yes, carefully.”

  Lila opened both eyes, fluttering to get used to the feel of the fake lashes and looking around the opulent surroundings. All the chaises and chairs were filled with women she loved, sipping champagne, touching up their own makeup, chatting and laughing, and throwing some teases Lila’s way.

  Since she’d spent so many years deeply undercover and had crafted a brand-new identity in the process, Lila hadn’t come into this new life with many girlfriends. And as an only child of deceased parents, she had little in the way of her own family.

  But, as he had with so many of her needs, Gabe saw to it that she had plenty of friends and family now. Sisters, brothers, cousins, nieces, and nephews. All related to him, but just as close and kind to her.

  Especially Chessie, her maid of honor, who sat perched on a vanity bench a few feet away, running a brush through her daughter’s long black hair, whispering into Lita’s ear, teaching her English and showering her with love. Chessie’s dark mane was lifted in a beautiful wrapped braid, her blue eyes, so like Gabe’s and Rafe’s, bright with her own freshly applied makeup.

  If it hadn’t been for Chessie and her incredible computer skills, Gabe might never have known he had a son, and he might never have sent Chessie and Mal on a mission to Cuba to find him. And Isadora might have stayed “dead” in his mind.

  “You okay?” Chessie asked, looking at Lila.

  “I’m just…” Lila gave a wistful smile. “Thinking.”

  “No doubts, I hope.” Chessie winked.

  “Not a single doubt. I was just silently thanking you for risking life and limb to try to find Rafe.”

  Chessie lifted her champagne flute. “Are you kidding?” She pressed a kiss on little Lita’s head. “I should thank you. Because of Cuba, I have the man of my dreams and the world’s sweetest daughter.”

  Vivi, Gabe’s cousin, took a step closer to the conversation. “Chessie joined a long line of Rossis and Angelinos who fell in love on undercover jobs,” she told Lila. “I’m sure Gabe told you I met Lang when I was posing as a stand-in for Cara Ferrari.”

  Gussie looked up from her makeup tray. “The movie star? You do look like her a little.” She frowned at the group. “Is the whole family in the spy business?”

  “Not all spies,” Vivi said. “My husband’s FBI, and my brother, Zach, and I run a security and investigation firm up in Boston.”

  “Zach is your husband, right, Samantha?” Gussie asked.

  “For better or worse,” Sam said on a laugh. “It’s almost always for better.”

  Gussie gave her an uncertain look. “How did he…” She touched her eye, referring to the patch Zach wore. “I ask since I’m an accident victim myself,” she added quickly. She turned and lifted her hair, revealing a ghastly scar and burn that left a huge bald spot, making all of the women sigh or gasp softly.

  “His was a war wound,” Samantha said. “I would never have noticed that if you hadn’t shown us.”

  Gussie smiled. “I wore wigs for years, but then I met Tom, my husband, and just learned to feel beautiful as I am.”

  “A good man will do that for you,” Lila said with a knowing smile. Gabe had not been thrilled when he’d learned that his freckle-faced, auburn-haired, voluptuous Isadora had been remade by the CIA into a flat-chested blonde with a far-from-perfect nose. But not because they’d changed the way she looked, but because he didn’t know if she was still Isadora on the inside. “Love goes deeper than looks.”

  “Patch or not, your man is hot,” Gussie said to Samantha. Then she tapped Lila’s chin to get her to look up. “And so’s yours. I think I hear the sound of a million hearts breaking now that Gabriel Rossi is officially off the market.”

  Lila laughed. “Not that I expect to ever subdue that man.”

  “You got him to stop swearing around Rafe.”

  “No, I did,” Poppy said, lumbering over to join the fun. “But he has stopped, mostly.”

  “He swore plenty today,” Lila told her. “He should just write the Jamaican Children’s Fund a check for a thousand dollars.”

  “Of course he swore,” Vivi said. “Just like my aunt and uncle swore every time Gabe did something outrageous as a kid. Going out in the middle of a storm to find those rings was crazy.”

  “Rafe knows it was wrong and stupid, and I’m sure he’s gotten his talking-to from Gabe,” Lila said.

  “But not Nino,” Poppy added. “That man thinks the sun rises and sets on that boy.”

  “That’s how he was with Gabe,” Vivi said. “The rest of us would all get in huge trouble for whatever we did, but Nino defended Gabe until Mom and Dad let it go. He got away with murder.”

  “Were you all raised together?” Gussie asked.

  “Zach and I were born in Italy and lived there until we were ten,” Vivi told her. “The Rossis are our American cousins, and they adopted us when my mom died and we were orphaned.”

  “Aww.” Gussie sighed. “I’m sorry about your mother, but what a sweet family you became part of.”

  A few of the women laughed. “I don’t know if I’d call them sweet,” Devyn, Marc’s wife, chimed in. “But it’s a fantastic family to marry into, I promise.”

  “Thank you.” Fran Rossi slipped her arm around her daughter Nicki and came closer, smiling. For having raised five kids plus two cousins, Gabe’s mother seemed remarkably relaxed. Maybe because of all those kids, nothing seemed to faze her. “Every time one of my children—and I count Vivi and Zach in that—marries, our brood gets bigger and I get happier.” She shot a meaningful look at Nicki. “Some are making me wait longer than others.”

  “And the Nicki Isn’t Married Yet zing comes out of left from Mom,” Chessie teased, pointing at her older sister. “Get on that, Nick.”

  Nicki laughed, clearly used to the ribbing. “Hey, I’m a shrink. I don’t go out on these romantic undercover adventures in the field like the rest of you.”

  “Neither did I,” Chessie reminded her.

  After a tap on the door, Willow, one of the other destination wedding planners, stuck her head in. “Twenty minutes to sunset, ladies. I know you want to time the ceremony to coincide.”

  “We’re done with makeup,” Gussie told her. “We just need to get that dress on.”

  While the rest of the women cheered and toasted, Lila stood and let Gussie guide her up to the small dressing platform in the center of the room. At that moment, the whole thing suddenly started to feel…real. Unbelievably real.

  After all Gabe and Lila had been through—having a child, “dying” and coming back as someone else, the headaches and the heartaches and the love and the longing—she was finally going to be Gabe’s wife.

  The satin fell over her with a whoosh that matched the sudden rush of blood in her head as the hem of the long dress brushed her bare feet. Every woman in the room gasped, applauded, and cheered.

  “This one is a winner,” Gussie said smugly, clearly proud of her role in designing the stunning dress. “You look like a goddess.”

  The dress was simple, a column of white with spaghetti straps and a small train. She remembered the night she’d come back to Gabe, wearing the same color, knowing how difficult it would be to convince him she was Isadora and desperately needed help.

  “Miss Lila,” Poppy said, holding up her phone to take a picture. “I’ve never seen a more beautiful bride.”

  “Thank you.” Her voice hitched, and emotion made her throat swell. “I guess I’m a little teary after all,” she admitted.

  “Totally understandable.” Chessie came closer and offered her a champagne flute, but Lila shook her head.

  “I don’t want anything to dull my senses. I want to remember every single moment of tonight. I’ve never been happier.” She looked from one woman to the next. “Thank you for letting me into your family,” she said softly. “I’m overwhelmed by how much I love you all.”

  Chessie climbed up on the platform and slipped an arm around Lila, squeezing her waist. “
We love you, too,” she whispered. She lifted her champagne flute and beamed at the other ladies.

  “Sisters, cousins, Mom, and friends, please join me in welcoming Lila to the Rossi clan. It takes a mighty strong, smart, patient, and special woman to tame a guy like our Gabe. Many have tried, but only she has succeeded.”

  Lila snorted. “Not quite.”

  “It’ll be a lifelong challenge. May that be a long life full of laughter, joy, babies, and family. To Lila Wickham Rossi!”

  Lila Wickham Rossi.

  Gabe had given her the family she lost, the permanence she craved, the son she adored, and a love she’d always dreamed of. Gabe had given her everything.

  The glasses clinked, and the women’s voices joined in a chorus of cheers. And Lila lost the battle and shed the first of what she knew would be a lifetime of happy tears.

  Chapter Ten

  “Are you ready, Gabriel?” Nino put a hand on Gabe’s shoulder, turning him from the mirror to look him in the eye, the scrutiny in the old man’s gaze telling Gabe that his grandfather wasn’t asking if Gabe was ready for the ceremony.

  Was he ready for this life? This wife? This change?

  “I’ve never been more ready for anything, Gramps,” he said with a wink.

  All of the groomsmen had left the villa to go to the beach for the ceremony, leaving Nino and Rafe with Gabe for the last minute. It was as if his brothers, cousin, brothers-in-law, and father understood that before he walked onto that sand, Gabe needed one last moment with the men he was closest to. One not quite six, one not quite ninety, both perfect in Gabe’s eyes.

  He looked over at Rafe, who sat uncharacteristically quietly in an oversized chair, holding the pillow that carried the rings, his little feet swinging, his crisp white shirt and tie slightly obscured by the Spider-Man-themed sling Aunt Vivi had picked for him.

  “What about my Ring Man? You all set?” Gabe asked.

  His smile was shaky, and he nodded, making Nino and Gabe share a look of concern.