like a leash tethering her there. "I mean, okay, I get it, but I don't know why you're so upset about it."
"He's a Galante," she repeated.
"I know he is, Mom. But Aunt Savina married a Barsanti. Aunt Lena married an Amaro. Heck, you married a Russo."
"That's different."
"How?"
"We were idiots," Victoria said, that answer making Gabriella laugh, despite the circumstances. "I raised you to be so much smarter than this. We were lovesick young girls, marrying men we hardly knew. And you, Oh God, you… don't tell me you're thinking about marrying that boy!"
"What? No!" Gabriella scrunched up her nose, yanking her arm free. "We're not, I mean… ugh, it's way too soon to be breaking out that word."
"But some day? Is that what you're telling me? You might someday think about marrying him? A Galante?"
"Maybe. Ugh, I don't know! I don't even want to think about that right now. I'm a little busy trying to survive this wedding to be planning my own. We're just dating."
"Dating?"
"Yeah," Gabriella said, knowing she was underplaying it. The guy had already moved into her apartment. "I like him."
"You like him?"
She smiled. "I more than like him, Mom."
Victoria covered her face with her hands, shaking her head. "He's going to break your heart."
Gabriella's eyes shifted back out the ballroom, at Dante, as he still stood there, taking the verbal lashing in stride. "I know he is."
"That's it!" Victoria dramatically threw her hands up, disrupting people around them. "It's official. You inherited it."
"What?"
"The idiot gene."
Gabriella laughed again, a bit of relief washing through her as her grandfather's speech ended, the orchestra again playing as the bride and groom moved to the dance floor. Alfie walked back into the ballroom, his expression softening more with each step, his anger melted by the time he reached the table.
Dante followed, another ten years gone from his life.
"Dance with me, woman," Alfie said, holding his hand out to Victoria. "Make me the luckiest man in the room all over again."
Victoria rolled her eyes but took his hand, the two of them setting off for the dance floor, gone by the time Dante made it to the table.
He slid down into his seat, sighing.
"What did he say to you?" Gabriella asked.
"The same thing your grandfather said."
"Which was…?"
"When I break your heart, they're going to rip mine right out of my chest."
"Wow," she whispered.
"Wow," he agreed, grazing his fingertips along her cheek before running them down her neck, right to her chest. He pressed his palm flat against it over her heart. "Guess I need to be careful with this thing."
"Guess so, unless you don't need your heart anymore."
"What heart?"
"This one." Gabriella pressed her palm against his chest. "It's still in there."
"You sure about that?"
"Positive," she said. "In case you forgot, I spent weeks listening to it. I heard it every day. So yeah, it's still in there. I know it is."
Dante leaned over to kiss her. Gabriella's eyes fluttered closed, tingles engulfing her at the public display of affection, right there in front of all of those eyes, so many of them suspiciously watching him. She got lost in it, just enjoying it, when a chair pulled out at their table, scraping against the floor. "Fools."
Dante pulled away with a sigh. Gabriella scowled, not having to open her eyes to know who it was.
Gavin.
"And here I actually thought I might go a whole day without hearing that voice," Dante said.
"For the record," Gavin said, "you're not the only one who gets tired of hearing shit. You know what I'm tired of hearing? Your name. My father asked me to come here, you know, to represent the Amaros, since he works so early in the mornings and didn't want to make the trip out, so I said, sure, why not? I figured a wedding in Jersey would be a safe zone, a chance for me to get away from the stress hearing your name causes me, but nope. Dante Galante walks in, and it's all I hear. Dante, Dante, Dante…"
"I happen to like hearing that name," Gabriella chimed in.
"You would," Gavin said. "It's mostly your fault I hear it."
She smiled. "You're welcome."
"Seriously, though," Gavin said, looking between them. "Did it never cross either of your minds that this might not be the ideal time and place for your coming out party?"
"It crossed my mind," Dante said, "but I kind of figured there was no ideal time or place, so go big or go home, right?"