“I love you, too, Freddy.” She leaned in and kissed her brother’s cheek. “Now get some sleep. Tomorrow we’re all going to FAO Schwartz.”

“The toy store?”

“Yes.”

He turned his head, looking at her over his little shoulder, his eyes glinting like the wild animal he truly was from the light streaming in from the hallway. “Why would we want to do that?”

Toni could only sigh. “Only a Jean-Louis Parker child would ask that particular question about a toy store.”

After another kiss on her brother’s forehead, Toni headed to her own room. She passed her other siblings’ rooms, hearing Kyle and Troy bickering behind one door, Zoe and Zia chatting to each other in some language they’d made up in the last couple of days in another. Little Dennis snored like a rutting rhino in his room while Oriana was gossiping on her damn phone with another dancer about which dance teacher was sleeping with which student. Toni paused at that but then decided it was too late to handle that potential situation well when she was this tired, so she kept moving. Her parents were still downstairs in the living room with Ricky’s mother. She could hear laughter and was relieved that they were all getting along so well.

Cherise and Cooper were watching Excalibur in Coop’s room. A film the three of them had watched two million times, she was sure. She briefly thought about joining them but, again, exhaustion won out.

She continued on to her room but stopped in the doorway. Ricky, fully dressed, was asleep on top of the covers, his Tennessee Titans ball cap still on his head, his back resting against the headboard. And she had to admit, nothing had really ever looked so perfect before.

Kicking off her running shoes, Toni crawled onto the bed. By the time she reached Ricky, he’d opened his arms to her. She snuggled up to his chest, resting her cheek against his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his waist. Ricky’s legs were on either side of her, his chin resting on top of her head.

“Ricky Lee?”

“Mhmm?”

“I’m glad you waited for me tonight.”

“Wait for you?” His arms encircled her, held her tight. “Darlin’ . . . where else would I be?”

EPILOGUE

Toni looked over all the food on the kitchen table. “Mom, do we really need all this food?”

Her mother stood beside her. “I just don’t know. I was told the most important thing was for the wild dogs to have ample chocolate, so I took care of that. I have a whole picnic table set up outside for that. But when I heard your entire hockey team would be attending, and those lions that are part of the Smith Pack, then I figured we’d need more food. Thankfully, Blayne—”

“Who?”

Her mother bumped Toni with her hip. “Be nice to her!She suggested the caterer,” she said, pointing out the window at the team getting the food tables organized. “They apparently handle shifter weddings and all-lion events, which seems to be some sort of code meaning they could feed anyone.” Her mother clutched her hands together. “I just want everything to be perfect.”

“Are you still sucking up to the dogs, Mom? I mean, they seem to be entrusting you with Johnny now that Donato is interested in him.”

“I’ve always felt you can never suck up enough in some instances. This is one of those instances.”

Jackie reached out, and moved a few of the side dishes around. Then, suddenly, she asked something that she hadn’t before, her gaze still focused on the table in front of her, “Delilah won’t be coming home . . . will she?”

She made it sound like she meant, “Would Delilah be coming home for the party?” But Toni knew what her mother was really asking her. Knew it was hard for her to ask such a thing about her own child. A child she’d given birth to and had loved like she’d loved all her other children. But even so, something had gone wrong. And nothing they did now would change that. They both knew it.

So Toni wasn’t surprised at her mother’s relieved expression when she replied, “No, Mom. She won’t be. But don’t worry, she’s in a good place now.” As good a place as they could hope for anyway. Hey, it wasn’t a prison cell or a shallow grave.

Her mother suddenly hugged her. “I love you, Antonella. I love you more than you will ever understand.”

Toni hugged her mother back. “I love you, too, Mom.”

The doorbell rang and Jackie pulled away. “They’re here,” she announced. “I’ll go let them in.”

“Okay.”

Jackie walked out and that’s when Toni heard, “Pssst. Toni?”

“Dad?”

Her father eased into the room from another doorway. “Where’s your mother?”

“She went to answer the door.”

“We have a problem.”

Toni sighed. “Uh-oh. What now?”

He leaned down and whispered to her, “The Royal Ballet wants your sister.”

“What? She’s only fifteen.”

“Let me rephrase . . .” And that’s when Toni rolled her eyes. She loved her father but . . . oy.

“The Royal Ballet School has offered her a spot in order to train her for the Royal Ballet.”

“That makes sense.”

“And then there was the call I got before that—”

“You got another call?”

“From this art school for gifted children in Milan. They want Kyle.”