Page 49 of Enemy

“Did you do this on purpose,ragazzo?”

Before I could reply, Angie clapped her hands together. “Go on, Papa.”

George couldn’t deny his daughter anything. “Basil and I are to be married.”

There was a moment of silence, and I flashed back to the fear of accepting my attraction to men, of coming out to my family. But I needn’t have worried. These people were my family. By blood and by choice. They accepted and loved me, just like I did them.

“Congratulations!Pozdravleniya! When is the wedding? How did he propose?” Felicitations and questions rang out around us. I was not fielding that last one.

We were engulfed in hugs but I held onto George’s left hand, where one day soon there would be a matching ring to mine. Finally, I’d have my mark on him.

“I love you, Daddy,” I whispered in George’s ear, everyone having moved on to the food. I used to be a man with no love in my life, and my big mistake led to more love than I knew how to comprehend. “And I can’t wait to take your name.”

“Everything I have is yours,mio amorino.Take whatever you want.”