“Very well might,” he muttered. He’d been in a foul mood for weeks now, and he was well aware that others were beginning to notice. His buddy Big Mac had called him out on it recently, asking him what had crawled up his ass and died. He was smack in the middle of an epidemic of weddings and engagements. Everyone was tying the knot except for him—and he’d waited the longest.

They’d been stymied every time they tried to set a date since Francine’s divorce had been final. He’d pitched the idea of a surprise wedding to her, and she’d loved it. They’d even set a date for that, only to have Seamus and Carolina beat them to it.

Even Grant and Stephanie were finally getting married in a couple of weeks, and they’d been dragging their feet for a year now!

It wasn’t fair. He’d been waiting more than thirty years to marry his gal. He was almost to the point of whisking her off to Vegas just to get it done. Except… He didn’t want to do it that way. He wanted his people there with him, including her daughters, who’d become his girls since he’d been with their mom. He wanted their grandkids there and all their friends.

Tomorrow he was going to figure this out once and for all. They were going to set a damned date and stick to it. Let anyone try to stop them.

“Ready?” Francine asked.

He glanced at her and did a double take at how beautiful she looked. She’d had her hair done earlier in the day, and every one of her auburn locks was shining and gorgeous.

“What’re you staring at?”

“I’m starin’ at the gal I love. She takes my breath away.”

“You charmer.”

“I ain’t feedin’ ya bull, doll. I look atcha, and I get all tangled up inside.”

Francine smoothed her hands over the lapels of his one good sport coat. “I feel the same way about you and our lovely life together. Every day I’m thankful you gave me another chance.”

“Gave ya another chance,” he said with a laugh. “As if I had a choice. Ya have my heart, doll. Ya always have.”

She kissed him. “Let’s go have dinner with the kids so we can come home and continue this conversation.”

It still astonished him, even after more than a year of living together, that he got to come home with her every night and sleep with her in his arms after dreaming about her for lonely, empty decades.

Since they’d been forced to dress up, he broke out the vintage Cadillac he’d bought from the Chesterfield Estate for the drive to Mac and Maddie’s house. They arrived to a mess of cars in the driveway, leading all the way out to Sweet Meadow Farm Road.