“Come in,” she said unwrapping herself from him and sat up.

“Sorry,” Rose said chewing her bottom lip. “I was waiting for you guys to wake and I heard you talking so I just thought…”

“What’s up?” Grace asked.

“I made the team,” Rose said with a smile.

“You did?” Grace got out of bed and rushed over to hug her. “Oh my God I knew you would!”

Since Rose was now living with them and Sal remembered Grace telling him about her mother not willing to pay for her club soccer team all year round, he decided he’d sponsor her. At first Grace said it would be too much but Moreno’s sponsored plenty of players, so Sal insisted they could sponsor her too. The only club teams in this area were silver teams or higher and Rose had only ever played on bronze teams. But Grace said that was only because in their area they couldn’t afford better coaches or scouts so the only teams they had out there were bronze. She said Rose was a stand out. Rose was nervous about trying out for a silver team. But here she was, smiling big.

“Way to go, Rose. You see your sister was right. You are a superstar. Can’t wait to see you play.”

After giving them the rundown on everything about her practices, uniforms and games she excused herself to start getting ready. Sal had to laugh. The ceremony wasn’t until late that afternoon, but Rose always took hours to do her hair. Today she would be Grace’s maid of honor so he supposed this called for an even longer grooming session.

Grace closed the door after Rose walked out and Sal smiled when he saw her lock it. She turned around with a wicked smile.

“What are you up to Mrs. Moreno?”

She smiled even bigger as she climbed onto the bed. “Ooh I like that.”

“I love this,” he said wrapping both arms around her and pulling her tightly to him.

“But that reminds me of something scary my mom said before she left.”

“What’s that?” Sal searched her eyes curiously.

“She said she had a sneaking suspicion both her girls would be Morenos someday.”

Sal smiled and kissed her. “You never know.”

Rose and Vince had gotten nerve-wrackingly close this summer. And even though the summer was over now and Vince had gone back to La Puente, they were still going back and forth texting nonstop. Her mom could be on to something.

Her mom had been right about one thing. Turned out Frank had come in handy. Ruben got a DUI over the summer and his class A license was taken away. With Frank’s plans to open a restaurant out here with Grace foiled and Ruben no longer able to drive long hauls; Frank offered them both jobs at his busy casino. Grace’s mom wasn’t thrilled about having to work but at least she’d be living in a fancy casino now with maid service instead of the run down apartment building so she took the offer and they moved out there.

There was never even a question of where Rose would stay. With three extra bedrooms in Sal’s house there was more than enough room and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

The look on Grace’s face said it all. She was still apprehensive about Rose and Vince. “He’s not as bad as I made him out to be. Just hung out with the wrong crowd for a while there but he actually has a good head on his shoulders.”

Finally Grace gave way to that smile he loved so much. “I guess anyone related to you has to be pretty awesome.”

Sal laughed. “I wouldn’t say all that.” The Morenos weren’t without their loonies. What family wasn’t?

“I can hardly believe I’m going to be part of such a big family now.”

“You already are, sweetheart.” he said moving a strand of hair away from her eyes. Then he brought his hand back down, placing it over the small bump on her belly. “And we’re gonna make this family even bigger now.”

She closed her eyes. “It’s hard to believe I’m not dreaming.”

“Open your eyes, Gracie,” he whispered against her lips. “We’re living the dream. Forever starts today.”

She opened her eyes and stared at him. “Forever?”

He smiled nodding before kissing her again. “Forever.”

Epilogue

Alex

Sienna ran up to Alex sopping wet and handed him another rock. “Where’s your life jacket, baby?”

She ignored the question and skipped away. Back toward the water.

“The life jackets were giving them both rashes under their arms so I took them off.” Valerie said, walking up to him with Savannah in her arms.

Alex frowned, putting down the fishing pole he was trying to untangle. “I don’t want them near the water without them, babe.”

“Relax, we’re all watching them. No one’s letting them out of our sights.” She leaned in and kissed him, before grabbing her sunglasses from the beach bag that hung on his chair.

Savannah puckered up so Valerie leaned her in and Alex kissed her, too.

“Daddy fish?”

“Yeah,” Alex smiled. “Daddy’s gonna catch a big one for us today.”

“Your daddy don’t know about this,” Romero said.

Alex glanced over at Romero who sat under the tarp trying to untangle the fishing line on his pole. He’d been at it for over fifteen minutes and it looked worse now than when he started.

Alex shook his head as he reached over and stroked Valerie’s belly. “How you feeling?”

“Perfect.” She put her sunglasses on. “After the hell I went through when I was pregnant with the girls I’m shocked I haven’t had any morning sickness this time.”