Disclaimer: This chapter contains two sets of lyrics—Peter Cetera's "After All" and Heartland's "I Loved Her First." I am not profiting by their use in any way shape or form.

It was nearly 5:00 when we finally pulled up to our row house on Slater Street, and coming on full dark. You could tell which house was ours from blocks away, and I gasped at the sight. Sally had turned our modest home into a magical place. White fairly lights climbed along the walkway and over the door. "Wow," said Joe. Every light in the house was on, and candles gleamed in the windows. When we got inside, we saw that Sally had moved out most of the furniture in the living room, and the dining room and kitchen were both set with elaborate buffet offerings. The beautiful five-tiered Tasty Pastry cake reigned supreme on the dining room sideboard. We hurried out the kitchen door to find an elaborate tent covering the entire back yard, complete with a hardwood dance floor and small tables and chairs set around the edges. Sally himself was enthroned behind an elaborate sound system in the corner, still wearing the red satin dress, and looking absolutely radiant.

"Sally, I don't know what to say! This is magical." I beamed at him, and he seemed pretty pleased with himself.

"What did you do with the furniture?" asked Joe, ever the male pragmatist.

"Whatever didn't fit in the cellar, Ranger's guys took over to your neighbor's garage." Sally explained. Joe noticed a contingent of the "Men in Black" arranging chairs and hooking up speaker wire across the room. He grunted noncommittally.

I hurried over to speak with the guys I had worked with for so long. "I can't believe you guys did all this. Thank you so much." I started to tear up, and Tank started to look at his feet. Hal just blinked at me, wires still dangling from his hands. Woody and Lester smiled and looked embarrassed.

Bobby finally answered me and said, "We were glad to do it, Stephanie. Congratulations, and be happy."

"Thanks," I sniffled, then I hugged him hard. Hugging was apparently something the Merry Men could appreciate because they all waited their turn, then hugged me and wished me well. Finally, I looked over Tank's shoulder, which wouldn't have been easy under ordinary circumstances, but he had picked me up in a bear hug and my feet were dangling off the floor. I saw Ranger standing in the shadows of the far corner, wearing just a hint of a smile. "Thank you," I mouthed to him. He inclined his head incrementally, and I knew we were going to be okay.

"This really means a lot to me," I said to the guys as I tried to hold all their hands at once. They beamed, and too late I realized that they weren't so much beaming at me as smirking over my shoulder. When I wasn't looking, the Armada had arrived behind me. Navy was one up on the Army for attendance at the christening, but Army had pulled it out in the fourth quarter by setting up the reception. Both teams were jockeying at the scrimmage line, and testosterone was so thick you could cut it with a cake knife. Movement in the backfield. My mother came to the doorway with Sofi squalling fit to wake the dead. "I think she's hungry," my mother shouted over the top of Sofi's howls. I quickly took Sofi and retreated to the bench, that is to say, I went upstairs and hid in the bedroom. If there was going to be a full-on scrimmage in the backyard tent during my wedding reception, I decided I didn't want to know about it.

I took my time feeding Sofi, and changing her into another frilly dress; shorter this time so her perfect little knees showed, and her tiny white patent leather shoes and lacy socks. I finished her off with a silky white bow on the top of her head, and she looked like an absolute doll. "Oh, Sofi," I told her. "You look so beautiful! No wonder your Daddy thinks you're a princess." Just then Joe peeked in and knocked with a single knuckle on the door.

"Hey, how are my girls? Our guests are here, Cupcake."

I picked up Sofi, then took Joe's arm with my empty hand, and we walked to the head of the stairs. A roomful of people greeted us with applause as we came down the stairs, and I quickly handed Sofi off to Joe's mother so Joe and I could greet our guests. As arranged with Sally, we worked our way slowly out of the room and back to the tent, where there were still more people. Just as we got to the doorway, Sally announced, "Appearing for the first time as husband and wife, please welcome Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Morelli for their first dance as a married couple." Sally tuned up the sound system, and the strains of Peter Cetera's "After All" drifted over the top of the crowd.

I stopped dumbstuck. How had Sally known? That song had been wildly popular when Joe and I were in high school, and I had spent more than a little time daydreaming about Joe while listening to this song on the radio, especially that last summer before he left for the Navy. Joe swept me into his arms, and we began to sway to the music that told our story so well:

Well, here we are again;
I guess it must be fate.
We've tried it on our own,
But deep inside we've known
We'd be back to set things straight.

I smiled up at Joe and tried to remember how many times we'd been on again and off again. How much jockeying for position had we done over the years? I'd chased him with my father's Buick, and with his own Jeep Cherokee when he was failure to appear. And I guess he could say he'd chased me till I caught him.

I still remember when
Your kiss was so brand new.
Every memory repeats,
Every step I take retreats,
Every journey always brings me back to you.

"So many first times," Joe whispered in my ear. "You remember?" I just nodded my head and smiled at him, totally lost in the warmth of his eyes. Joe gathered me even closer to him, and we slowly circled the dance floor.

After all the stops and starts,
We keep coming back to these two hearts,
Two angels who've been rescued from the fall.
After all that we've been through,
It all comes down to me and you.
I guess it's meant to be,
Forever; you and me, after all.

What a truly wonderful life's journey we'd embarked on today. We'd taken an old love and were building a whole new life. I wrapped both arms around Joe's neck, and buried my face on his shoulder. I could feel nobody but him, see nobody but him, love nobody but him. I couldn't get close enough. Joe wrapped me in his arms, holding me just as tightly as I was holding him. We'd given up any semblance of dancing, and just swayed slightly in each other's arms.

When love is truly right
This time it's truly right
It lives from year to year.
It changes as it goes,
Oh, and on the way it grows,
But it never disappears.

I had almost lost Joe's love, and the idea of losing someone so vital to my very essence rocked me to my core. Joe sensed the change in my breathing, and just leaned down slightly and caught my mouth in a sweet kiss. We had come so far, and we were together. Nothing else mattered.

Eventually the music wound down and we stepped apart. Joe brought my hands to his lips one last time, and kissed my fingertips, which drew a collective sigh from all the women. I probably looked like the cat who stole the cream. Joe was my dream, and he finally belonged to me, and me to him.

My father approached me as Joe and I separated. "I think the next dance is mine, sweetheart."

"Sure, Daddy." I watched Joe walk over and take Sofi from his mother, and turn her around so she could see Momma dancing with her Poppa. I had never heard the song before, but as I slowly circled the dance floor in my father's arms, I silently blessed Sally Sweet. My dad smiled down at me, then kissed me on my forehead. "Be happy, Stephanie."

"I am, Daddy."

"I know. I always knew you would be. You and Joe were meant for each other."

Look at the two of you dancing that way
Lost in the moment and each others face
So much in love you're alone in this place
Like there's nobody else in the world
I was enough for her not long ago
I was her number one
She told me so
And she still means the world to me
Just so you know
So be careful when you hold my girl
Time changes everything
Life must go on
And I'm not gonna stand in your way

But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it still hard to give her away
I loved her first

I looked up and saw tears in my father's eyes, then looked over and saw Joe swaying with Sofi, and tears were pooled in his eyes as well.


How could that beautiful women with you
Be the same freckle face kid that I knew
The one that I read all those fairy tales to
And tucked into bed all those nights
And I knew the first time I saw you with her
It was only a matter of time

But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers

From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
Someday you might know what I'm going through
When a miracle smiles up at you
I loved her first

Joe met us on the dance floor, and hugged my father as he handed him Sofi. My father's voice was gruff with unshed tears. "Be good to my girl," was all he said.

"I will, sir," Joe replied in all solemnity. I found myself wishing that Joe's father could have lived to see the man he'd grown into. I knew a lot of bad things about "Old Man Morelli," but today was a day for forgiveness and new beginnings. And I had to think that there had to be at least some small part of Joe's father that was good for Joe to be who and what he was. I also knew someone else who would be missing Joe's father today.

No matter how many bad things people said about Mr. Morelli, everyone agreed that Angie Morelli had loved him beyond reason. I sent Joe of to dance with his mother, and went to greet more of our guests. Lula had managed to coax Tank out onto the dance floor, and they seemed to be having a good time. I made a mental note to aim my bedraggled roses right at Lula when it came time to toss the bouquet. Not sure what Tank would make of that, but Lula deserved to be happy, and Tank made Lula happy. That was good enough for me.

Tex and Allie had joined the dancing crowd, as had Tyrone and LaDawna. We had hooked up a video game console in the guest room for Tyrell and Dante, and hoped for the best. Lexy, older than her years, had stationed herself in the living room at the bottom of the stairs in case her "cousins" made a break for it. Tony's oldest, Dominick, was 16, and seemed to be taking quite an interest in keeping Lexy company. Since Dominick was the image of both Tony and Joe as teenagers, I knew Lexy would have sweet dreams to keep her company on the long ride home to Newark tonight. I watched her long blonde hair fall forward over her face as she smiled at something Dominick had said, and she brushed it back out of the way. Dominick seemed transfixed at the movement of her hair, and I smiled. They were close to the same age Joe and I had been when I first decided the sun rose and set on Joe Morelli. Intervening years had wisened me up a bit, but there's nothing quite as innocent as first love.

MaryLou was in the kitchen, and I tried to shoo her out onto the dance floor with Lenny, but she wouldn't budge. Just then, I noticed Lenny in the corner behind the refrigerator, and deduced that MaryLou and Lenny could probably figure things out just fine on their own. Connie barreled around the corner just then, and grabbed my arm. "Who is he?" she hissed.

I didn't even bother to see who she meant. If Joe and Ranger turned female heads when they walked in a room, Remy was in a class by himself. Add in the dress whites, and there was only one man that any single woman would be asking about. "Remy Charbonneau, old Navy friend of Joe's." I answered.

"Is he single?" Connie breathed.

"Perpetually," I replied. "Come on, I'll introduce you. But don't get too worked up. Long term things could get difficult."

"Difficult how?" Connie wanted to know.

"He's an FBI agent." Connie considered this for a few minutes, and I could see her mentally sorting through the collection of wanted posters that features her relatives.

"Family's overrated anyhow. Introduce me."

Connie had to go check her makeup, then she had to fluff her hair. She came out of the powder room surrounded by a cloud of hairspray, and I sincerely hoped that Remy didn't have any respiratory allergies. I hoped the fan Joe installed was working properly, because otherwise we'd be smelling Connie's hairspray for a week. Connie was dressed in a cross between Jersey girl and Lula. Her assets, both top and bottom were shown to best advantage in a tight-fitting two piece blue knit dress, and a narrow band of perfectly toned and impossibly tiny waist made her look even more like Betty Boop than usual. The requisite makeup was applied in astronomical proportions, and her hair would stand up to a force five hurricane. Her blood red nails were perfectly manicured, and matched the fuck me red on her lips, and I deduced she was ready. She tottered after me on 4" heels, and I figured this would either make or break Remy. If he liked Jersey, he'd love Connie, and if Jersey wasn't for him, well, then Connie didn't have a prayer.

"Hey, Remy," it was a lot easier to approach the most gorgeous man in the room when you were safely married to one of his best friends. I had learned I could tease and flirt with Remy easily, and neither of us got the wrong idea. He knew Joe and I were devoted to each other, so our banter was strictly on the surface, but covered a true growing friendship and respect.

"Soeur, you finally come to your senses and gonna run away with me now? I tell you, my heart is breaking." I grinned at Remy's exaggerated accent. I had noticed the accent tended to grow with the proximity of attractive women, so maybe Remy did Jersey after all.

"Remy, I wanted you to meet my old friend Connie Rosolli. Connie, this is Remy Charbonneau, Sofi's godfather." I stood back and watched them take stock of each other.

"Charmed, Connie," drawled Remy, as his light blue eyes did a rapid evaluation of Connie's charms.

Connie stuck out her chest a little further, completely annihilating the laws of physics, and smiled enticingly up at Remy. Connie's a few inches shorter than I am, and Remy's got a couple of inches on Joe. I knew what was coming next, just because I knew Joe and his friends. Sure enough, he snuck a quick peek down the front of Connie's top where her black lacy Victoria's Secret bra was under considerable strain keeping Connie's assets properly aligned. Connie, of course, was doing her part to make sure he had a clear view. Remy snuck a quick peek at Connie's considerable backside, and his eyes rounded appreciatively. Okay, then. Remy liked big boobs and a big caboose. Connie was good to go.

I melted into the background, and hooked back up with Joe, who was talking to his brothers on the other side of the room. I didn't know Tony or Paulie well, since they were both several years older than Joe. Tony was the oldest, then Paulie, then the girls, and Joe was the baby. Joe has some kind of internal radar where I'm concerned because he turned and reached his arm out toward me when I was still halfway across the floor. I moved easily into his embrace, and turned expectantly to his brothers. They teased me briefly about gaining a baby sister, which is funny since that's what Remy had dubbed me as well. I'd never had brothers, so this was a whole new experience for me. I knew that Joe and Tony were pretty tight, but he didn't talk as much about Paulie. I kind of tended to follow Joe's lead with his family since he had known them a lot longer and better than I did. The odds of all three Morelli brothers avoiding the Morelli triple curse of womanizing, alcoholism, and wifebeating would be astronomical, but Angie Morelli was a pretty formidable woman. If anyone could manage to keep the Morelli brothers in line, I couldn't imagine a more likely candidate than Joe's mom.

Joe pulled me aside and nodded his head toward the exit. I could see Remy's hand on the small of Connie's back as he guided her up the stairs. Connie turned and flashed me a brilliant smile and a small wave as she left. "So what's going on there?" Joe asked quietly.

I answered his question with a question, "Do you think Connie's Remy's type?"

"She's breathing."

I punched him on the shoulder, and not too gently. "Ow! Okay, okay." Joe eyed them assessingly for a minute then shrugged. "Remy likes a handful in front and behind, so yeah, I think Connie's probably just what he likes. Does she know he's with the FBI?"

"I told her. She wanted to meet him anyway."

"Should be interesting," remarked Joe.

"What were you talking to your brothers about?" I asked idly. It didn't really matter, but Joe's face got tense. I turned my head slightly to the side in inquiry, then gently smoothed his jacket over his shoulders. Whatever it was, wasn't worth having Joe tense on our wedding day.

Joe just kind of shook his head. "Tony was giving me marital advice. Which wouldn't be a bad thing. He's been married almost 20 years, and he loves his wife. He was about half in the bag, which is typical for Tony, but the rest was okay. Paulie…" he broke off. "Paulie's 'advice' isn't nearly as welcome. Like I told you before, Morellis don't divorce, but I don't know why Paulie's wife stays with him. He never met a skirt he didn't chase. I don't think he hits her, but the cheating is just as bad, you know?" I nodded. "I'm me, Stephanie. Not my family."

"I know that, Joe." I smiled at him. "You're not your father, and you're not your brothers, but you are all mine."

Joe seemed to shake off his melancholy mood. "I've got a great idea."

"Does it involve sex?"

"Of course."

"Why did I even bother to ask?" I laughed out loud. "What is your great idea, Mr. Morelli?"

Joe whispered a few naughty suggestions in my ear, which made me blush and laugh, but were definitely not feasible given the number of people still in the house. "Okay, how about this. How about we go into the kitchen and cut the cake. Then we beat a hasty retreat out the front door and head for Point Pleasant."

"Point Pleasant in November for a honeymoon?" I looked at him askance. I realized we hadn't had a lot of time for preparation, but….

"I thought you liked the Jersey shore in November." He grinned at me and reminded me of our stay at Point Pleasant the first weekend I'd been home from Boston. My nipples hardened like ball bearings.

"I do. Keep talking."

"Well, I thought tonight at one of the waterfront hotels in a jacuzzi suite. We'll have a double size jacuzzi tub, a king size bed, a fireplace and room service. Who the hell cares what the weather does?"

"I like it."

"And to be honest, I didn't really want to leave Sofi for too long when she's so little."

Oh, God. I'd forgotten my own daughter. On one level I knew Sofi wouldn't be with us on our wedding night, but I hadn't even thought for a minute about an extended honeymoon. The honeymoon part would be great, but Joe was right. There was no way we could leave Sofi that long. I nodded vigorously in agreement. I don't want to leave Sofi for too long either.

"And we have all the holidays coming up; Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years' and all the parties and things that go along with that. Our first holidays as a family, you know?" I nodded again. "So I thought maybe a cruise along about February would be just about right for an extended honeymoon. Sofi won't be so little, the sun in the Caribbean will be fabulous, I'll teach you how to dive. White sandy beaches. Five star dining. Dancing under the stars. What do you think?"

"I think it sounds perfect. And I think we should go cut that damn cake and get straight to the jacuzzi."

"You got it, Cupcake."

As I knew from past experience, Joe could really move through crowds. His elbows weren't exactly clearing a path, but nobody was standing in his way, either. In less than a minute, we were standing behind the cake with the serving knife raised. We smiled for the photographer for what seemed like the ten thousandth time that day, and made quick work of cutting the cake. Joe managed to get my piece of cake in my mouth without making a mess, but I left a smear of buttercream frosting on his lower lip. Unable to resist, I kissed it off, and the flashbulbs popped some more.

I said a quick goodbye to my parents and Grandma Mazur, and made sure they had a key to the house in case there was anything they needed for Sofi that I hadn't remembered when I packed. Joe and I made a mad dash through still more rice to reach the Explorer. Someone pressed my bedraggled bouquet into my hands, and my eyes sought out Lula standing on the walk, surrounded by a thousand fairy lights. I lobbed the bouquet directly into her arms before the rest of the single women could even gather. There were some disappointed groans, but Lula looked radiant.

Joe was even less subtle than I was. He peeled the garter down my calf, then walked straight over to Tank and stuck the garter in the breast pocket of his suit. Joe patted the garter in place a couple of times, said something to Tank that I couldn't hear, and shook his hand.