Page 120 of Cross + Catherine: The Companion

Right now, though, Naz and Rosalynn were still trying to figure this love thing out.

It amused Cross to no end.

“They caught them in the confessional,” Cece whispered.

Cross pressed his lips together hard to keep from laughing. It didn’t help because his shoulders shook from the force, anyway.

“If that was me, you would not be laughing,” Cece pointed out.

“I probably would,” Cross said. “Listen, you two are my kids. I’m not going to act surprised when you all do things that I would have done. Because yes, I would have absolutely done that, Cece.”

She just shook her head.

“Are you sad?” he heard her ask.

Cross laughed softly. “No.”

It was a battle he had been dealing with all day. A fight that just wouldn’t seem to drop. One moment, he was caught up in everything happening, and the happiness of his family. And then the next, he was thrust into a catacomb of nostalgia.

“No?” Cece asked.

“I thought I might be,” Cross admitted, bringing her a little closer to his side to hug her with one arm, “but really, I’m just happy to see you where you want to be, Cece.”

She beamed up at him.

Forever his little principessa.

A Donati queen with Marcello blood.

And a new last name on the way.

She came from the best of the best. Their legacies were ingrained in his daughter, and she would carry it well. He bet she was going to do more with it than they ever had. And he couldn’t wait to watch her do it, too.

Like his son.

Because these kids … these little people they raised to be adults were the most amazing humans on the earth. They were a perfect mix of their mother and father, but with just enough of their own quirks and personalities to make them stand out.

They were amazing.

They were going to do amazing things.

And maybe …

Maybe that’s when Cross finally felt a little more settled. Maybe that’s when the heaviness left him because he knew … this was what fathers did.

This was life.

The doors finally opened.

And Cross walked his daughter to her future.

He was still smiling, too.