by L. D. Davis
“We need to face the fact that you struggle with the stairs, more now than I have ever seen. You should not use the steps unnecessarily while you are pregnant. You could fall. Remember what happened to Scarlett O’Hara when she fell down the steps?”
I squinted. “Are you serious right now? You watched Gone With the Wind—and you are trying to give me lessons from the movie?”
He lifted his chin, looking mighty superior. “I have read the book, and do not change the subject. How do you think you will manage not just one baby, but two, walking up and down the stairs with that leg?”
“By the end of the movie, Rhett was sick of all of Scarlett’s shit.”
Marco sighed. “I can relate. Listen, I think it is best we move into the bigger guest room down here and use the smaller one for a nursery. It will be safest and easiest now, after the babies are born, and after you have surgery.”
“But neither of those rooms have their own bathroom. We’d have to share with the commoners.” I gestured toward the children eating breakfast at the table.
“Tesoro, there are four other bathrooms in this house they can use. However, if you like, I can have a bathroom built on.”
“With a huge garden tub I can soak in?”
His brow furrowed. “You do not soak in the tub now, and you didn’t in your house in Columbus either.”
I shrugged. “It’s a hobby I’m considering taking up in the future.”
“Okay. I will build you a bathroom, complete with a large garden tub you can potentially soak in.”
“With adjustable lighting, a built-in sound system for music, a heated floor, and walk in shower like the one at Lily’s that can fit five people.”
Marco dragged a hand over his face. “Lydia, why do we need a shower that can fit five people?”
“Why not?”
He stared at me for a long time. “Six months ago, I could barely buy you a candy bar without you snapping my head off. Now you want me to build you a sixty-thousand-dollar bathroom.”
I tilted my head to one side. “Would you really build me a sixty-thousand-dollar bathroom if I wanted it?”
One of his hands snaked around the back of my neck and the other swept my hair away from my cheek. “Tesoro, I will build you a whole world if you asked me to, no matter the cost.”
Our lips met. I melted into him and wrapped my arms around his waist. I was ridiculously happy and couldn’t believe I’d let so much time pass without us being able to touch each other like that.
“There are children present!” Gav groaned, making us reluctantly stop kissing.
“When I grow up, I am going to kiss Warner Terrin like that,” Cora announced.
Marco’s brows drew down as he glared across the twenty feet separating us from the kids. “Who is Warner Terrin?”
“He’s in my class. We play together every day at recess and he gives me his apple juice at lunch.”
“You will not be kissing Warner Terrin, or any other boy or girl until you are forty,” Marco growled. “You tell that boy to keep his juice to himself. That goes for all of you!”
He waved a hand, incorporating the whole table, including his youngest sister. She dipped her head to hide the distress on her face. It probably wasn’t a good time to tell him Sofia had a date Sunday afternoon.
The transition from the upstairs bedrooms to the downstairs room was going to be easy since we weren’t moving any large pieces of furniture. There wasn’t any reason we couldn’t start to sleep in there immediately. When I came out of the bathroom that night, Marco was already in bed, sitting up with his tablet. I eased in next to him and saw that he was looking at bathrooms.
I smiled and shook my head. “I was kidding. I don’t need another bathroom. I would never in a million years expect you to spend that kind of money for me.”
He eyed me skeptically. “I thought you didn’t want to share with the commoners.”
“I am a commoner. Seriously, don’t do it. If you want to spend a little bit of money on me, I’ll be happy with a bigger closet. The one in here isn’t going to fit all our stuff.”
His gaze shifted to the open closet, which was already more than half full and we both still had a lot of clothes and shoes upstairs.
“We do need more closet space,” he agreed thoughtfully.
I settled into the pillows with a big yawn. “Don’t get carried away. We don’t need anything as extravagant as the one in the city. That closet might be bigger than my first apartment in college.”
My eyes closed as my body relaxed. It was so much easier for me to fall asleep and stay asleep with him next to me.
I heard him put the tablet down on the nightstand, heard the click of the lamp, and felt him shift until his warm breath was on my cheek. His hand landed gently on my belly and even though I didn’t open my eyes, I smiled.
“Lydia,” he said my name softly, like he didn’t want to disturb me.
“Yes?”
“Let me do the nursery on my own. I want it to be my gift to you.”
My lids slowly opened, and I turned my head toward him. It was dark, but I could still see his face, see his eyes burning into me.
“You don’t owe me any gifts, Marco.”
“It isn’t about owing anything, but…I really want to do this for you. You have given me so much, and now I want to give you something.”
I snorted. “Yeah, I have given you headaches and heartaches. Besides, it’s you that has given so much. My kids have a stable home, and you love and take care of all of us.”
“But you have given me a family,” he persisted. “A beautiful family, and I am very happy to take care of all of you. It is what I have wanted from the first time I saw you on the plane, glaring daggers at me and brandishing your pretty little claws.”
I laughed. “You were so obnoxious. I couldn’t help it.”
“I was the perfect gentleman. You were just angry because I was very handsome and sexy and made your fica all wet.”
Just hearing him say that in a low, sexy purr was making my fica all wet again. I cleared my throat and tried not to let my excitement known through my voice.
“Anyway, what does that have to do with the nursery?”
He chuckled knowingly. “You don’t deny it.”
I scowled. “Marco, get to your point.”
“Okay, okay. I want to do the nursery, and I don’t want you to see it until it is finished. I want to do this as a gift to you for carrying our children.”
“I don’t get a say at all? We don’t even know what we’re having yet. How are you going to know what colors to choose?”
“I will use colors that will work either way. I am just as capable as you for this task.”
“And I won’t be allowed to see it until it’s done?”
“That’s right.”
I was silent for a full minute as I thought it over. He really wanted to do it, and I didn’t want to deny him that. At the same time, I found it difficult to completely relinquish control over that particular project.
“What if I hate it?”
“Then we will change it, but I am confident that you will not. If you trust me, you will let me do this.”
I growled. That was a dirty trick. If I said I trusted him, I would have to allow him to do the nursery and promise not to look until it was done. If I told him I didn’t want him to do the nursey without me, it would be the same as me saying I didn’t trust him. Dirty sneak.
“Asshole,” I muttered under my breath. “Fine.”
“Promise you will allow me free reign and not to peek.”
“I promise,” I snapped.
He nuzzled my ear. “Cranky. I like you cranky.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at the ceiling. “I’m not having sex with you.”
“Oh, Tesoro, you are so cute when you are…” He trailed off and was quiet.
I turned back to him. “What’s wrong?”
“I…Did you…” Again he trailed off.
I shifted slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position. The babies were moving around. It was comforting and uncomfortable at the same time.
“That!” Marco sat up and put his other hand on my stomach. “That! Did you feel that?”
My eyes widened. “You felt that?”
He released me just for a second to turn on the light. I blinked against the brightness as Marco went back to touching my belly. His face was that of wonder when he met my eyes.
“Is…is that them? Moving?”
I nodded. “Yes. I can’t believe you feel them.”
The babies continued their languid movements. Marco laughed and his eyes glistened as his hands remained on me. I fell asleep soon thereafter, but even in my sleep, I felt his touch, and heard his whispered Italian words as he spoke to my stomach.
Chapter Thirty-four
Massimo, Tessa, and Daniel came to America in early April. Celia and her three youngest children followed in early June. I didn’t want to have to deal with her in any capacity, but Gavin and Armano were close. Additionally, Marco felt guilty for not having much communication with his nieces and nephews since he stopped talking to their mom. He wanted to spend more time with them, but his availability wasn’t always going to line up with his brother’s custody schedule and doctors’ appointments. If he wanted to have a relationship with his family, eventually we would have to face her again. That time came sooner than we expected.
Massimo had to have a pancreatectomy, a surgery to remove what was left of his pancreas. He would have the best cancer surgeons in the world working on him, but it was a serious operation and we all wanted to be there. That day, we left Sofia, my kids and Daniel at my sister’s. I offered to be the one to stay behind with all the rugrats so Sofia could be with her family, but she hated hospitals. They made her anxious, and she didn’t think her added anxiety would help. The twins and Armano were with their mother.
The surgery lasted about nine hours. The doctors told us it was successful, but complications could still arise, and no promises could be made when it came to pancreatic cancer. The team of doctors were cautiously optimistic. After Marco visited with his brother for a few minutes, he came back out to the waiting room looking relieved, tired, and a little stressed.
I rubbed his back while he called his parents and then Maria who would pass the news on to Roberto and Laura. Sofia had already been informed, but Celia and the kids had yet to be told anything. Tessa was too focused on her husband to make that call.
“Do you want me to do it?” I offered.
Marco shook his head. “No. You may not like this, but…” he looked me in the eyes. “I want to see the children and tell them face to face their father is okay. I want them to see me and to know I am telling them the truth. They have gone through a lot these past few months, with the separation of their parents, moving away from everything they know and starting over in a foreign place. Not to mention Massimo’s illness. I should be there to tell them.”
I didn’t disagree. My kids had gone through a lot, too, except they hadn’t had an Uncle Marco to help them through it. As much as I dreaded seeing Celia again, I knew he was right to want to deliver the news in person.
He was quiet during most of the twenty-five-minute drive. I kept looking at his profile and saw the stress in the set of his jaw and the downturn of his mouth.
“Are you worried about seeing Celia again?”
He looked over at me, surprised, as if he’d forgotten I was in the car with him. “What? Oh. No. Not really. I just hope there are no problems with Massimo’s recovery, and I am praying this is the beginning of good things for him.” He was silent for a moment, seeming far away even though he was literally inches from me. “I spent two decades here to keep my distance from him and Celia. I always thought there would be time to rebuild our relationship. Since I found out about the cancer, it seems that time has been slipping through my hands at an alarming rate. When I came back here a few months ago, I sort of forgot that he was sick and possibly dying. I mean, I knew it, but I’d been so immersed with the problems of my job, my problems with you, and just daily life, I forgot time does not stand still. It marches on for all of us, no matter what we are doing.”
“You still have time, Marco. Your brother is alive.”
He half shrugged and started to shake his head but stopped. “He is now, but what if there is an infection? What if something else goes wrong? What if this surgery was for nothing? Don’t misunderstand me. I know I must live my life. I have you, the children, and two babies on the way. I have my work and charity and friends, but it’s hard not to feel guilty for all the time I’ve wasted not spending it with my brother.”
I was an asshole. I was an asshole because when Massimo had to be rushed to the hospital back in Italy, I’d been concerned for him, but selfishly, I’d been more concerned when Marco didn’t call or text me. Now, seeing how much his brother’s condition affected him, I felt like the worst kind of person.
I wanted to apologize for my past behavior, for being such a dick, but it felt like I would be making everything about me. None of it was about me. So, instead, I bit my lip, gave his arm a light squeeze and remained silent for the rest of the ride.
A few minutes later we pulled onto a wide, tree-lined street. We stopped in front of a pretty white house with light blue trim. The grass was recently mowed, and it appeared that someone was planting flowers along the walkway to the door. A wheelbarrow containing bags of soil sat in the grass, several trays of flowers were lined up alongside the path, and garden tools lay in a heap. I wondered if Celia had been working on it herself, or if someone had been hired. Somehow, I couldn’t picture the prissy woman on her knees in the dirt, with gardening gloves, and dealing with worms. I was about to say as much to Marco, but when I looked at him, he was already watching me, his eyes narrowed.
“What?” I asked cautiously.
“What is on your mind, Lydia?”
I shrugged. “Nothing. I was just wondering who did her gardening.”
He shook his head. “No, that isn’t it. Before Italy, I could read you very well. Now that I am no longer…distracted, I can read you very well again. I know you. Inside and out, and I know when something is bothering you. So, tell me what it is.”
I didn’t feel like playing any games with him by denying it. I took a deep breath and absently rubbed my stomach.
“When we were in Italy and Massimo went to the hospital, I was really insensitive to what you had to be going through. All I cared about was that you hadn’t called me or texted me. I’m really sorry about that.”
He took his seatbelt off and turned as much as he could in his seat toward me, cupping my cheek in one hand.
“You are ridiculous. I’m not thinking about that at all, and neither should you. Lydia, we are finished rehashing the past. We have apologized to each other enough. We will never be able to move forward if we keep going back to the things that happened before. Do you understand?”
Hesitantly, I nodded. He smiled and kissed me. I would’ve sat there and kissed him in that car for hours, but I remembered where we were and what we were there to do. I pulled back with a sigh.
“Keep your hands to yourself,” he warned with a smirk.
I made no promises.
Before we reached the door, we heard children’s voices coming from the enclosed back yard. It was a nice Spring afternoon, perfect weather for playing outside. As we stood on the porch waiting for someone to come to the door, I smelled aromas coming from inside that reminded me of Elena. I hadn’t spent that much time with her, and even less with Matteo and Marco’s other siblings, but I missed them. We all kept in touch, but I wished I had stayed longer to spend more time with them.
The door opened and I almost didn’t recognize the woman on the other side of the glass storm door. Her hair was pulled back in a loose and messy ponytail. She was dressed in a pink Reebok shirt, jeans, and a pair of white tennis shoes. The knees of her je
ans were indeed dirty, as if she’d been out in the yard gardening. Back in Lecco, even in her most casual state, she’d been elegant, well-groomed, and disgustingly perfect. I wished I could say she looked more normal and ordinary in her current state, but I grudgingly and silently acknowledged that she was even more stunning than before.
“Figures,” I said so softly under my breath, neither she or Marco heard me.
Her eyes were wide as she fumbled to open the door. When we entered, she grasped the gold cross around her neck.
“Massimo?” she asked softly.
To my surprise, she looked terrified. Marco seemed a little taken aback as well, but he quickly responded instead of keeping her in suspense.
“Surgery took a little longer than expected. We knew it would be difficult, but Massimo made it through. He is recovering.”
She let out a choked sob, closed her eyes and raised her face to the ceiling, gripping the cross and chain in both hands.
“Grazie, San Pellegrino,” she whispered.
Marco was still dismayed by her behavior. His mouth was open slightly as he stared at her. “Um, he still has a long road ahead of him. There is the chance of infection and other complications.”
Celia opened her eyes and nodded tearfully. “I understand.”
“I came to tell the children in person their father is okay.”
She smiled and started to reach for him but seemed to catch herself and withdrew and dropped her hands. “Thank you, Marcello,” she said softly. She paused a moment and added, “It is so good to see you.”
I rolled my eyes.
Marco nodded once, acknowledging that he heard her, but didn’t otherwise respond to that comment. “I am going to go outside and talk to them.”
“Of course. Excuse me for a moment.” Wiping at her eyes, she walked down a hallway and we heard a door close.
Marco sighed and took my hand. “Are you okay?”
I gave him a small smile. “I’m fine. Go on outside with the kids. I think they deserve to have you alone for a little while. I’ll wait here.”
He gave me a dubious look that made me laugh. “I’m not going to slap her. I don’t think. I’ll be fine for a few minutes. Go.”