by LaQuette
“Yeah, we get to see the baby today and find out what we’re having.”
“I already know what we’re having. You’re the only one who seems to have doubts about that.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. He was right. She did have doubts. She had no clue what this child was. This pregnancy was so much the opposite of her experience with Nazario. She was very sick and unsettled with Nazario, probably more to do with stress than pregnancy. But this kid had been a breeze from day one. No sickness, no complications, just calm.
She didn’t know if the differences in experiences meant differences in gender or personality, but Dante never wavered. In his heart, this was a boy.
The sonographer entered the room with a pleasant greeting and went directly to work spreading the cool blue lubricating gel across Sanai’s belly. The technician looked at the dark screen and measured and took snapshots of the child from each angle. Sanai was sure all the images were medical necessities, but to her, it was an opportunity to get a glimpse at the beautiful being she and Dante created.
“Do you want to know the sex?” the technician asked.
Both Dante and Sanai nodded, and the technician smiled as she wiggled the wand around, making the tiny inhabitant inside Sanai’s abdomen jump, opening its crossed legs.
Sanai glanced down at Dante. His eyes bright with excitement, his smile broad with pride as he watched the monitor.
“It’s a boy,” Dante hollered.
The technician smiled, confirming Dante’s edict. Sanai turned her head to get a glimpse of Dante. Tears slid down his face. He looked at their son for a few more moments and stood up to kiss Sanai. “Salvatore Gabriel DeLuca,” he whispered. Her heart was so overwhelmed by the reverent way he spoke their son’s intended name, she simply nodded her agreement. Her son had a name, his father had chosen it, and she was perfectly all right with that.
* * * *
“What does Salvatore mean?”
Sanai hadn’t really prepared herself for Nazario’s question. They’d told him a month ago he was going to be a big brother. He was too young to understand the whys and hows of this situation right now, a fact Sanai was grateful for. How do you explain to one child they were getting a sibling to help save their life?
He’d been happy, which made Sanai happy. End of story.
“I think we’re gonna have to ask Dante about that one. He chose the name.”
Dante opened the door to their apartment and waited for them all to enter. “Salvatore.” Dante’s mouth curved into a happy smile as he spoke. “Your little brother’s name is going to be Salvatore.”
Nazario put his bag and shoes away and scrambled to the kitchen. He pulled a small bottle of water from the door of the fridge and turned his drooping face up to Dante.
“I guess that’s okay, but I thought we’d get to name him something cool, like Primal Bot from Salvation Squad.”
Dante shook his head, his face filled with false regret. “Sorry, kiddo. Maybe next time. Okay?”
“Or not,” Sanai interjected.
The boy looked between them, shrugged, and walked toward his room.
“So, what does Salvatore really mean?” she asked belatedly. She’d agreed to this name with no questions simply because Dante wanted it. Maybe she needed to give it a second thought.
“Salvation.”
She took in a deep breath and let the heaviness of that single word weigh on her shoulders. “Dante, that’s a lot of expectation to place on such a small being. You can’t make this child responsible for Naz’s salvation.”
“I know, Sanai,” he answered as he sat down and pulled her into his lap. He kissed her cheek and smiled at her, placing a gentle hand across her rounded belly. “It’s not that I expect him to save Naz.”
“Then why?”
“Because he saved me.”
She didn’t really understand what was going through his head, but the heavy, pensive look on his face told her how serious his thoughts were.
“When you died, Sanai, the part of me that was decent—human—it died too. I didn’t think I could get that back.”
“And this baby somehow gave you back your humanity? How?” she asked.
“Let’s just say finding out I’d been denied my son by the woman I love wasn’t easy. I might not have said anything, but I wanted to break things. If Naz hadn’t ended up in the hospital, I probably would have.”
Guilt ripped at her. She’d been in an impossible situation. However, watching Dante with their son now proved how wrong she was for keeping Naz’s existence a secret. He was devoted to that boy. She had no doubt he’d be equally devoted to their second son.
“I’m sorry,” she uttered.
“I know you are. I know,” he answered. “But this baby, us deciding to create this little one, even if it was for the purpose of producing a donor for Naz, it brought us together. It resurrected us…saved me from a life of emptiness, loneliness.”
She leaned down to kiss him, savoring the taste of his warm lips. She ran sure fingers over the dark fuzz on his head, smiling briefly that he still kept it low because Naz’s hair hadn’t grown back yet.
“I can promise you this, Dante DeLuca. As long as you breathe, you will never be alone again. You’re stuck with me, stuck with the boys. I hope you know that. So if you had plans on ditching us, I’d suggest you’d rethink those plans. I love you, Dante.” She stopped, the words drifting in the air between them. “I always have. Even through all the ugly things that tore us apart, I still loved you.”
He kissed her, nibbling on her lip slightly. “Of course you love me. Italian men are irresistible once we get our hooks into a woman.”
“Irresistible?” she quipped, shaking her head. “More like a bad fungus that I can’t get rid of.”
He shrugged. “Whatever keeps me near and dear.”
She rolled her eyes, covered his face with her entire hand, and playfully mushed him. It was moments like these when they were being silly that almost made her forget the mire they were forging through.
After a quick peck on his lips, she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and pressed herself as close to him as her burgeoning baby bump would allow. She sighed, wallowing in their happiness. As long as she had this, there was nothing she couldn’t face.
Chapter Eighteen
“Mommy.” Sanai heard the weak voice coming from the video baby monitor sitting on her nightstand. She sat up as quickly as her heavy stomach would allow her to, her uncoordinated movements waking Dante out of his sleep.
“S’wrong?” he asked, mouth and mind still clouded with sleep.
“It’s Naz. He just called me. Go back to sleep.”
“Nah, we go together.” Dante extended his hand to her. Getting out of bed wasn’t as easy at nearly nine months of pregnancy. Once she was stable on her feet, they walked quickly down the hall to Nazario’s room.
“Hey, baby, what’s wrong?” she murmured as she leaned down to kiss his forehead. Sharp heat seared her lips. She jerked back quickly and looked to Dante. “Can you get the thermometer for me?”
He dashed away and returned with the instrument in hand. She popped the earpiece into Nazario’s ear and waited for it to render a reading. “One oh two,” she uttered. “Call Dr. Linares’s service and tell him we’re bringing him in.”
If Nazario were any of the febrile patients she’d seen in her career, she’d have given him something for the fever and watched the medicine do its job. Leukemia complicated things. She didn’t have the luxury of just riding this fever out until it broke.
Dante came back into the room dressed in sweats. “I called. They said he’ll meet us in the ER. Go get dressed. I’ll get Naz ready.”
She nodded and wobbled off back to their room. She went to grab something from her side of the closet but gave that up. At nearly nine months pregnant, the only thing she wanted on her belly was Dante’s sweats.
She turned around to go to his drawer to get them but found a clea
n pair lying across the foot of their bed. If she weren’t so concerned for her son she’d revel in his thoughtfulness. Dressed, she headed toward the door and said a quick prayer. “Please, let it just be a fever and nothing more.”
* * * *
Sanai reclined in the hospital bed, half-sitting with a sleeping Nazario tucked against her side. After a round of fluids and more drugs to lower the fever, her baby had finally found some relief.
He was much cooler now, his tiny body finally relaxing enough to find sleep in his mother’s arms. She squeezed him just a little bit tighter. Happy her mommy-comfort mojo still worked, sad that she needed it to, she smiled when he snuggled closer to her.
He placed his small hand on her belly, and the baby jumped. Her heart warmed at both her boys together, giving strength to each other, solidifying her fortitude.
Dr. Linares was happy with Nazario’s progress. He promised Sanai and Dante they could take him home later in the afternoon. He just wanted to watch him a little longer to be certain this wasn’t a setback in Nazario’s cancer treatment.
“Wow, I saw the pictures on my grandmother’s mantle, but they don’t do him justice.”
Sanai pulled her eyes from her sleeping son and glanced at the hulking figure in the doorway.
“Bernie?” She eased out of the bed and waited for Nazario to settle into the blankets before walking to the door. “What are you doing here?”
“Is that any way to greet an old friend? Or has Dante placed me on the persona non grata list?”
There was a sour tinge to the way he uttered Dante’s name that instantly made her want to defend him. “You sound as if you have a problem with Dante,” she answered.
“After everything he put you through, you took him back?” He shook his head and curled his top lip into a nasty snarl. “I guess you got a taste of the dick, and that made everything else he’s done all right?”
“Excuse me?” she barked. It took several passersby in the hall lifting their heads for her to recognize how loud her voice was. She cleared her throat, taking a moment to look over at a still-sleeping Nazario. Satisfied she hadn’t disturbed him, she pointed to the family room down the hall.
Once inside the empty room, she closed the door tightly and returned her attention to Bernie. “I don’t know what your problem is, but I think you should think twice about speaking to me that way. We’ve never had any issues, Bernie. Let’s not have any now.”
“Sanai, I pulled you out of a burning building and helped you start a new life. I didn’t do all that so Dante could screw it up again.”
Sanai felt the rapid rush of blood through her body, felt the heat of anger burning under her skin. “Bernie, I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for me. But you don’t get to tell me who I can have in my life. We were both wrong for keeping Dante in the dark about me and his son. Dante didn’t make that crazy woman come after me.”
He licked his lips as he pulled his cellphone from his back pocket and began to tap on its screen. “He may not have sent her after you, but he sure as hell was the cause of her coming after you.”
Sanai heard a message notification bing coming from her phone. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked down at it. She found a series of pictures waiting for her. When she opened them, cold gripped her heart.
The woman who’d intended to kill her was staring back at her from the phone’s screen. She was happy, smiling, enjoying the frozen moment in time, appearing as normal and friendly as any non-homicidal person would. Nothing about the picture screamed, “I’m crazy and I try to kill innocent people.”
“Why are you sending me pictures of her? Do you know this maniac?”
He bobbed his head slowly. “Her name is Tomassa. I know her, and so does Dante.”
Sanai rolled her eyes. She knew Dante had to have some idea who the woman was who attacked her. It didn’t make sense any other way. She knew that, had made peace with that, and had moved on from it. She assumed the only reason Bernie was bringing it up now was to make a point, attempting to show her Dante was lying to her.
“Thank you, Bernie,” she whispered softly. “Thank you for everything you’ve ever done for me. But whatever you came here to accomplish today, I’m afraid it hasn’t worked. Dante and I are stronger than we’ve ever been.”
It was true; Dante was working so hard to set their relationship to right. He’d been her rock for nearly a year as she dealt with Nazario’s illness and her pregnancy. He’d forgiven her for keeping their son from him, for allowing him to believe she was dead all this time. The fact that he knew her attacker’s name wasn’t enough for her to doubt him, not even for Bernadino.
“Bernie, I love him. I always have. He’s the father of my children. He’s not going anywhere. Whatever you have to say, the one thing Dante has proven is that he loves me and our kids. Beyond that nothing else matters.”
She turned to walk away from him; she’d been away from Nazario too long. “Go home, Bernie. Whatever your reasons for coming here, Dante and I are building something strong. Stronger than what we’ve ever had.”
She pulled the door open and headed back toward Nazario’s room when she heard Bernadino’s warning. “Dante isn’t what he seems, Sanai. He’s never been. You’re a fool if you put all your trust in him.”
She let Bernadino’s words die with the closing of Nazario’s door. She was grateful to Bernie for all his help, for saving her and Nazario. But she couldn’t allow that gratitude to cloud her judgment where Dante was concerned.
He’d earned her trust.
Dante had uprooted his entire life to be with her and their children. He was the one who laid everything on the line to save their son. For that she’d always defend him.
She found Nazario still curled up in his bed, sleeping soundly, unbothered by Bernadino’s visit. She pulled in a slow breath. She needed to be calm. She sat down in the chair beside Nazario’s bed. She shifted from side to side until she found a comfortable spot to relax into when she heard the same binging message notification from before.
She pulled out her phone again and looked at the waiting message from Bernadino.
I know you think he can’t do wrong,
But he’s a liar. Meet Tomassa DeLuca,
Dante’s wife.
Chapter Nineteen
Dante walked into Big Tony’s barbershop and waited for the usual “Hey!” that came from the inhabitants. He made quick work of shaking everyone’s hands and hugging Big Tony when he finally made it to his open chair.
“What’cha doing here? I thought we were having movie night at your place tomorrow?”
Dante nodded. Every Saturday since Nazario had come home from his first round of chemo, they’d had a standing family date. One week Dante would drag Sanai and Nazario up to the Bronx to chill with Big and Lil’ Tony, and the following week the Giordano men would return the favor.
Dante didn’t even have the chance to answer before his best friend responded. “Don’t tell me Naz is back in the hospital?”
“Yeah, he woke up with a fever in the middle of the night. They’re just keeping him for observation.”
“Sanai’s with him?”
“Yeah, I’m supposed be going home to stock up on some supplies, but decided to come over to the Plaza instead to pick up a few things from the mall. The time I’d waste going across the bridge to Brooklyn I decided to come hang out with you for a bit.”
Big Tony motioned for Dante to sit in his barber’s chair. As soon as Dante’s back touched the cushion, Tony had a drape over Dante’s front and was fastening it at his neck.
“Sorry to hear my little man is back in the hospital. Lil’ Tony was looking forward to hanging with you guys tomorrow.”
“We still might be able to do it. If he gets discharged early enough, we can meet up at the house and let him stretch out on the couch while we watch the movie.”
Dante relaxed into the seat as his friend trimmed the hair on his head and face. Tony was just brushing
a light layer of talc across Dante’s neck when he heard Sanai’s message notification on his cell.
He grabbed the phone quickly and opened the message.
I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing,
but I want you to go directly to Brooklyn and pack your shit.
Don’t ever come near me or my children again.
Unsure of what he’d just read, Dante reread the text. He was working on precious little sleep, and it was completely possible he’d mixed up some of the letters somehow. But just as he read the first line, he saw a familiar picture pop up on his screen.
“Shit,” he hissed as he jumped up from the chair.
“What’s wrong?” Big Tony asked. “Something happen to Nazario?”
“She knows?” Dante’s heart raced as he tried to piece things together in his head. How the hell could she have found out? Who would tell her such a thing? “Sanai knows about Tomassa. I don’t know how, but I’ve got to get to her and Naz. I swear to God, if Tomassa is behind this…”
He pulled the drape away from his neck, wincing when the Velcro snap scraped against the newly shaven skin of his neck.
“Give me a few and I’ll meet you over at the hospital, Dante,” Big Tony called out as Dante headed for the door. “And don’t do anything stupid until I get there.”
“Too late for that,” Dante mumbled as he walked through the door.
* * * *
Dante stopped in Nazario’s room and found the boy sleeping alone. He quietly stepped out and walked down the hall to the family room. She was there, leaning against the window looking at the near-evening sky when he stepped inside.
She looked beaten. Her arms covered her rounded belly in a protective fashion, her head leaning against the sill, drooped in disappointment.
Dante didn’t do regrets. He’d learned a long time ago to live with his decisions. You did the best you could at the time and moved on from there. But watching her like this, so fragile and shaken, he knew he’d made the wrong decision in keeping his past from her.
“Sanai?”