by Amy Ruttan
Dante felt dizzy and he sat back down. His head in his hands, his eyes stinging from unshed tears that would not come.
Dr. Tucci sat beside him and patted his back. “The baby will be fine. She’s strong.”
Dante glanced up at him. “She?”
“Yes, I forgot you missed the last ultrasound. You have a little girl. She’s very small, but already she’s a fighter. Ideally we’d have started on steroids in utero to help mature her lungs, but obviously in this case there wasn’t time. We have her hooked up to oxygen and various drips to support her while she continues to grow. Of course, you know that she’ll have to stay in the NICU until she gains to what should have been close to her birth weight. We also don’t let premature babies go home until they’re close to their original due date.”
Dante nodded. “I know. Thank you, Dr. Tucci.”
“We’re not out of the woods either, yet, with respect to the Principessa. The damage to her uterus was extensive. The placental abruption ripped through the wall of her uterus. It was a full uterine abruption. I had to perform an emergency hysterectomy. Shay will not carry any more children.”
Dante nodded again.
Dr. Tucci left.
This is all my fault.
He was the one who’d got her pregnant and then broken her heart.
He was no better than his father. All because he was afraid of letting someone else in.
Dante left the waiting room and wandered up to the NICU. The nurse on duty pointed him in the direction of the incubator where a tiny baby weighing no more than a couple of pounds was hooked up to a bunch of machines that were helping her live.
He was scared to approach the incubator. He was afraid of what he was going to see. And he wasn’t sure that he was ready for this. That he was ready for a daughter.
This is what you wanted, remember? Before Olivia crushed your hopes and dreams.
All he’d ever wanted when he was young was a family. Not that he didn’t love Enzo or his mother, but he wanted some sense of normalcy. He’d wanted that family with a mother, father and child. A loving family who would celebrate holidays together.
Just as his mother had with his nonno and nonna.
They had loved each other.
All of them.
And that was what he’d always craved when he was younger.
He took a step toward the incubator and looked in to see his daughter. His beautiful daughter. She was so small and fragile. A tear slid down his face as he looked at her.
And he knew in that moment what he was.
He was a father.
This was his child.
“Can I touch her?” he asked the nurse.
“Of course,” she said.
Dante put on hand sanitizer and the nurse opened one of the little portal doors to the incubator. He slid his hand in and rested it on her back. There was downy fine hair on her skin. The lanugo she’d never shed because she was born premature.
She was warm, but under the palm of his hand where she fit so well he could feel her chest going up and down. And the small flutter of her heart.
His baby.
His child.
His future.
Dante slipped his hand out of the incubator and left the NICU. He went up to the ICU, where he gowned and masked to go see Shay, who was still receiving a blood transfusion and still not awake. She was still under anesthesia, in an induced coma while they monitored her.
When he walked into the ICU room, he cried out at the sight of her. She was so pale against the crisp white hospital sheets. She was ashen.
Oh, God.
He’d been responsible for this.
The woman he loved had almost died. The realization hit him hard and it wasn’t the realization that he loved her, it was the fact that he’d allowed himself to say that to himself for the first time without hesitation. Without conjecture.
He was in love with her. It was more than a marriage of convenience. It was real. She was his everything.
And it didn’t matter to him about his inheritance or the trust fund. If he couldn’t have her or the baby in his life, if they didn’t get their chance to be a family, then life was not worth living for him. He would give up everything, his pride, his family name, everything that he’d thought he wanted, to have a chance with Shay.
To do things right. To be a real family.
“I’m sorry, cara. I will make things right. I promise.”
Dante left the ICU room and knew exactly what he had to do. He couldn’t be selfish anymore. As he left the intensive care unit floor and passed through the waiting room he saw that his father was here. Two visits in two weeks was more than he’d seen Marco Affini in the last five years and it was two too many.
Dante couldn’t figure out why his father was back, but he was unwelcome.
His father turned as if sensing him there.
“What’re you doing here? Why did you come back?” Dante asked.
“To see if the child survived. There was a lot of press. Word got out that Principessa Affini almost died. That she was hanging on by a thread.”
“It’s not any of your business and you know the press always gets things wrong.”
“Were they wrong?”
“No, but it still doesn’t concern you.”
“I think it does,” Marco said. “Well, did they live?”
“Do you care?”
Marco shrugged. “It would be a shame, but no, not really. Not for the reasons you think I should care.”
“Sì, they both survived. So you can go now.”
“I think I’ll wait.”
Dante clenched his fist. “Waiting around to pick at the bones?”
Marco snorted. “Hardly. I actually wanted to wish you a happy birthday. Today is your birthday, is it not?”
“I’m surprised you remembered.”
“You’re my son,” Marco said.
“You’ve never remembered before now. Or was it because today happens to be my thirty-fifth birthday? Today’s the day you could’ve had it all.” It was a dig and Dante didn’t care. He deserved it. “And now none of it’s for you. You lost it.”
“It could still be mine. I hear the baby is sick and that your wife is unable to bear any more children. If your baby dies, then that’s it. Unless you leave this wife and find another you can breed with.”
Dante resisted the urge to pummel his father in the waiting room. “I would gladly lose it all for Shay. If our baby doesn’t survive, I will stay with Shay. I love her. I won’t abandon her like you abandoned my mother.”
“I loved your mother, Dante. It’s just that Affini men aren’t faithful. My father wasn’t, nor his father before him...”
“I am faithful. I have always been faithful and I will continue to be faithful. I am an Affini and I am faithful. I am more of a man than you ever were or will be. Now, if you have nothing further to say to me, then I think this is where we part company.”
Dante’s pulse was thundering between his ears. He was reaching out to give his father a chance.
His father sighed and then nodded. “Good luck.”
Dante shook his head as he watched his father leave.
He watched the last of a long line of Affini cheaters walk out of his life forever, because his father was going to be the last of the Affini men to be unfaithful. He wasn’t going to follow in his footsteps and Enzo had no plans to settle down. Ever.
He briefly mourned the loss of his father. For the father he could’ve been, but Marco Affini was weak. Dante refused to be weak.
He was going to fight for what he wanted.
He was going to be strong like the person he loved and admired the most.
He was going to be strong like Shay.
His wife.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I’M THIRSTY.
That was Shay’s first thought as she started to come out of the anesthetic. The groggy fog that compelled her to keep sleeping, but the more she struggled to stay asleep in that warm, hazy, pain-free cocoon, the more she became aware of her surroundings.
And most important, the fact that she was no longer pregnant.
She let out a small cry.
I’ve lost her. My baby.
And she began to weep. She wanted her mother there to console her. To ease the pain. Her whole childhood she’d been the balm to ease her mother’s pain when she was sobbing over her father. Now she needed her mother’s arms to wrap around her and hold her close.
To ease the heart-wrenching pain that was tearing away at her very soul.
The baby she would never get to see.
A nurse rushed in, speaking Italian to her, trying to get Shay to calm down, but she couldn’t stop the sobs from racking her body, because nothing could bring back her baby.
“I’ll take care of her,” a deep, gentle voice said.
Shay turned her head to see Dante standing beside her bedside. He was in his scrubs, but they were wrinkled and she noticed the cot in the corner.
He’d been sleeping here?
She glanced back over at Dante, who was issuing instructions to the nurse, who was nodding and then left the room. It was just Dante and her.
There was no baby.
There was nothing for them.
“What...?” She trailed off because she couldn’t even finish the sentence. It was too painful.
“She’s alive,” Dante said. Then smiled. “Our daughter’s alive, beautiful and in the NICU.”
Tears streaked down her face. “I thought I’d lost her.”
“No, cara. You didn’t lose her. It was I who almost lost you...” He took her hand and kissed it, tears pouring down his face. “I almost lost you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your placenta abrupted, and it was so forceful it caused your uterus to do the same. It was a full uterine rupture. You almost died.”
“Oh, God,” she whispered.
“They had to remove your uterus to save your life. You needed several units of packed cells. You almost died. I’m so sorry, Shay. I’m devastated that you won’t be able to carry another child. I’m so truly sorry, cara.”
Tears streamed down her face.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“No, never apologize,” Dante said. “Never. You’re alive and our daughter is alive. There is nothing to apologize for.”
“What does it matter to you? You don’t love me.” Shay tried to take her hand away. “You have your heir. You don’t need me anymore.”
“You’re wrong. I need you, cara.” He kissed her hand again. “I love you more than anything. Our two weeks apart were torture. You are my world. I am nothing without you, cara.”
“How can you love me? You only married me for the baby...” She started to weep but shrugged him away when he touched her. “You only wanted me for the baby, so you can keep your inheritance. You have that. Don’t you want someone else who can give you more children? You wanted a family, to be a father.”
“You’re sounding like my father,” he said sternly. “Besides, I am a father.
“You’re being cruel.”
“You’re talking nonsense.” He reached for her hand. “I love you, Shay. I was terrified, yes, and my heart was broken and I couldn’t trust that emotion. Love was dead inside me until you came along. I don’t care if I lose everything by being with you. I love you. I love you, mi amore. You’re all that I need. You’re all that I want.”
“You love me?”
“Sì, I would give it all up for you. Only you, and if our child hadn’t made it, I would still want you. Almost losing you was too much to bear. You are my heart. My soul. My everything.”
“You weren’t the only fool, Dante. I was a fool too.” Shay sighed. “I was so afraid of falling in love and having to give up everything I knew. Giving up my career for a man. I didn’t want to be my mother. I was trying so hard not to be her, when I was turning into her.”
Dante chuckled. “I understand. I was trying so hard not to be my father I was doing the same. I was turning into him. The only difference in our situations is that you loved your mother. You miss your mother. My father and I, there is no love lost. All we share is a genetic link. We are not the same.”
“I am very glad for that.”
Dante smiled and then leaned over and kissed her. “I’m afraid I tore up that contract.”
“Our marriage contract?”
He nodded. “I want you for more than just a year. I want you for a lifetime.”
Shay began to cry again and he kissed her.
“Are you ready to see your daughter now?”
“Yes.”
Dante called the nurse, who brought in a wheelchair. He helped Shay into the wheelchair and made sure she was comfortable. He wheeled her down to the NICU, and when they entered that room full of incubators her heart skipped a beat. Dante wheeled her over to the incubator across the room. He lifted the pink blanket and inside was a tiny baby on a ventilator.
Her little girl was so small and fragile. She was hooked up and there were many lines and leads on her tiny pink body, but Shay knew instinctively this was her baby.
“She’s so small.” She began to weep, not being able to hold in the emotions any longer. She’d thought she’d lost everything when she woke up. She’d thought she was waking up into some kind of nightmare, but instead she was waking up to a dream that she never wanted to end.
A dream she didn’t even know she wanted until she thought it was all lost.
That it was all gone.
Dante opened the incubator and with the help of the NICU nurse they lifted the tiny baby girl from the incubator to place her on her mother’s chest. Shay’s heart overflowed with a love she hadn’t even known was possible. A blanket was wrapped around her little girl and Shay placed her hand over the tiny round back, holding her close.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “I’m here and so are you. I haven’t left you.”
Dante placed a hand over hers. “We’re both here now, mi amore. And we’re not leaving.”
The familiar little heartbeat thrumming against her calmed Shay and the baby’s vitals kicked up a notch in response to being held.
“That’s a strong heartbeat,” Dante said. “She’s a real fighter.”
“Yes. She is.” Shay ran her fingers over the tiny feet that had kicked her.
Her baby was alive.
“I thought I’d lost this,” Shay whispered. “I hope I never feel that way again.”
“Me too,” Dante said. “It was the worst feeling ever. If I lost either of you...I couldn’t go on living. You are both my heart. My loves.”
“I feel the same,” she whispered.
“Cara, our little girl needs a name. I wanted you to name her.”
“Me?”
“Sì.”
“Sophia,” Shay said without hesitation. “My mother’s name and your long-lived zia. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I don’t. That is a good first name and how about Maria for the second? That was my mother’s name.”
Shay nodded. “I like that.”
“Sophia Maria Affini. Or rather Principessa Sophia. It has a nice ring to it.”
“It does.” Shay sighed. “I guess I should tender my resignation with the United World Wide Health Association.”
“Why?” Dante asked.
“It seems I’ll be staying in Italy for a while.”
“You don’t have to resign fro
m the United World Wide Health Association.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’ve tendered my resignation at the hospital. I have to give them six months’ notice and finish up the work that you started.”
“What?” she asked, surprised. “You resigned?”
“Sì, I joined the United World Wide Health Association as a trainer. I won’t be doing any kind of missions that you used to do, because we have a child, but I will finish your work while you recover, and then in six months we’ll head to America, where I will spend three months training trauma surgeons to head out to disaster zones. Then, who knows where we’ll go? I was told that training can happen all over the world in various cities. The point is, we’ll go together. The three of us. I requested that you will work alongside me. I can’t work without you.”
“But...but you love Italy.”
“Sì, I do, but I love you more and your work is important to you. It’s your passion and it’s all you have, besides us. Anyways, Venice is our home base. We’ll come back for summers on the Lido and Christmases in Tuscany. I have enough money to pick and choose when I want to work and where. Besides, time in Tuscany while you’re healing will be nice. Serena and Guillermo can’t wait to spoil this little girl. Italy is just a place we hang our hats. The three of us is what makes a home.”
Shay smiled. Yes. Italy was a great place to live, as New Orleans had been. Just a place she’d passed through since her mother died, but her husband and her daughter were her life. Wherever they were together they were home. And for the first time in her life she had a home. Love and roots that were all her own.
* * * * *
Look out for the next great story in the ROYAL SPRING BABIES duet BABY SURPRISE FOR THE DOCTOR PRINCE by Robin Gianna
And if you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Amy Ruttan
ALEJANDRO’S SEXY SECRET
UNWRAPPED BY THE DUKE
TEMPTING NASHVILLE’S CELEBRITY DOC
PERFECT RIVALS...
All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from BABY SURPRISE FOR THE DOCTOR PRINCE by Robin Gianna.