He still played with all of them.
I didn’t think I would ever be able to get rid of a single one of them.
I reached for a well-worn teddy bear with teeth marks on the arm, and I smiled as I ran my hand over them. Serafina had shown Luca how to carry things in his mouth, and he had gone through a phase of crawling while carrying things for two full months, and he had carried absolutely everything. His pacifier, which he still loved to pick up from the ground with his mouth; the little people that fit in the ark, whose heads would disappear into his mouth; his father’s tennis shoes, which were always left out and the laces apparently begged to be gnawed on; nothing was safe from Luca’s mouth.
“Mama!” Luca demanded standing by the rocking chair and patting it repeatedly.
I smiled and went over there, sitting obediently.
Luca lifted his favorite book onto my lap, then grabbed my skirt and tried to haul himself up. I chuckled and picked him up, settling him against me as we opened the book together.
“Brilla, brilla, piccola stella.” I read, letting my now-practiced Italian accent roll on proudly.
Luca popped two fingers into his mouth, his hazel eyes running over the colors, the stars that actually seemed to twinkle, and the little children on the page looking at them.
“Dimmi, dimmi cosa fai. Sopra noi tu scintilli.” I could almost recite it from memory now, we had read it so often. Luca loved books, which delighted Nico and I, and his ever-expanding library was something we were quite proud of.
Eva didn’t have the patience for reading unless it was bedtime, but when she was around Luca, she seemed to like it more.
Nice to know our son could be a calming influence.
Then again, we were pretty sure that Eva had convinced Luca to eat the crayons in Serafina’s room, since she had been known to do that more than him.
Maybe she really was more like Lemon than we thought.
“E nel cielo brilli, brilli,” I continue, shaking my head to focus back on the book. “Brilla, brilla, piccola stella. Dimmi, dimmi cosa fai.”
Someone else had said the last lines with me, and I looked up to see Nico leaning in the doorway, looking dapper and perfect in a button up shirt and green sweater.
“Papa!” Luca shrieked, pushing off of me and sliding down to the floor. There was no fast crawl for his father. Instead, he did his best impression of a run, which was more of a hustling walk, chubby legs moving as fast as he could push them.
Nico grinned and scooped Luca into his arms, tossing him high into the air, which Luca loved, which was probably why he ran to Nico and crawled to me.
I shook my head at both of them as Nico repeatedly threw him into the air, Luca’s squeals getting louder and louder, his laughter becoming hysterical.
“Don’t get him too wound up,” I warned as I put the book aside and got up. “He’s got to get through an entire party, and he didn’t take a very good morning nap.”
Nico scoffed and held Luca up to stare at him, Luca putting his fingers into his mouth again. “No, he is just excited about Christmas, aren’t you, figlio?”
Luca giggled and reached his free hand for Nico’s face, and Nico captured his fingers in his mouth growling as he did so.
I watched them play for a minute, my heart feeling like it was going to expand and break at the same time. They were always like this. Luca was always this excited to see his father, and Nico was always thrilled by his son. It didn’t matter if Nico had had a stressful day with dignitaries and advisors or a long day with meetings, he always had time and a smile for Luca.
They played all the time, Nico somehow possessing the ability to make Luca happy no matter how distressed he was. It was enough to make someone jealous, even if that someone were Luca’s mother.
Nico saw me watching and gave me a crooked grin. “You’re still his favorite.”
I snorted and shook my head. “Not a chance. I can fix all the owies, and I give him food, but beyond that, you are the be-all and end-all.”
Nico kissed Luca’s face all over, making his almost-clone squirm, and then put him back down on the floor. Luca saw something under the crib that interested him and he sped his way over on his hands and knees, no doubt dirtying and wearing out the new and too-expensive designer trousers that had been too adorable to pass up, according to Violetta.
We watched Luca jabber as he moved, pulling himself out from the crib and standing on his own, trying to stick his head in between the bars.
“You are the favorite,” Nico assured me, sliding his arms around my waist.
I shook my head against him, smiling. “Nope.”
He exhaled noisily and rested his chin on my shoulder. “Why are you arguing with me on this?”
I laughed and leaned back. “On who our son likes more? Because all favorites must be identified, or haven’t you learned that from Dante and Rafe?”
“I try not to absorb anything those two have to say on any subject,” he retorted, a blatant smirk in his tone.
“Probably for the best.”
I felt his mouth at my ear and a shiver ran up my spine. According to several sources, my husband and I were now officially out of the honeymoon phase of our marriage, which probably just meant that we weren’t pawing at each other all the time. But Nico still loved to flirt with me like this, and I still got all kinds of lightheaded and ticklish when he did.
“But you’re my favorite,” Nico whispered, “and if my son is as smart as I am, he’ll think that way too.”
I felt another laugh bubble up. “You think so?”
He pressed a quick kiss to my ear. “I know so.”
I left myself sigh and turned to kiss him in return, then smiled at the dashing king of Monterra. “Are you ready for this madness?”
Nico reared back a little. “A birthday party for a one-year-old prince? How bad could it be?”
That earned him a glare. “Don’t you remember Eva’s birthday last month?”
His eyes glossed over briefly, then he shook his head. “I have blocked that from my memory. All I remember of that zoo is the actual zoo.”
I slapped him on the arm and moved out of his arms. “Lemon worked really hard on those masks!”
He rolled his eyes and went to pick up our son, now banging a plastic hammer on the apparently indestructible crib. “Yes, well, if I had ever had the desire to become a badger in my life, I would have done so.”
I smirked at him and tilted my head at Luca, now hanging upside down in the air. “You did make a very cute badger.”
“I know.” Nico squeezed Luca’s thighs, which always got a delightful response, and Luca tried to grip his dad’s fingers to move them. “What is the theme for this one, again?”
I’d told him at least twelve times in the last month, but given his schedule and the time of year, I wouldn’t scold him this time either. “A star is born,” I said again.
He lifted a brow. “Did Serafina’s current take on Hercules have anything to do with that?”
I shrugged and reached for Luca. “Probably. I doubt she’ll try and sing a Muse song, though. Not after last week.”
We shared a smile as we recalled her dinnertime antics, which had been quite a sight, and not one any of us cared for a repeat of.
Luca patted my face and buried his head against me with a “Mama, Mama, Mama,” which made me smile and kiss his head.
Nico smiled and put his arm around me. “I told you, bella. You are the favorite.”
“Maybe this time I am.”
We walked out into the hall, and Nico rubbed his hand up and down my back as we headed down to the party. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, Kat,” Nico said slowly, “I’m really rather fond of Luca, I think we did a fine job with him.”
I gave him a sidelong look. “I think you’re right…”
He suddenly looked sheepish. “When can we have another?”
I stared at him for a moment, and then let a small, satisfied smile cross my face. I wa
sn’t going to tell him this yet, but I had been thinking the same thing lately. “Soon,” I allowed, tilting my head.
Nico’s grin was fast and furious. “Really?”
“Not now!” I laughed, nudging him. “I’m not announcing anything! All I am saying is… soon.”
He shook his head at me, tickled Luca, and sighed, kissing my cheek. “Soon it is.” He grinned at me and pulled a Santa hat out of his back pocket and plopped it on Luca’s head. “Very soon. And no more Christmas babies.”
“That was not my fault!”
“Deck the halls with boughs of holly…”
“Stop that!”
“I’m hiding mistletoe in the bedroom. We should practice later.”
I rolled my eyes, laughing helplessly at my ridiculously adorable husband.
Our life was crazy. Completely, absolutely, fairy-tale crazy.
But oh, how I loved it.
Coming Soon
2016
Secrets of a Spinster
by
Rebecca Connolly
The Royals of Monterra: Royal Delivery (Kindle Worlds) Page 16