“What are you going to do to him?”
“I’m going to make his life miserable,” he says simply.
“He’s not worth it, you know.”
“The man touched you. He put his hands on my pregnant wife. I should kill the motherfucker.”
“Whoa, hey now.”
“Don’t worry, I promise I won’t do anything crazy. I’m not a violent man, lucky for him,” Enzo replies, winking at me.
I walk out to the kitchen and pour myself a cup of decaf. Cassie was sweet enough to swing by the store yesterday to get me some.
Enzo walks in and kisses my cheek. “I’ll see you soon, amore.” He turns to leave, but stops and brushes my cheek with his hand before he goes. “Love you.”
“Love you back.”
I watch him head out and then settle on the couch with a book.
“Morning,” Chris says, walking in.
“Hey. Is Cass up?” I ask.
“Sort of, but she has cramps. I came to get some tea and water for the Midol.”
“Best to steer clear of her today then,” I advise, laughing.
“Yeah, it’s a bad one. I think she’ll be in bed for most of the day.”
“Okay, well let me know if you need anything.”
“Will do,” he says, heading back to their room.
I glance at my phone, feeling a little bit anxious for Enzo to call or come home. Hours pass without a peep. Finally, I hear the garage door open. He walks into the house carrying a huge bouquet of flowers and balloons. There is also a rather large stuffed animal and a bag from my favorite cupcake bakery.
“Ciao amore. How’s my lovely wife feeling?” he asks.
He sounds perfectly normal, happy even.
“I feel fine. What’s all this?”
He smiles. “This is a celebration.”
“Aren’t you going to tell me what happened?” I ask him.
“With what?” he asks, innocently.
“With Dax!”
“Oh, I handled it.”
“Of course you did. Are you going to tell me how?”
“I’d rather talk about our baby and our plans for the future. I was thinking that we could build a casita outside for a nanny. And the room closest to ours can be the nursery. Also–”
I put my hands on my hips. “Enzo Milano, you are avoiding my question.”
He laughs. “I am.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m more interested in you,” he says, wrapping his arms around my waist.” But, if you must know, I’ll tell you.”
“I must know,” I insist.
“Alright. Sit down.”
We sit together on the couch. Enzo opens the bag from the bakery and takes out my favorite, the Nutella cream. Heaven.
“Francesca told me today that he made a pass at her too.” He shakes his head. “Dax was ready to give me his resignation. He thought I was just going to accept it and let him off the hook for what he did. That was just too much to take, my wife and my sister. So I took him out back and beat his ass.”
“You did what?”
“I beat his ass,” he repeats.
“You did not!”
“I most certainly did. He had it coming. When I confronted him, he was so arrogant. The only thing I wanted to do was punch him out, so I did. Sometimes that’s how men handle things, Ava.”
I look at him, astonished. I can’t imagine Enzo in a fight with anyone.
“We reached an agreement on how things will go from now on. You won’t have any more problems from him.”
“What kind of agreement? He’s staying?”
“Oh yes, he’s staying, for half his fee,” Enzo continues. “He isn’t allowed to say more than hello to you or Checca. Any business matters will be discussed directly with me, Franco, or Alex. I expect his normal level of competence and I moved up the completion date to August.”
“Do you think it will be done by then?” I ask. “That’s only six months. There’s still a lot to do.”
“We are well ahead of schedule. Dax told me he feels confident that he’ll get it done by then. He’ll make it happen, if anything just to get away from me.”
“So you punched him?” I take another bite of my cupcake.
“More than once,” he admits. “My hand is a little sore. I haven’t kicked anyone’s ass in a long time.”
“He’s a big guy, Enzo.”
“Not with Calvin and Franco holding him.” He smiles.
“Seriously?”
“I wanted him defenseless, like you were when he came onto you. He should know what it feels like. Dax knew it was coming. And he took it like a man.”
Maybe this is the wild, wild west after all.
“You never cease to amaze me,” I say, kissing his cheek.
“I hope you’re not disappointed that I did indeed resort to violence, just not the murdering people type.”
“I trust you did what you had to do. I feel honored.”
“As you should,” he says. “Now, can we get back to the celebration? Where are the Cs?”
“The Cs..?” I ask, confused.
He smiles. “Cassandra and Chris.”
“In their room,” I reply. “Cass has cramps.”
“You should take her a cupcake.”
“Maybe later, but right now I want to spend time with my baby daddy,” I say, and then laugh loudly.
“Excellent.” He pulls me back on the couch and cuddles me in his arms. “I missed you very much. I was only gone a day, so it’s ridiculous. I think I’ve become quite co-dependent.” He laughs softly.
I grin. “I like that. It makes me feel better about my intense fascination with you.”
“I’m not going to leave you again. Wherever I need to go, you’re going with me. If you can’t travel then I won’t travel.”
“I like that, but with the new baby, we may have to make some changes.”
“Nonsense,” Enzo replies. “We only have Italy and California. I rarely go to London, maybe once a year. The hotels in France run themselves. I’m slowing down and I want to. I want this life, here with you, raising our family. I want to come home at the end of the day, and have dinner with my wife and our children. I can’t think of anything better.”
“Neither can I,” I remark, happily.
“But we do need to think about Italy. I want to start working on the house soon.”
“After we’ve spoken to the doctor, we should be able to start planning for the future. I need to know my due date first.”
“We’ll find out the sex, won’t we?” Enzo asks.
“I’d like to, even though it doesn’t matter, I don’t think I could stand the suspense for nine months.”
He rubs my stomach. “Our baby is in there. Amazing.”
“It is. I’m very excited, but a little scared.”
“Why are you scared? You are going to be an incredible mother. Look how great Maximus turned out,” he says, laughing.
I giggle. “That dog is spoiled rotten, but at least he’s potty trained.”
“We’ll figure it out,” Enzo promises. “And we’ll do it together.”
Yes, together.
****
“Are you almost ready?” Enzo asks me from the hallway.
“I’m just brushing my hair. I’ll be right there.” I grab a sweater and join Enzo in the living room, where I grab my purse and sunglasses. “Ready,” I announce.
“Andiamo, don’t want to be late.”
“We’re way early. We’re always early.”
“Being prompt is good, no?” he says.
I laugh. “Yes, it’s good.”
We drive over to Dr. Warner’s office for my examination. I’m nervous and excited, and almost out of my mind with anticipation. I’m pretty sure Enzo feels just like I do. When we arrive, we head inside where we are greeted and given some paperwork to complete. Dr. Warner comes out a few minutes later to take us into her room.
“Well, Ava, I guess
you have some good news?” she asks me.
“Yes, I mean, you can confirm it, right? I just took a home test. They aren’t always accurate, are they?”
“They can be wrong sometimes, but it’s usually a negative reading that would be wrong, not a positive one. If you’re too early sometimes they don’t read accurately. But you said you missed a cycle?”
“I did.”
“Alright, well let’s start by getting you weighed and then we’ll run a couple of tests.”
“Okay.”
I hop on the scale and find I’m lighter than I was two days ago. Why am I losing weight?
“Doctor, I weigh less than I usually do. Is that bad?”
“Have you been sick?” she asks.
“No, not at all, and I’ve been eating fine.”
“It’s not uncommon. Your body is adjusting to a lot of new things. We’ll get everything checked out here.”
I undress, put on a gown and then go into the bathroom to pee in my cup. The doctor also draws some blood. Next, I assume the position so that she can perform a physical examination. Enzo stays in the room this time, standing behind me and holding my hand.
“You’re definitely pregnant, Ava. The blood test should give us an idea of how far along, but I’m guessing you’re about five weeks.”
“Five weeks? That means I conceived almost right away.”
“When was your last period?”
“December seventeenth.”
“Today is February thirteenth, so that puts your conception date around the second week of January,” calculates the doctor.
Whew. Post Vegas.
A nurse enters the room with my test results and the doctor confirms them.
“The week before that I partied and drank a lot in Vegas. Is that bad that I conceived so close?” I ask.
“Not at all. Many women are pregnant for weeks without even knowing it. It’s unlikely that a few glasses of wine would affect anything.” She looks down at a calendar. “Based on your last period, your due date is around October sixteenth.”
“Nice, almost to our one-year anniversary,” I remark.
“I can’t wait to tell everyone,” Enzo says.
I can tell that he is doing his best to maintain his composure in front of the doctor, but he is very excited.
“Some couples take the approach of waiting until after the first trimester before making broad announcements since the chance of miscarriage is more likely during that time,” Dr. Warner says.
“Do we need to be concerned about that, doctor?” Enzo asks.
“Well, there is always a chance. So far, everything looks just fine, but this is information I tell all my patients. We’ll get you set up with your prenatal appointments. Here is some information about things to do and things to avoid. In a few weeks’ time we’ll do an ultrasound to check on things.”
“Thank you, doctor.” I say.
“Congratulations,” she says, shaking both of our hands.
Dr. Warner leaves and I get dressed, while Enzo sits quietly in a chair.
“What are you thinking, tesoro?”
“I wasn’t thinking. I was just sitting here, being thankful for all that I have.”
“We have a lot to be thankful for,” I agree.
“You know, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day,” he says when we are walking to the car.
“So?”
“So what would you like to do?”
“You’re asking me? I haven’t had any time to think about that. We can sit at home and watch television for all I care, so long as I’m with you.”
“But it’s our first,” Enzo points out.
“It’s a dumb holiday. I don’t need a special day like that. You show me your love every day.”
“At least dinner?” he suggests. “We could invite our friends and announce our exciting news.”
“If that’s what you want to do, it’s fine with me. I need to call my parents though when we get home. And you need to tell your family.”
“Why don’t you dial your parents now while we’re in the car?” Enzo says. “We’ll put them on speaker.”
“Okay.”
I dial my parents’ number and wait patiently for them to answer. On the third ring, my dad finally picks up. “Hey, princess,” he says.
“Hello Dad, is Mom home too?” I ask him.
“Yes, she’s here. Want me to get her on the phone with us?”
“Yeah, that would be great.”
I hear him say, “Evelyn, it’s Ava.”
“Hi honey. How are you?” she asks.
“I’m good, Mom. Enzo’s here too, on speaker.”
“Hi son,” my dad says.
“Hello. We have some news,” Enzo replies.
“You’re coming to Denver for a visit?” my mom asks.
I laugh. “No, it isn’t that. We just came from the doctor. We’re going to have a baby.”
“Ava, that’s wonderful,” my dad says.
I hear my mom start to cry in the background.
“Are you okay, Mom?”
She sniffs. “I’m so happy. It’s so wonderful.”
“Yes, definitely wonderful,” my dad repeats.
“It’s really early, just five weeks, but we wanted to tell you both right away,” I say.
“We’re glad you did,” my dad replies. “Congratulations, you two.”
My mom continues to sob with happiness.
“Okay, well we’ll keep you posted on everything,” I add.
“We love you, Ava. We love both of you,” my dad says.
“We love you too.”
I hang up.
“Man, my mom can be so emotional,” I comment.
“It’s sweet. My mother was like that too.” He rubs my hand. “We’ll have to call Italy later, and I’ll call everyone else tomorrow. When we get home, I’ll make arrangements for dinner tomorrow night.
“Do you think we should wait a little while, like the doctor said? I mean it is really early. Maybe we should just tell those closest to us.”
“I don’t know if I could keep this happiness to myself. I know what she said, but I’m sure that is just the conservative approach. And you and I are far from conservative.” He grins.
“True. You’re right. We can tell everyone.”
“I’ll invite the same group of friends from Vegas plus Alex and, of course, the family, and–”
“Babe, please. That’s a lot of people. I’m not in the mood for a huge party. I’m more than a little partied out after Vegas. Why don’t we just tell the few people we see on an everyday basis? As time goes on, we’ll get to everyone else. Can we do it that way please?”
“Of course, amore,” he replies. “I’m sorry, I’m just very excited.”
I stroke his hand. “I know, and I’m sorry to be a party pooper. I just don’t want to get overwhelmed by everything.”
“You’re right. How do you want to do this?”
I stop and think about it for a moment. Not only do I not give a damn about Valentine’s Day, but I’m not in the mood for a big dinner. In fact I think I’d rather handle it as we interact with people.
“I want to tell Gabby and Checca. Cassie already knows. That’s good enough for me.”
“Alright,” Enzo says, “So how about dinner, just you and me? You can tell your girlfriends as you see fit, and I’ll tell my friends and family.”
“Yes, I would like to do it that way.”
He smiles. “That’s fine with me.”
“Is it really?” I ask, not wanting to disappoint him.
“It really is. I promise.”
“Alright, I’ll call my girls when we get home. We can have dinner wherever you want tomorrow night. Thank you, my prince.”
“Anything for you. You know that.”
Enzo pulls into the garage and we head into the house. Cassie is out at work and I know that Chris will be tucked away in their room, working quietly.
I decide to call the girls l
ater. For now I just feel like chilling out on the couch. I’m not sure that I’m even capable of comprehending how much my life is about to change. I just need some more time to let it all sink in without any massive celebrations.
****
“Close your eyes. I have a surprise for you.”
Enzo stands behind me with a Cheshire cat grin across his lips.
“What are you up to?” I ask. “I told you I didn’t want a big deal over this stupid holiday.”
“Who said it was a big deal? Close your eyes.”
I sigh and close them. Enzo puts his hand over my eyes and leads me down the hall to our room. I hear the door open and immediately notice a pleasant floral scent, the kind of smell that comes from candles. Soft, seductive music is playing.
“Ready?” he asks.
“Yes.”
Enzo removes his hand and I open my eyes. The room is lit with candles and the table is set for two. A gorgeous bouquet of multicolored roses sits on the dresser.
“I know you think it’s a dumb holiday, but, for me, it’s another opportunity to sweep you off your feet.”
He leads me to the table, where our meal is waiting; a meal he prepared himself.
“I couldn’t be swept any higher off the ground,” I tell him.
My heart melts. Mr. Romantic is at it again. How could I possibly not like this?
“You are everything to me, friend, lover, confidante, wife, and soon-to-be mother of my baby,” Enzo states. “I couldn’t have imagined a more complete and magical life than the one we have together. It’s rather cliché, but I couldn’t let the day for lovers go by without showering you in my affection.”
“Oh, Enzo, it isn’t cliché. You are so amazing. I just adore you. Thank you for this.”
“My pleasure,” he replies. “Now sit. I’ve made dinner.”
I take my seat and watch him scoop some pasta in lemon sauce onto my plate.
“I usually make this with wine, so I altered the recipe for you.” He smiles.
“I’m sure it will be incredible.”
“How did Gabriella react to your news?” he asks me.
“She cried. She’s very happy, of course. Cassie wants to catch up with me, so we can be pregnant at the same time.” I laugh.
“She’s not even married yet.”
“I know and she doesn’t even have a date set. Cassie is a little crazy, you know that.”
“She’s hysterical,” he says, laughing.
Turn Towards the Sun Book Two: After the Rain Page 34