Baby V (Chianti Kisses #1)

by Tara Oakes

  “So, please. Lift your glass to toast my wife, my Cecily. She’s got just a little further to go before she brings our baby into the world. May she pass her wisdom, beauty, courage, and strength to our baby... Salute.”

  “Salute,” is echoed in response throughout the celebration. Tony kisses Cecily tenderly as we all look on, sipping on our champagne and admiring the happy couple.

  Well, almost all of us.

  Tanya is sulking in her seat, visibly casting jealous glares at her cousin through the crowd.

  “And now,” Tony adds, “on a more serious note... I’d like to ask two people to step forward. Dom, Vincenza... please come up here for a second.”

  I stop breathing. I can’t hear this. I can’t bear to witness Tony shame us in front of everyone important to me. Face after face turns to Dom and I standing in the corner. My mind begs me to stay put. My legs don’t listen and follow Dom’s lead instead. He grasps my limp hand, lacing his large fingers through mine, and guides us to join my brother and his wife at the center of attention.

  “You see, trust means everything to us as a family. We depend on each other, and are nothing without it. We placed a lot of trust into each of you...”

  Oh God. Here it comes. Public admonishment, humiliation, and tongue lashing. I brace myself, preparing for the shame. I hold tight onto Dom’s hand. His thumb moves to massage into my palm. I scan the crowd, searching pairs of eyes, so sorry I’m about to disappoint so many of them. My gaze falls on Tanya and her hardened stare, which immediately moves to the area where Dom and I are joined, she scowls and sits up, taking it in.

  “And now....” I close my eyes as if it will somehow shield me from Tony’s words. “We are about to place even more trust in you.”

  Huh? My eyes fly open.

  “Cecily and I would love nothing more than for you two to agree to become the Godparents to your niece. We can’t think of a better example for our daughter, than to give her such a loving and supportive couple to love her just as much as her parents will.”

  Cecily jumps to her swollen feet to embrace me, holding me tight, her enthusiasm contagious. Dom and Tony have their own “bro” version of our hug, complete with back slaps. What the hell is happening here? It’s like I’ve entered a parallel universe where nothing makes sense.

  Tony brushes my cheeks and holds me tight as I stand dumbfounded. “Thanks, sis.”

  He withdraws back to his wife and they lead the toast as each person joins in to celebrate not only our appointment as Godparents, but also the revelation that I’m going to have a niece.

  It’s a double whammy.

  I stand with my mouth agape, stunned at the recent turn of events. Dom angles his chin down and purses my opened lips in his. The crowd cheers once again.

  This is not the reaction I was expecting.

  ~*~

  Concetta, Cecily’s mother pry’s herself from her daughter and unborn granddaughter long enough to carry her teacup carefully over to the set-back table I’ve chosen to occupy while I mull over my family’s reaction.

  “Hello dear!” She kisses my cheek, “I’ve been so busy mingling that I haven’t had a chance to chat with my favorite in-law.” Connie, as we all call her, has always has a soft spot for me. She would send me care packages while in school, and even came up once with Cecily for a visit. I was the envy of every girl in my dorm when one of Connie’s packages would arrive... she is one mean baker!

  “Hey Connie. Congratulations on your new granddaughter, it’s exciting... isn’t it?” I hear the echo of my own words in my ears, and hope she doesn’t mistake my ho-hum attitude for one of indifference.

  She pats my hand delicately.

  “Darling, you have put together quite the party. Cecily is lucky to have such a great sister-in-law, like you, V. And the baby is going to be spoiled rotten by her aunt! I just know it.” Connie gives me a conspiratory wink as she sips her warm tea. We both know she’s going to be spoiling this child a whole lot more than anyone else will. “And, what a great opportunity for you and your new gentleman to make your first public appearance.”

  “Can I join the fun?”

  We both turn to acknowledge our interloper. Tanya is stumbling forward, mimosa in hand, taking up the last vacancy at our table. I guess her words were a mere formality, as she hasn’t waited for our reply before crashing our conversation.

  “Hey, Aunt Cece... don’t Baby V and her new boyfriend look cute together?”

  She’s drunk. Drunk and bitter, a nasty combination. Not only do I not like Tanya using my family’s nickname, but I also know for a fact that Cecilia does not enjoy being called Cece. Concetta attempts to diffuse the ticking time bomb.

  “Now Tanya... let’s not be rude. Vincenza’s relationship is nobody’s business. Let’s just be happy for them, shall we?”

  Yeah, that’s not likely to happen.

  Tanya pounds down the half glass of mixed drink. “But, Aunt Cece... they just look so perfect together. Like it was meant to be... predestined, almost. How can we not admire two people finally accepting their fate?” Her words are laced with venom.

  Connie abruptly drops her porcelain cup harshly onto its saucer. “That’s enough , Tanya,” she reprimands her niece.

  I nod to myself. Connie is right, it is enough. I’ve had enough of this girl’s drunken jealous rantings. Dom didn’t want her, no matter how hard she would throw herself at him. It’s only natural for her to feel hurt but I don’t need to take her verbal abuse. I push out my chair, the metal legs humming as they scrape against the wooden floor.

  “It’s alright Connie. Tanya’s right. He is perfect. We are perfect. And I’m gonna go get a piece of that perfection right now.” I turn around, swinging past Tanya and wink. Chew on that, bitch.

  Dom has retreated back to the bar area where all of the men are congregating, leaving the ladies to their traditional gender segregated celebration. I see him relaxing, jacket off and casually strung over his unused stool. The lot of them, my three brothers... and Dom, are sharing a drink while watching the baseball game on the screen behind the bar. Mike is positioned in a way to see my approach first.

  “Hey, sis. Bored with party games? Looking to join the real fun?”

  I roll my eyes, sliding my arm through Dom’s elbow. He throws a handful of peanuts into his mouth while staring at the hit into the outfield.

  “What’s up, babe?” He crunches on his peanuts between words. “Yes!!! Yes, yes, yes!”

  The bar erupts into thunderous applause and celebration as the uniformed runner cruises his way around second base. John hollers out, grabbing Dom close and side hugging him. The boys are nothing if not loyal fans, but the second a games comes on it’s like they fall into a pin-striped coma.

  Once the latest round of enthusiasm has quieted, Dom lifts his chin over to me, “You want a drink?”`

  I shake my head even though he can’t see. “I’ve had enough today. Can we go, please?”

  The crack of another bat has the crowd ogling once again, this time without Dom. He eyes me. “Are you OK? What’s up?”

  I exhale. “I’ve just had a run-in with your ex. Can we please leave now?”

  Anger flashes across Dom’s previously care-free exterior. “What did she say to you?”

  I shake my head. “Nothing I wouldn’t have expected from her. I just need to get out of here...”

  Dom pushes his tall beer glass away and scoops up his suit jacket. Tony sees his best friend’s recent movement and watches the two of us.

  “Where are you guys going? The after party is heading back to my house. You can’t skip out now,” His words have garnered the attention of my other two brothers.

  I shrug my shoulders. “Sorry boys, I’ve got a killer headache and I just need to go lie down.”

  Dom has taken advantage of the past few seconds, laying out some bills onto his place at the bar. My brothers take this as the last piece of confirmation that they about to be down one man. The sarcastic w
hining and mimicked sighs of disappointment begin. Dom rolls his eyes as he guides me away from the crowd. Mike makes a point to inform Dom that’s about to miss the end of the game.

  “See ya later, guys.” Dom calls out behind us as we gain some distance from them.

  I hear a loud forced cough from Tony, with the unmistakeable “whipped” concealed within.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “How long did you two date?”

  I waste no time getting to the nitty-gritty. I’ve known about Tanya and Dom for a few weeks now, since Theresa had filled me in, but had no desire to know specifics or details from Dom’s mouth before now. I had convinced myself that it was nothing but a slight fling, but am rethinking my previous assumptions after witnessing Tanya’s spitefulness today. A pit in the bottom of my stomach tells me it was more than a little fling.

  Dom pushes back imaginary locks from his eyes, tossing his jacket into a tufted wingback chair as he passes. With Momma, Aunt Rosie and Nonna all having gone back to Tony and Cecily’s house for the after party, we have the house to ourselves.

  “What? We hardly dated.” Dom nervously tries to laugh it off.

  Yeah, I’m not that gullible.

  “I’m serious, Dom.” I repeat myself. “How long did you two date? How serious was it?”

  Dom tenses his jaw. “You really want to do this, V? What difference does it make? It’s over.”

  A sharp pang strikes deep in my chest. Shit. This is not going to be pleasant. I cross my arms over themselves and stand tall, resolute in my decision. I asked to hear this, I mentally remind myself. I’ve got to see it through, no matter how nauseous it makes me.

  Dom’s office has become one of my favorite rooms in the house over these last few weeks. It’s been where we’d carried on our undercover, secret romance when home, become our own sanctuary away from curious eyes. Now, though... I feel like an outsider, intruding on his personal space, asking him these private questions that obviously make him uncomfortable.

  “Fine. But don’t forget that I didn’t start this.” He eyes me, no doubt holding out hope that I’ll change my mind. When he’s satisfied that there’s no chance of that, he reluctantly begins.

  “We went on a few double dates with Tony and Cecily when they first started dating. It was nothing special. Tony was really serious about Cecily and didn’t want to take any chances in ruining things. So, I played along and kept her cousin company.”

  He glances my way to asses whether or not I’m satisfied. I’m not. He blows out a steady stream of air out.

  “Once things got serious enough between Tony and Cecily, I was able to back away. Tanya didn’t take the hint at first. She would call, stop by the office. Random, desperate chick things. When Your brother got engaged, it was just excuse after excuse for her to wrangle her way around me. I tried to be nice, be a gentleman. I didn’t want to be a jackass to her, but nothing was working.”

  Dom unties his neck tie and throws it over to his desk while in passing on his way to the bar. He uncorks a crystal decanter and pours himself a small amount of liquid courage. My discomfort grows as I watch his body language. Intuition tells me that I shouldn’t rely on my legs for support, leading me to move to sit in one of the expensive chairs flanking the seating area of the room.

  His back is facing me, shoulders tensed and rigid. I swallow hard and brace myself.

  “I don’t know if you remember the night of Tony’s wedding. I don’t remember much. I know Tanya was following me around like a goddamned shadow. I celebrated more than I probably should have and a bunch of us found ourselves in the hotel bar really late at night. Tanya was there.”

  He pauses long enough for me to gasp. I know what happened next. A bulge forms deep in my throat, I fight to keep it down. The room grows thick. He finally turns to face me. His face is dark, furrowed. I don’t know if it’s the late afternoon light casting muted shadows, but I see lines etched across his skin that are new to me.

  “About a month later, she called and said we needed to talk. I swear I knew deep down before I even got to her place, what she was gonna say. She told me she was pregnant. The timing added up. She showed me the pregnancy test. I flipped out at first. I mean, that was definitely not in the plan. Shewas not in the plan. But... it was my responsibility. I wasn’t going to leave her to go through it alone. So... I bought her a ring and planned to take her away for a weekend. It stayed in my pocket the whole time, I couldn’t bring myself to even touch it. We agreed not to tell anyone about the baby, but somehow your brother caught wind.”

  Dom now takes a seat nearby, eyes set on me. “The night I had finally talked myself up to proposing to her, Tony stopped by the office. He had heard some things that he thought I should know. I won’t go into detail, but I will say that he gave me reason to pause and to take some precautions. I told Tanya I would need a blood pregnancy test. I called and made her appointment for the next day. Later that night, she called me crying. She said she was bleeding. She told me she was having a miscarriage.”

  And that was it. The secret was out. The profoundness of it all settles as we sit in silence. I’m glad I know, but part of me wants to go back in time and not have brought it up as I can see the pain Dom is in.

  “Wow…,” is all I can manage to say. What is the right, proper thing to say to something like that?

  Dom’s eyebrow twitches. “Well you haven’t stormed out of here and told me to go screw myself, so you must be taking this better than I thought you would.”

  I slump back and exhale.

  “I’m kind of if in shock, I think.” I play with my fingernail as a distraction from having to verbalize any of my feelings. “You bought her a ring?” I whisper. It may have sounded like a question, but it was really just a statement.

  “V, if she was carrying my child I would do anything to make sure that baby grew up in a loving home like you and I did. I always knew I would have kids, I knew I wanted them at some point, but they were definitely not on the agenda for a while. When it looked like it was gonna come a lot sooner than expected, it got me thinking. I’ve been playing the field and messing around long enough. It was easy, convenient. No attachments or distractions to keep me from giving my all to the business. Maybe it was time to grow up and be the man I was expected to be. It may not have been an ideal situation by any means, but I had little choice.”

  I nod robotically.

  “I don’t know if Tanya was ever really pregnant. At this point, I don’t see any good that can come from knowing the answer to that question. It still hit hard, though. The baby that I didn’t think I’d want, didn’t think I needed.... it left an emptiness when it wasn’t there anymore. I went into a dark place for a while. The only thing that got me through it was knowing that one day things were going to happen the way they should. I was going to be with the woman I was supposed to. Marry the future mother of my children and give them both the love and loyalty they would deserve. I waited a long time for you, V.”

  I get to my feet and slip out of my shoes, the lush carpet padding under my feet as I step over to Dom. I end my walk directly in front of him. We both breathe heavily. Our young relationship has just suffered it’s first blow. What happens now will determine where we go from here.

  Dom scrutinizes me, unsure of my intentions. He leans forward, resting his weary head on my stomach, sighing deep, tired after unburdening his conscience. I cradle his head in my hands, pressing it into me. Dom’s one of the strongest men I know. I’ve never seen him vulnerable. I’ve never seen him hurt. I hate that I had to hear those words, to know his truth, but I’m more than grateful that I could be here for him... for us to be here for each other.

  “Can you ever get past this, baby... for me?” His voice muffles into the fabric covering my middle.

  I close my eyes. I truthfully have no idea if I can get past this, if I can ever bear the thought of Dom coming so very close to sharing his life with someone else. But, I also know that I can’t bear the thoug
ht of spending my life with anyone else.

  “Is that everything? Is there anything else I need to know?” I ask aloud.

  Dom grabs tightly around, his hands holding to my thighs. My hands follow the movement of his head as it shakes to signal “no.”

  I exhale my relief. OK. I can do this. At the very least, I can try. I trace him with my fingers, nurturing him as best I can.

  “I don’t deserve you. You’ll never truly understand how many ways that you’re too good for me. But I’m a selfish man, V. I need you, I want you... I won’t live a life without you.”

  He moves swiftly with quiet determination. I find myself bound to him as he lifts us, carrying my clutching form up the spiral staircase to the private entrance to his bedroom. The swirling surroundings twirl around as we make the rotations up to the top platform. As if I wasn’t off-kilter enough from the whirlwind of truths, emotions, and revelations today, the circling momentum of our movement makes me lightheaded.

  His room is darkened. The setting sun offers little to no illumination through the immense windows, as soft shadows fall over the walls. Dom’s bed grows in size as we make our approach, his body shows no sign of strain, though, as he effortlessly carries my weight to it. The last time... I was in this bed I was alone, with Dom nothing more than a voice on the other end of the line. Now here in the flesh, I don’t give myself the opportunity to let my nerves get the best of me.

  It’s just him, his strong arms, his lips that I concentrate on. I focus on each individual piece of him as I kiss them, taste them, feel them. I want to feel more, mindlessly tugging at the material preventing this from happening.