Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 72822 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72822 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
He was also wearing a… hospital bracelet?
“Dante,” I said, touching the bracelet. “Did you hurt yourself?”
He didn’t answer, instead he got to his feet.
“I’ve done a lot of things in my life that I’m not proud of, but over the last four months, I’ve had a lot of time to think.” He laughed humorlessly at whatever thoughts were going through his head. Something that I wasn’t privy to yet. “I’ve gone through hell twice in my life. Once when I lost my first wife and kids, and then again when I lost you and Mary…”
“What do you mean you lost Mary?”
He spoke over me.
“…and every day of these last four months was a lesson in control that I realized I didn’t have. There have been two people in my life that have reduced me to a befuddled mess. Lily… and you. Lily’s not here anymore, but you are. It took me a while to realize, to understand what I felt and to give myself permission to accept what you were offering me. I didn’t recognize that what we have is that rare, once-in-a-lifetime, forever kind of love until you left. I didn’t know how much you meant to me until I felt your pain and saw the hurt I put in your eyes. I never, ever want to experience that again.”
I didn’t know what to say.
“I know you don’t know what to say,” he stopped. “And you may think that this is just about the baby, now that I know we’re having him, but you’d be wrong. I’m gonna love that boy no matter what. But you… I can’t live without you. I don’t want to live without you.”
Tears were streaming down my cheeks unchecked, and I continued to look into the eyes of the man that I knew I loved.
“I never once doubted your love for me, Dante,” I said softly, raising one hand to his overly scruffy cheek. “At least, not after I had time to think. I knew you were coming to terms with things in your head. What I did doubt was the timing. I wasn’t sure if we were happening at the right time or if we were in the same place emotionally for it. But I was willing to wait, to give you that time… at least until it was time to bring this kid into the world.”
His eyes softened, and the tears slowed. His, not mine.
Once mine started, it was very hard to get them to stop.
“Your cancer scares me.”
I knew that, too.
The possibility of him losing someone he loved, this time to a nasty disease, had to be overwhelming for him. He’d already lost so much… I’m sure it was taking everything he had to even be here.
I knew that.
“I can’t promise you I’ll be here forever.”
His eyes dropped to my chest.
“Is everything okay?”
I pressed on my chest, then went farther to gather the ends of my shirt.
Taking a deep breath, I raised it up and over my head.
His breath caught. But his eyes weren’t on my surgical scars. They were on my belly.
My perfectly rounded belly that was just starting to stick out.
It was cute, even I thought so. I was just past that stage where people were wondering whether I was getting fat or if I was actually pregnant. Now it was obvious that I was pregnant.
He raised his hand and ran it along my belly. His whole palm spanned the entire width of my baby bump.
“Can you feel him yet?”
I nodded.
“From the outside?”
I shook my head.
And then, as if to give me a taste of things to come, our son proved me wrong and did just that—he kicked.
So hard, in fact, that Dante felt it.
It was little. Dante probably felt nothing more than a slight flutter against his palm, but he sucked in a deep breath in response.
His chest rose, and it was then that I started to take stock of his appearance.
He looked rough… really rough.
His eyes were dark, the bags under them a deep purple. His beard was scruffier than I’d ever seen it, and his lips were chapped and cracked. Pairing that with the state of his arms, and the way he’d looked to have lost twenty pounds if the state of his clothes which were hanging on him were anything to go by, he wasn’t in any better shape than I had been over the last few months.
Then he dropped his mouth to my belly, his hands running up the back of my thighs.
And that was all that I needed.
My body went from caring to wanting in about two point seven seconds. I’d thought about him so much over the last few months that it was downright comical. I’d had one sexual encounter with this man, but it was enough to give me an idea of what I was missing.