Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 93203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
I met his fist with mine. “To life.”
I found Effie in our bedroom, curled into her favorite spot. She had her head propped up on her hand, and she was looking out the window. I bent and pressed a kiss to her head.
“Luca gone already, my love?” she asked.
I adored it when she called me “my love.” Her term of affection never failed to make me smile. “No, he is visiting Nonna in her suite. They are having tea.”
“Good talk?”
“Yes. Everything is set.” I told her about the upcoming meeting and our more personal conversation.
“You’ll be a regular business tycoon.”
I smirked. “I doubt I’ll ever be that, Effie. But life will be a little more normal, I hope.”
“Normal is okay?”
I frowned. “Normal is what I want.” I leaned forward. “You eased something in me, Effie. Changed my outlook. My priorities and my needs. I don’t feel the urge for violence. I’ve seen enough. Created enough.” I paused. “Make no mistake, anyone who steps in and causes trouble for us, for my family, will be met with extreme consequences, but I think our stepping out of that world will give us that buffer. Luca and I have always been careful to cultivate friendly enemies, not give them cause to want us eliminated. I doubt a man running a hotel and a winery will give them a reason to bother. This was all done with the utmost respect and discretion.”
She nodded. “So, life will change.”
“It always changes. This time, I think, for the good.” I smiled at her. “I look forward to all the good.”
Effie tilted her head, studying me. “Life has changed so much the past while.”
I chuckled. “All good changes.” I paused. “Even the sad ones.”
She shook her head. “I am not sad, especially knowing what I know now. It is done. Over.” She shrugged. “Perhaps we are even. Her plans brought me to you.”
“They did.”
“And we survived it all.”
I took Effie’s hand and kissed it, pressing it to my face. “And we will leave it in the past.”
She smiled, but I noticed the slight tremor to her hand. “Effie?” I asked. “What is it?”
“They wouldn’t let me give you blood.”
“You’d been shot as well. No doubt the doctor was worried over the trauma you’d been through. Too risky.”
“That was what I thought at first.”
I frowned. “At first?”
“Dr. Sims told me something else.”
Worry hit me instantly, and I fell to my knees in front of her. “Effie? Tell me.”
“I’m pregnant, Roman.”
Her words hit me, rendering me speechless. Realization of what she’d gone through while pregnant tore through me, and my hand went to her stomach. “Are you—”
She covered my hand. “Everything is fine,” she soothed. “Me and the baby.”
Baby.
My baby. My wife was carrying my child.
Our child.
I was going to be a father. A dad.
Emotion swamped me. Tears filled my eyes as I looked at her. My beautiful wife.
“We’ll be parents?”
“Yes. I missed a pill. I forgot—”
I cupped her face, kissing her. Her nose, cheeks, forehead, and sweet lips. I leaned my head on hers, letting her feel my joy. I didn’t care about the how. It didn’t matter. The only thing that did matter was the fact that we were having a baby.
“Thank you,” I breathed out.
She giggled, the sound joyful. “Nonna wanted you to have babies. Now she’ll have lots. Me, Vi, Justine.”
“She’ll burst when we tell her.” I sat back on my heels, still holding her face. “When can we tell her?”
“Soon. It’s early, Roman.” She wiped a tear from my eye. “You’re happy?”
“So happy, Little Tiger. The start of our family.”
She eyed me speculatively. “We never really discussed this. How many kids do you want?”
I kissed her again. “As many as you’ll give me. We have a big house.”
She laughed. “This from the man who couldn’t love.”
“This from the man you taught to love, Effie. Everything I have, everything I am now, is because of you and your love. Your sweetness. You opened up that part of me.”
I stood, then bent and scooped her up from the chair. “Let’s celebrate.”
She grinned, looking mischievous. “Should I ask how?”
I set her on the bed. “The same way we got here.”
Then I lifted her shirt and pressed a kiss to her stomach. “Hello, little one. Shut your ears and eyes. Daddy needs to love Mommy.”
Effie opened her arms. “They can’t hear you yet, Roman.”
I grinned. “Good thing. I plan on celebrating a lot.”
She smiled against my mouth. “Okay.”
The next morning, I couldn’t stop smiling. I was up earlier than usual, beating Nonna into the kitchen. I had bacon cooking and coffee brewing. I couldn’t handle much else with my healing injuries, but I managed those two tasks.
Nonna was surprised. “Roman. What are you doing in the kitchen?”
I laughed. I rarely ventured in, but this morning, it felt right. Effie had murmured about being hungry earlier when I woke her, loving her back into sleep. I wanted breakfast to be ready when she came out.