“You wanted to be full of my essence. I made sure that happened.” I place a gentle kiss on her lips, our foreheads still touching after our lips have parted.
“Ti amo, Alessandro Salvatore Leone.”
“E ti amo, Luciana Stella Leone, mio premio.”
Chapter 73
Luci
24 Weeks Pregnant
I’ve read through Gia’s journal several times and compared it to where I am in my pregnancy. I’m at the same point she was around her September 19th entry. I’ve thought about her entries and how I can relate to her through this journal. It’s unbelievable that my baby girl could live outside of the nice and cozy home I’ve created for her . . . even though she needs to stay still. I’m sitting in the library when Alessandro walks in on me holding the journal. He watches me with that blank expression I’ve come to learn means he’s unsure of what to think.
“What are you doing with that?” He stalks in my direction, looking down at the journal and then at me with those dark eyes.
“I . . . um. I’m twenty-four weeks pregnant and was thinking of these entries. That’s around the same time as this entry from September. I was thinking maybe we could follow some of the things she did. You know, a way to bond with her and with our daughter. Maybe it was a silly thought. You know, never mind. I’m sorry I picked this up. I’ll put it back where you had it.” Alessandro grabs my arm as I go to walk past him, his face softening, a slight sadness in his eyes.
“I think that’s an amazing idea. It’s getting sporadically warmer outside and it’ll be time to plant fresh flowers soon. I found more detailed pictures of my mamma’s garden and have spoken to our gardener to recreate them. What do you think?” Alessandro hands me a picture of the garden Gia spoke about in her journal and cannot believe how intricate it is.
“That’s an amazing idea. This is stunning. Did your mamma do all of this?”
“With some help, but yes. Mamma said her garden was her oasis and the reason she wanted to bring me out there, at least according to her journal.”
“Oh!” I gasp when our daughter kicks, but the second I get the courage to grab Alessandro’s hand to place it on my belly she stops. Alessandro’s eyes widen with panic until I break out into laughter.
“What happened? Why are you laughing?”
“Our daughter is just like you. She was kicking me then stopped once I placed your hand on her.”
“Of course she is! She’s got Leone blood running through her.” He holds us close to him, well as close as he can with our daughter in between us.
Alessandro places a gentle kiss on my lips, but I know he didn’t come up here during his workday for no reason. “What do you need?”
“I can’t take a break to hold my wife and daughter for no reason?” I glare at him until he breaks and continues his thought. “Fine. El keeps bugging me about having a baby shower for you. If you could appease her and me by letting her throw you one, that would be much appreciated. That way, she will stop bothering me. Also, where is your phone? If you had it she wouldn’t call me constantly and then bombard me when I was having a suit fitting with Andrea.”
Oops . . . the phone. “Oh! I kind of forgot about it. I know where it is, though.”
“Then go get it, mio premio.” Alessandro kisses me and we leave the room, going our separate ways. He goes back to his office and I go upstairs to the room we’ve decided will be our daughters’ nursery.
In the last few weeks, we’ve added my fingerprint to the scanner. That way I’m able to come and go as needed. Initially, I wanted to take the scanner off altogether. Unfortunately, that led to a long, passionate, and honestly uncomfortable explanation from Alessandro on how we need to keep her safe, which includes keeping the scanner. The phone is exactly where I left it before I took the test that night many months ago. I’m surprised, but also not surprised about what pops up on the screen when it turns on.
Wedding Day
Alessandro:
Luci, where the fuck did Aldo take you?
Alessandro:
I found the phone. Mio premio, where did you go?
El:
Babe! Where did you go? Alessandro is about to flip his shit and frankly, I don’t want to be here when it happens. Also, he’s already mad at me because he found the pregnancy test and that I bought it for you and didn’t tell him. Ugh, men.
El:
Oh, never mind, he found the phone. *sneaks away slowly to hide from the wrath that is Alessandro.*
