CHAPTER ELEVEN
CARMELLA
I wake up in Bea’s guest room in her new home. It’s beautiful, the surroundings are tranquil. A creak from the bedroom door has me checking who my intruder is.
“Morning,” Bea singsongs as she sweeps into my room.
“Rise and shine.” Nell follows behind her. They both hurry over to my huge bed and get under the comforter.
We hug it out. We haven’t all been together since the day Nell and I were both discharged from hospital.
I squeeze them both tightly. “I’m so pleased to see you girls.” I kiss each of their cheeks.
“How has it been, living with Alessandro? I can’t believe Uncle Dante agreed to let you leave.” Bea shakes her head.
“He didn’t really have a choice. After the way he and Nic behaved, there was no way I was staying with them.” I shake my head. I talk to the girls almost daily, so they know all that happened. “Living with Al has been great. He’s really attentive, though, super protective. I guess we all have one of them now.” I grin at each of the girls.
“Anyway, today is a day to celebrate, right?” Nell smiles as she slips out of the room, returning with two glasses of champagne and one filled with orange juice.
We toast our glasses high, and Nell and I take a sip of our drinks. Bea lowers hers and gives us both a smile.
“Something you need to tell us, Bea?” She nods at my question, popping her untouched champagne on the bedside table.
“I’m six weeks pregnant,” she whispers.
“Congratulations,” Nell and I shriek, and pull her into a hug.
“Thank you, we aren’t telling anyone. Only Leo’s family know, as Enzo guessed it when we visited him last week.”
“This is so exciting,” I grin as I squeeze Bea’s shoulder.
“How are you feeling so far? Any sickness like Cam?”
“Only a few times, so fortunately not, but that doesn’t mean I won’t get it worse over the coming weeks.” Bea shakes her head.
“Well, mine is a lot better now. Here’s hoping I can have a proper wedding night.” I giggle as I raise my orange juice.
“So, you guys haven’t… you know?” Nell bobs her head in question.
“Nope, we have kissed a lot. He is being super careful with me.” Hopefully not so careful tonight. Now the sickness is easing, I’m so ready to explore that part of our relationship.
“Right, we so need to get ready. I had Ilaria set up one of the other guest rooms for you to get ready in.” Bea gets off the bed and holds her hands out to me and Nell.
We spend the rest of the morning giggling and getting ready. It’s quite surreal, I always deemed this day would be a bad day. A day where I was trapped into a marriage I didn’t want and a city I wasn’t happy in. Today couldn’t be further from me feeling like that.
Al is hot.
Did I think I would ever be matched with him? No, absolutely not. But I can’t say I’m sad about it.
Standing in front of the floor-length mirror, I take in my reflection. Placing my hand to the tiny bump that’s practically invisible, I take a moment to appreciate how different my life is to what I thought it would be.
Nell steps up beside me, placing her head on my shoulder and her hand over mine on my stomach. Bea mirrors me and steps up next to Nell, Nell pops her free hand on Bea’s stomach.
“I can’t believe you’re both pregnant.” She smiles as she looks between us both in the mirror.
“Just think, soon we will all be in New York. That couldn’t have worked out better if we’d tried.” I squeeze Nell in our side-on hug.
I don’t miss the sad look that covers Nell’s features. I make a mental note to check in with her and find out what’s going on.
