Chapter 70
Alessandro
21 Weeks Pregnant
“ H ow long has Luci been in there with those letters? I knew I should have read them before she did. She’s pregnant and I cannot let anything stress her out.” I pace up and down the hallway in front of Enzo while Geno is in the bedroom talking with Luci.
Enzo clears his throat before he speaks. “Excuse me if I’m out of line, but those letters are private. I checked them before I gave them to her, making sure she wasn’t in any danger. She’s grieving for people who are alive like you would grieve for someone who died.” Enzo’s never shared any of his past with anyone, including Marco and Domenico, the people he’s closest to, but the haunted expression in his eyes says everything. I don’t get the chance to tell him off or have a repeat of the night in our basement before someone knocks on the door.
I scan my finger and whip the door open, berating Geno the second the door closes. “What the fuck, Geno? Luci is my wife and I’m the one who should be in there!”
Geno turns his head, a stern look on his face. “Well, you weren’t, and I was. Stop acting like a child. Luciana needed to hear some things from me. I don’t want to hear any more yelling from you.”
I grind my jaw, looking at Geno like a petulant child about to stomp his foot before I answer him. “Fine. Can I go in now?”
“If Luciana wants you in there, yes. Now excuse me, I have some work to do.” Geno smirks as he unbuttons the cuffs of his shirt, walking past me to the wing where he stays when he’s here. The moment he’s gone I press my finger to the scanner, impatiently waiting for the door to unlock. Has it always taken this long to open?
“Luci?” Her head whips to me, her hand on her swollen belly and tears falling down her face as she holds one of the letters. “Damnit, I knew I shouldn’t have left you alone while reading them. What do they say? I will hunt them down if they hurt you!” I’m pacing around the room when Luci comes over, placing her hand over mine.
“It’s okay, Alessandro.” The calmness in her voice is the opposite of the green tinge in her eyes and I’m not sure what to think.
“Your tears say otherwise. I should have insisted on reading them before you did. I could have decided if they were worth your time.” As I reach for the letters Luci snatches them, holding them close to her chest.
“No. You don’t get to read them.”
“Why the fuck not? I am your husband. We made a vow to share everything.”
“I need these to be mine. Please?” I can’t tell if she doesn’t want me to read them because of what they say or because of what they don’t say, but she needs this. She needs the words her family has said to her, no matter how kind or brutal they may be, to stay with her.
I place a kiss on her forehead as she leans into my touch, letting me hold her as I swallow my pride. “Okay. Do you want to come back downstairs?”
The slight shine of blue in her eyes as she smiles answers for her. “Please? Our daughter wants cake.”
“You already had cake.”
“Exactly. I had cake. Our daughter did not.”
“Is this that girl math bullshit Marco keeps mentioning?” Luci answers with a kiss on my cheek before knocking on the door, getting Enzo’s attention
Luci and I head downstairs and I notice El and Andrea are still here. I’m assuming Father Angelo left a while ago.
“Welcome back to the hottest married couple around!” Andrea’s eyes could burn a hole through someone before El throws her arms around him and shuts him up. “Oh, my love, I said married couple. We’re not married so I can’t say that about us.” I’m convinced the word subtle isn’t in El’s dictionary. Or it is and she ignores it.
El comes strutting over, steps exaggerated when she walks past Andrea with a piece of cake for our daughter. I’m almost certain Luci is about to snack on that slice of cake with the same enthusiasm I have when I snack on her. Seconds later she lets out a subtle moan, bringing my cock to attention as she does. I lean over from where I am behind her and bring my mouth to the shell of her ear.
“Luci, if you continue to eat cake that way, I will eat that cake off you.” She turns around, focusing on the cake then at me with a smirk. She catches me off guard when she brings her finger through the frosting, swipes it on my neck, and licks it off. Who the fuck is this Luci?
A loud squeal comes from across the room. El’s signature voice reverberates through the room, obsessing over Luci’s actions. Andrea stands behind her, arms wrapped around her center as he kisses her neck.
“That’s my girl! I knew I was a good influence on you! Andrea let’s go get some cake and do that.”
“Anything you want, mon trésor.” El drags Andrea in the direction of where our cake sits. Instantly Luci turns around so fast she might as well have been slapped.
“El, you steal my cake I will break your heels!” Note to self: make sure whatever Luci wants she gets.
El scoffs in response to Luci’s comment, partially impressed and partially insulted. “Fine. Andrea and I will get our own cake.”
“Where’s my cake?” Marco suddenly appears, leaning against the doorway, as cocky as ever.
El sneers at Marco before she answers him. “Uh at the store in the ‘I’m lonely and need to shove this cake in my face to feel better.’ isle.”
“No one fucking asked you El.”
“Actually, you did so fuck off.”
El, who stands at a tiny 4’11” shoves 6’4” Marco out of the way as she drags Andrea out of the house. In return that leaves the three of us in awkward silence until Marco storms off.
Luci turns to me, standing on her toes as she presses a gentle kiss to my lips. When she pulls back, I notice a red journal in her hand. Had she been holding that the whole time?
“What’s that?”
“Geno gave this to me. He said it’s your mamma’s journal and that I should be the one to give it to you.” My heart drops. Gia kept a journal? I take the journal from her, noting the handwriting on the front and the worn edges. Luci places her hands over mine and squeezes tight and our eyes meet.
“Do you want me to leave you alone?” Do I? She needed time to process, and to keep what’s in the letters she received to herself. I’m not sure I can be strong enough to do this alone.
“No. I should read this out loud to you. I think Gia would want me to.”
“Okay. Let’s go to your office.” I’m on autopilot as Luci leads me to my office, her hand and my wedding ring in one and a journal from my mamma in another.
I sit at my desk as she sits in the chair across the way and my heart races in my chest. While grasping the journal in my hands, I flip open the first page and begin.
“Date: May 15th”