Chapter 7
Francesca
“M arcello looks just like Carlo. Don't you think?” Giselle asked, rocking one of the babies in her arms.
“I guess there's a reason for that, sweetheart,” Stefan said. He held the other baby. He was currently sitting up in bed. Something he hadn't been able to do for the last three days.
After our little—incident, Stefan had to be given a plethora of medications. And a minor surgery. As it turned out, fooling around so soon after being shot was a bad thing.
Who'd have known?
Sigh.
He was back on oxygen as well. And he also had to have a few stitches redone.
All in all, our little—big—make-out session had caused him a ton of damage.
Giselle's head turned, and she spotted me. “Francesca,” she said like we were old friends. “Can you do me a favor? We're leaving soon, and I'd like to use the ladies room. Could you look after this little guy for me, please? I'll be quick, I promise.”
There really was only one answer to that. “Sure,” I said and walked up to her.
She handed the baby off to me and said, “Thank you.” Then she dashed out of the room.
“Hi,” Stefan said, but I couldn't tell if he was speaking to me or the baby. Either way, I stayed quiet.
He hadn't said much to me since the night he'd come all over my belly. And then practically died right after.
He mostly slept. The medications likely made him groggy. He hadn't yelled at anyone since then, either.
“Are you okay with holding him?” I asked. The stroller was here. I could always put one of them in there if he were too tired to hold the baby.
“I'm fine,” was all he said. He talked to the baby in a calm voice. And with a smile on his face. He seemed more than comfortable around him. I wondered then if Stefan had any babies of his own. If so, I wondered if they had his dark hair and broody eyes. Or his sharp, movie star chin.
But I wasn't going to ask. Not right now.
I wasn't sure what the protocol was for talking to someone who'd blown their load all over your belly and then scooped it up and tried to insert it inside of you. And then nearly died right after.
I figured I'd let him make the first move. Seeing as I didn't know where we stood.
I mean, I knew we weren't boyfriend and girlfriend.
The guy was way older than me. He must be in his mid-thirties. I was only twenty-three. He likely wasn't looking for a girlfriend. Or not one like me, anyway. I had my own problems. That didn't include mysterious men getting gunshot wounds to their chests.
I hadn't asked him how he'd gotten hurt. Whatever had happened, Giselle seemed to think that bullet was meant for her.
None of this was my business. And quite honestly, I didn't want anything to do with them if it came with bullets and chest wounds.
No, thank you.
I had my own pile of steaming crap to deal with. I didn't need to take on anyone else's.
“Are you still mad at me?” Stefan asked the baby. I thought that was a pretty dumb question to ask an infant.
The baby in my arms was starting to wriggle around. His little face was getting red, too.
“Francesca,” Stefan said, making me look over at him. His eyes were now directly on me.
“What?” I asked in a clipped tone. One that I didn't really mean to use. But I was trying to figure out what this baby needed. And I couldn't tell. For one thing, I only had one sibling. And she was exactly the same age as I was. I'd never been around tiny babies like this. Never even babysat.
Looking after my dad and my sister was enough of a chore when I was growing up.
“Are you still mad at me?”
I blinked and tilted my head. Then I frowned. “Why would I be mad at you?” My mind raced with what the heck he was talking about. And I couldn't come up with anything.
Stefan sighed but held my eyes with his. “After the other night?”
I put the baby against my chest and rocked him, hoping he'd settle that way. “You mean when you almost died? Again?”
Stefan chuckled and shook his head. “I didn't almost die. I popped a few stitches. That's it.”
Now it was my turn to shake my head at him. “Yeah, internal stitches and you started bleeding again.”
He shrugged and held his finger out to the baby. He grabbed on tight. It was sweet—Stefan's big finger and the baby's tiny fist grabbing it. So cute.
“They sewed me back up again. I'm as good as new.” He smiled at me.
“You had to have emergency surgery. Again. You shouldn't have been doing—” I started to get all flustered, “what you were doing.”
He laughed quietly and said, “I was having a great fucking time.”
Heat rose to my cheeks before I could fully process what he'd just said. In an instant, my nipples were hard.
Gosh.
I was weak.
“You're in the hospital for a reason, Stefan. And that is not something you should be doing under the circumstances.”
His eyes dragged down my body and back up again. “Was that the first time anyone's made you come?”
My.
Jaw.
Dropped.
Was this guy for real?
“Is this an appropriate topic around babies?” I snapped at him, even though what I really wanted to do was put both of the babies in the stroller and kiss Stefan.
“They don't understand a word we're saying.”
I frowned at him and switched the baby to my other shoulder. He was starting to fuss around. I hoped Giselle came back soon.
“Answer my question,” he asked, but I ignored him. I patted the baby's back and walked around the room a bit. That only seemed to make it worse.
The poor little guy started wailing.
Yikes.
“Bring him over here. You take this one,” Stefan suggested. I didn't think that was a good idea.
“So you can rip more stitches? I don't think so.” I frowned at him and added a little bounce to my walk.
The baby didn't dig that either.
“The nurses are going to come in and give us shit. Bring him over here,” Stefan ordered again. But there was no way I was going to do that.
Nope.
Stefan wasn't going to have emergency surgery again.
“He's fine,” I said right back. I wasn't sure if he heard me over the screaming, though.
A minute later, someone strode through the door.
Holy crap.
It was the lumberjack.
“I'll take him,” Carlo said, stepping up to me. I handed the baby over gratefully.
“Sorry, I don't think he likes me.”
Carlo's eyes landed on mine, and he grinned. “He likes you. He just likes his brother more. Watch this.” He jerked his head toward the stroller and set the screaming infant in there. Then he walked up to Stefan and whisked the baby away from him.
As soon as he laid the second baby beside the first—the first one quieted.
Instantly.
Carlo gazed over at me. “See? Magic.” He winked at me, and I shivered. I didn't feel bad about doing it.
Carlo was extremely hot. I bet he made dozens of women shiver like that every day. Giselle was one lucky woman.
“Didn't I tell you to stay the fuck away?” Stefan's voice cut short the little flirty moment I had with Carlo.
Carlo straightened and set his hands on his hips. “Do you really think I'm letting my wife travel to the city with my babies by herself?”
Stefan didn't have a response for that, it seemed.
Apparently, Carlo did. “You look like shit.”
I had to stifle a giggle. Carlo wasn't wrong, though. Stefan really did look terrible.
“Thanks. You can go now.” Stefan brushed him off with his hand.
There was a minute of silence in the room where nobody said a thing. Not even the babies.
“The girls are worried sick about you. So are we. Dani's been crying. She wants to know where her uncle Stefan is.”
Stefan swallowed but didn't say anything.
“I'm sorry how things went down. But you know damn well you'd have done the same thing.” He pointed at Stefan's chest. “But that is not my fault.
That is—our—fault. And you know it. I thank God every night that you were there to take it instead of my wife.
You gotta stop this shit between us. We're brothers. This is not how things are supposed to be.” Then he pointed at his two sons in the stroller.
“Like them. See? They can't be without each other. I need my brother back.” Carlo's voice cracked at the end, and I decided I'd been eavesdropping for far too long.
I turned around and rushed out of there.
As soon as I stepped out into the hall, I saw Giselle standing there, leaning against the wall. She looked up and waved me over.
I walked down the hall wondering why she was there and not inside with her family.
She grabbed my arm with her soft hand. “They need to talk this out. It's literally ripping me up inside.”
I bit my lip and turned more fully to her. “I'm sorry. I don't mean to intrude. This is a family matter. I really shouldn't be discussing this.”
Her eyes flashed to mine, and she pushed off the wall and hugged me.
“Yes, you should. Stefan cares for you. And that's reason enough.”
My body froze, and I said, “He does not. I'm just—” I started to explain, but she cut me off.
“I was here that night,” she whispered. “I came back in to ask Stefan something and I saw you two in bed.”
I gasped slightly and tried to push away from her. But she held me close. “You two were beautiful together. Stefan cares for you. I can tell. Evie and I are looking forward to bringing you into the fold.”
Into the fold? Into the fold? What the heck did she mean—into the fold?
“With all due respect, Giselle. Your fold seems to include gunshots and gunshot wounds to the chest. This is not the kind of fold I want or need.”
She let go of me and backed up against the wall again. “That wasn't Stefan's fault. It was mine. And it won't happen again. That threat is—” her eyes dropped down for a few seconds and then back up to me, “gone.”
The look on her face when she said “gone” was full of—relief?
And probably a dozen other things.
Even so, I didn't want to know. This was not my problem.
“I think you have the wrong idea here. I can see how you'd be mistaken. But this—” I pointed in the direction of Stefan's room, “is not what it seems.”