37. Vincenzo
Vincenzo
My mind swirls with everything that I know about Anna’s periods. It’s not uncommon for her cycle to be a little off, but she’s never had cramps like this, not ever. At least that I know of. I don’t know what else ultrasounds rule out, but I do know they’re used for pregnancy.
Everyone but Anna seems to be concerned about that. The nurse walks in and starts asking Anna questions as she sets up the ultrasound machine and then places a large white blanket over Anna’s lower body. “Any differences in how you feel? Nausea, increase or decrease in your appetite?”
She shakes her head.
The tightness in my chest gets worse. What if she is pregnant and all the stress of the day is causing her to lose the baby? “Anna’s been eating more than normal.”
Anna’s eyes go to mine, she looks pitying, likes she pities me for thinking she may be pregnant, when she knows she can’t possibly be, but Ma’s had five of us kids.
She wouldn’t say it if she didn’t think it was a very real possibility and the doctor sure as shit wouldn’t be wasting our time looking for something he didn’t believe may be there.
The nurse puts a clear gel on a wand and hands it to the good doctor before turning back to Anna. “Any soreness, vaginally, in your breasts, any changes to size or shape?”
Anna shakes her head, looking more tired than in pain now.
Now my heart is racing with the very real possibility that Anna may have just lost a pregnancy that she never thought she could have. My voice cuts through the emotion. “Her breasts are getting larger. I thought it was the result of her eating more.”
The doctor pulls out a fucking set of stirrups on the bed and guides my wife’s feet to each of them. “You’re going to feel my hand at your thigh, and then coolness as I insert the wand. It will show us what we need to see.”
I swear to God this doctor better hope to hell he’s got a very good reason for putting that fucking wand inside of my wife. “What are you looking for,” I growl.
If he doesn’t tell me something soon, I’m going to choke the fucking life right out of him but the doctor and nurse exchange a look as they watch the screen.
They know something we don’t.
I’ve spent a lifetime reading the faces of those who would lie right to my face, try to deceive me or pass off a bluff when they thought they could.
But every single one of them had a tell and the nurse and doctor do too.
My hands fist at my side and the doctor doesn’t keep us in suspense any longer.
“Mr. DeLuca, there are definite signs of a pregnancy. At first, I thought it may be ectopic based on the extent of the pain but that’s not what I’m seeing.”
I squeeze Anna’s hand as her eyes widen with disbelief and have to put my knee on the chair next to her and hold on firmly to the bedrail to keep steady on my feet.
Pregnant with my child. Nothing could have prepared me for this tonight.
A tiny little person that we made, coming into this world.
Our child. I squeeze Anna’s hand as her eyes flood with tears of joy, and she smiles up at me like the angel that she is.
But the doctor and nurse pass a look between them again that makes my throat tighten with an emotion I’ve never felt. Fear of the worst fucking kind.
My voice almost cracks. “Pregnant or was pregnant?” I ask, needing an answer but not wanting to hear that Anna has lost our child either.
“The pregnancy is showing signs of cardiac activity. She’s very early in the pregnancy. She’s having a threatened miscarriage which means she’s going to need continuous monitoring, Mr. DeLuca.”
The doctor clears his throat as the nurse turns the monitor toward us. “That little spot,” he says as his nurse points to an area on the screen. “That’s your baby, and that, Mr. and Mrs. DeLuca, is your baby’s heartbeat.”
I’m mesmerized by the screen, unable to even articulate the words to say, something that’s never happened to me in all my days. Anna is in shock, I can see it on her face, but that smile, pure and simple radiance as she watches that screen.
The doctor pulls the wand from my wife and sets it on a silver tray next to him. “I’m going to suggest that you stay here for the night where the staff can keep a very close eye on your wife. I’ll be here all night if anything should arise.”
He walks out into the hall, and I follow him, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and pushing him up against the wall. “Is that it, what about treatment, some medication, whatever she needs. What the fuck am I paying you for?”
The doctor sucks in a deep breath. “Mr. DeLuca, I wish there was more that we can do. We can try to control the pain if needed, but it seems as though that has subsided. She needs to stay calm, keep stress to a minimum and rest. Nature has a way of healing things that even the best schools of medicine cannot teach. Be assured, she is in good hands.”
“I’ll have her moved to the wing reserved for you and your family. You can stay with her if you like.”
I nod, letting my grip of his shirt go. All the power and money in the world and I can’t fucking control this for my wife. She needs peace and quiet, not a life filled with chaos and stress to grow our child.
I suck in a deep breath, knowing I’m going to need to get a grip if I’m going to help Anna through this tonight. I head down to a private room and call Nicolo, who for the first time in forever doesn’t answer his phone.
I hit Saint’s number, and he picks it up but it’s clear he’s out of breath. “What’s happening?”
“Everyone’s under fire, and they’ve got Agosto pinned under heavy guns. Nicolo and the others are there. The fuckers have men downstairs around the casino, too.”
“You make damn sure they don’t get in those doors. I’m heading to the docks.”
“Boss, they want your head. That’s exactly what they want.”
I click off, and don’t even turn around as the door opens and they wheel a sleeping Anna down the hall. “Rest easy, princessa,” I say underneath my breath as I make my way to the exit.
I grab two soldiers. “You and you, with me, and give me one of those extra guns,” I say, taking the automatic in my hands. The pilot’s sitting in the chopper. “Get this bird in the air and take us to the fucking docks.” A war like Atlantic City has never seen is about to ignite.