Chapter 40 #2
"I'd crawl through fire for you." His hands tighten on my face.
"I'd burn down the whole fucking world. I'd kill everyone who ever looked at you wrong.
I'd—" He stops, choking on the words. "I'd do anything.
Anything. Just please don't leave me. Please don't take our baby and go.
I know I don't deserve you. I know I'm not the man you should have married.
But I can't—I can't do this without you anymore. I don't want to."
I kiss him.
It's messy and wet and tastes like salt from both our tears. His hands shake against my face. My fingers tremble in his hair. We're both broken and crying and clinging to each other like the world might end if we let go.
"I'm not going anywhere," I whisper against his mouth. "I love you. I chose you. I'm staying."
He makes a sound that might be a sob or a laugh or both. His arms wrap around me carefully, mindful of my injuries, and he buries his face in my neck.
"I love you," he says again, muffled against my skin. "I love you. I love you."
He keeps saying it. Over and over. Like he's making up for every time he didn't say it before. Like he needs to fill the silence of all those months when he pushed me away.
I hold him while he falls apart in my arms.
Bruno
I hold her until my arms ache. Until the tears dry on both our faces. Until the trembling in her body finally stills.
She's alive. Our baby is alive. Nothing else matters.
Antonella shifts against me, her fingers tracing lazy patterns on my shoulder. Her breathing has evened out, but she's not sleeping. I can tell by the way her body stays tense, alert.
"Bruno?"
"Hmm?"
"At the basement." She pauses. Her hand stills on my shoulder. "When you came through that door. I thought I saw—"
She stops. Shakes her head slightly.
"What?" I pull back enough to look at her face. "What did you see?"
"Nothing. I was probably hallucinating from the head injury." She laughs, but it sounds uncertain. "For a moment I thought you were standing."
I stare at her. She stares back. Those green eyes search my face, looking for something. Confirmation. Denial. I don't know.
"Standing?" I keep my voice neutral. "That's quite a hallucination."
"I know." She bites her lip. "It was stupid. The pain and the fear and everything—my brain was probably just showing me what I wanted to see."
"What you wanted to see?"
"You. Walking through that door like some avenging angel." She smiles, but it's sad. "Ridiculous, right?"
I should tell her. I should have told her months ago. But I wanted it to be perfect. Wanted to walk to her at my coronation, surprise her, prove that I'm not the broken man she married.
Except she almost died today. She almost died thinking I couldn't walk. Thinking she'd imagined it.
Fuck perfect.
"Antonella."
"What?"
I release her carefully, making sure she's settled against the pillows. Then I grip the armrests of my wheelchair and push myself up.
My legs scream. Every muscle burns. The pain is worse than it's ever been—the rescue mission destroyed whatever progress I'd made. But I don't care.
I stand.
Antonella's face goes white.
Her mouth falls open. Her eyes go wide. She looks like someone just told her the sky is green and water flows upward.
"Bruno." My name comes out as a whisper. "You're—you're standing."
"Surprise." I manage a smirk despite the agony shooting through my spine. "Not a hallucination after all."
"How—when—" She can't form complete sentences. Her hands fly to her mouth. "Oh my God. Bruno. You're standing."
"I wanted to surprise you." I take a breath, fighting to keep my balance. My legs shake. Sweat breaks out on my forehead. "At the coronation. I was going to walk to you in front of everyone. Show you that I'm not—that I can be—"
The words tangle in my throat.
"I'm not ready yet," I admit. "I mean, I overpassed myself tonight yes, but I'm working on it. Every day. Valentino's been helping me train in secret."
Antonella stares at me. Tears stream down her face again, but she's smiling. Laughing and crying at the same time.
"You absolute bastard." She chokes on a sob. "You've been hiding this from me for how long?"
"Months."
"Months!" She throws a pillow at me. It bounces off my chest. "I've been worried about you. Trying to make you feel better about the wheelchair. And this whole time you've been secretly learning to walk again?"
"I wanted it to be perfect."
"Perfect." She laughs, wiping her eyes. "You almost gave me a heart attack. I'm pregnant and injured and you decide now is the time to reveal you can stand?"
"Seemed appropriate."
"You're impossible." But she's smiling. Really smiling. The kind of smile that lights up her whole face and makes my chest ache. "Get over here."
My legs won't hold much longer. I can feel them starting to buckle. But I take one step. Then another. The distance between my wheelchair and her bed is only a few feet, but it feels like miles.
I make it.
I collapse onto the edge of her mattress, my legs giving out completely. But I'm here. Next to her. Close enough to touch.
Antonella reaches for me. Her hands cup my face, her thumbs brushing over my cheekbones. Fresh tears spill down her cheeks.
"You walked to me," she whispers.
"Told you I would."
"You're going to walk at the coronation."
"That's the plan."
"You're going to walk our baby down to school someday."
My throat tightens. I hadn't thought that far ahead. Hadn't let myself imagine a future beyond the next few months. But she's right. If I keep working, keep fighting, keep pushing through the pain—
"Yeah." My voice comes out rough. "I am."
She pulls me down and kisses me.
I sink into it. Into her. My hand finds her stomach again, pressing gently against the place where our baby grows.
"I love you," I murmur against her lips.
"I love you too." She pulls back just enough to look at me. Her green eyes shine with tears, but she's smiling. "Even if you are a secretive bastard who almost gave his pregnant wife a cardiac event."
"You married me."
"Worst decision of my life."
"Liar."
She laughs. The sound fills the sterile clinic room, chasing away the shadows and the fear and the memory of that basement.
I kiss her again.