Chapter Forty-Two-Luc
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO-LUC
A fter dismissing the doctor, I say goodbye to Maria’s mother and dip my chin in Joe’s direction as they take their leave.
They come every day. Now that Matteo is no longer a threat, Maria’s mother can visit as often as she likes.
And she has been by every day with the guards I provide and Joe. I think he has real feelings for her, and that just goes to show you, love knows no age.
It doesn’t discriminate. And it can happen everywhere.
Fuck. I make love sound like a rash.
I never said I was a poet. Anyway, it’s been seventy-two hours since her surgery. I haven’t slept a wink.
How can I?
My sweet girl risked her life for me. I can’t rest until I look into her beautiful eyes, and I tell her what she did, what it all means.
Goddamn it. Why isn’t she awake?
Maria should be awake by now.
“Hey, Baby Girl, I miss you so much,” I say, taking her hand in mine. “Listen to me. I need you to open your pretty eyes. Come on. Open them. Do it for me. I need to see you. Please, Maria.”
I should feel ridiculous. My girl is unconscious and I’m over here begging her to wake up.
As if I could pull something like that off.
Doesn’t matter. I still have to try.
Ever since she got shot, it’s like the sun went black. Everything good and light has just up and disappeared.
Nico understands. He’s handling the search for Sanchez Junior just fine while I stay right fucking here.
I have feelers out. It isn’t like I’m dormant.
But I’ve been spending most of my time holding Maria’s hand and reading Dante in the original Italian to her.
I know how she likes it when I do that while I’m wearing my glasses.
I drop my forehead to the bed, praying to whatever God might be out there, listening to bring her back to me.
And I guess they were listening, because the next thing I know, she’s squeezing my hand back.
I look up, and I see her face.
“Maria? Oh, thank God. Thank fucking God. Oh, Baby Girl, I missed you so much,” I tell her, and I feel like my heart might explode with emotion.
Maria’s blinking her eyes, and she’s trying to smile, but I can tell she’s uncomfortable.
“Here,” I say, and I hold a straw to her lips.
S he takes a long sip and sighs.
“Luc,” she whispers, after she is finished drinking.
“Hi,” I tell her, brushing back her hair.
“Are you okay?” she mouths, her voice still too hoarse to make much sound.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Because of you, I’m okay,” I say, and I drop a soft kiss on her lips.
“Goddamn it, Baby. You had me so worried,” I say and carefully wrap her in my embrace, watchful of her injury.
“You crazy woman. You will never do anything like that again, got it? I fucking love you so much and I almost lost you, and I just can’t do that again,” I tell her and I know I am rambling, but I can’t stop.
It’s like someone opened the floodgates and all my feelings are pouring out of my mouth.
I cup her cheeks lift my face so I can see her. Tears are streaming from her eyes, and my breath hitches and I know I am crying too.
“You love me?” she says, the last word comes out completely silent.
“Of course, I love you. How can I help but love you, my Baby Girl?”
Now, she’s smiling and crying at the same time.
There is a storm raging outside the hospital room. Her eyes flick to it, and I grin.
“It’s been raining since you got shot,” I tell her just as a lion’s roar of thunder shakes the sky.
Lightning crashes and I stare at her.
“Will they let me leave soon?” she asks.
The answer is yes. If the doctor says it's safe, of course.
But before we settle that, we have things to discuss.
“We need to talk,” I tell her, taking her hands.
She looks at me, curious, and maybe a little bit wary.
“Your mother wants you to go home with her.
“What? But?—”
“Let me finish. Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Maria. I just can't do this?—”
But before I can finish my sentence, she is shaking her head and clutching at me.
“Luc, please. I know I lied in the beginning. But I love you. We can work it out. Please, don’t send me away,” she says, tears in her eyes, and it is breaking my heart.
Another boom of thunder, and she gasps. But her eyes are on me.
The misery I see there is all because she thinks I am sending her away.
God, I love her so much.
I'm not saying what she thinks I'm saying. So, I clarify.
“Send you away? Baby Girl, I am not sending you away. I respectfully told your mother no.”
“What? I thought you meant you were leaving me,” she whispers. And I cup her cheeks and kiss her quickly.
She doesn’t have the strength to do what I want to do to her. So I have to keep it short.
“It’s been a rough couple of days, and I'm not good with words right now.
“Imagine that? A lawyer who’s no good with words,” she teases, but her eyes are still full of tears.
“Look, I’m trying to say I can't be your fucking boyfriend. I can't be somebody you can leave. I need you to belong to me and I wanna belong to you.”
She gasps and covers her mouth with her hand.
But I need to see her, so I pull it down.
It’s a totally domineering dick thing to do. But I can’t help it.
I want nothing between us when I say this.
No more lies. No more miscommunication.
This woman is more important to me than my own life. And it’s time she knows it,
“When I said I can't do this, I meant I can't do anything without you. I love you. Do you hear me? I am so fucking in love with you. So, no more boyfriend and girlfriend. And, with all due respect to your mother, you are never living with her again. You are never living anywhere but with me, you got it?”
Her big beautiful eyes are still swimming with tears even as she laughs at that.
“So, what are you saying?”
“The only thing I can say. You’re going to marry me. You’re going to be my wife, and I’m going to be your husband. Now, look at me with those beautiful almond eyes of yours and tell me what I already know.”
“You’re serious?” she asks.
As if I could be anything but.
This woman.
“Tell me you’re mine. Say yes, you will marry me, Baby Girl, and make me the happiest man in the world.”
“Yes. Oh, yes,” she says, and I kiss her once gently before I call for Preacher to come in.
“Sign this,” I tell Maria, handing her a marriage license and a change of name form.
She does without reading them.
Maria signs both forms, and my heart is pounding.
“Wait. My name is Mia though,” she says, and she frowns.
She is right to frown. That name doesn’t suit her.
It’s not hers anymore. Back when she was Mia, she wasn’t mine. So no, that’s no fucking name for my wife .
“Nuh uh. That second form is a change of name form. You’re my Maria. Maria Batiste , now.”
Another bossy dick move, but my girl doesn’t seem to mind.
That’s the name she used when I met her. It’s how I know her. And it is who she has become.
Mine. All fucking mine.
She smiles even wider, and a ray of light seems to wash over her face. Just like that, the sun is back out.
“Are you ready for me, Mr. Batiste?” Preacher asks and walks in the room with Nico and Angel behind him.
I pluck a rose from one of the dozens of arrangements I’ve had delivered to her room, and I hand it to her.
“Yeah. We’re ready,” I say, and I hold her other hand as Preacher marries us.
My blood brothers stand in silent witness as Preacher marries us. Maria is beaming.
And when she says I do, I feel complete for the first time in my life.
“We’ll do it again with people. Have a party,” I say, suddenly feeling guilty for robbing her of that in my need to bind her to me.
“This is perfect, Luc. All I want is you,” she tells me.
And she’s right. This is perfect.
Christ, I love her.