Page 87 of In Ruins
“Oh my God! What are you doing here? How are you even here?”
“Wait, let me hang this up before we talk,” she says, pointing to the garment bags she brought with her.
“There are a couple of rooms down the hall past the kitchen. You can put them in one of those,” I direct and she quickly walks away before coming back a few minutes later.
“Let me hand those two their dinners and get ours too before we settle in,” she tells me, going off again. When she comes back, she takes our food out. We have steak and potatoes along with asparagus for dinner tonight.
“Please tell me you at least got some snacks for us too,” I beg.
“Of course. It wouldn’t be girls’ night if we didn’t have some snacks to carry us through the night. Though you’re not allowed to have too much.”
“Damn. Way to suck the fun out of things,” I joke.
“It’s called self-preservation. Your man would kill me if I let you eat too much junk food,” she informs me.
“Yeah, you’re right about that. He takes overprotectiveness to a whole new level.”
“That’s definitely a man in love. Of course, he wants to make sure you’re safe at all times.”
“You look exactly the same. I’ve missed you so much over the last couple of months. I couldn’t even call you because I didn’t have a phone.”
“I missed you, too, sweet cheeks. And don’t worry, I wasn’t expecting you to call. I didn’t think your father would allow that to happen because he’s such a prick,” she huffs. “By the way, you look freaking amazing! I can’t even believe how big your bump has gotten already. May I?”
“Sure,” I reply, after she asks if she can touch my bump.
“Do you know what you’re having yet?”
“Yes…”
“Well, what is it? Don’t keep me in suspense here, woman!” She laughs.
“It’s a girl!”
“Oh my God! I’m so happy for you!” she squeals.
“Thank you,” I tell her, happiness radiating off me in waves.
“Is Enzo happy it’s a girl?” she asks, and I know where she’s coming from. We’ve heard horror stories about some of the men in the Mafia circle. Some of them have beaten their wives or mistresses because they weren’t pregnant with a son.
“He is,” I answer, and can’t help the huge smile that crosses my face.I’m so fucking lucky!
“See?! I told you, you had nothing to worry about by telling him you’re pregnant.”
“Yeah, yeah. You were right, oh great wise one. At the time, I was worried he wouldn’t want to be tied down with a baby, you know? I didn’t even tell him anything. He’s the one who found me and discovered I was pregnant. I was so big already, I couldn’t hide it at all.”
“I know he was looking for you.”
“How?”
“Yeah, I’m about to get to that, Miss Impatient. I guess after he discovered you had vanished, he had Bruno bring me to hisoffice, where he questioned me. Sadly, I didn’t have anything useful to give him. You know your father didn’t let anyone know where he was sending you,” she recounts.
“Yeah, I know. There was nothing else you could have done at the time.”
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t do anything while he was beating you when he found out you were pregnant. I was so worried about you though, wondering if the baby survived, and I’m so fucking happy to see that she did,” she tells me, wiping away some of her tears that have fallen.
“You and me both. I tried to shield my stomach as much as I could, but he just kept kicking and punching. Gosh! That was such a nightmare. When I saw the doctor in Indiana, I was so fucking glad when he said that everything was fine. The relief was so palpable.”
“You have no idea how happy I am for you. No one else deserves this more than you.”
