Page 63 of Sandro

“Are we going to name him?” I asked.

“We probably should at some point. I know we talked about several names, but I really like the name Santino that you suggested.”

I smiled at Sandro. “Still? You don’t think that having a Sandro and a Santino in the family isn’t too close?”

“If you feel that way, you can always call me Alessandro. There is no confusing my given name with Santino. And there are nicknames for it. Most commonly they are called Santi or Tino.”

I sighed. “I don’t know. I like the name, but do we have to use a nickname?”

“No, we don’t.” Sandro got up enough to lean in and kiss me. With him so close, I reached up with one hand and touched his face.

“I don’t ever want to lose you, Sandro. I know that if that were the case, I wouldn’t last long either, but the thought of not having you in my life, I can’t stomach that.”

“I know. I feel the same. I wouldn’t want to go on without you.”

I closed my eyes tightly. “I know we never know when the end is going to come, but now, when I’m so emotional after just having given birth and everything that was going on during that, I’m going to cry if we continue talking like this.” I opened my eyes and wanted to kick myself. I was looking at the world through watery eyes. That wasn’t what I wanted.

“Then we’ll discuss baby Santino. Unless you’d truly like something else? Personally, I like Leonardo, but I know you might not want to use your given name for his name.”

I shook my head. “No. I’d use Sandro before mine, but maybe we should just go with something completely unrelated to anything or anyone.”

“We can certainly do that.”

There was a knock on the outer door, and Sandro glanced toward the bedroom door. If looks could kill, his would be ending someone else at the moment.

“It’s probably Rio again. Or maybe it’s Marcello?” I wasn’t his favorite person. At least, that’s how I felt. But right at the moment, I wouldn’t mind Marcello showing up to let us know that everything had settled out and was taken care of.

“I’ll be right back,” Sandro said. “I won’t be out of sight though.”

I absolutely did not like this even a little. Rio had said everyone was dead that should be, but were they? What if there were more that suddenly appeared? How many men did my grandfather have? Sandro walked over and stood in the doorway between the bedroom and the living area.

“Yes?” he called out. True to his word, I could still very much see him, and now he’d put himself between whoever was on the other side of the outer door and me and little Santino.

I heard someone respond to him, and Sandro’s posture relaxed. He nodded and then turned around and started back toward me and smiled. “Master Vincent is here to see you and the baby. Rio is with him.”

That was unexpected. Well, Master Vincent was. Rio, not so much. Rio came in first, making a quick path toward me and the baby. “How are you feeling? Any pain? I see your little guy is fast asleep.”

I shook my head as I glanced down at Santino. He was the cutest, and I had to assume that he’d fallen fast asleep shortly after Rio had given him to me because of my heartbeat. “No. I’m still feeling pretty numb from the waist down. I think your blocker thing that makes everything feel floating is working really well.”

“I can back that off and start to remove it. I feel terrible that you had to experience any pain at all during your labor. May I check on your omega line?”

“Of course,” I said. I glanced over at Sandro and Master Vincent, who were talking over by the door. “Hey, Rio?” I whispered, and he smiled up at me.

“Yes?”

“I know Sandro tried to get all of the blood off him earlier, and then he delivered the baby and hasn’t taken the time to clean himself up yet.”

“It’s a bit dark in here, so you probably didn’t notice, but I’ve already taken care of helping him clean up as well. Clean lounge pants included.”

“Thank you,” I whispered back.

“Of course.” Rio’s had started glowing green, and when he slowly moved it over Santino and then my lower stomach, he smiled. “You’re doing well. Your body is healing quickly, and you should be able to be up and moving within the hour.”

I yawned just then. “I don’t know that I really want to be up in an hour, but I understand that going to bed isn’t exactly happening anytime soon with everything that’s going on.” I absolutely could fall asleep without issue. But that was wrong, and I knew that the possibility of us having to leave the villa was real.

“I don’t see why you couldn’t be completely settled and asleep in just a bit. The mess out in the villa is clean, and you won’t even know anything happened by looks come morning.” Rio winked at me just before he stood and took a step back. I realized why when Master Vincent and Sandro approached.

“Hello, Master Vincent. I’d get up, but my legs aren’t working at the moment.”