Page 237 of Diego

Then his eyes narrow.

“What the hell happened?”

Nobody answers immediately.

Mario rises. “Later. Do we have a baby?”

Lorenzo’s suspicion disappears beneath a smile so immediate that every person in the waiting area knows the answer before he says it.

“We have a baby, a daughter.”

Victoria makes a soft sound beside Mario, and Julia’s face lights up.

Edoardo stares at his father. “A girl?”

“A girl.”

Lorenzo laughs then, tired and completely happy, and I realize I have never heard him sound quite like that before.

“What’s her name?” Ricardo asks.

Lorenzo looks around at all of us.

“Aria.”

Everyone takes in the name for a second before they start moving.

Edoardo reaches his father first and pulls him into a hug that Lorenzo returns hard. Alessio follows almost immediately, and for a moment the three of them are tangled together while Mario and Ricardo move in behind them.

“Congratulations,” Mario says, gripping Lorenzo’s shoulder.

Ricardo hugs him next. “How’s Donna?”

“Exhausted. Happy. She did great.” Lorenzo looks toward his sons again, still smiling. “Aria’s perfect.”

Victoria is crying now, though she is trying not to wake Leonardo while she wipes at her face. Julia leans against Dante with Cecilia still asleep against him, and Matteo and Tomasso are already asking when they can see the baby.

I stay where I am for a moment and watch them.

A few hours ago, all of us were wondering whether we would make it safely out of Diego’s house.

Now there is a new baby upstairs.

Aria.

Diego’s arm comes around me, drawing me closer against his side.

I look up at him.

He is watching Lorenzo and his brothers with a smile, but then his gaze drops to me, and his hand settles over my stomach.

I cover it with mine.

For once, there is nothing frightening about thinking ahead.

Tonight, the baby is safe.

I am safe.