But for now, we had his sister’s delivery to deal with, and thankfully that also provided a great distraction for us.
We arrived at the hospital, and while he rushed to Rebecca’s room, I held back a few minutes. Deep down I knew staggering our arrivals wouldn’t throw her off in the least, mainly because just five minutes after leaving my apartment we’d received another text from Rebecca that read: Get your asses over here!
She absolutely knew. Cooper would need to take the wheel, though, because clearly I wasn’t ready to drive.
Ten minutes later, I stepped through the mechanical doors leading to maternity to see a grinning Marco in Cooper’s embrace.
“There he is,” Marco said over Cooper’s shoulder. “She has arrived.”
“It’s over?” Well, that attested to Rebecca’s last panicky text. “That was quick.”
“Si. We barely made it here,” he admitted with a weary expression. “We had to rush Antonio over to our neighbor’s place. I swear I thought she was going to give birth in my Mercedes.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the look on his face. “Told you not to go with the cream leather.”
“Eh… I’d buy a new car. More important my wife and daughter sono buoni.”
“I’m glad they’re doing well. What’s her name?”
His dark-brown eyes welled up from my question. “Liliana Ella, for our mothers.” I’d seen my friend ecstatic many times in his life, but never had I seen this level of raw emotion on his face.
“You’re screwed, man,” I admitted with a grin. He nodded knowingly as I added, “Congratulations!” I leaned in to give my best friend a one-armed bro hug while my eyes connected with Cooper’s… and held even after separating from Marco.
As Marco ran a hand over his face to compose himself, his focus bounced between Cooper and me. “Everything okay?”
We both responded at the same time, Cooper saying, “Of course,” and me barking, “Why wouldn’t it be?”
Marco raised one brow while responding, “Va bene. Solo per essere sicuro.” Okay. Just making sure.
Even though Cooper seemed confused, I chose to ignore Marco’s concern and instead asked brashly, “Are we going to stand here all day and watch you cry?”
Marco knew me well enough to know my lack of patience just confirmed our guilt. And with a shake of his head, he waved us toward Rebecca’s room. “Let’s go meet my principessa.”
When Cooper met my eye, it was hard to tell what ran through his mind… until he winked. Panicked, I grabbed his wrist just before we entered Rebecca’s room. “What are you going to do?”
“Nothing… unless she asks.”
What the hell was happening?
“What happened to not being ready for her to know about us? Were you abducted by aliens on the way here?” Or in the past four months?
“Maybe.” He gave me a casual shrug. “Is me being honest a problem?”
“That depends on what your version of honesty is.” His hazel eyes narrowed, and I felt like we’d reversed roles in the past hour. Running my hand through my hair, I added for good measure, “Jesus Christ, Cooper. We haven’t even talked about what is happening between us.”
My response seemed to offend him, but dammit, it wasn’t long ago when he was hell-bent denying what I suspected. This awakening of his was complicated. If what he looked for was a quick fix to a whole load of confusion, I wasn’t willing to be the guinea pig in that scenario. Yeah, okay… he’d admitted it was me he wanted, but so what? Maybe he was searching for someone to trust, and once he gained confidence, his floodgates would open his mind and his ability to see men in a new light.
It was one thing for Rebecca to suspect, an entirely different thing if he confirmed. Whatever it was we were doing would be defined, and I hadn’t prepared myself for that when I’d left my apartment twenty minutes ago.
“Look. I just think you’re caught up in the aftershocks and you may regret admitting to something you are yet to fully understand yourself.”
He stared long and hard into my eyes before wordlessly disappearing into Rebecca’s room.
It took a few seconds for my feet to move as I robotically followed. While holding her daughter, Rebecca had said, “I can handle it, Cooper,” before seeing me and going silent.
“Everything okay?”
Rebecca nodded with a strained smile. “Absolutely.” Her mechanical response caused the human lie-detector trait that Marco always accused me of possessing to click on. “Come meet her.”
After kissing Rebecca’s forehead, I peeked at the pink bundle in her arms. “She looks just like Antonio.”
“With a lot more hair,” Rebecca said before pulling off the little knit cap on her daughter’s head.
Marco ran a soft palm over his baby’s chestnut lofty locks. “She’s bellissima.”
“She is gorgeous. You need to keep having babies. But this one came too fast. I didn’t have time to pick up flowers or a bear.” I flipped my gaze from Rebecca to Marco. “Or a bottle of hard liquor for you.”
“For now, I’ll settle for a strong espresso. Come get a cup of coffee with me,” Marco said out of the blue, and that was my cue that the siblings needed to talk without me present.
After getting a double espresso for himself and an iced latte for me, Marco motioned toward an empty table in a far corner of the cafeteria.
Once we sat across from one another, he jumped right to the point. “I’m worried.”
“So am I,” I admitted without argument. “But you first. Why specifically?”
“I’m worried Cooper’s life will never be the same.” Just as my mouth flapped open to speak, he raised a palm. “Non ho finito.”
“Okay, finish.”
“I’m also worried about Rebecca,” he continued. “She wants you and her brother to be happy, and she’s only focusing on things working out. But if things don’t, she’ll be crushed.” I nodded along, even though he bounced between English and Italian… something he did when frustrated. “As is,” he continued, “she’s beating herself up for not seeing the signs with Cooper.”
“That’s ridiculous. Cooper didn’t see the signs himself. Your wife needs to—” Marco’s hand rose again, this time in a silent reprimand, and I, sighing, waited for him to finish.
“And… I’m worried about you. You are like a brother to me. I want to see you happy.”
“That’s a whole lot of worry.” When he wasn’t impressed with my dazzling smile, I changed tactics. “Look… I wish I could negate any one of those points, but they are all valid. Unfortunately, I don’t have a crystal ball that can predict the future. I don’t know what will happen.” The scowl on his face wasn’t at all surprising. “You of all people know there are no guarantees, Marco.”
He conceded with an unconvincing nod, and then he said, “You’ve changed.” I couldn’t blame him for his frank admission. I had changed. “Less wayward and more grounded.”