“What are you saying?” Bastian finally asks, sounding off, not quite himself.
“I’m pregnant.”
EPILOGUE 3
VITTORIA
Five Months Later
* * *
The Naples house is feeling more and more like home. Emma’s toys and books are scattered throughout, and she is adjusting so well. She’s enrolled in school, and her speaking is progressing by leaps and bounds. And she’s easily picking up Italian. It helps that the brothers speak Italian with her while Nana and I stick to English.
The villa at Ravello has been sold, and I’m glad. I don’t want Emma to see it again. To remember what happened there. And Nora still has nightmares of what she witnessed in that house.
It’s a bright, clear morning, and I take a deep breath in. I love it here in Italy. I understand why my dad wanted so badly to come back.
The cemetery is deserted so early in the morning. Fog curls low around the gravestones, and I hug my wool jacket closer, putting a hand on my softly rounded belly. I walk toward my father’s grave.
When I reach it, I crouch down in the soft, damp earth. I wipe mud from a recent storm off the carving of his name and pick the dandelions growing in the thick grass. I didn’t bring flowers, so I lay those in a sort of bouquet. He would smile down on me to see it, but I doubt he’s smiling today. He knows why I’m here.
I straighten and think about the man I knew, and tears warm my eyes. I hope he is at peace.
I don’t know if Amadeo and Bastian realize how much it meant to me that they let me rebury my father. It symbolizes the closing of a chapter for me. I will mourn my father. I will miss him. And I accept that there are things I will never learn about him. But in a way, I don’t want to know. Maybe that’s cowardice on my part but it is the truth and it’s the best I can do right now.
But there is one more thing.
I won’t come back here after today. I can’t. Burying my father properly will be my final act as his daughter. Now I am no longer that. I am Amadeo and Bastian’s wife. Because I meant it about closing this chapter. His grave will be looked after. Fresh flowers delivered weekly. I arranged for it all. But anything else, after all that’s happened, all that could have been prevented, I can’t without feeling like I’m betraying those I love, those who are living.
“I love you, Daddy. I’ll try to remember you as you were to me. And I will miss you,” I tell him and let my tears drop into the earth. Do I forgive him? I don’t know. From inside my coat pocket, I take out his ring. It’s heavy in my hand. I set it on top of his grave, then lay my hand on the cool stone. “Goodbye.”
Without a word, the brothers come to stand on either side of me. I don’t look at them, not yet. This was my idea, not theirs. They wouldn’t have asked this of me.
A cool wind blows and a wisp of hair slips from its pins. It’s only here this happens. Nowhere else do the dropped leaves of this early fall day rustle. Just around us. Goose bumps rise on my arms, and I slip my hands into Amadeo’s and Bastian’s.
I don’t know what my father wants to say as we turn and walk back toward our waiting SUV. Was it that he understands my decision? I’m going to think so. And as we climb into the back of the vehicle and Amadeo draws the seat belt over my shoulder, taking care to tuck it under my swelling belly, I feel her. For the first time, I feel our baby.
I must gasp because both Amadeo and Bastian stop.
“Dandelion?” Bastian asks. He hasn’t stopped calling me that, but I don’t mind.
I smile and nod as I set my hand over the spot where I feel it again. It’s the lightest touch. A flutter of butterfly wings almost. It’s gone as quickly as it came, and I turn to the brothers in turn.
“We’ll name her Hannah,” I say.
They exchange a glance. “Might be a boy,” Amadeo says.
I shake my head. “She’s a girl. And her name is going to be Hannah.”
Amadeo tucks that strand of hair that blew away behind my ear and kisses my temple. “Hannah.”
Bastian brushes his thumb under my eye and looks at me with those burning amber eyes.
“I like Hannah. But let’s all agree. If it’s a boy, it’s Bastian.”
We all laugh as the driver pulls out of the cemetery gates and we head home, together. Where I plan on living happily ever after with the men I love. The men I can’t live without.
BONUS EPILOGUE
VITTORIA
The Birth of Hannah
* * *
Emma and I are sitting on the patio, and she is reading to me from The Gruffalo. I’m not sure if she’s actually reading or has memorized the text since we’ve read it so much for so many years, but I don’t care. Her voice is music to my ears.
I rub my lower back as another contraction hits. They’ve been coming for days, but the doctor’s assistant thought they were Braxton Hicks. Bastian insisted we go in and see the doctor rather than talk to the assistant, but I’ve put it off partly because I’m not sure I’m ready to let the baby go yet. Let her out of my control because right now, she’s mine. No one can touch her. No one can hurt her.
I realize how that sounds. I know the brothers will never allow anything to happen to any of us, but I just want to keep her with me a little longer.
We won’t find out if she’s Amadeo’s or Bastian’s. It’s a decision we made the night I told them I was pregnant.
Another contraction comes on the heels of the last one and I’m wondering if Bastian was right. If I should have seen the doctor. Neither he nor Amadeo loved the doctor’s assistant, but they are overprotective, to say the least. I justified by telling them that my next appointment is in a few days and it’s too early to deliver. Although technically, the baby is eight months along so it could happen.
Emma stops reading, sensing my discomfort even as I try not to show it. She puts the book aside and rubs my hard, round stomach.
“Is baby coming?” she asks.
“Not yet,” I tell her as I straighten up and reach for my cup of tea on the table beside us. I almost have it to my mouth when another contraction worse than any I’ve had before hits. This time, I feel a warm gush of liquid between my legs, and my eyes go wide.
Emma’s head tilts as she watches me.
“Vittoria?” she asks, worried.
I try to stand but double over with pain as water drips down my thighs.
“Get them,” I tell her, trying not to scare her but failing as she bolts off her seat and runs inside.
I take a step to follow her, but the pain that comes with the next one is so sharp that I grab the table with both hands and squeeze my eyes shut.
“Vittoria!” It’s Amadeo, followed closely by Bastian. They reach me at the same time and take hold of me before my knees give way from the pain.
“Call the doctor!” Bastian yells to Nora who appears at the door with Emma. I catch a glimpse of Emma’s worried face. “Mom, call the doctor. Tell her Vittoria’s water broke. We’re going to the hospital.”