After our breaths slowed, I wrapped my arms around him, using my fingertips to glide along his skin.
“I’m pregnant, Big,” I whispered.
“I’m fucking good, but not that fast, Aphrodite.”
I laughed a little at that. “No, I mean, I’m sure it takes a few minutes, or however long, but I’m pregnant from before. Another time. Probably not long after you were shot. I only took the test this morning, before the wedding.”
He was quiet for a few heartbeats. “You’re pregnant.”
I nodded.
His smile came slow. “You’re going to have my baby.”
I nodded.
Like he’d won the race of his life, he let out awhoopand pulled me to him so hard, he stole my breath. We kissed and kissed and kissed. Until the night faded into morning, and if I wouldn’t have been pregnant, I probably would have been.
CHAPTER27
Mrs. Big
Greece waseverything I dreamed it would be, and I loved how the impossibly-hard-to-describe blue and green water from Italy seemed to flow directly into it, and vice versa, but it was a totally different world once we stepped onto land.
The architecture had a different feel to it, same as the villages, but all still with the welcoming warmth that comes directly from the Mediterranean sun. Big had basically rented out an entire village for our third wedding. I found out through a genealogist Big had hired as a gift to me and my brothers that our family on our dad’s side had come from the village. Some of them were still living, and I couldn’t describe how wonderful it was to meet them, how warm I felt inside to know I had roots in such a beautiful place, with equally as beautiful people.
We didn’t stay in the village, though. We stayed on the Fausti family’s private island, where the wedding and reception would be held. Over the course of the next couple of days, guests started to arrive, and an entire plane flew in from Vegas with all the girls who worked there on it. Vinny and Sam were supposed to be their support, since some of them had never flown before, but the girls had to help them walk off the plane.
“What happened?” I asked.
Georgia pulled her sunglasses down on her nose. “Flesh is not supposed to be green.”
As soon as Vinny’s feet touched the ground, he fell to his knees and kissed it. “Never again!” he howled. “Never again. I’m taking a boat back! Or I’m staying here.”
“I agree, Boss,” Sam said in a deep voice. He was sweating.
Rocky’s face pinched and she held her nose. “Are we downwind? Because damn…the smell of puke is strong with these two.”
It was. I could see it on Sam’s shirt. It seemed like he had tried to wipe it, but it didn’t help. I often wondered, though, how Vinny and Sam became close. They were so different. Vinny was wimpy where Sam was a big, tough guy. Vinny had a big mouth, while Sam spoke very little. I wondered, then, if it had to do with their mutual fear of flying.
“They get to ride in a separate car, right?” one of the girls asked me.
All in all, though, none of them, besides Vinny, bitched about the plane ride after. They were all just so excited to be going on a paid vacation. The designer dresses Big splurged on for them seemed like a bonus. And even though Vinny bitched and said he was holding George and me personally responsible for his therapy bills, my heart warmed that he braved a fear to come. Vinny had tough skin, but below it all, there was some marshmallow in his heart.
Then I blinked, and I was married to Tullio Bigatti for the third time during a Grecian sunset on the beach.
I’d opted for another Grecian style dress that the designer for House of Sicilia worked her magic on. When the sun hit me, it seemed like the fabric caught it and held it until sundown. Nighttime fell and the fabric released what it had caught, shimmering against the flames. I’d tried to convince Big to go barefoot, but Big was Big. His suits were always dark, and his shoes always polished. That was okay, though, because the light he carried was for me—alone—and it was deep inside of his heart too.
“Where are we going?” I asked, breathless, as he led me to our room in the Faustis’ mansion on the island.
“You look as pale as you did before the church wedding in Portofino.”
I tugged on his hand. “How do you know I looked pale before the ceremony?”
He didn’t answer.
“You were spying on me!”
“I know you, Aphrodite. You were like a startled bunny about to run from her jaguar. I was a breath away from picking you up and hauling you over my shoulder.”
