He wiped the tears from my eyes and cheeks. Then he nodded to the bread Scarlett had dropped off. “Snack on that while lunch is heating up.”
He told me to eat it, but he fed me bites while warming up soups and pasta dishes Scarlett had stocked the fridge with. She even brought over desserts!
After lunch, Matteo brought me back upstairs and set me in the big tub again.
“Where are you going?” I asked when he started to walk away.
“Giving you time to relax.”
I shook my head and patted the water. “I’d be too lonely without you. The water doesn’t even feel all that warm. You warm it up, like you warm our bed.” I set my body toward thetub, my hands on the rim, then my chin over my hands, looking up at him.
He stared at me for a second, before he sighed, going for his shirt. His phone started to ring in the other room, but he ignored it. But as he was going for his pants, it started to ring again.
“Maybe you should take it?” I suggested.
He looked toward the room, at me, and when the phone started to ring again, went for it. It was all probably going to be in Italian anyway, so I sunk underneath the water, coming up a second later. I didn’t know how to swim. Or how to ride a bike—a regular one. Or how to drive a car. Matteo had promised to teach me how to do all three. But I didn’t want to push it with the water. Out of all three, water seemed the scariest to me. Maybe because I did okay with the Vespa, but I had no idea how to save myself in water.
He seemed to explode back into the bathroom, the phone clutched in his tight-fisted hand. “Mia’s in labor.”
“Oh!” I stood up too fast, and started to slip, but Matteo already had his hands on me.
He set me on my feet, then grabbed the towel. We were both trying to dry me off at the same time.
“It’s too early,” I said, feeling panicked for her and the baby.
“Yeah.”
“Are we meeting them at the hospital?”
“No.”
“No? I don’t understand. Shouldn’t she be on her way? Since she’s so early, especially?”
“Yeah, but she’s already in labor. Too late to move her.”
“Okay. She and the baby will be okay.” Those were the words that came out, but deep down, I was freaking out but trying not to let Matteo see it.
Mia was going into labor too early, about two weeks too early, and she couldn’t make it to the hospital in time. Whatwas going to happen to the baby if he or she needed help? But I could tell Matteo was all shaken up, even if he was like a rock on the outside. His face was a mask of calm, but I could feel the trembling in his hands.
He and Mia were so close.
We dressed in record time and made it to Scarlett and Brando’s villa in just a few minutes. The house was tense. Mostly everyone was waiting in the kitchen, while Saverio, Scarlett, and Brando were upstairs with Mia. Matteo’s brothers walked in the door right behind us, and we all went straight to Magpie, who stood from the table, hugging us all in turn.
“She was working on the villa,” she whispered, holding my hand. “When she went into labor.”
Saverio and Mia had bought a place down the hill from ours. Matteo said she and Saverio had been wanting to, but they didn’t decide to do it until we moved into thecastello. As Matteo’s future right-hand man, Saverio would need to stay close to us.
I squeezed Magpie’s hand. “She and the baby will be okay.”
“They will,” Nonno said, making the sign of the cross. “Mia and the baby have Fausti blood. The baby is Saverio’s. That, together, is fighting blood.” He squeezed Magpie’s shoulders, and she set her hand over his.
It was clear to see, though, that the men in the family didn’t have the…patience to wait out what was going to happen. These men were used to things going their way whenever they gave an order. But like Mother Nature is known to do, she had them shaken. They were all sweating, and it seemed like Mia’s brothers were taking turns pacing the floor, looking out the window, sitting, then repeat. Matteo kept touching me, like he didn’t know what to do with his hands. Like he wanted to do something, but he wasn’t sure what he could do.
Someone had already called for a helicopter, just in case, but…
If I was being honest with myself, I wasn’t sure if I had the nerve for this waiting game either. Mia was a sister to me, and I didn’t want to think about anything bad happening to her or the baby. I loved how this family loved fiercely, and taking one of them out of the picture wouldn’t be right or fair.
I stared at Matteo while he stared out the window. I wondered how Scarlett and Brando had coped with the loss of their first Matteo. That had to be so hard. Just the thought of it made tears come to my eyes. Just as Matteo was about to look at me, I looked toward the window. I didn’t want him to see me get upset or feel me out and know that I was in shambles on the inside too.
