I smiled. “That’s nice of you to say, but…that’s not the most pressing concern.”
He pulled away and nodded at me seriously. He helped me in the kitchen wherever I needed him to. He even drained the pasta, and I laughed as I told him that he just had a starch facial. He didn’t get the joke at first, and I laughed entirely too hard at his pinched face.
“The pasta,” I said. “When you drain it, all the steam comes up.”
Once he got the joke, his smile came slow, and I grinned back. A moment passed between us. They often did. A moment where we just stared at each other. We were acknowledging what was going on around us but refusing to give it power to come between us. Yeah, we both had our moments, but…for the most part, we were pulling closer than we ever had before.
He ran his hand over my belly and then left it there. “Do you truly believe she is a girl?”
I nodded, setting my hand over his. “I do. I’m still getting the same vibes. I don’t know. Softer. I could be completely wrong. Believe it or not, I’ve been known to be wrong a time or two.”
He laughed at that, and so did I.
I continued, “Maybe I already have mamma intuition, but I believe we’re having a girl.”
“In my family this is rare.”
“I know, but it’s been done before. Aunt Lola. Mia.”
He nodded, his eyes studying my stomach. I was wearing a mauve-colored sweater dress. Softer than my choice for when we went out for his business/family events. “If we will have a girl,” he said, “I have a name.”
“Me too.”
We looked at each other.
“On the count of three, we say our picks at the same time?”
He seemed so pleased. The way his shoulders squared and he nodded, his eyes almost bright with the happiness that was lighting him up from inside. Maybe his eyes were reflecting the light inside of me that was making me feel a warmth I had never felt before, even in this frozen pocket of the world we were in.
“One,” I began, “two… three!”
“Avelina.”
“Elisabetta.”
Avelina was my pick. Elisabetta was his.
“After my grandmother,” I breathed, “and my great-aunt.”
“This is also the name my great-aunt would have chosen if she would have been blessed with a daughter.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “This will honor Aunt Lola and Uncle Tito.”
Rocco leaned down and kissed my stomach. “Avelina Elisabetta Fausti.”
“Avelina Elisabetta Fausti,” I breathed out.
“Ricco for a boy, ah?”
“Yes! Ricco for a boy.” I smiled. “And if after this we have another girl…?” I allowed the question to linger.
His face pinched. “I do not believe that has ever been done before.”
I almost laughed, but he was being altogether serious. “Don’t underestimate me, Rocco Piero Fausti. I have special powers.” I wiggled my fingers at him. “Not that I care either way. My love is the same. I just feel I have a lot of girl vibes going on inside of me.”
His eyes slowly dropped to my stomach, then the spot between my legs. This time, I exploded with laughter. He grabbed me by the hips and shook them a little.
“I do not doubt this, my wife,” he said, growling into my neck. “If we so shall be blessed with two, Rita Eloisa Fausti. Eloisa means ‘famous warrior,’ and Rita means ‘pearl.’ A version of Margarita.”
