“Yeah, and locked away, like a princess.”
“That’s a given.” I huff. “But she’ll be the most loved, spoiled, locked-away princess.”
Dani snorts out a laugh, and I’m glad that despite the heaviness, she’s finding her way back to me.
We head up to our place, and when we walk in, Peyton and Dominick are sitting in the living room.
“Oh my God! You’re okay!” Peyton rushes over to Dani and pulls her in for a hug. “I was so worried. When you didn’t show up … and then Matteo said he was handling it, but he never responded, I started to freak out …”
“And she forced me to come here to wait for you,” Dominick finishes. “Glad you both are alive.”
Dani laughs softly. “We’re both alive. And I’m sorry about this morning. Some stuff happened, and I lost track of time.”
Peyton takes a step back and eyes Dani speculatively. “Have you been crying?” she asks, glancing from Dani to me. “Did he make you cry?” It’s a question, but her tone makes it sound like a threat.
“No, he didn’t make me cry,” Dani says, walking over and wrapping her arms around me. “He made it all better.” She leans on her toes and kisses my cheek. “Just like he always does.”
Peyton eyes me, but doesn’t argue with Dani. “Okay,” she says. “Well, if everything is squared away, we need to get to your dress fitting. She said we can come any time before five.”
Dani glances at me, and I nod. I would’ve liked to continue ourconversation, but we can do that later. Right now, she needs to make sure her dress fits since our wedding is only three days away. And nothing is going to stop me from marrying that woman.
Peyton drags Dani out of the house, and once they’re gone, my brother says, “What’s really going on, Matteo?”
“Dani’s pregnant.”
My brother’s eyes go wide. I’m sure he’s wondering how I feel about that since the last he heard, I didn’t want kids.
“It’s a good thing,” I add. “We talked and planned to let shit happen. We just didn’t know she was already pregnant, so it’s happening a little sooner than we thought.”
I shrug and walk over to my liquor bar to make myself a drink. I pour two fingers of whiskey into two tumblers and hand him one.
“When’s she due?” he asks, taking a sip of his whiskey.
“February 15.”
I can see the cogs in his head turning as he quickly does the math, and I let him because there’s nothing I keep from my brother.
When it finally clicks, he swallows thickly and looks at me with sympathy in his eyes. “Matteo, do you know how far along she is?”
“Almost sixteen weeks.”
He nods slowly and downs his whiskey and sets it on the end table. “That would mean she conceived around …”
“May.”
“But you weren’t with her then. She was with …” He breathes out a harsh breath. “Fuck.”
“I’m the dad,” I tell him, my tone making it clear it’s not up for argument. “That baby she’s carrying is mine. Dani and that baby aremine.”
Dominick nods once and then cuts across the room, pulling me in for a hug. “You’re going to be a great dad,” he murmurs. “Congratulations.”
“Fuck, I need to get out of here. Wanna go grab a real drink at the bar?”
“Sure. Peyton’s planning to convince Dani to go to dinner after the fitting anyway.”
“I’ll text Lorenzo.”
With everything going on, I feel like I haven’t seen much of my best friend since he got out of prison.
