Emilia split away from her husband and pulled me into a hug, kissing both of my cheeks. “Congratulations, Mia. How are you feeling?”
“Thank you,” I said to her. “I’m okay. Tired more than anything.”
“You’ll feel that way for the next eighteen years. Trust me.” She offered half a smile. “I’m always happy to lend a helping hand. You’ll probably be grateful for it at the start, especially considering Maria’s condition.” Another swipe at my future mother in law. There was no love lost between these two.
“I’m sure Luc and I will manage. You forget we have Lydia with us.”
“Little Griffin-Foster,” Xavier said, looking at my baby in Luc’s arms. It was my educated guess that Luc had only managed to stay as calm as he had because he was holding Link.
“Foster,” Luc corrected him.
“Sorry?”
“Just Foster.”
“I thought Mia may have wanted to preserve her father’s memory in some way,” Xavier said, casting a look my way. It felt like a kick in the gut. I loved my Dad, but he deserved to rest in peace. Keeping his name alive in a world that he’d been so vehemently against me joining didn’t feel like the correct way to honor his memory.
“My Dad was a traditionalist at heart,” I told him. “He’d have expected both of us to take Luc’s name.”
“I’m sure Charlie would have been happy to hear that. May I hold him?”
Luc didn’t even flinch. If he had reservations about handing over our new-born, it didn’t show. Xavier took Link into his arms and I held my breath. Father, son and grandson. Three generations standing in the same room should have brought a sense of pride and joy but all it did was make me want to snatch my baby away.
“So innocent when they’re this young,” Xavier commented as Link began to fuss. “No idea of the world around them or what it holds.”
“If only they could stay that way,” Maria added.
At that moment, Link decided to exercise his lungs. They say that babies have a sixth sense, and if it was true it was good to see Link was just as untrusting of Xavier as I was. “Sounds like he needs his mother,” Xavier said, crossing over to the bed and handing Link over to me. Adjusting Link, I started rocking him gently. Every time he cried, my heart squeezed painfully wanting to put right whatever had upset him. “I take it you’ll be taking a step back from work for a little while?” The question was aimed at Luc.
“I’ll be working from home for a week or two,” Luc answered him. It was the first I’d heard but I was glad Luc would be around as we took on parenthood. “Everything else will be handled by Dante.”
“Are you sure that’s a smart move?”
“He hasn’t let me down yet. You should put more faith in your future son-in-law.”
Xavier sniffed. The match between Dante and Vittoria was obviously not one that he was keen on. Not that it would matter in the long run. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he said distractedly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. “I’ll need to take this. Congratulations to you both.” He then turned to me. “We’ll be sure to raise a glass to you and your little one tonight, Mia.” As Xavier and Emilia left, all I could think was how much I’d like him to choke on that drink.
We sat for a while in silence, Link finally drifting off to sleep, and none of us daring to speak until we knew for sure it was safe to do so.
“She always did think she was better than everyone else,” Maria muttered eventually.
“I thought you two were friends,” I said, leaning back on the bed.
“Me and Emilia? No. She could take a long walk off a short cliff for all I cared.”
I bit back on a laugh as Luc shook his head. “I appreciate you showing some self-restraint while she was here.”
“I lead by example. I’m surprised at how you both handled that. I half expected you to kick him out of the room.”
“There’s a bigger picture,” Luc said, looking to us. “I’m not going to do anything that puts them at risk. If we do this, then we’ll need to do this properly. We’ve only got one shot.”
Chapter Forty One
Mia
Life with a baby was in stark contrast to the life I’d lived before. Before Link I had been inherently selfish and frivolous with my time, and now everything revolved around my son. Sleep had become a myth, worry had settled permanently in my chest, and the love I felt for my boys bloomed so vividly that it threatened to consume me entirely. Luc and Link were an inseparable duo and at times I found myself irrationally jealous of the bond they shared.
For the past few weeks, we’d been finding our feet as new parents. Dante had taken on more of the work to allow Luc time to be at home with me and Link, and slowly we’d slipped into a new routine of feeds and changes and naps. Thanksgiving had been a quiet affair: just the four of us and a catered dinner. I didn’t have the energy to argue with Luc about how we should have made the effort ourselves.
