***
A week went by, and I hadn’t heard anything from the auditions. I knew they were taking their time to consider the different dancers who tried ut, but I didn’t realize I’d be sitting on pins and needles for over a week. While waiting, I spent time with my sisters, talking about everything that had happened since right before Valentine’s Day. Romeo had pulled me into our father’s old office and told me that he would give his blessing if I wanted to stay married to Lorenzo, but he left the choice up to me.
“What about the cartel?” I asked quietly, scared of the promise my father had made to Arias.
“I met with them and told them the deal is off. They have made threats, but it’s not for you to worry about, Bea. You aren’t marrying into that family, and neither is Gia or Nic.” He hugged me tight to reassure me. “I will protect you from this world as best as I can, Bea. This was never your fight to begin with.”
I closed my eyes and basked in the warmth of my brother’s embrace. He was the head of the family now, and I felt safer for it. We all did. I didn’t know what he had done with our father, and I was afraid to ask, but none of us missed the bastard. The oppressive heaviness that had hung in the air of this house lifted the day he was removed from it.
“I don’t know about Lorenzo,” I whispered softly, pulling back from my brother’s embrace. “I love him, but if I get a place in the dance company... I mean, chances are low because I still haven’t heard from them, so it may be a non-issue, but if I get that spot...” I sighed. “How do I make this work when he’ll be here, and I’ll be traveling?”
“Maybe you still get your dream, and your escape.” Romeo shrugged. “But maybe it looks different from what you planned, Bea. Life has a funny way of throwing in twists and turns we don’t expect and never see coming.”
I thought about what he said throughout the week. When I wasn’t with my siblings, I was with Lorenzo. He held me each night in his arms. We made love so much that my body ached deliciously. I found myself smiling uncontrollably from the happiness of being with Lorenzo and being free from my father’s control.
The more time that passed without a phone call from the dance company, the less I found myself caring. I was happy with Lorenzo. I didn’t want to be separated from him for days or weeks on end. After careful consideration, I knew there was no going back to my previous path. If I was offered the spot, which I doubted after a week of waiting, I would turn it down. My life was here with Lorenzo.
I was getting out of the shower and drying my hair when my cell phone rang. Lorenzo had left the shower about ten minutes before me to get us breakfast. My stomach had rumbled so loudly he was making sure I was fed before he went to work. I didn’t recognize the number, but I slid my thumb across the screen to accept the call anyway.
“Hello?”
“Hi, I am trying to reach Bianca Vitale.” I didn’t recognize the woman’s voice.
“Speaking.” I pulled my towel tighter around my body.
She chuckled softly. “Good. I’m Hannah Grayson from the Hudson Vanguard Dance Collective.”
“Oh! Great to hear from you.” I forced a smile into my voice. I was either about to be told I wasn’t good enough, or I was about to let people down and turn down a job that I had really wanted before everything happened.
“Yes. Well, I have some news for you.” Her voice was warm and welcoming, but there was a hint of disappointment in it, too.
“I didn’t get it,” I whispered softly into the phone, not needing her to say the words. It was tough to take, even if I had made a decision not to take the spot. I wanted to know if I was good enough for what I had wanted and worked toward for so long.
Ms. Grayson laughed. “Well, you would have if not for your condition, dear.”
“My condition?” I questioned. Confused.
“Oh. You don’t know.” Her own surprise came through the call. “Well, according to the health screening you submitted to before the audition, you’re pregnant, Mrs. Vitale. Even if we did offer you the position, it wouldn’t be a long-term one, or even one that would last a few months before we’d have to pull you anyway.”
My hand went to my stomach protectively. The day of the audition, I had thrown up, not something I had ever done before a performance. Pregnant. My brother’s words came back to me about life and how our plans may not look the same as we thought they would. He definitely wasn’t wrong about that.
“Okay.” I cleared my throat. “Thank you for calling and letting me know.”
“Yes, well, congratulations again on the wedding and on the baby.”
“Thank you,” I muttered and disconnected the call. I sat there on the foot of the bed, staring into nothingness as I processed what she just told me. I don’t know how long I was sitting there, but it was long enough for Lorenzo to come back into the bedroom carrying a tray filled with fruits, a couple of pastries, and some coffee and juice.
“You okay?” he asked, setting the tray down on the dresser and then moving to kneel in front of me. “Bea, everything okay?”There was concern in his voice, which brought me out of my stupor.
“Yeah.” I lifted my phone. “I got a call from Hudson Vanguard,” I stated and watched Lorenzo’s face. He clenched his jaw, and a stoic veil fell over his eyes. “They would have given it to me, Lorenzo, and I would have turned it down,” I whispered and reached for his face. I leaned down and bracketed his face with my hands. “But they didn’t offer, so it turned out I couldn’t accept or decline.”
“Why?” His voice was gruff and thick with emotion, and his hands found my hips, pulling me closer to him, my knees spreading for him.
“Because I love you, and I can’t dance for long when I’m pregnant,” I whispered against his lips, then pressed my mouth harder against his.
Epilogue
Bianca
