My legs won't hold much longer. I can feel them starting to buckle. But I take one step. Then another. The distance between my wheelchair and her bed is only a few feet, but it feels like miles.
I make it.
I collapse onto the edge of her mattress, my legs giving out completely. But I'm here. Next to her. Close enough to touch.
Antonella reaches for me. Her hands cup my face, her thumbs brushing over my cheekbones. Fresh tears spill down her cheeks.
"You walked to me," she whispers.
"Told you I would."
"You're going to walk at the coronation."
"That's the plan."
"You're going to walk our baby down to school someday."
My throat tightens. I hadn't thought that far ahead. Hadn't let myself imagine a future beyond the next few months. But she's right. If I keep working, keep fighting, keep pushing through the pain?—
"Yeah." My voice comes out rough. "I am."
She pulls me down and kisses me.
I sink into it. Into her. My hand finds her stomach again, pressing gently against the place where our baby grows.
"I love you," I murmur against her lips.
"I love you too." She pulls back just enough to look at me. Her green eyes shine with tears, but she's smiling. "Even if you are a secretive bastard who almost gave his pregnant wife a cardiac event."
"You married me."
"Worst decision of my life."
"Liar."
She laughs. The sound fills the sterile clinic room, chasing away the shadows and the fear and the memory of that basement.
I kiss her again.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Bruno
The dining room hasn't been this full since before Riccardo died.
I stand at the doorway, leaning on the cane Valentino insisted I use around family. My legs ache from the walk down the corridor, but it's a good ache. The kind that reminds me I'm alive. That I can feel.
The good thing has always been that at some point I felt the pain.
Aria sits at the head of the table, her silver hair perfectly styled. Carmela, Valentino's mother, sits beside her, the two sisters whispering about something that makes them both smile. Giulia moves between the kitchen and dining room, directing the staff.
Pietro and Nora occupy the seats to Aria's right. Nora's pregnancy is showing now, a gentle curve beneath her dress.
Lorenzo and Sophia sit across from them. Sophia's head rests on Lorenzo's shoulder, her eyes half-closed. She's been tiredlately. Lorenzo mentioned something about her not sleeping well, though he didn't elaborate.
Nico and Kristen arrived an hour ago with Lily, who immediately demanded to sit next to me. The child is currently perched on a stack of cushions, chattering to anyone who will listen about a butterfly she saw in the garden.
Vittoria and Dmitri flew in from New York this morning. My sister looks happy. Genuinely happy. The shadows that used to haunt her eyes have faded since she married the Russian. Dmitri watches her with the kind of devotion that used to make me uncomfortable. Now I understand it.
