"Oh, fuck...I mean, God...would you listen to that strong heartbeat?"
I think he's hearing something different from me. It sounds like a super-fast alien train.
The doctor shows us on the screen as she moves the wand over my mostly flat stomach. "And this is baby. You can see the shape that will be the head right here, and what will be the arms..."
"That's my boy. And he's a handsome thing." Enzo sounds emotional and proud all at the same time.
I don't know how to feel. This makes everything real.
Enzo takes my hand and kisses it. "Look, Lola, isn't our baby incredible? He's going to be amazing."
The conviction and devotion in his voice soothe the twisting thoughts in the back of my head that keep leaping like live wires with clashing emotions.
It's as if, with his unwavering devotion to this baby, he's somehow just killed off the last lingering doubts. I can see his devotion and obsession with me and keeping me safe in a new light. It's him.
He's fierce.
He'll be like that with anyone he loves.
For crying out loud, he wanted to straight-up murder Luke. And I don't condone that, but if the boy had touched Lyndall in any untoward way, then he deserved some kind of punishment. Maybe jail, as Lyndall's a kid and Luke, at eighteen, is a man.
But the thing is, this man loves and protects and will do anything for me, for her, and, most importantly, this baby.
It's like a bright light shining on me.
He's going to be a great daddy who'll do anything to protect us both.
And that? I can get behind.
The car takes us home, and I really believe we're past the worst, and now I can look toward the future and plan with him for our baby.
He gazes lovingly at the black-and-white printout of our baby. "I'm getting this framed. I think we should call him Gaudenzio."
"What?"
"It's a good name. Italian. Strong. What do you want? Fred?"
"It'd be better than that."
He shakes his head. "My great-great-uncle Gaudenzio would want it."
I stare at him. "Who?"
"What about my grandfather? He was Eufrasio. We can call him Frasio for short. It's like Fred."
"No. No way. And it'll be a girl."
"Well, if it's a girl, there's Adalgisa. Very nice."
He cannot be serious. Can he?
"Let's...move away from the Italian names."
But there's no teasing light in his eye, and he's not smiling.
I wince. "There's Bella?—"
"I got it. Prudence."
