I want to tell her she shouldn’t. I want to tell her how much she’s given me now that I know we have a daughter. I want to tell her she’s the only thing that makes me feel alive.
“I’ll bring her in the morning,” she promises.
I smile, leaning back against the pillows. “I can’t wait. How am I doing, anyway?”
She sighs. “I don’t know. Docs won’t tell me anything because we’re not married.”
“Oh. I’ll fix that.” She stares at me for a minute and I just yell, “Doc!”
Sophia shushes me but a woman in a lab coat comes rushing in, her eyes widening.
“You’re awake.”
Doctors surround me and Sophia gets delegated to a back corner of the room. I frown, trying to keep my eyes on her as doctors shine lights in my eyes.
I wave them away with as much motion as I can muster from the handcuffs.
“I’m awake; I’m alive; leave me alone.”
Sophia hides her smile with her hand, but I can see it in those beautiful blue eyes of hers.
“You’ve had a very serious surgery, Mr. Rossi,” one doctor says, and I nod slowly.
“Open-heart, right?”
“A bullet pierced your left ventricle. You nearly bled out on the table.”
“But I didn’t. Right?”
She chuckles. “You didn’t. You’re not speaking to me from the afterlife, Mr. Rossi.”
I let out a mock relieved breath. “Good, because I wouldn’t want to miss all the fun I’m about to have in prison.”
The doctor twitches and Sophia laughs, hiding her face again. I grin at her over the doctor’s head.
“We’ll be keeping you for a week or so to monitor your healing,” she finally says, stopping her fussing over me. “But I think you’re going to pull through.”
“Thank you,” Sophia says quietly.
I nudge the doctor with my elbow. “Anything you want to discuss about my health, you can discuss with her. She’s my wife.”
Sophia stares at me, her mouth dropping open. “I amnotyour wife.”
“Yet,” I say cheerfully and the doctor looks between me and Sophia and the handcuffs, clearly confused.
In the end she shrugs.
“I’ll be back to check on you at the end of my rounds.”
I nod and the doctors leave. Finally, I’m alone with my Sophia again.
“What’s she like?” I ask, unable to stop myself, and Sophia smiles. She doesn’t hide it this time.
“She’s beautiful. She turns three in April.”
“And she has my eyes?”
“Mmhm. And your chin.”
