For once, she'd been up well before Carlo, needing to do the test and show him shewasn'tpregnant. Only, she was. Nearly four months along. Why wasn't she bigger? Her tummy looked the same, or maybe a little poochy, but Annette had always been curvy. Though goodness knew she'd tried for willow thin when she was younger, trying to look more like her tall, svelte adopted sisters and mom.
The knock sounded again. "Annette." Just that one word. Her name. No demand to be let inside though she knew he had to be itching to ask her if she'd taken the test yet.
"I took the test," she said through the door, strangely reluctant to open it.
"Let's talk about it."
Like they hadn't talked five years before. She got that. Annette wasn't a young and uncertain 22-year-old any longer. She knew how she fit in the world and accepted the things that could not be changed.
At least she thought she did.
She was pregnant.
That could be changed, but Annette really had no desire to take steps in that direction. She wanted this baby. Her baby. Carlo's baby. Family.
She opened the door, the stick still in her hand.
"What do the double blue lines mean?" he asked.
"Well on some tests, they would mean I'm not pregnant." She always taught her youth to read the instructions on the package because those lines and their colors meant different things to some of them.
"And on this one?" he pressed, standing there naked and every bit as confident as if he'd donned one of his bespoke suits.
"It means I'm going to have a baby."
"Sì?" he asked, excitement glinting in his grey gaze. "Am I allowed to celebrate?"
Was he? Was she? Annette's hand went to her stomach, and she smiled. "Yes, I think we are."
"You are going to have my baby." His eyes filled with moisture that shocked her. "I am undone."
And then he undid her with lovemaking that was so tender, it was her eyes that burned with emotion as she climaxed.
They were eating a late breakfast when Carlo's phone rang. He looked at the screen and went pale.
"What? What is it?" Annette asked.
He shook his head. "I do not know, but it is the hospital."
"Well, answer it! Maybe one of them has woken up." They had plans to visit the hospital later while Pamina watched Jo-Jo.
Somehow, Carlo had finagled an appointment with an obstetrician for her in the hospital complex as well.
"Sì. I mean, yes, it is Carlo Messina." His voice reverberated with stress.
He was not expecting good news, but Annette would not let herself consider anything else.
"He has? Yes. Yes.Sì. We will be there directly." He hung the phone up and looked at Annette, his expression filled with shock.
"What is it? Is Fantino…he's all right, isn't he? Did they have to take him back into surgery?"
"He woke up. He is awake." Carlo surged to his feet and came around to pull her up and into his arms. "He is awake. He is stable. They are moving him to a private room." He hugged Annette so hard she squeaked.
Releasing her immediately, he stared at her in abject horror. "Scusami! I am sorry. Did I hurt the baby?"
"No, you didn't hurt the baby. Or me." She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him back, hard. "I'm so happy. He's going to be okay."
"You always said, but I feared…" His voice choked off and she let him have his moment. Finally, he went on, his voice still clogged with emotion. "I feared the worse, but you did not. You had faith enough for us all."