"It is our baby," Carlo said, his own voice heavy with suppressed emotion.
"Yes, and our measurements match your calculations. You are four months pregnant."
"She's not showing though. Should we be worried?" Carlo asked.
The doctor gave him a look that saidnew fathers, what can you do?"There's nothing to worry about at all. The baby's size is commensurate with being eighteen weeks along. Some women show early, some quite late."
They were given a thumb drive with the ultrasound pictures on it and instructions for foods to avoid during pregnancy. Thankfully none of which she'd been indulging in since returning from Sicily.
"You haven't been drinking coffee?" Carlo asked with surprise as they walked out to the car waiting for them at the curb.
"It made me nauseated. I thought I was getting a stress ulcer, to tell you the truth."
"Because of your worry about Joyce?" he asked, his dark brow furrowed.
"That was only part of it. I told you what was going on in the organization and all that I had uncovered since becoming a regional director. Knowing how I'd supported and worked for an organization that didn't practice the core values it claimed to uphold was soul destroying."
"Were my legal staff not able to help?"
"Oh, they're helping the employees I got them in touch with, but that didn't change my own sense of personal responsibility."
"You take too much on yourself."
"You think so?"
"You blamed yourself for the accident."
"My parents did too."
He frowned. "If anything, they should be grateful, as we are, that you were willing to step in and help your sister and Fantino when the rest of us ignored what was happening, telling ourselves it was just part of being new parents."
"You really feel that way?" she asked.
"Sì. So do my parents. We are all very grateful to you, just as Fantino is."
Warmth unfurled inside Annette. He and his family appreciated her and it felt good.
As nice as that was, by the time they had visited with Joyce and Fantino again, sharing their good news with her sister, Annette was exhausted and ready for dinner and an early night.
CHAPTER 14
The next morning, Annette woke with a complete sense of wellbeing.
She remembered the last time that had happened and what had come after. The prick of that memory threatened to burst the sense of contentment surrounding her.
Warm breath exhaled over her temple and Annette smiled. Not the same.
Carlo was beside her in the bed, his body wrapped around hers, his hand settled over her lower abdomen even in his sleep. Carlo really wanted this baby, and Annette really wanted a family. With him. That bit was something she had to come to terms with for her own sense of equanimity.
Both Joyce and Fantino were awake now, and soon enough Jo-Jo was going to have her own family back. The six-month-old would not need her aunt like she did now, but the baby growing inside Annette would always need her. She could love that child without telling herself not to get too attached, to remember she was not the mom.
But this baby had a father too, one very keen to shower his child with love and affection, protection, and care.
Annette didn't know if her biological father had felt that way at one time about her, but whatever feelings he had for her died with her mother, she was sure of that. Could Carlo get turned off his own child that easily?
She didn't think so, but how could she know?
Carlo stirred, his hand rubbing a slow circle over her belly before leaning down to kiss her neck and then shifting so they were face to face. "You look thoughtful," he said.