Page 68 of Mafia Baby

She smiles at me reassuringly in that way that medical staff have of being vague but kind. “We don’t really know yet. We have to let the surgeons do their jobs, okay?”

I nod numbly and press my hands to my belly again.

“Shall we check up on that little bundle in there?” she says to me pleasantly.

I nod again. Coming up with words to say just seems impossible at this point. The ball of fear and worry lodged under my ribs feels like it's choking me.

“Is this your first baby?” she asks me conversationally as she rolls over a cart and starts collecting items from the cupboards in the room.

I swallow with difficulty and then say in a thready voice, “Yes.”

“How exciting!” she says happily.

I watch her collecting ultrasound gel and towels. She’s probably in her thirties, with long, blonde hair and a slightly round face.

I wonder how many mafia members she has patched up over the years. She hasn’t said a single thing about the condition that Dom and I were in when we arrived.

She hasn’t even acted like there is anything strange about a group of men in black suits bringing a pregnant woman with a broken arm and a man who has been stabbed and beaten into the hospital.

This is one of the various little surprises that have crept up on me since Dom came into my life. Some naïve part of me always assumed that mob families had to have private doctors because they couldn’t trust regular medical staff not to call the police.

Part of me thought that the things that Dom’s family did for money were far more secretive than they really were. It feels strange to think that so many people interact with crime families on a daily basis and don’t ever involve the police.

Maybe it’s safer that way.

“Okay,” the nurse says as she moves my gown to the side and squeezes some ultrasound gel onto my belly. “How far along do you think you are?”

I feel confident as I quote the number to her. I probably conceived that first time that Dom and I had sex. By my math, we should be able to see the baby by now.

“Perfect,” she says to me, sounding a little distracted as she changes some settings on her machine. She slides the probe around a little bit, and then the sound of the baby’s heartbeat sounds out loud and clear. “Ah, there it is,” the nurse says with a smile.

I burst into tears. I hadn’t actually acknowledged to myself just how afraid I had been that my poor baby had gotten hurt by all the tussling with my brother and his thugs.

I listen to the strong sound of my child’s heartbeat and sob. I don’t know what else to do.

“Everything looks great in there,” the nurse says to me as she wipes the jelly off my skin and pulls my hospital gown closed. “Let me go see if your X-rays are back yet.”

I manage to nod, and she passes me a box of tissues. She opens the door and steps partway out into the hall, then slips back inside.

“There’s a man out here who says his name in Vince. He asked if he could come in,” she tells me.

“Oh!” I say. “Yes, he can.” I blow my nose and swipe at my wet cheeks.

“Baby is good?” Vince asks me as he comes to stand by my bed.

I nod. “Thank God, yes,” I choke out around my tears.

He smiles a little. “That’s important. I want to get a chance to be a really indulgent grandfather who spoils that little munchkin rotten.”

I chuckle at his words despite my fear and exhaustion. “I’ll let you do that,” I say to him, and I mean it.

Vince is probably the closest thing to family that I’m going to have now that my brother is dead. My parents are going to be so upset that I killed Will, that I’m pregnant and that they didn’t know about any of this.

They aren’t going to want to talk to me for a very long time, if they ever decide to let me back into their lives.

“I don’t know anything about Dom yet,” Vince tells me. “I’m terrified,” he adds.

I look up at him sharply. I had expected this to be like old hat to a man like Vince. Surely, he’s dealt with far worse than this over all the years that he’s been the leader of a major crime family.

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