Page 70 of Mafia Baby

I reluctantly lean back against the pillows, tapping my fingers on my thigh until finally, a nurse shows up with a wheelchair. They transfer me to the chair, and we go out into the hall.

The hospital isn’t large, but I’m glad that they brought the chair. I already feel exhausted and all I did was get out of bed and sit down in the wheelchair.

We round a corner, and then the nurse pauses by a large door that is labeled, “Recovery”. They push open the door and then turn my chair to back me inside. When they turn me back around, I can see Dom’s beautiful body lying in a bed not far away.

He looks like a statue lying there, barely alive, connected to all kinds of lines and beeping machines. However, I know enough to know that the beeping is a good thing.

“Dom,” I say softly as they push me closer to his bed. I reach up cautiously to touch his large hand which is lying by his side on the crisp, stiff hospital sheets. “Dom, Vince and I came to see you and say hi.”

His eyelids flutter, and he turns his head. When he opens his eyes, the sight of his bright blue eyes makes me start crying again.

“Hey there,” he says, his voice sounding rusty.

“Hi,” I say inadequately, squeezing his fingers.

“You scared us,” Vince says, coming to stand behind me.

Dom utters a chuckle that sounds more like a cough. “I scared myself, if I’m being completely honest,” he says.

We all laugh a little.

“Is the baby…” he starts to say.

I interrupt him, “She’s fine.”

His brow furrows. “It’s a she?” he asks.

I blink a little. I didn’t realize I had said that. “Oh,” I say with a little giggle. “I guess we don’t know yet, but maybe my mother’s intuition is showing.”

Dom smiles at me and nods slowly. “A daughter. What should we name her?”

“What was your mother’s name?” I ask him.

“Jade,” he says dreamily.

“Jade Santoro,” I say. “It’s perfect.”

“Perfect,” he echoes sleepily, his eyes closing.

“I love you,” I tell him.

“I love you, too,” he mumbles, going back to sleep.

As I hold his hand, my heart is overflowing with love and joy. I hadn’t imagined that there was any way that we would be able to share a happy ending. That everything had turned out for the best, really felt almost impossible to me.

I looked at our linked hands, imagining years of being able to hold his hand just like this. My arm hurt, my ribs hurt, but my heart was full of love. I couldn’t imagine wanting anything more.

Epilogue

Gianna

“Jade, honey, stop pulling on your dress,” I tell my daughter. My toddler shoots me an annoyed glare, her bright blue eyes looking shockingly like her father’s. She stops tugging at the hem of her party dress, however, and flounces off to stare at the stack of birthday presents sitting on the kitchen counter.

“Up,” she says to me, and I smile at her. I can’t resist her bossiness. After all, she gets it from her father, and I love him to pieces in spite of it.

I pick up Jade’s little body, moving her awkwardly to the side to keep her from pressing on my pregnant belly.

She’s about to have a little brother, and I am ready to have my body back. My pregnancy with Jade was anything but peaceful, but not due to Jade herself. Ironically, now that things have settled down for Dom and I, this pregnancy has been anything but smooth.

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