“Indeed,” Logan agreed, which made Delaney laugh.
A few hours later, they were at their hotel — the same hotel where Logan and Delaney had stayed the first time. Today, though, they were staying in the hotel’s honeymoon suite, to which the staff had added a cot and a highchair. Cora was right next door and, as soon as they arrived, she took off to explore the city.
“My babysitting duties don’t start yet,” she told Delaney with a wink. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”
“I think we’ll take it slow.” Delaney smiled at her friend. “You enjoy, though.”
“Oh, I will. I’ve heard a lot about Rome.”
Over the next few days, Logan and Delaney explored Rome with Sofia in her baby wrap. They visited Saint Peter’s Basilica and several art museums, strolled through the old town, and sampled so much pizza and pasta and gelato that Delaney joked she’d return to New York as round as she’d been while pregnant. Logan simply replied that she would look beautiful even then.
“Aren’t we going to visit the Colosseum?” Delaney asked on the morning of the third day.
“I’m glad you asked. We have a reservation at Basilico e Formaggio this evening. Cora has agreed to watch Sofia while we eat and to put her to bed in case we’re out late.”
“Okay, then. I’m looking forward to it.”
After another full day of sightseeing, Delaney handed Sofia over to Cora. Even though Cora had watched Sofia before, Delaney felt a little nervous leaving her daughter with anyone else. Luckily, Logan was by her side, and he held her hand all the way out of the hotel and all the way to the restaurant.
Once again, Logan spoke in flowing Italian to the maître d’, who led them to a table right in the window. Logan pulled out Delaney’s chair and she sat, her gaze drawn to the Colosseum outside.
“Would you believe that we sat at this exact same table eighteen months ago, on our first trip to Rome?”
“Hardly.” Delaney looked at the table and at Logan. “Everything feels so different. For one, we were practically at each other’s throats on that trip.”
Logan chuckled. “I suppose we were. There were a lot of things we didn’t see eye-to-eye on.”
“Most of which you turned out to be wrong about.”
“Hey!” Logan considered. “Although you do have a point. You were right about so much. You knew that I was too scared to have a relationship. You knew that I was making a mistake by putting finances ahead of anything else. You knew keepingThe Cherished Infantlocked away wouldn’t have been right.”
“There was a lotyouwere right about, too,” Delaney admitted. “You were right that I needed to open my gallery, even if it was scary.”
“Is that all you can think of?”
“Well, it’s a good one.”
And it was. While Delaney was pregnant with Sofia, she’d managed to open her gallery. It had been a huge challenge to do so while pregnant, but with Logan’s help and a supportive staff, she’d pulled it off. The gallery was called Sofia’s Corner, and it was thriving. Delaney worked there in person several hours a week, while the other days were covered by her staff. She and Logan had both needed to learn a few important lessons about delegation, and there had been stumbling blocks along the way, but it was all worth it. Together, they were able to juggle parenthood, romance, and their careers.
The first course arrived; a simple, fresh salad.
“Little did we know when we were here last time that we were only a few weeks away from moving in together,” Logan said as he took a sip of wine.
“True. That seemed like the furthest thing from possible at the time.”
“It really did seem like it was all falling apart for a bit there.” Logan shook his head. “You were on the verge of moving to Rome.”
“But it turned out to be kismet,” Delaney continued. “Because I gave up my lease, I had nowhere to go when I decided to stay with you.”
“So, I convinced you to move in.”
“That could have been a disaster.” Delaney ate a bit of salad. “We’re just lucky that it worked out so well.”
And it truly had. Delaney had moved into Logan’s penthouse. Immediately, she’d begun to make changes. She’d added color and chosen art and changed linens and picked out baby supplies until it looked more like a home than a soulless man cave. Now, the penthouse felt like home to both of them.
“The best part was that I got to be around for almost the whole pregnancy,” Logan continued.
“Including the birth.” Logan had been by Delaney’s side for every moment of her labor. He’d held her hand and fed her ice chips and allowed her snarky comments brought on by the pain to roll right off him. He’d been an immense comfort and, best of all, he’d been there to welcome their beautiful Sofia into the world.