Page 46 of Unspoken Ties

I sighed and leaned my head against the passenger seat window. Rain spattered against the glass, rivulets streaking down as if reflecting my own inner turmoil. I watched as each drop collided with another, merging and trailing down in a seamless, sorrowful dance. It was poetic in its own way, the fluidity of it all.

“Rain got you down?” Ettore asked, glancing over at me as he navigated the wet road. His voice was smooth and comforting,like the hum of a cello. It made everything seem manageable for a moment.

I gave him a half smile. “Just thinking.”

He reached over, his large hand gently encompassing mine, which was fidgeting in my lap. His warmth seeped into me, a soothing balm against my growing anxiety. “You’ve been doing a lot of that lately. Let me in, cara mia.” His Italian heritage colored his words, the endearment slipping off his tongue effortlessly.

Tears welled in my eyes, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t hold them back. They poured down my face harder than the rain outside. Ettore watched me, a mask of concern etching across his handsome features.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, parking the car on the side of the road.

I blinked back more tears, trying to steady my breathing. I shook my head, my voice barely above a whisper when I finally spoke. “I’m...I’m so sorry, Ettore.”

His eyebrows knitted together in confusion and worry. “Sorry? For what?” He brushed a strand of hair away from my face, tucking it behind my ear.

“For this,” I choked out, tears streaming down my face. “I should have told you sooner, but I didn’t know how.”

He gazed at me intently, his eyes filled with concern. He waited patiently for me to continue, not interrupting, not pushing.

Taking a deep breath, feeling the drumroll of my heartbeat echo in my ears, I mustered up the courage to speak. “Ettore, I’m pregnant.”

There was a shocked pause. He blinked at me, taken aback as he processed my words. I couldn’t read his reaction, his handsome face stoic in the moment. The silence was deafening, stretching out between us like an endless chasm. I could feel myheart pounding against my ribs, each beat echoing the ticking seconds.

Then, slowly, almost imperceptibly, his face softened. A small, incredulous smirk emerged on his lips. He sat back in his seat, running a hand through his dark hair as he looked at me with a newfound wonder.

“Veramente?” he murmured, his voice a soft whisper against the drumming rain on the car roof. “Really?”

I nodded silently, fresh tears welling up again. This time, however, they were tears of relief. His reaction, his soft smile and that wonder in his eyes. It was more than I could have ever hoped for.

“Yes,” I confirmed, my voice vibrating with the emotions threatening to spill over.

He reached over and cradled my face in his hands, his thumbs brushing away my tears. His eyes, warm and tender, searched mine for a long moment before he finally broke the silence.

“I’m going to be a father,” he whispered, the words heavy with disbelief and overwhelming emotion. “We’re going to be parents.”

“Yeah,” I laughed through my tears, feeling a sparkling joy bubbling up inside of me. “We are.”

A mischievous smile crept over his face as he looked at me. “Of course I got you pregnant your first time. I’m just that potent,” he boasted with a playful wink.

I swatted his shoulder playfully at his jest, tears of mirth mixing with my previous ones. The tension from before had been replaced with an elation so strong it felt as if it would lift us up and out of the car.

As we drove home, hand-in-hand, with the rain tapping softly on the roof of the car, the world outside seemed to have blurred into a beautiful haze. The cityscape looked different, like it waspainted in brighter hues just for us. Even the rain seemed to celebrate our joy, falling in rhythm with our beating hearts.

“Do you think it will be a girl or a boy?” he asked, his gaze pouring over the road ahead but his mind clearly lost in a world of imagined diaper changes and night-time lullabies.

“I haven’t thought about it,” I said with a shrug. My mind had been so clouded with thoughts about telling him that I hadn’t had the time to think about the child itself.

As we reached the apartment building, our fingers intertwined and our palms pressed together in a comforting embrace. Our footsteps echoed in the parking garage, the sound of our shoes creating a soothing rhythm. Together, we ascended the elevator and made our way into the apartment.

There was a change in atmosphere as the door shut behind us, an almost palpable shift that settled over us. I looked into Ettore’s eyes, which were filled with hunger. He moved closer to me, his hands sliding down my arms before he entwined his fingers with mine. I could feel the heat radiating from his body, a stark contrast to the chilly outside air that still clung to our clothes.

“I think I should make sure it stuck,” he murmured roguishly, the corners of his lips twitching upwards in a knowing smirk.

I snorted, even as my heart fluttered at his words. There was a newfound tenderness in our banter, coupled with the promise of a future we were both eager to explore.

“Is that so?” I teased, arching a brow and looking at him sideways. “And how would you do that?”

His arms encircled me, pulling me closer against his warm chest. The delicious scent of him filled my senses - the fresh soil after a storm, the warm spice of autumn, and the undercurrent of raw masculinity that was uniquely his. “I have a few methods in mind,” he murmured, kissing down the nape of my neck. Hissoft breath tickled my skin, causing a shudder to wrack through me.

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