Page 7 of Pretty Little Disaster

“You okay?” He frowns suspiciously.

“Me…I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be? How’s Madalina?”

“She’s downstairs… holding your new baby brother.” His eyes move to his nieces, glistening with adoration, and when I realize that I’m touching my stomach again I quickly shove both my hands into the back pocket of my jeans. Nic has always been so great with the girls, I don’t know why I would doubt that he would love his own kid.

Oh, yeah….Because he detests me!

“Do you want to go meet him?” He picks Isabella up and balances her on his hip, then taking little Carlotta’s hand he leads her to the door. It stirs a warm feeling in the pit of my stomach that I should probably ignore. Nic isn’t exactly father material. It’s easy to be good with kids when you can hand them back to their parents.

“You coming?” He pauses and looks back at me over his shoulder, and I quickly paste on a smile.

“Of course, I’m coming.” I go after them, scooping Carlotta up as I pass and carrying her down the stairs.

Nic knocks on the door to the living room and looks across at me with a smile. It’s the first time we’ve been together since the night that changed everything, and the new DeMarco arrival seems to be making this a lot less awkward than I expected, though Nic still has a lot to learn. He thinks the past is behind us, that this is us moving on and pretending it didn’t happen. Allwhile his spawn is settling itself into my uterus and making itself at home.

“Come in,” Madalina calls out and when Nic opens the door I see her beaming with happiness, laid out on the couch with her newborn son in her arms.

“Mommy!” The girls call out in unison as they wrestle themselves free from our arms and charge forward to see her.

“Careful, Mommy is very tired.” Dario lifts his daughters, one by one, and places them on either side of her so they can get a first glimpse at their new brother. I remain standing in the door with Nic beside me and suddenly feel like an imposter.

“I should really get going. He’s beautiful.” I smile as I start to back away.

“Lorna, don’t be stupid. Get over here.” Madalina laughs at me and when Dario gestures his head for me to step forward, I do what everyone else in New York seems to do and follow his command.

“I can’t believe he’s here. That was so fast.” I look down at the not-so-little bundle in her arms and wonder how the hell she managed to push him out.

“Itwasfast,” Madalina agrees, looking as content as ever, bunched between all three of her children.

“Do you want to hold him?” She leans forward, offering him to me, and knowing that I’m carrying a child of my own makes me feel very weary of being judged.

“I’m fine, he looks comfortable where he is.” I shake my head and smile. Then notice Nic is right behind me.

“Are you feeling okay?” He laughs at me.

“I told you upstairs that I’m fine.” I snap back at him as the butterflies in my stomach flap out of control.

“Relax, I didn’t mean anything by it. But you have to admit when the girls were born you were kind of a hogger.” He nudges me with his shoulder and sniggers.

“How about you hold your nephew?” Dario suggests, taking his son from Madalina’s arms and placing him carefully in the crook of Nic’s.

“See, you're a natural,” Madalina tells him as she looks at me and pulls a prompting face.

“He’s a brute, sis, are you going to stick with Maximo?” He looks up from his nephew.

“Well, I guess he came out living up to the name.” Dario crouches down and kisses Madalina on the head, proudly. It’s obvious how much he loves her, to him, these children she’s given him are the greatest gift in the world. I can’t imagine Nic will have the same opinion when he hears what he’s got coming to him.

“It’s a great name.” I smile as I look over Nic’s arm at the latest addition. He’s got a cute button nose and a pouty lip, and it makes me wonder if my baby will share some of his features. They will be cousins, after all.

“I really should go.” I start backing toward the door when everything starts to get too much. When Madalina nods her head and smiles understandingly, I turn my back and pick up my pace.

“Hey, Lorna.” I hear Nic chasing after me and just before I make it to my car I take a deep, steady breath and turn around to face him.

“What can I do for you?” I make my best attempt to be polite.

“Well, for a start you can stop acting weird. Madalina’s not stupid and we don’t want her finding out about…you know.” He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly.

“No, that’s not what we want, at all.” My uterus suddenly feels as if it’s carrying a lead weight.

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