Page 22 of Winter Love

Listening to Sebastiano makes me smile. I thought Lukas was the only one that spoke like that. That poetic way he says things to me, making me feel like I’m the only woman he sees. I can’t wait to meet the women in the Mancini and Bastianini families.

“How long until your baby is here? Do you know what you’re having?”

“Schuyler’s due in one month. And no, we haven’t found out. We thought about doing one of those trendy gender reveals. But in the end we said we want to be surprised. We found out with our son, Sansone. As much as I loved knowing I was having a son, I want to know what it feels like to find out when he or she is born.”

“Maybe after all this is over, Lukas and I can come to Lake Renegade.”

“That would be really nice. I think you’d both love it there. We have campgrounds with hiking trails and waterfalls.”

“It sounds wonderful.” I smile.

Lukas

I grab a quick shower after I get up. Emma’s family will be here soon and I don’t want her to have to talk to them alone. When I head out to the living room, I see her talking to Sebastiano. It’s so weird to see him in my house. His identical twin brother, Domenico is the goalie for my favorite hockey team, the Chicago Redhawks. I’ve been trying my best not to be a fanboy about it. I know he’s not Domenico, but because they’reidentical, sometimes I want to start asking about the game. It’s been a struggle.

“Hey, baby,” I say to Emmanuelle as I give her a kiss. “Any word on when everyone will get here?”

“Maman texted about an hour ago and said they were two hours out. I’m so nervous.”

“I know, baby. It’s going to be okay.”

“I was telling Emma that I get why she didn’t tell her family. Sometimes it’s hard to tell them things like this,” Sebastiano says.

“I agree. Especially because you know they’re going to want to protect her. Like I wish I had been there to do.”

“I feel that. Schuyler was taken and I wasn’t there to stop it. It’s taken me a while to work past that. I know there’s nothing I could’ve done. But that doesn’t make me feel less responsible.”

“That’s how I feel, we weren’t together when she met William. But we talked and I feel like I should’ve seen the signs. And I’ll spend the rest of our lives making up for that,” I say to them.

“You don’t have to make up for anything. If you say there’s nothing I could’ve done, then there’s definitely nothingyoucould’ve done.”

I hold my girl and wish there was some way to go back in time and fix this. Maybe I could have found some way to have stayed with her. I know I can’t, but I can wish.

“So how do we find William and Richard? Were you able to see how they know each other?” I ask Sebastiano.

“So far we haven’t found a connection. But it could just be a coincidence that they found each other. Iwillsay that I don’t really believe in coincidences. I think they had a plan for Emma and when she got away from William, they expected her to come back. He’s probably been watching her for a while now. TheRussian mafia deals in trafficking and that’s something we’re all against. Our families have never hurt women or children.”

I guess the look on my face is saying I don’t believe him.

“I know it’s hard to believe that mafia and MC’s can be good guys. When my grandfathers and the Bastianini founders came here, they did things that were…bad. But they never hurt women and children, that’s where they drew the line. And now, we’re working on making things better, we own businesses and pay taxes. Salvatore is a Chicago police officer, something that never would’ve been allowed in the old days.”

“I remember him saying that it was a hard decision for him to make. Being a cop. But in the end he felt that it would benefit your family more than hurt it.”

Sebastiano nods. “Our nonno didn’t understand at first. But after talking with my papà and zios, they were able to make him understand. He’s very proud of Salvatore. And soon, Sal will be the Sheriff in Lake Renegade. He’s come a long way and worked really hard at what he does.”

“That’s awesome. I think that’s great that he was able to follow his dreams.” Emma smiles

“After our parents died, I told my siblings that I would support anything they chose to do. Paxton was always building things with our dad and he wanted to continue doing that. And Rhett? Well he originally wanted to be a doctor. But he didn’t want to leave us so he chose to be a pharmacist. He’s the smartest of all of us. And Felicity? Well I don’t know if she’s decided what she wants to do. But she will one day.” I grin.

“That’s like my sister, Giovanna. She was going to medical school, but things happened. She got married to Declan O?—”

“Holy shit. Redhawks defenseman Declan O’Reilly?” I blurt out.

Sebastiano laughs.

“Yep. That Declan. And they have a son, Rowan, who’s a year and a half now. So she’s not sure she wants to go back to school or not. My parents told her whatever makes her happy is what she should do. And Declan likes that Gia can come to all the games. Are you a Hawks fan?”

“Hell yes.” I laugh. “Our dad was from Chicago and he passed on his love for the Redhawks and the Panthers. We got to go to a few live games growing up. But. Now I watch every game on TV. I keep wanting to call you Domenico.”

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