Page 91 of Matteo

Jacob gave us both a wry smile as we departed and we were nearly to the door when he said something once more. “Boys, if you happen to get your brother back and figure out this entire mess that was stirred up with whoever is wearing his face…tell him his job will be waiting for him.”

As we walked out the front door and back into the night air that had cooled off dramatically from the summer heat, I looked over at Carmine. “I can’t tell if that was a total bust.”

He shrugged, fiddling with his key, the familiar jingle hitting my ears. “I don’t know…we just gotta find something to draw mom out. Something she’d deem important.”

“The question is what? I mean clearly, we don’t mean shit, or else she wouldn’t have left us with Dad.”

“We’re gonna figure it out,” Carmine hopped into the driver's side of his car.

The entire ride back to his place, I prayed he was right.

That we would figure something out and bring Matty home.

I just didn’t know what it would be.

Chapter 26

Rain

The OBGYN stared at me, with a gentle smile. She was an older woman dressed in pink, and her strawberry blonde hair was starting to grey. She had taken a wand, covered it with a condom and lube, and shoved it up inside of me.

“God you could’ve bought me dinner first,” I groaned.

“Well Ms. Ellis-Allen,” the doctor ignored me. “If you turn your head to right, you’ll see exactly who has been making you so sick.”

Slowly, I turned my head, a little feeling of worry in my tummy. I knew it was too late to be worried but there it was.

A bean.

It was flickering and pulsating.

“He already has a heartbeat,” I murmured.

“A he?” She asked. “We can’t determine the sex just yet.”

“Just a feeling,” I told her as she hit a few buttons.

“Well everything is measuring correctly,” the doctor smiled. “Based on the measurements, we’re looking at around thirteen weeks pregnant and a perfectly healthy baby so far.”

Before I could stop them from falling, tears sprang into my eyes and I let them fall. I’d been processing for days and I didn’t understand why I was crying.

Matteo’s baby…

“Oh don’t cry,” she smiled before offering me a tissue.

“Tears of joy, I guess,” I smiled as I dabbed at my cheeks.

“Do you have any more questions for me?”

I took a breath. “The morning sickness… it's getting more and more intense.”

“Hmm,” she studied me. “Okay, I’ll write you a prescription for prenatal vitamins and Zofran. The Zofran will help you with the morning sickness, please reach out if the dosage doesn’t do the trick, I’ll up the dosage.”

I shook my head, once more looking over to the image frozen on the monitor. The bean was still there.

You’re gonna be a mom,I thought.

There was so much I needed to do. Matteo still wasn’t home. He still didn’t know.

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