A Debt To Pay (Leone Legacy #1)

Chapter 73

Luci

24 Weeks Pregnant

I ’ve read through Gia’s journal several times and compared it to where I am in my pregnancy. I’m at the same point she was around her September 19th entry. I’ve thought about her entries and how I can relate to her through this journal. It’s unbelievable that my baby girl could live outside of the nice and cozy home I’ve created for her . . . even though she needs to stay still. I’m sitting in the library when Alessandro walks in on me holding the journal. He watches me with that blank expression I’ve come to learn means he’s unsure of what to think.

“What are you doing with that?” He stalks in my direction, looking down at the journal and then at me with those dark eyes.

“I . . . um. I’m twenty-four weeks pregnant and was thinking of these entries. That’s around the same time as this entry from September. I was thinking maybe we could follow some of the things she did. You know, a way to bond with her and with our daughter. Maybe it was a silly thought. You know, never mind. I’m sorry I picked this up. I’ll put it back where you had it.” Alessandro grabs my arm as I go to walk past him, his face softening, a slight sadness in his eyes.

“I think that’s an amazing idea. It’s getting sporadically warmer outside and it’ll be time to plant fresh flowers soon. I found more detailed pictures of my mamma’s garden and have spoken to our gardener to recreate them. What do you think?” Alessandro hands me a picture of the garden Gia spoke about in her journal and cannot believe how intricate it is.

“That’s an amazing idea. This is stunning. Did your mamma do all of this?”

“With some help, but yes. Mamma said her garden was her oasis and the reason she wanted to bring me out there, at least according to her journal.”

“Oh!” I gasp when our daughter kicks, but the second I get the courage to grab Alessandro’s hand to place it on my belly she stops. Alessandro’s eyes widen with panic until I break out into laughter.

“What happened? Why are you laughing?”

“Our daughter is just like you. She was kicking me then stopped once I placed your hand on her.”

“Of course she is! She’s got Leone blood running through her.” He holds us close to him, well as close as he can with our daughter in between us.

Alessandro places a gentle kiss on my lips, but I know he didn’t come up here during his workday for no reason. “What do you need?”

“I can’t take a break to hold my wife and daughter for no reason?” I glare at him until he breaks and continues his thought. “Fine. El keeps bugging me about having a baby shower for you. If you could appease her and me by letting her throw you one, that would be much appreciated. That way, she will stop bothering me. Also, where is your phone? If you had it she wouldn’t call me constantly and then bombard me when I was having a suit fitting with Andrea.”

Oops . . . the phone. “Oh! I kind of forgot about it. I know where it is, though.”

“Then go get it, mio premio.” Alessandro kisses me and we leave the room, going our separate ways. He goes back to his office and I go upstairs to the room we’ve decided will be our daughters’ nursery.

In the last few weeks, we’ve added my fingerprint to the scanner. That way I’m able to come and go as needed. Initially, I wanted to take the scanner off altogether. Unfortunately, that led to a long, passionate, and honestly uncomfortable explanation from Alessandro on how we need to keep her safe, which includes keeping the scanner. The phone is exactly where I left it before I took the test that night many months ago. I’m surprised, but also not surprised about what pops up on the screen when it turns on.

Wedding Day

Alessandro:

Luci, where the fuck did Aldo take you?

Alessandro:

I found the phone. Mio premio, where did you go?

El:

Babe! Where did you go? Alessandro is about to flip his shit and frankly, I don’t want to be here when it happens. Also, he’s already mad at me because he found the pregnancy test and that I bought it for you and didn’t tell him. Ugh, men.

El:

Oh, never mind, he found the phone. *sneaks away slowly to hide from the wrath that is Alessandro.*

Current Day

El:

Luci! As your best friend, it’s my job to plan your baby shower, which according to the internet I needed to start like yesterday.

El:

Luuuuuciiiiii! Are you there?

El:

Alessandro is coming to see Andrea today and I will bombard him if you don’t text me back. I don’t think either of us wants to see him as Mr. Grumpy Pants.

El:

Yup, he’s grumpy. Let me know when you get these! Kisses!

Me:

Hi, El. When do you want to come over and plan my baby shower?

El:

Fuck, finally! I can’t believe I forgot about the texts I sent months ago. And yesterday! I’m currently preoccupied *wink* I’ll finish up and be over there in the hour.

An hour later, El shows up, arguing with Marco as they walk in. By the way they suddenly stop, I assume they didn’t expect anyone to be in the kitchen.

“Oh, hey doll. Marco, you go do whatever stupid men do because Luci and I have a baby shower to plan.” She shoves Marco out of the room before turning to me, hands on her hips and a smirk on her face.

“I’m guessing you have my baby shower planned and the only thing I need to do is show up.” She struts over, heels clacking on the floor, before leaning against the counter.

“You know me so well. You can, of course, shoot down anything buuuuuut we’ll have it next month when it’s warmer in the garden and kick the men out of the house. Andrea is already on my side and will keep Marco, Enzo, Alessandro, and Geno out of the house. That way we can have fun without stupid men controlling things. Here’s where things get hard. The guest list. There are not enough women around here. I guess I could invite Dr. Rossi, who, by the way, I think is fabulous. Oh! Quinn is also coming to stay here until Miss Diva arrives. I dooooooo want to talk to you about Stella and Caterina.”

My heart drops into my stomach when I hear their names. I haven’t heard anything from them since those letters and I’m not even sure they want to reach out. “What about them?”

“With the boys gone, I bet Aria and I could get them in. If you want me to, of course.”

If anyone could sneak my family into this house without anyone stopping her, it would be El. Hold on. “Who’s Aria?”

“You didn’t know that’s Dr. Rossi’s first name?” She must read my face and continues. “Yeah girl, you’re just as shocked as I was. Who knew such a bad bitch would have a light-hearted name like Aria? That’s not the point here, well it’s not the main point. Do you want Stella and Caterina here?”

“In all honesty, I don’t know if they would come. Maybe Nonna would, but I don’t know if Mamma would, and even if they did, I doubt Nonno would let them.”

“Yeahhhhhh, you’re right. If you want them here, then say the word and I’ll make it happen. Worst-case scenario, Aria said she could get her hands on something to knock Aldo out and get the ladies of the Bonacci clan here. What do you think?”

El’s eyebrows are almost in her hairline as she taps the toe of her shoes, waiting for my answer. “Yeah. Yeah. Let’s invite them. Maybe not the drugging part. I never thought I’d be planning my baby shower without them. It would be nice to have them be a part of it.”

“Love it! Okay, I’m going to shoot off some ideas and you can veto or approve of anything. The small details will have to be a surprise. Deal?”

El continues to list off ideas, which all sound perfect. I told El she could do what she wants and I’ll show up. By the end of the day, El has my baby shower planned, including several ideas to get the house void of men. I’d like to see how that goes with Alessandro.

After El leaves, I’m left in the kitchen, feeding my cheese cravings when Alessandro wraps his arms around me, holding my belly protectively.

“Is the baby shower planned?”

“Yes. I told El to make most of it a surprise. She did say that boys aren’t allowed because baby showers aren’t for boys.”

He stiffens at my last statement. “Excuse me?”

“Take it up with El. She’s in charge of planning this.”

“Oh, I will. Now let’s go up to bed and I’ll show you how much you’ll miss me during your baby shower, mio premio.”