Bound By Blood Anthology

“Yeah,” Gianna said with a sigh. Her voice mirrored a deep longing I felt as well. Problem was, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was longing for.Liliana and Romero had agreed to watch Marcella and Amo while we had dinner. Luca and Aria obviously didn’t want their kids to overhear anything about the new addition to their family, which was probably for the best.

We were halfway through dinner, when Aria spoke up, “Oh, I made an appointment with my OB/GYN next week for a checkup. You’ll be in your seventh week then so she should be able to see the heart beating.”

Gianna didn’t look surprised, so they must have discussed the matter before. I was stunned. “You’ll have an ultrasound?”

“I suppose so?” Gianna said, turning to Aria who nodded.

“That’s good,” I said. “You’ll accompany Gianna?”

“Yes,” Aria said hesitantly. “If that’s okay for you?”

“Of course.”

It wasn’t that I was keen on going to the appointment but the knowledge that any step of the kid’s development wasn’t really my business felt strange.

“We need to discuss the matter of hiding the pregnancy,” Luca said unceremoniously. “The child doesn’t need to grow up surrounded by nasty rumors. We need to make the public believe it’s Aria’s and mine.”

“You are right,” Gianna said. “When did you show?”

Aria pursed her lips. “At twenty weeks it was difficult to hide with Amo. But that’s because it was my second pregnancy. You’ll be pregnant in winter so coats and sweaters can cover up a lot. But your workout clothes won’t be able to hide a bump.”

Gianna nodded. “That’s what I thought.”

Aria exchanged a look with Luca. “How about we take it as we go? You keep on giving yoga and Pilates lessons for as long as loose shirts hide the bump, and wear loose clothes as much as possible. I’ll start doing the same. I can’t really wear a tight dress to our Christmas party when you are in your fifth or sixth month then, and would show.”

“I’d have never thought pregnancy means so much logistics,” I joked.

“It usually doesn’t,” Luca muttered.

“Well, Aria has experience hiding a pregnancy so I have faith we can keep it a secret,” I said, not able to hold back the jibe.

Luca’s eyes flashed, remembering the difficult beginning of Aria’s pregnancy with Marcella.

Aria sent Luca a warning look while Gianna did the same with me.

“We’ll get through this together as a family,” Aria said firmly.

“When should we tell Lily and Romero?” Gianna asked to change the topic. Clever girl.

“That’s really up to you. You could wait until you both are past the first twelve weeks…”

“Yeah. I hope she won’t be disappointed we didn’t confide in her before,” Gianna said.

“She’ll understand,” Aria assured her.

“Will we tell anyone else?”

Luca shook his head. “I don’t see why. Every person we involve is a risk.”

A risk to the biggest secret of all of our lives.GiannaThe first ultrasound showed that the baby’s heart was beating. It was strange to see the pulsating thing on the screen. I was relieved that there wasn’t much more to see yet. There wasn’t a baby to speak of yet. I’d worried a little person would stare right back at me. It made things easier. As long as the kid looked like an undistinguishable black-and-white blob in the ultrasound and I didn’t feel it, I could pretend I wasn’t really pregnant—except for the few amendments to my lifestyle.

In the week following my appointment, Lily surprised me when she showed up in the Famiglia women gym. She hadn’t worked out these last four weeks, probably because of the pregnancy. She’d mentioned something about some light bleeding. Like me she wore yoga tights and a loose-fitting yoga tank, not that either of us showed yet. It was actually quite informative to see her since she was a week ahead of me, and always gave me a glimpse of what lay ahead. Her dark blond hair was piled atop her head in a messy bun just like mine.

“Hey stranger,” I called across the yoga room as Lily slid her wool socks off and padded toward me barefoot. We hugged before we both sank down on the round yoga pillows. The yoga lesson wasn’t about to begin for another fifteen minutes, but I was always early to prepare everything.

“How are you?” I asked.

“Great,” Lily said, brushing her palm across her belly. It was something I’d often seen with pregnant women, especially if you asked them about their well-being. As if they always answered for two.

“Are you going to do yoga today?”

She nodded with a smile. “My doc cleared me for exercise. I want to keep doing something for my health.”

Lily had been a constant presence in my yoga classes from the very first day. Aria had been in the beginning but she preferred my Pilates classes so she switched to them later. “Perfect,” I said with a smile. Lily and I didn’t see each other as often as Aria and I did so I’d missed our weekly yoga sessions and chats afterward.