Bound By Blood Anthology

One evening as we watched the sunset in the hammock in front of our beach villa, Gianna leaned her head on my shoulder, whispering, “I wish we could stay in this moment forever. I’m scared of returning to New York.”

Gianna admitting to being afraid was a rare event and immediately fired up my protectiveness. I pulled her closer against me. “There’s nothing for you to be scared of. You have me.”

She looked at me. “I do, don’t I?”

I frowned. “Of course.”

“Things will get tough. Pretending this pregnancy isn’t there is impossible with my belly, and it’ll be hard hiding from the public to keep it hidden.”

“You’ll spend plenty of time in the Hamptons with Aria and Liliana.”

Gianna cringed. “I still have to tell Lily. I can’t postpone it anymore. It’s not fair.”

“Then tell her.” I paused, knowing Gianna would loathe what I had to say next. “You should stop teaching classes. Hiding your bump in gym clothes is much harder, especially if you do all those yoga poses.”

Gianna nodded slowly, surprising me. “I know. It’s been hard to avoid ab exercises these last few weeks. Eventually my clients will get suspicious.”

Wistfulness swung in her voice. Gianna loved her job. She loved feeling useful. A life as a trophy wife wasn’t what she was born to be. She pulled her legs up against her body, her gaze returning to the ocean cloaked in darkness.

When suddenly she jumped, her eyes going wide and darting down to her belly.

“What is it?” I asked, alarmed.

Gianna didn’t say anything at first and only stared down her body. Slowly she lowered her legs and met my gaze. “It’s nothing. I think my stomach is acting up.”

Gianna was lying. “Are you sure you are okay?”

She glanced down at her belly again and nodded slowly. “I’m fine. I’ll just do a few detox-days once we’re back home, then everything will be okay.”

I had a feeling her reaction had little to do with stomach issues and more with the baby.GiannaI’d avoided this conversation with Lily for too long. I wasn’t even sure why. Lily wouldn’t condemn me any more than Aria had. Maybe she would have a harder time understanding my reasoning, after all she was blissfully happy being a mom. But now in my sixth month I couldn’t keep my pregnancy a secret from her any longer. I didn’t want to.

As we’d all agreed on, I’d driven out to the Hamptons after we returned from our vacation. The official explanation why I no longer taught Pilates and yoga was that I had broken my wrist during vacation and it needed time to heal. Now I just needed to stay out of the public eye until early April when the kid was due.

I sat wrapped in a cozy blanket on the couch and watched the flames licking at the top of the fireplace. I wasn’t really a winter person but roaring fireplaces always gave me a sense of peace.

The sound of a car pulling up caught my attention. Matteo had stayed in New York to take care of business with Luca, but Aria and Lily would join me with their kids today and stay until Christmas so we could all celebrate together. Of course, I wasn’t alone in the mansion. Two guards had accompanied me and were manning the security cameras to make sure I was safe.

My belly flipped when Lily entered, followed by her own bodyguard who carried Sara. He sat the kid down who immediately rushed toward me with a grin and climbed on the couch beside me. I smiled at her. She was a much quieter kid than Marcella or Amo. Judging by the line dancer in my belly, it wouldn’t be the hesitant type.

Lily joined me, her eyes crinkling with worry. She glanced at my hands, which were unscathed and frowned. She must have heard the broken wrist rumor from one of the women in my yoga course.

“I’m fine,” I said immediately. “We needed to figure out a lie for why I’m lying low.”

Lily leaned back, waiting, and as usual, her hand pressed to her very prominent belly. Even though she was only a week ahead, her bump was already much bigger. Maybe because it was her second kid or maybe because she wasn’t so desperate to hide it from the world. Sara curled up with her head on Lily’s lap and my sister immediately began to stroke her hair.

I looked away, losing myself in the flames. “You know I don’t want kids.”

Lily nodded, but her frown only deepened.

“And I still don’t…” I pushed down the blanket, revealing the bump that my sweater and sweatpants couldn’t hide anymore.

Lily’s eyes shot open, her shock almost comical in its scope. “Wow. I—” She snapped her mouth shut and shook her head.

“Yeah,” I whispered.

She licked her lips and touched my shoulder, her gaze full of questions she obviously didn’t dare ask.