Dominic (Made Men 8)

“What happens if they don’t like me?”

“At first, they might not,” he told her truth of what bearing the last name Luciano was like. “But I know, once they get to know you, they will come to love you, Angelica Luciano.”

Looking down at his firstborn, he smiled when she finally nodded. She was a mixture of both him and his wife, which had shaken him to his core.

Hugging her to him, he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to let go. “I’ll be waiting right here when school is over, okay?”

“I love you, Daddy.” She tightly squeezed his neck.

It was everything Dom could do to keep the tears back on his daughter’s first day of school.

The man no longer deserved to wear the leather coat he still wore every day of his life … because he’d been turned into a puddle of mush by a single little girl.

Maria squeezed the hand in hers for dear life. “I can’t believe I let you do this to me again!” she screamed out in pain.

“You’re doing so good. Just a few more pushes, princess.” He smiled, giving her his dimples as he swept her gold hair off her face. “I told you four, and it’s the last one I’ll ever make you give me.”

“I swear to God, Dominic, I’m tying my tubes after th—ahhhh!!” she screamed, trying to shove the head out of her. She wanted to strangle her husband’s neck when all she had was his tatted hand to murder.

“She’s almost out … just one more push,” he told her, looking down as his final child was being born.

For the very last time, Maria did the last big push she would ever fucking do.

Dominic’s silence when the baby came out frightened Maria. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

She felt her worse fears come to life.

“It’s a,” He practically croaked out the word, “boy.”

“A boy?” Maria’s eyes went wide, wondering how in the hell her doctor had missed that little fact. All three of their children were girls, and they were supposed to be adding another.

She didn’t even know how she was supposed to feel, unprepared for this moment. What if she couldn’t love a son like her daughters? But then the doctor laid her newborn son down on her chest.

Three children before this, and while she teared up with each one, none of them had her tears falling in streams down her cheeks.

Softly, she ran her hand through his blond, fuzzy hair as more tears fell. Her son reminded her of what used to be … as he was the spitting image of her once sweet baby brother …

Leo.

The Story Of Blue Manor

“What are you doing?” Maria asked, stopping the worker before he took off the big letter B from the gate. The remodel had just begun, and they had a hell of a long way to go, considering the company that agreed to do it wasn’t from Blue Park and came at a high price. They had said they would not be working any time after the sun started to go down.

“You don’t want to remove it? We can replace it with the letter L—”

“No.” Maria shook her head. “I want to keep it the way it is.”….

“It will be more cost effective to replace the flooring, Ms. Caruso,” the contractor informed her.

“No.” Maria shook her head. “I want the original hardwood restored.”….

“The crack in the water fountain is unfortunately apart of the foundation. It will need to be repl—”

“No.” Maria shook her head. “I want it fixed.”….

“Mommy! Daddy!”

Maria ran into the good-sized room that had been transformed into a playroom. “Where are you?”

Dominic ran into the room a moment later as she called out again, “Come here! Come here!”

Hearing her youngest daughter, they followed her voice to inside a closet.

“What is it—”

Maria’s mouth dropped open.

“Look, Mommy!”

Seeing a little door cracked open, they watched their daughter push it back into the wall.

“Why don’t you go find your uncle Matthias, sweetie,” she told her.

Waiting for her to run off, Dominic and Maria stepped inside the closet. Kneeling down, they stared at the obvious crack in the wall.

“Do you remember this being here?” Maria asked. They had lived in this house for many years now and had checked every inch of it as it was remodeled, but Maria did not ever remember seeing this.

His brows furrowed as he pushed it back to crack it open. “No.”

Slowly opening the tiny door, they both looked at each other again when they saw the old, heavy brown trunk that wasn’t much bigger than the hidden room.

Dominic grabbed the handle and slid it out of the crawlspace. “Should we open it?”

Maria nodded. She had always felt the energy of places and homes and knew this one wanted her to open it.

Flipping the latch on one side, he then flipped the latch of the other and slowly lifted the top of the trunk.