Coming Home (Morelli Family 6)

I nod. “They were all cozy in the red sitting room. She leaned her head on his shoulder and tried to feed him ice cream. I wanted to throw up.”

“She tried to feed him… ice cream?”

“Normally I’m the one who relaxes him, not her. And I’m not even sharing now! I shouldn’t have to deal with this bullshit.”

“Agreed,” Adrian says, nodding once. “He’s a dick.”

I don’t know why, but I didn’t expect his agreement. “He’s not a dick. He’s stressed out about the baby situation.”

Shaking his head, Adrian says, “God, you’re predictable.”

I frown at him, but he’s already talking again.

“I’ll talk to him. I really don’t think you have to worry about whatever you saw earlier. His world revolves around you. He’s marrying you. He would use Meg as a human shield to protect you. Vince’s bullshit isn’t going to change that; he’s just struggling with it right now. He’ll work it out. But in the meantime, he’s being a dick. He should be there for you right now, not off in his own little world, finding comfort somewhere else and driving you to my doorstep.”

I nod my agreement. “That would be nice.”

“Want me to punch him in the face for you?” he offers.

I laugh a little. “What?”

“At the gym tomorrow, I can punch him in the face. He definitely deserves a few jabs.”

I smile, shaking my head and pondering the letters on my tray. “No, I don’t want you to punch him in the face. I appreciate the offer, though.”

Nodding along, he says, “If you ever change your mind…”

I nod back, placing my Scrabble tiles on the board. “I’ll text you.”

He smiles, recording my score. “He doesn’t deserve you, you know. But he’s lucky he found you, and I have to believe he’s not going to screw this up.”

“I won’t make it easy for him,” I assure him.

He places some tiles on the board. “Neither will I.”

“His penchant for self-destruction is no match for the pair of us.”

“Damn straight,” Adrian replies, leaning back and smiling as he lazily jots down his 66 points.

Chapter Twenty Nine

Mia

All of my hopes and dreams have been resting on this appointment.

Adrian and Maria took my mind off things that night, and though things have remained tenser between us than is the norm, Mateo and I have not discussed my pregnancy again. I think we both figured until there was verification of the problem, there was no point. No point further damaging our relationship, no point hurting each other—why do all that if there was still a chance it was all for naught?

Until today, when the doctor—the poor, terrified doctor with his trembling hands and his dry lips, deeply and profoundly apologetic—had to stand in that sterile, white and gray exam room and tell an imposing, stoic Mateo Morelli that the woman he was marrying was not carrying his baby.

I was so sure he would be the father. I had convinced myself of that long shot because it was the truth I wanted.

It just wasn’t the truth.

The truth is that Vince got me pregnant. After all this, after finally getting the life I wanted with Mateo, now I’m going to have Vince’s baby.

At least, that’s my plan. I’m too terrified to let my mind go to any place dark enough to consider what Mateo could do now. I know he loves me, and with any normal man that would be enough assurance that he’s incapable of any horrendous crimes against me, but Mateo has committed them before. He loves me, but he loves his way. At the end of the day, he’s the boss. He has the final say in all things. We walk his lines and he gives us his love as a reward. It goes without saying that if we fail him, he could rescind it.

So now I have that to worry about. Now I have to worry about everything. Now I have to prepare for a fight. Now I have to oppose fucking Mateo Morelli. Me—the softest, least powerful person who’s ever encountered him.

Vince could actually cost me Mateo, after everything.

I have no words as we leave the doctor’s office. I climb woodenly into the car and stare out the window. Adrian doesn’t ask. He can tell what the news was by looking at us.

Mateo doesn’t talk either. Considering how he reacted last time when there was only a decent chance, I’m not at all looking forward to this. Now he knows he isn’t the father. Now he’s going to dig in, and it’s going to kill me. I don’t know how we survive this. I don’t know how far he’ll take it. I can weather his storm, I can handle his anger—if he just blusters, I can handle it. If he takes it beyond that, though, we won’t make it. And I consider it quite likely he will. Mateo isn’t all bark and no bite. Vince barks; Mateo bites. What will that mean for me? Even if he manages to make me stop loving him, there’s no way out for me. I’ll just be Beth, if she hadn’t tried to escape.