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“I knew you’d never leave without them, not if there was any other choice.”
I sighed heavily, seething inside at all Luca had done, but even more so at the fact that he lied to me.
Luca dipped his head to catch my eye, concern and tenderness in his expression. “I was worried about you. Are you okay?”
“I'm fine. I'm better than fine actually.” I let my anger fuel my words. “In fact, Stefano has asked me to marry him, and I said yes. Congratulations, you're the first to know.”
Luca’s caring expression morphed into anger and disgust. “You're going to marry him? Why would you do that?”
“Because I love him, and he loves me and we're going to have a baby. We're going to be a family. And you know the craziest thing, he was happy—thrilled actually that I was pregnant. He wants me and he wants this baby.”
Luca jumped up from his chair. “You can't love him, not so fast. There's no way that you could know you want to spend the rest of your life with him already.”
“Luca, I know you might find this hard to believe but some people know what they want. Some people know when they have a good thing, and they will do everything they can to make sure they don't lose it. Now if you'll excuse me, I want to tell Teo myself before word gets out about the baby or the engagement.”
And with that I stood from my chair, heading toward Teo’s office. I knew he would be on a conference call, but I wanted to talk to him as soon as he was done before Luca had time to talk with him.
Chapter 21
Mira
Things began to move quickly after telling Teo, my father, and the rest of my family that not only were Stefano and I getting married, but we were having a baby as well. We only had two months to plan a wedding and on top of that, exhaustion and morning sickness had arrived in full force.
Bianca had already informed me that Stefano and his father had arrived, and I hurried to finish getting dressed. They were joining my family to discuss wedding details and enjoy a small celebratory dinner. I walked into the dining room to find everyone already gathered, a hush falling over the room as I entered.
“Sorry I’m late.” I looked around at everyone’s tense postures and perked an eyebrow. “Did I interrupt something?”
“Of course not, Mira,” Stefano started.
“Considering this is your life and the life of your baby that we are discussing, I would expect that you will have some strong opinions about the conversation.” Teo scowled at Stefano and Don Costa.
“What about our lives?” I asked hesitantly as I took a seat in a corner between Teo at the head of the table, and Stefano on my right.
“We were simply discussing when the three of you would be relocating to Sicily.” Don Costa spoke casually before taking a drink from his wine glass.
“Oh,” my stomach sank at the thought of moving so far from my family after I just got back home, but it wasn’t that the thought hadn’t already occurred to me. “We haven’t discussed specifics yet, but I would definitely like to be here for the first few months after having the baby.”
“The baby needs to be born in Sicily, where he will be raised,” Don Costa said as if there was no argument to be had on the matter.
“Wait,” Teo interrupted. “So, you are planning on moving there?”
“It makes the most sense.” I shrugged, looking at Teo apologetically. “I mean, Stefano is the heir, primed to take over once his father retires, I’m just the family lawyer, and not even that yet.”
“I just thought you always wanted to settle down close to home.”
“I do. I don’t want to move so far away but that’s where my future husband will be, so it only makes sense. But—” I turned to address Stefano and his father. “I would like to stay here for the first six months at least before relocating.”
“So, we are supposed to live separately just after getting married?” Stefano sounded irritated. “No. I will have you by my side in Sicily as soon as we are married just like a wife should be.”
“Just like a—” I started but my father cleared his throat from across the table.
“While I can see how a man would want his new wife and unborn child by his side, surely you can see why Mirabella would want to be in the place where she’s most familiar as she goes through all the changes she will be dealing with over the next few months. Stefano would be welcome to stay here as well during that time. He can work remotely and make occasional trips as needed. Considering Mira is agreeing to uproot all her own future plans to move from the only real home she’s ever had, to go live in a strange place with people she doesn’t know well, I believe it is a good compromise.”
“They should be at our home for at least part of her pregnancy. Our family will want to feel a part of this as well,” Stefano’s father argued. “They should at least stay with us after the wedding. Just for a few months. She can return during the third trimester to be near family when she’s close to delivery.”
“If Mira agrees with that, I suppose I can be agreeable.” My father looked to me for an answer.
I reluctantly nodded, not really wanting to travel there while I was pregnant but knowing that it would eventually become my home. It would be better to get used to it in small steps instead of all at once after the baby was born.
