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I’m not ready to have a baby.
I’m not ready to have one with him.
And then there’s the other thing.
What if it’s not his?
What if it’s Gregory’s?30SebastianThe next few weeks are tense. Helena is still having trouble keeping food down and the stress of it all is weighing on her.
Hell, it’s sitting on me like a ton of bricks.
A baby.
She’s fucking pregnant.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. This isn’t part of the plan.
Although what is the plan? What the hell has it ever been?
Take the Willow Girl.
Break her.
That was the plan.
Destroy a life like we Scafoni men do.
Destroy our own in the process.
I wasn’t ever supposed to fall in love with her.
I don’t even know when it happened. How it happened. But I did fall in love, and now, she’s carrying my baby.
Or my brother’s baby.
What the hell are we going to do if it’s his? What will she want to do?
I just can’t think about it yet. Not until we get the results of the paternity test which will be today. They took blood from Helena and swabbed my cheek earlier in the week. Dr. Price received the results of the test this morning.
Helena’s been quieter than normal, and we haven’t talked about what we’re going to do. I don’t have a clue what she’s thinking or where her head is.
When we arrive, the nurse takes us into the doctor’s office right away. I don’t know what Dr. Price thinks about this paternity test and quite frankly, could give a fuck, but once we’re settled, she opens a folder and takes out the envelope that holds the results. She smiles at us a little awkwardly and I realize I’m sitting on the edge of my seat when Helena slides her hand across to touch me.
We exchange a look and I slip her hand between mine as the doctor adjusts her glasses and reads the results.
“Well?” I ask anxiously.
She smiles, turns it over and pushes it toward us.
“You’re the father, Sebastian.”
Helena lets out an audible exhale.
I turn to her, smile, not realizing how tense I’ve been. And I’m surprised at the excitement I feel.
“Now, Helena, your blood also showed higher than usual levels of hCG—”
“What’s that?” I ask. “Is that a problem?”
“A hormone produced during pregnancy, and no, not a problem,” she replies with a smile. She turns back to Helena. “Given the history of multiples in your family, I’d feel better if we did an Ultrasound.”
“Multiples?” Helena asks, sounding lost.
“It could be nothing. Some women have higher levels of this hormone and they carry a single child. We’d need to do the Ultrasound to be sure.”
Helena’s lost a little color.
I turn to the doctor.
“Why don’t you give us a few minutes,” I say.
The doctor nods and vacates the room.
A tear slides from Helena’s eye and she wipes it away.
“Why are you crying?”
“I’m relieved it’s yours but...”
“Are you happy?”
She looks at me. “It’s really fast. Not normal.”
“Yeah. Well, what’s been normal about any of this?”
“Nothing.” She looks at her lap and worry creases her brow.
“Helena?”
She shifts her gaze up at mine. “I’m not ready for this.”
I feel my jaw tense. “We can talk about it.”
“What if…what if it’s four? Four girls?”
I wipe the tears off her face with my thumbs and lift her onto my lap.
“What if it’s already happening again?” she asks into my chest. “The cycle starting already.”
“It’s not. It’s over.”
She gives a small shake of her head.
“It’s over, Helena. There won’t be another Willow Girl reaping.” I tilt her face up so she looks at me. “I swear it. This is us finishing it. With this birth, whether it’s one or four, it’s finished. The Willow Girl Legacy, it’s over. And what has it done over centuries? Destroyed both families. Turned brother against brother. Daughter against mother. And caused too much pain and suffering.”
She rests her head against my chest and touches my face with her fingertips.
“The families will be united again, but this time, it’ll be out of love, not greed,” I say. “I love you and I’ll have one baby with you or four babies or a dozen. I don’t care. I love you. And whatever this is, we’re doing it together, you and me.”
She nods.
“Ready?”
Her smile wavers but I stand her up and squeeze her arms. I’ll be strong enough for both of us.
“Doctor,” I call out.
Dr. Price re-enters and a few moments later, Helena is lying on the table and we’re all staring into the monitor and hearing the echo, a whooshing sound, as the doctor finds the baby.
The babies.
All four of them.Epilogue 1HelenaOne Month LaterSebastian is right. My aunt Helena was right.
We’re ending this, he and I.
I’ll be the last Willow Girl.
We’re sitting in Joseph Gallo’s office as he talks through the contract on his desk. It’s a new one Sebastian had drawn up that signs over the deed of the Willow estate and land to me. It also marks a symbolic end of the taking of the Willow Girls.
