“Just peachy. Don’t you have work to do or something?”
“Very well. I would like to show you my office. It has a beautiful view of the terrazza.”
The bathroom door opened, and an adorable blond head poked out. “What’s aterrazza?”
I nodded slowly, trying to remember the English word. “I believe you call it a terrace. Courtyard, perhaps?”
“A patio area?”
“That could be another word.” I stood and held out my hand. “There is a door that leads from my office to it. There are several tables and chairs as well as benches around the fountain.”
Abel’s eyes rounded. “There’s a fountain?” He came from the bathroom and stood beside me.
“Yes.” I smiled down at my beloved. “Would you care to see it? I’ve wanted to show you around the rest of the villa, but we always seem to end up back here.”
“I’d like that.”
I held out my hand for Abel’s, but when he didn’t take it, I scowled, then reached down and took his hand. I led him from the room and down the stairs. We ran into Vincent at the bottom of the stairs, and I was curious how this would go since I knew my beloved was not a fan of him.
“It’s good to see you out and about again, Abel. I do hope that you will venture out more often.”
Abel looked up at Vincent but just stared.
“Mio angelo, he is trying. He had our best interests in mind when he had you brought here. At least be cordial, even if you do not like him.”
Abel squeezed my hand in response.
“Thank you, Master Vincent. From what I’ve seen, your house is gorgeous. Marcello told me about a fountain outside of his office, and he’s going to show me around a bit.”
“Splendid,” Vincent said. “There are actually three fountains on the property. There is an extensivegiardinoas well. I would imagine once you can shift again, your fox would love to run around the property.”
I could feel Abel’s excitement through our bond. It was there and gone in a flash though. “That would be nice, except I’ll have the twins to take care of and won’t really have a whole lot of time to be able to run like that.”
I looked down at my beloved. Our children had two fathers. Did he not believe I was capable of taking care of our twins?
“There are many here in the villa that would be more than happy to watch them for a time,” Vincent said. Then he looked directly at me and raised an eyebrow. I shrugged.
“Abel knows I’m very much looking forward to welcoming our twins. There is a lot we still need to discuss with regards to everything related to our growing family, but I will obviously be more than happy to look after our children while he has some time to run in thegiardino.”
“That’s a garden, right? You’ve both mentioned it. I was studying some Italian words earlier before I went back to reading the pregnancy book.”
“Yes,” I told him. “I will try to make sure all of my words and phrases are in English for you.” I reached out and touched the side of Abel’s face again. He offered a smile, this one more genuine than I’d received from him in a while.
Abel placed his hand on top of mine before he leaned his head into the touch. “You’re doing amazing so far. I need to learn the language though. It’s not fair if I don’t put in an effort to learn the language you’ve spent your lifetime speaking. You already know mine.”
I smiled at my beloved. “Yes, but I have had much longer to learn it than you’ve had to learn Italian. But we will certainly start lessons if you wish.” I leaned down and kissed his nose again. Abel smiled at me, which was so much better than the looks I was getting earlier.
“Would the two of you care to join me for lunch on theterrazza?” Vincent asked, breaking our little bubble. “We could discuss the plans for the babies, as well as the possibility of converting the room next door into a nursery?”
Abel blinked up at me. “Is it empty?” he asked before he glanced over at Vincent.
“It is. There are several empty rooms in the villa, so if the two of you would like to move to a different room altogether, that is also a possibility.”
“Lunch would be nice,” Abel said before I could respond. “Unless you had other plans for lunch?”
I chuckled. “No,mio angelo. If you wish for lunch on theterrazza, that sounds like a wonderful idea. It will do us good to get out and have some fresh air for a change.” It pleased me that my beloved was willing to have a meal with Vincent. He had no idea that it wasn’t often that Vincent took time out of his day to have a meal with others. Sure, I’d spent many meals with him, but that was because of my position in the family.
“Meraviglioso,” Vincent said. “I will order lunch for us and see the two of you in about an hour.”
