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?t want to cause myself more issues.
Deciding to ignore him, I put in my earbuds and kept my gaze turned out the window, popping another peppermint as soon as I finished one. I fought against the rising nausea throughout the entire trip, but as soon as we landed and were let off the airplane, I ran for the nearest bathroom.
After emptying everything inside of me, which was nothing more than peppermint-flavored water and gastric juices, I cleaned myself up and went to grab my things.
By the time I got outside, Maverick and Mila were both waiting for me. Seeing my brother and sister, I dropped everything right there and took off running. Spotting me, Mav laughed and scooped me up in his arms, but when he started to swing me around, I begged him not to.
Concern darkened his gray eyes. “You look pale, Mon.”
“There was turbulence on the plane, and I got sick,” I lied. “My stomach still isn’t happy with me.” I threw my arms around his neck, holding him tightly as I fought the sudden urge to cry. I’d missed my brother and sister over the last six weeks, but I was missing Gian even more. Pressing my face into Maverick’s shoulder to hide my eyes, I forced a laugh. “You smell like River’s perfume.”
He placed me on my feet. “She wanted to come with us to get you, but she’s babysitting Sofia today.”
“How has that been going?” I asked as we walked over to where Mila was still standing by our mom’s SUV, her hands on her hips, waiting for me to come to her. “You two haven’t mentioned her much.”
“As expected. She’s a drama queen.” He rolled his eyes. “But thankfully, Aunt Raven has been making her work so much that she doesn’t have a lot of time to cause any trouble.”
“But River has to babysit her?” I asked with lifted brows.
“It’s Sunday,” my brother said with a shrug. “The garage isn’t open, and neither is the bar. Sofia works at both, so this is her day off.”
“I would think she would want to sleep if she’s working two jobs every day,” I commented just as we reached Mila, and I hugged my sister tight.
“I want to hear all about Rome,” she grumbled when she leaned back, but then concern filled her gray eyes. “You look green, Mon.”
“Turbulence,” I muttered. “It was bad. My stomach is still rolling.”
“Let’s get you home. You can tell us about the trip later.” Leaving Maverick to load my bags into the back of the SUV, she opened the front door for me and waited for me to get in before climbing into the back seat.
The entire ride home, Maverick and Mila told me about their summer so far. Maverick had been apprenticing for Daddy since we all turned eighteen, and he seemed to enjoy working at the shop. Of course, River had been dropping by more often than not to “help.” Mila winked at me from the back seat when we shared a look. River might be our honorary cousin, but we both knew she was going to be our sister-in-law one day.
Seeing how happy my brother was whenever River’s name was mentioned only made me miss Gian more. “Oh God,” I moaned. “Mav, pull over!”
He jerked to the side of the interstate with a screech of tires, and I barely had time to open the door before throwing up. The other two got out and came to comfort me, Mila holding my hair out of my face while Maverick rubbed my back until the dry heaves stopped and I leaned weakly against my brother.
Tears spilled down my face as I silently begged Gian to hurry up and finish whatever the hell he was doing. I didn’t like missing him, and apparently my stomach wasn’t a fan of it either.
???
The nausea didn’t go away.
If anything, it only got worse. And the more I missed Gian, the harder it was to keep things in my stomach.
Whimpering as I wiped sweat from my brow after having spent the last ten minutes with my head in the toilet, I glanced at the pregnancy test I’d picked up at the grocery store that morning. Thankfully, they had self-checkouts, and I hadn’t had to deal with the judgmental stares of the cashier when I bought the damned thing.
I’d peed on the stick before the nausea had hit me again, and I hadn’t had time to check it. Picking it up, I gasped when I saw the little digital screen with the glaring PREGNANT reading on it.
My hand went to my abdomen, and fresh tears burned my eyes. I’d been crying a lot since getting back from Rome. With each passing day that there was no sign of Gian, my heart broke a little more. I’d thought that was why my stomach continued to stay upset until I realized I couldn’t remember when my last period was.
Dropping the pregnancy test on the bathroom floor, I wrapped my free hand around the medallion I never took off. “Gian,” I whispered, feeling a mixture of scared and in utter awe at the realization that a part of the man I loved was growing inside me right that moment. “We’re going to have a baby.”
And he wasn’t there to tell me it was going to be okay. There was no one to tell me I had no reason to be scared, to reassure me that the baby and I would be okay because Gian would always love and protect us both. Any excitement I might have felt was diminished at the realization that I might have to raise this baby all on my own.
“Please,” I whispered into the quiet bathroom, clutching the medallion like a lifeline. “I love you, Gian. I need you—we need you. Come back for us.”
But as I sat on the bathroom floor, praying for him to suddenly appear, I knew he wasn’t coming. Not yet. Something had to be stopping him from coming back to me. He wouldn’t abandon me. He loved me. The words might never have been spoken by him—might not ever come from his lips—but I knew they were true.
They had to be.
