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Grinning up at him, I waved my fingers, urging him to hold my hand. When he caught mine and lifted it to his lips, I melted into the bed. “You were right. That is the absolute perfect name for her. She’s our little Remi.”
“No,” he denied quietly. “She’s our Love Bug. She can be Remi to everyone else.”
Sleepily, I nodded. “Right again.” Content, I felt my eyes begin to close.
“Violet.” He kissed my brow. “Please tell me you’re mine.”
I lifted my lashes. “I’ve always been yours, Luca.”
“Baby…”
“Shh,” I told him with a tired smile. “It’s my turn to talk.”
His lips twitched, and he carefully sat on the edge of my bed.
“I love you.” He swallowed hard, but I didn’t pause. “For my entire life, I’ve loved you. Even when I didn’t want to, I loved you. I just buried it and told myself I didn’t. When I was with Remington, I still loved you. But I loved him too. He… He knew that, even when I didn’t want to admit it to myself. I spent so much time scared he would hate me, that I was being disloyal to him by letting myself love you—when all along, his greatest wish was for me to love you and be happy.”
His thumb rubbed over my ring finger, and it was only then I realized it was bare. I frowned at the absence of my engagement and wedding rings, but before I could mention it, he pulled them from his pocket. “Mandy, one of the nurses who helped take care of you, gave these to me when they brought you in here. Apparently they had to take them off you for the C-section.”
He handed them over, and I just stared down at them in the palm of my hand. I loved those rings, but I couldn’t bring myself to put them back on my hand.
Swallowing hard, I gave them back to Luca. “Will you watch over these for me?”
“With my life,” he promised and returned them to his pocket.
The room filled with silence for a few minutes, both of us lost in our own heads until Luca whispered, “Remington was a good man.”
“I know,” I agreed.
“I promised him I would take care of you, but it was all for selfish reasons, Vi. I think I would have made any promise. To him, to the devil. Anyone—if it meant getting you back.” He took my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing each fingertip. “I love you. I love Love Bug. And a part of me even loves Remington because he not only gave you back to me, he gave me her too.”
“I love you too, Luca.” Saying those words made my heart feel light, as if their absence had been weighing me down, and now that they were back in the universe where they belonged, I could breathe again. “And I know Love Bug loves you.”
“Of course she does.” His voice was so full of confidence, I couldn’t help smiling. “I’m her daddy, and she’s my princess.”
I yawned and started to close my eyes again.
“Your parents will be here soon, so you should rest as much as you can before they arrive. Shaw was in Hawaii for a shoot or something—I didn’t really pay attention to why she said she was there when I called her. But she’ll be here tomorrow because she couldn’t get a flight out any earlier than that. She’s pissed she didn’t get to hold Love Bug first, but she can suck it. She’ll be lucky if I let her near my baby girl, let alone let her hold her.”
“Whatever you say,” I murmured sleepily. “Daddy knows best.”
“Damn—er, dang right, I do.”
Gigging at him continuing to correct his language around our sleeping baby, I fell asleep with him still holding my hand.
Chapter 54
Luca
Violet had to spend three days in the hospital, and when she came home, her parents and mine were both in residence for several weeks. Arella had helped us decorate via Skype before Remi was born, so thankfully, all the bedrooms were complete and I didn’t have people sleeping on my couches every night. My mom and Aunt Harper wanted to make sure Violet was comfortable with the baby before they returned home, but fuck, I was glad to see them go when they did.
I hadn’t been alone with Violet since she first woke up in the hospital after the C-section. Between her dad and mine always under our feet, I
couldn’t relax in my own house because I felt like they were watching to make sure I didn’t fuck anything up. The two of them were doting grandfathers, though, and even though I was uncomfortable, Love Bug seemed to love them both, so I didn’t grumble about them.
At least, not to their faces.
My team’s owner gave me three weeks off for paternity leave, so I got to be with Violet and the baby every day that our parents were there. The four of them helped me learn how to change diapers until neither Love Bug nor I cried when it was my turn to change her. I felt like I was hurting her every time I unsnapped her dirty diapers, but Dad and Uncle Shane showed me like the pros they were, and I began to breathe a little easier whenever she would make her poop face.
