“Yeah, spelled likeHugo,but the H is silent.” He winces. “I’ve always hated it.”
“Luca Hugo.” But, of course, it sounds like Luca-Oogo. I press my lips together, fighting a smile.
He’s still wincing.
“What?” I ask.
“Mami’s maiden name is Lugo.”
“Oh?” I shrug. “Okay.”
Luc wrinkles his nose. “So, legally, my name is Luca Hugo Valencia Lugo.”
I burst out laughing. “You’re kidding, right?”
Luc’s eyes narrow into a glare. “No.”
And I laugh and laugh and laugh because I know without a shadow of a doubt that this is the man for me. While I laugh, he grips me tighter, glaring hard so he won’t laugh too.
“Luca Hugo Valencia Lugo,” I test it out, managing to keep almost a straight face. “Yeah, that’s not much better than Mildred Agnes.”
He arches that scarred brow.
“Okay, maybe it’s a little better,” I concede.
Luc nods.
“Let’s just agree we’ll be super careful with all of our kids’ names, okay?”
He nods harder. “Yes. So careful.”
I nod too and then put my hand on his chest. “But like I was saying…”
The dimples come back to me. “Yeah?”
“You, Luca Hugo Valencia Lugo, are definitely taken.”
Epilogue
LUC
FOUR YEARS LATER
“We’re going to have a baby.”
My brother and Mattie sit across from us at the breakfast nook, their hands clutched together in front of them. Mattie’s knuckles are white. So are Alex’s lips.
But he looks defiant. Mattie just looks terrified. Under the table, Millie squeezes my wrist. This isn’t something she needs to be dealing with right now. The twins—our twins—Marco and Mateo—turned three in August. They’ve been running circles around her these days.
And her morning sickness is so bad this time. She’s exhausted. So much worse than when she carried the boys. That must mean it’s a girl, right?
I glance at her and find her biting her lip.Damn.I don’t want her to worry.
I fire a glare at my brother. “What did I tell you?”
Alex’s brows shoot up. “You told me to wait. We waited until college.”
“Alejandro!”Mattie jerks one hand free and covers her face with it.
