Page 88 of Made in Love and Blood

“It’s been a minute,” her father agreed. “This one, though...well, it’s been a few years for me. Likely never for you.”

“You’ve come here before?”

“My parents married in this church. And I was baptized here, too.”

“Huh.”

Salvatore rubbed his hands together and avoided her curious gaze. “Thanks for coming. I know it was an odd request, but—”

“I miss you, Daddy.”

“I miss you too, Sunshine.”

He pulled her in for a hug the second she got close enough for him to grab. For once, he said nothing about how short her pleated, pink skirt was, even if she had pulled on a pair of white lace tights underneath for modesty’s sake.

“How’s Carina?” she dared to ask.

Salvatore laughed a broken sound. “Angry. Still angry and hateful, but what else should I expect? I said—did—a horrible thing.”

She pulled away, folding her arms over her chest, and tapping her ankle-high, heeled boot to the step. “Yeah, maybe so. But so has she.”

“Not like that, Frankie. Her words are barbed wire on a good day, sure, but she’s never cut me that deep. I think the situation was made worse by the information I didn’t know, but that’s not an excuse.”

Speaking of that information...

“So, she’s really pregnant, then?”

“Yeah, she is.”

“Didn’t see that coming,” Frankie admitted.

“Me, either. I can’t believe I’m going to be a father again at fifty-three. I’ll be what, seventy-one by the time they’re your age?”

She snorted, too amused for her own good. “You’re not even doing the math right. You turn fifty-four in a few months. The baby won’t be here by then. And you’ll be seventy-two, Daddy.”

He practically wheezed at the number, waving a hand as if to shoo away the truth while he surveyed the busy street beyond the church. “Insane. I don’t know how the fuck I got myself in this mess.”

“A lack of condoms, apparently.”

His gaze cut right back to her. “Francesca!”

“What? It’s true.”

He just shook his head.

“So, she’s keeping it, then?” Frankie asked of Carina.

He cleared his throat, shrugging. “Honestly, I don’t know. We’d need to be talking for me to have that information, and we’re not. I’m lucky she’s even at the house because she packed a bag. Or three.”

“Except the party’s coming up.”

“Yep,” Salvatore agreed, “and she can’t really leave with that going on, so...”

“I guess you’re running out of time to figure out how to apologize.”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious.”

Frankie grinned. “I mean, can’t I enjoy this a little?”