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“I just want to,” Salvatore murmurs and comes over to drop a kiss on my mouth. “Good morning, clever mama.”
The sun is up and morning light is filtering through the tree outside the bedroom window. Vinicius is asleep in the chair next to me and Cassius is sitting on the window seat, looking tired but peaceful. His white shirt is wrinkled under the arms in a rare moment of not looking runway perfect.
Lorenzo comes in a moment later with a tray of mugs and passes out coffee. I take a grateful sip of my latte and listen to Lorenzo reassert to everyone that he could definitely deliver a baby, it didn’t seem that hard.
I remember screeching at Salvatore when the contractions became too much. Delivering the baby wouldn’t be hard forhim, anyway.
“I could deliver the next one. I know I could. If you still want a midwife, princess, they could supervise.”
I must be high on birth hormones because I smile and say, “If you really want to, you can deliver our next baby.”
He grins. “I can’t wait. For the knocking up part or the delivery part.”
I nod at the baby. “You might change your mind about another one right away. He could give us all hell for the next twelve months.”
“This little angel? He would never.” Lorenzo holds out his arms for the baby and Salvatore puts him gently in the other man’s arms.
I drink my milky coffee and consider how spoiled I am to have four fathers to help me with the baby. They won’t all be here all the time, and I don’t know how useful they’ll be at feeding, changing, and bathing the baby, but seeing as they’re all keen for a big brood, they’ll learn. The next few weeks will be exhausting, but for now, I enjoy being waited on and called clever mama while they fuss over the baby.
I notice that Lorenzo’s gazing down at the baby, his eyes shinier than usual.
“Is everything okay?” I call to him.
“You sneaky bastard, Vinicius. You beat me to it,” Lorenzo whispers, smiling at the baby. “All my careful planning, and he’s yours.”
Vinicius sits up in surprise. “What? Are you serious?”
Lorenzo comes closer to the bed. “Look at his eyes.”
The baby has opened his eyes and they’re a bluish-gray color, but with distinctive shards of gold and green among the blue, in the same shades as Vinicius’ golden hazel eyes. In time, his eyes seem like they’ll turn even more hazel.
Salvatore bursts out laughing. “That’s the cherry on the sundae. Nice work, Vinicius.”
Vinicius rumples his hair back and forth, his smile delighted. “And I wasn’t even trying to win for a change.” He takes the baby in his arms and holds him close. “You sneaky little man, you take after your dad, don’t you? Cleverandhandsome.”
“What are we going to call him?” Cassius asks.
I’ve been running shortlists of names through my head and the men have been discussing—arguing—names back and forth, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to choose until I met the baby.
“Vitali,” I say. “Vitali Angeli Romano.” I look up at Vinicius and then the others to see what they think. “My children should all have the same last name because I want them to feel like full brothers and sisters, but your family names could be their middle names.”
Vinicius smiles and kisses me. “I think it’s lovely.”
“Vitali. It meanslife. That’s beautiful,” Cassius murmurs, stroking the baby’s cheek with his forefinger.
I don’t think it’s just lovely or beautiful, I think it’s perfect. Five of us have become six and we’re ready to move forward with the next part of our journey. We’re ready to begin.
Life starts now.
