AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sofia relaxed, the voice penetrating into her thoughts. Gone was the pale face and pinched lips, and back in place was the wide smile and excitement. Although, it wasn’t quite the same as before.
“As ready as we’ll ever be, Antonio,” Rosa replied.
“That’s Uncle Antonio,” Sofia whispered, pulling me toward the front doors. “He looks mean and well…heismean.” I felt her shiver. “He’s always scared me.”
I blinked, turned my head, and saw the man walking next to Rosa. “He looks like the younger guy.” I had no idea who the younger guy was, but I remembered him around the table last week at dinner with a permanent frown on his face.
“That would be Romeo.” We stepped outside. “Who’s right there,” Sofia said, pointing at a waiting SUV. The windows were blacked out, the chrome on the wheels so shiny I could see my reflection in them. “He’s like his dad, broody and angry all of the time.”
I nodded, not sure what to say to that. I didn’t know any of these people. I didn’t know what they were capable of, yet I felt safe with them. Secure. Something I hadn’t truly felt since Mom had died. It wasn’t until something was back that you realized you’d lost it in the first place, and that—safety—had come back full force.
Sofia jumped into the back of the SUV, climbing over the middle row of chairs, Aida following her, then Rosa slid into the middle row of seats, leaving just me, Antonio, and Romeo waiting on the outside.
I grabbed onto the edge of the door and placed my foot on the footrest, trying to pull myself up, but damn, it was hard. I slipped into my own car with ease, but I didn’t have to actually climb into it like this monstrosity.
“Need some help?” Romeo asked.
“I can do it,” I told him, trying to heave myself up again, but I only managed a couple of inches off the ground.Stupid pregnancy.
He huffed, stepping closer. “I can help you.”
“I said.” I snapped my head around, narrowing my eyes at him. His hair was dark, just like all of the other men that I’d met here. His jaw was so sharp it could cut glass, but it was his long lashes and dark eyes that I focused on. “I can do it.”
His brows flew up on his forehead, his eyes widening as he held his hands up in front of him. “Okay, then.”
I tried again, and again, all the while, everyone in the car waited patiently. My frustration built at not being able to do something so freaking simple. I wanted to scream, but it wouldn’t get me into the SUV.
“Fine,” I sighed out, putting my stare back on Romeo. “Can you help me?”
His full lips quirked on one side, the look so foreign on him, but also calming. He was putting me at ease and I didn’t think he even realized. “Turn around.” I did as he said, putting my back to the open car door. He stepped forward, his hands out, hovering over my hips. “Don’t tell Dante I did this, okay?” He winced, waiting for me to answer, and when I clipped my head in agreement, he grabbed me at the hips, effortlessly picking me up, then placed me on the seat.
“Thank you,” I whispered, but he was already shutting the door and strolling around to the driver’s side of the SUV.
“Damn, Romeo,” Sofia called from behind me. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile before.”
“Shut it,” Romeo growled back, but all it did was cause Sofia and Aida to laugh. They were like a couple of teenagers sitting on the back of a bus, gossiping. They were close, and part of me wondered if I would end up like that with them. They reminded me so much of myself and Zara.
A pang shot through me at the thought of my best friend. I hadn’t spoken to her since the day I’d come here. I’d left everything behind at my dad’s house, including my cell.
The thirty-minute journey felt like it took seconds as I soaked up everything outside of the window. At one stage we even drove past my high school. Part of me missed going to school, but I’d gotten myself far enough ahead where I didn’t have to worry about graduating…at least not yet anyway.
My thoughts were a mishmash of what my life used to be and the possibilities of what it was becoming. Change was always good, but also scary. What if I didn’t fit in? What if I was making the biggest mistake of my life?
What if…what if this was exactly where I was always meant to be?
The SUV pulled to a stop outside of the restaurant, and Romeo helped me down and then escorted us inside. He and Antonio sat at the table next to ours, keeping guard. There was no way anyone would see them and not know who they were. The looks they’d get and the way people avoided walking past them meant we had the back part of the restaurant all to ourselves.
Rosa, Sofia, and Aida all made small talk as we ate, but I was too occupied with the burger, fries, and side of onion rings that I was shoving into my mouth. I was finished before all of them, and if I was honest, I could have eaten the same thing again and still had room left over.
This baby was making me crave anything fried, but I was going with it, because if now wasn’t the time to eat anything and everything that I wanted, I wasn’t sure when was.
“Where to first?” Aida asked, placing her knife and fork on her empty plate. She glanced over at me. “Baby clothes? A stroller?” Her eyes widened. “We should make a—”
“List?” Rosa asked, pulling a piece of paper from her purse. She grinned at the three of us. “I’ve been waiting for this day for years.” She sighed and wistfully commented, “My first grandbaby.” Her smile completely overtook her face as she looked at each of us in turn. “Are you girls ready for some serious shopping?”
Sofia pushed her shoulders back. “I’m ready, Ma. Let’s do this.”
I had no idea what I was in for, but I hadn’t expected what happened next. We went to a total of twelve stores, getting mounds of things from each one. Baby clothes, a crib, pacifiers, a rocking chair, nightlights, special baby medical things—I had no idea how any of it worked—a bassinet, the list went on and on, but it was the last thing we got that I loved the most.
