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He nodded. Entwined their hands tightly. ‘She’s here,’ he echoed.
Because she was. His daughter.
‘Help me, Raffaele.’
‘Of course!’
He turned to Flora, silently reprimanding himself for not anticipating her needs. She looked up at him, the smile on her lips tight but true.
‘What do you need?’ he asked.
‘I need you to help me undo this...’ She pulled at the fabric covering her. ‘I want my baby on my chest.’
He placed his trembling hands on Flora’s, also trembling, clumsily trying to undo the buttons of her nightdress.
‘I’m so proud of you,piccolina,’ he said, slipping each button through the hole which housed it.
His chest was full and bursting with so many feelings. Joy. Happiness.Love.
His task complete, he saw his wife reach for the hem of Raffaele’s black tee.
‘Take it off.’
Brows drawn together, he asked, ‘Take what off?’
‘Your T-shirt.’ She tugged at it. ‘Then get in bed and let’s hold our baby for the first time together.’
He did as she requested. Slipped his T-shirt over his head. He didn’t care if this was how things should be done. It wastheirway.
He climbed into bed beside his wife. Flora held out her hands, arms outstretched. ‘We’re ready.’
Their naked baby was placed on Flora’s bare chest by the steady hands of the midwife. Instant and unconditional love bloomed in him fast and hard. For her. His daughter. Perfect in every way.
Flora feathered her lips over her daughter’s head. ‘I’ve ached for you for ever,’ she whispered.
‘And I have ached for you both,’ he breathed, unable to stop his confession.
Because hehadached for this all his life. Unconditional love. To receive it. To give it. To be a family.
With a smile and a nod, all the necessities of the miracle of birth complete, the midwife slipped out of the room unseen by either Raffaele or Flora, leaving the new parents with awe and wonderment brimming in their tear-glazed eyes to introduce themselves to their daughter.
‘I’m so very thankful you chose me to love, Flora,’ he said.
‘We chose each other,’ she corrected.
‘It was fate.’
‘Destiny,’ she said huskily.
Their worlds had collided one fateful night in London and since then they had been bound together for ever. Not because of their baby, but because of love. And their baby was proof of that love. A love he could taste in the air.
He let it fill his lungs, feed his life’s essence.
‘I love you, Flora,’ he said, wrapping his arms around his family.
She smoothed her fingers down their daughter’s cheek. ‘I love you too, Raffaele.’
Raffaele held his family to his chest—to his heart. Skin to skin. He embraced them with his love and vowed that he would never stop loving them...
