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I quickly changed the subject. “I think Ariana totally fits her,” I said.
“And Lucia is perfect for her,” Bella agreed.
“How did we get it so right?”
“Because it’s us, of course we got it right.” I knew she was teasing, but at the same time, there was a hint of truth there. She was right. Ever since we had decided to embark on things together, everything just seemed to fall into place. Having her by my side, it felt like we could do no wrong.
After a while, we had to leave, as the nursery was closing its doors to visitors. We placed Lucy and Ari back in the care of the hospital staff and made sure to spend a few moments talking to our boys.
“I love you,” I told each one of them. “And we will be together soon.”
As we left the hospital, I decided to turn my phone back on and listen to my messages. I had several from Roman.
“Gabe, man, please call me as soon as you can. Dad isn’t doing so well and the doctors think he has only a couple weeks left, a month tops. He’s awake less and less, and if you want to spend any real time with him, I wouldn’t hesitate—”
I hung up before listening to the rest of the message. I’d heard everything I needed to know. Even so, after all the abuse and neglect at the hands of our father, a lump formed in my throat and I had to stop walking to compose myself before getting behind the wheel of my car.
Bella was right by my side. “What is it?”
“It’s Dad, as suspected. He doesn’t have long, and Roman said if I wanted to speak to him, I had very little time left.”
A coldness ran through my veins. I felt numb, like I wasn’t even in my own body anymore.
“Roman is right, you should go to him, Gabe.”
I took her hand in mine and tried to keep it together as much as possible.
My dad was dying.
But my beautiful baby girls would be coming home any day, and that took priority. I threw myself into thinking about them and what life would be like in a few days when they would be home with us.
“Gabe—”
“It’s fine, I’m fine,” I said. “I was thinking, we might want to pick up some larger diapers. I think the girls might grow out of the size we bought very quickly.”
“Whatever you think is best.”
I knew Bella wasn’t talking about diapers.
21
Bella
My babies were already six weeks old, and finally, our two girls were home. Elio and Vincent still had some time in the NICU, but we had little Lucy and Ari with us and that was a reason to celebrate.
Roman and Dante were over a few days after the girls came home; they wanted to meet their nieces. Gabe was slowly letting them back into the fold, but also keeping walls and boundaries up just to be safe. He said that he wasn’t sure how big of a role his brothers were going to play in our kid’s lives, but that we’d take it day by day.
None of the De Luca men had ever held a newborn before, and at first, they were hesitant.
“I’m afraid I’ll drop her,” Dante said as I tried to hand him Lucy.
“You? With your big, strong arms, you don’t think you can hold a baby without dropping her?” Ava teased her brother.
Ava seemed really happy to have her brothers back in her life. She and Dante were a little closer than she and Roman, but Roman tended to keep his distance from everyone—whether intentionally or not, I wasn’t sure.
“You’re sitting down,” I told Dante. “I think you’ll be just fine.”
Still, it was always hard handing over one of my babies. I wanted to keep them both in my arms at all times, since I’d already missed out on so much with them. I wanted to keep them all to myself, but I knew that it was good to have family involved.
