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It was empty. Not a single soul around. So I took the plunge, my hungry stomach taking over every instinct that I had. There weren’t any voices ringing out, nothing to guide me apart from remembering that we’d taken a left at the top of the stairs last night.
I halted when I got to the top of the stairs, really taking in the grandness of the mansion that I was in. I’d never seen anything like it. It was modern yet had an air of old-school Italian about it. The carpet was plush under my feet, not a dirty mark in sight. And every surface I looked at sparkled. The air smelled like a mixture of oranges and musk, and…food.
A door swung open on the left, but it’d be on the right if you were walking in through the elaborate front doors, and a woman appeared. She hadn’t seen me yet, but her long black hair hung in loose waves down her back, a smear of paint on her cheek. For some reason, I’d expected everyone to be dressed like the men yesterday, but she was in a pair of denim overalls, covered in different colors of paint.
“Shit!” she shouted, making me jump. My hand slapped over my chest, my heart beating a mile a minute. “You scared the crap out of me.” She laughed, the sound a soft tinkle, and I couldn’t help but be jealous of it. When I laughed, it was a belly kind of laugh, along with a few snorts to boot. “You must be—” She cut herself off, her eyes widening. “Oh my God, itistrue.” She lifted her arms, waving me down. “Come down, come down.” She was nearly jumping up and down on the spot by the time I’d made it to the bottom step, and I hadn’t spoken a word yet.
“I’m Sofia.” She didn’t bother waiting for me to do anything, she simply wrapped her arms around me as best she could, then pulled back with the biggest grin on her face. “Ma has been telling us all about you.” She hooked her arm through mine, her gaze moving to my belly, then back up to my face again. “I can’t believe it’s actually true.”
She pulled me toward the door that she’d just come out of and swung it open.
“Guess who I found!” She let go of my arm and ushered me inside the room.
“Ah, Navy,” Dante’s mom said, standing. “I was about to come and get you.” She smiled softly at me. “Are you hungry?” It wasn’t the first time she’d asked me that and I’d only been here about twelve hours.
“Of course she’s hungry,” a new voice said, and I slipped my gaze to the other side of the room, realizing it was a dining room, the table full of so much food—too much food. “I’m Aida.” She moved closer to me, wrapping me in a hug too, although not as tight as Sofia’s was. “I’m Lorenzo’s wife.” She pulled back and tilted her head to Sofia. “And you’ve met Sofia already. She’s Lorenzo and Dante’s sister.”
“Sister?” I asked, speaking for the first time in front of them all.
“Yeah.” Sofia smiled at me again, but it was at this point I realized I’d seen her before. My stomach dropped, remembering her standing near the gate when I’d come here to tell Dante about the baby. I’d been so apprehensive that day, but I had hope, not knowing what was literally around the corner waiting for me.
“Wait…” I winced as the baby kicked me again, this time harder. “Didn’t I see you at the gate?”
She tilted her head to the side, her hair coming over one shoulder at the move. “The gate?”
“Yeah.” I was in front of new people—people who didn’t know me—but I couldn’t stop myself from talking. I couldn’t get the words tonotcome out of my mouth. “And that other guy, he was in a car and told me to leave.”
Her face dropped, her skin going as white as a ghost. “Oh, erm…yeah.” She shuffled on the spot, clearly uncomfortable. “I…we…just…we didn’t know who you were.”
I nodded. I got it, I really did, but if they would have let me in that day, maybe I wouldn’t be here now. My dad wouldn’t have found out and—I cut my train of thought off. He would have found out. He’d seen me at the gate. It could have been worse if he’d seen me walk through the gates and up to this big house. The universe hadn’t wanted me to tell anyone that day, at least, that was what I kept telling myself.
“It’s okay,” I said, my voice smaller now. I didn’t want to sound too brash, after all, they’d only just met me. “I’d have done the same.” I winced again at another kick, my hand moving to my stomach where I’d felt the twinges yesterday.
“Navy?” Dante’s mom called. “Is everything okay?”
I stretched my back out a little, trying to loosen the muscles. I was stiff, so much tension on my body. “Yeah, yeah. I’m just—” My stomach rumbled, finishing the sentence off for me, and letting them all know how I was feeling.
“Sit,” she demanded, and there was no way I was going to not listen to her. Not only did she have an air of confidence and authority to her, but if I didn’t eat soon, I’d waste away, I was sure of it.
Before I knew it, my plate had been piled high with all kinds of food: pancakes, pastries, fruit, yogurt. Sofia poured me a glass of juice, and Aida handed me a bottle of water. It was a feast, and one that I ate in what I was sure was record time.
All three women were talking around me, but I wasn’t really listening, instead focusing solely on the food in front of me. I was stuffed, but I could eat more, so I reached for another pastry, inhaling a sharp breath as the move caused another twinge.
“I’ve already got a thousand ideas on what I could paint. Maybe animals, or stars and moons. I could do glow in the dark on the ceiling so when the baby looks up, they can see the formations. Or maybe I could do some fun characters, like Daisy the dog and Carter the cat. I could make an entire story out of the paintings.” Sofia’s voice was getting louder and louder the longer she was talking, her excitement almost bursting out of her like a beaming ray of sunshine. “Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl yet, Navy?”
I’d stuffed half of the pastry in my mouth as she turned to look at me, just like Dante and Aida mom did. They were all waiting for an answer, but how was I going to tell them that I’d had a total of two ultrasounds? And that one of them was at an adoption agency.
I figured me going into the details would be too much when I’d only just met them, so instead of telling them all the ins and outs, I just shook my head, chewing the rest of the pastry until it was gone. “Not yet.” I placed the other half of the pastry on the empty plate in front of me and wiped off my hands. “I only have a few weeks left though, so it won’t be long until we know.”
Dante’s mom’s face beamed. “We need to make a list of everything we need to get.” She pulled some paper out—from where I had no idea—and asked, “What do you have so far?”
I shrunk in my seat, staring down at my plate, yet again feeling like I was so unprepared. They didn’t understand why. They wouldn’t get how I’d kept this a secret for so long, just so that everyone around me wouldn’t be able to tell me to get rid of it. It wasn’t as if that plan had worked out though.
“I…I don’t have anything.” My voice was small, but I knew they could hear me in the otherwise silent room. I probably should have stopped there, but I wasn’t that kind of person. I overtalked; I overexplained everything. I gave people far too much information, just so they would understand. I was sure some people would see it as an asset, but it was very much a liability to me.
“I didn’t tell anyone when I found out I was pregnant.” My voice cracked, so I cleared my throat, my gaze floating around the room, not landing on a single one of them. “My dad…he…he wouldn’t have been happy about it. So I kept it a secret.” I finally settled my attention on Dante’s mom. “He only found out about a month ago.” I wrapped my arms across my stomach, my natural instinct to protect the baby kicking as I looked away, not wanting to see their reactions on their faces. “I knew what he would tell me to do. I knew he wouldn’t want me to keep it, so I didn’t give him a choice.”
“Navy?” I wasn’t sure who said my name, but I didn’t look directly at any of them. “It’s okay. Everyone has different circumstances. I’m sure you had good reason not to tell your dad.”
