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Because while there were so many unknowns looming in her future, she wasn’t stressed out about it. Instead, she was happy.
So happy, she could explode.
She twisted, lying down, staring at the ceiling, running her hands over her stomach.
A baby.
“I can’t wait to meet you,” she whispered, aware that she wasn’t talking to herself anymore. This time, there was someone else there to listen.
Chapter Seventeen
Elio stood at the doorway to the ballroom, giving himself a second to calm down, aware his temper was riding too close to the surface. It had been one hell of a fucked-up day, and if he had any sense of self-preservation, he would have just called the night a wash and headed to his room in Aldo’s apartment. He was in a foul mood and not fit company for anyone.
He was more than fashionably late for Penny’s wedding. In fact, he was so late, he was going to look like an idiot walking in now. Today’s practice had taken longer than it was supposed to, so he was already an hour behind schedule when he walked out of the stadium.
Only to find Paula waiting for him by his truck. She’d picked the wrong day to hit him with her attempts at seduction. When her come-ons failed, she turned on the waterworks, expecting her tears to sway him.
They didn’t.
Instead, he told her—again—it was over. When she insisted she was fine with reinstituting their previous booty-call arrangement, he’d gone the extra mile and been honest, telling her that wasn’t what he wanted anymore.
He confessed that he’d fallen in love with someone else, and that was when her crocodile tears turned into genuine tears of jealous outrage. It had taken him a full half hour before he could get away from her and finally get on the road.
Then a major accident set him back two more hours. He’d spent most of that time stuck in traffic, telling himself to turn around and go home, but apparently, he was a glutton for punishment because he’d kept pushing forward.
He’d RSVP’d yes to Penny’s wedding a couple days after returning from the cabin. At the time, he’d seen it as an opportunity to spend more time with his family, and if he’d managed to claim a dance or three with Gianna, so much the better.
However, as more time passed, he’d been forced to acknowledge that his feelings for Gianna were way stronger than he realized, and they weren’t going anywhere. He’d been tempted to cancel after spying Gianna and Sam together outside her apartment three weeks earlier, certain he didn’t have it in him to let her cheating ex steal those dances from him.
A decorative board outside the entry displayed the table seating chart. After a quick scan, he saw that he’d been placed at a table with Aldo, Kayden, Luca, Bruno, and Vivian. Glancing across the room, he spied his brothers, saw the empty seat saved for him.
Then he kept scouring the room until he found her. Gianna was sitting with Liza, Keeley, Gio, and Rafe. He frowned when he realized there was an empty chair next to her. Was that Sam’s place?
Most everyone was seated, finishing up their meals, though there were a few stragglers—including Gage’s brothers, Matt and Conor—lined up by the open bar. Penny and Gage were doing their newlywed couple duties, walking from table to table to greet and chat with their guests.
The ballroom was large, filled with huge bouquets of deep red roses, as one might expect from a Valentine’s Day wedding.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the ballroom. Aldo saw him first, raising his hand to wave, then pointing to the empty chair next to him. Elio nodded and started to head that way, then held up one finger. There was another table he needed to visit first.
“Elio! You made it!” Liza leapt from her chair when he approached, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Oh my God, you’re so late, I’d given up on you.”
He nodded, though his attention was locked on Gianna. She was giving him one of those sweet, guileless, gorgeous smiles of hers. She was happy to see him. It was written all over her face. He started to return the smile, but then his gaze traveled to the empty chair, and he found himself searching the room for Sam again.
“Dude, you missed the ceremony, happy hour, and dinner,” Gio pointed out.
“Is the bar still open?” he asked gruffly.
“Yep,” Gio replied with a grin.
“Then I’ll be fine.”
“Where have you been?” Liza asked.
“Let’s just say it’s been a rough afternoon…evening…fuck it…day.” Elio took a moment to list all the reasons for his tardiness, before wrapping up with, “So basically, the interstate was a parking lot for a couple of hours.”
“Jesus. I would have turned around and gone home,” Rafe said.
“I thought about it,” he admitted. “More than a few times. But that felt like an even bigger waste of time, considering I would have been right back on the interstate tomorrow in the team bus, heading this direction for the game.”
