Absolution (Disenchanted Book 3)

by L. D. Davis

  Everyone acknowledged us with smiles or waves as we passed through on our way to our bedroom. When I walked inside, I’d never been so happy to see a bed. I sat down on it with a heavy sigh. Marco once again kneeled in front of me, pulled my shoes off, and made a sound of disapproval.

  “Your feet are swollen.”

  I winced as they started to expand where they’d been constricted all day.

  “Get undressed. While you do that, I will go get you a snack, okay, sweetheart? Then we will get your feet elevated.”

  I pushed my hand into his dark hair. He gazed up at me.

  “I love you, Marcello Mangini.”

  He beamed and stood up and kissed my lips lightly. “I love you, Lydia. I’ll be back.”

  When he returned a few minutes later, I was still sitting on the side of the bed in my dress, admiring my left ring finger. I’d thought Lily’s engagement ring was obnoxiously large, but now that I had an obnoxiously large ring of my own, I knew I was a whole damn hypocrite. It was so pretty, so perfect. The band was platinum, with a round cut halo setting. It looked vintage, which I loved. Of course, I would’ve been happy if he’d given me something simple, too, but…this one…this one was pretty damn nice.

  “Lydia,” he said with some exasperation. “You were supposed to change so we could get your feet up.”

  “I know, but I got distracted by all this bling on my hand.”

  He chuckled. “I guess you like it. I worried you would think it was too much.”

  “I love it. I really do.”

  “I’m glad, Tesoro.” He put my plate of cheese, crackers, and fruit down on the bedside table and sat down beside me.

  I gazed wonderingly at him. “How did you pull all this off?”

  “Getting my family here without you knowing was the hardest part. Some of them arrived a couple days ago, and the rest came in last night. I had to keep them away, which was not easy. My mother was barely able to contain herself.”

  “Where are they all going to sleep?”

  “Oh, they have hotel rooms. Only my parents and Maria are staying here.”

  “How long are they staying?”

  “Everyone is staying up here for a couple days and then going down to stay with Massimo. Francesca, Martina, and their families are going home in a week. Maria, my father, and Laura will fly back in a couple weeks. My mother, however, wants to stay until after the babies are born.”

  He looked at me carefully, as if he expected me to object, but I grinned.

  “I love that. One of the hardest parts of leaving Italy was leaving your mom.”

  “If she gets on our nerves, we can ship her down to Massimo,” he said, only half joking.

  I laughed tiredly and rested my head on his shoulder. “Marco, this has been the best day ever. I still can’t believe it all happened.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, he said, “Well…I have something else for you. I was going to wait until tomorrow, but since you are stubborn and refuse to lay down and rest your pretty little feet, I can show you now.”

  I sat up and stared at him. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”

  With a secretive lift of his lips, he stood up and offered me his hands. I took them, got to my feet, and wobbled behind him out of the bedroom. We stopped in the hallway, outside of the other room, the one he’d been working in all hours of the night for weeks. Not once had I looked inside, no matter how curious I got.

  “Out of everything I have given you today, this is my favorite gift to you, Lydia.”

  He turned the handle, pushed the door open, and flicked a switch on the wall. My eyes grew large as I eased into the room. I had wondered how he would decorate without knowing the babies’ genders, but…it was perfect.

  I turned in a slow circle, taking in the two chocolate brown cribs, and matching bureaus and changing table. Two chairs sat in one corner, one for each of us. They were cream with aqua and coral decorative pillows. Three of the walls were cream as well, but the wall behind the cribs was painted dark coral. A huge decal of a white tree was at the center, with coral colored birds perched on the branches. The dark gray carpet was soft beneath my feet.

  “As soon as we have names, I am going to put them on the walls above their cribs,” Marco said, sounding uneasy. “My mom is making each of the babies quilts to match the room. I am sorry they are not ready yet. If there is anything in here you do not like and want to change, you can tell me, and we will do it as you like.”

  “I don’t want you to change a thing,” I managed to say around the lump in my throat. “It’s beautiful.”

  He continued to linger by the door. “You look like you may cry.”

  I blinked rapidly. “I was…I was afraid, you know? When I found out I was pregnant. I couldn’t face it at first, and just tucked it into the back of my mind. During my other pregnancies, Gavin was…he was nice. He brought my favorite cravings home and rubbed my back, but he was practically paralyzed by his fears, strapped down by his inability to express his emotions. I was never able to really enjoy those months, and despite him being right next to me every night, I felt alone. Because of all that, I didn’t have particularly good expectations for how this pregnancy would go, especially after all the drama that occurred in the beginning. I thought I would be alone and unhappy again, and for a little while, I was, and that was all my fault, but even then, you looked out for me. You’ve been right there with me, through every appointment, every ache, every baby kick—all the vomit.” I laughed and sniffled. “You haven’t just been there for me, Marco, you’ve been a part of everything, and you’ve given me so much. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to thank you enough for making this pregnancy such a wonderful experience.”

  He’d inched his way into the room as I spoke, and now he stood right in front of me. There were no words left to say, however. We’d both said so much already. Instead, his arms went around me. We stood there in our babies’ room for a long time, holding each other, in the home that we filled with our friends, our families, and love.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Marco

  Due to my own follies during my lifetime, there have been several occasions I questioned my masculinity. There have been times I did not behave as a man should—with honor, respect, strength, and courage—but I had never equated the act of crying to a lack of manliness. It is not weak for a man to cry. Of course, I may be bias in those thoughts. When my children were born, I cried a river.

  The doctors had warned us that twins tended to come sooner than single births. Still, I was shocked the day Lydia walked into my office four weeks early and announced that one or both of her waters just broke and that it was time to go. While she calmly hugged and kissed the kids and chuckled with my mother, I raced around like a maniac, so nervous and frightened, I almost peed my pants.

  Ten long, anxious hours later, the first of two blessings came into this world, followed within minutes by the second. Luna Rose was born quietly, with barely a peep, eyes wide open and curious, accepting her fate and adapting with ease. Rocco Matteo was born screaming, angry for being displaced from his comfortable, warm lodging, eyes squeezed shut and tiny fists flailing. Once both of our babies were cleaned up and put in our arms, I was unable to stop the tears. I had never known such a level of completeness was possible.

  We had to spend a couple weeks in the hospital. The babies were only about five pounds each at birth, and Rocco was slower to put on weight. Stubborn, like his mother. With both babies in the NICU, we didn’t really get a feel for what it was like to care for two infants at the same time. Once we were home, however, the beautiful chaos began. Life as we’d known it changed forever.

  I knew it would be challenging in the beginning. The babies needed a lot of attention. I never knew they could poop so much, and Rocco was a demanding little devil. He was greedy with the breastmilk and wanted us to hold him all the time. Lydia was still healing, and her leg was not any better, making it difficult for her t
o do normal activities, but the other kids needed us, too. They didn’t need us any less just because we brought two more home, and they’d had limited time with us during the period Luna and Rocco were in the hospital. Mandy especially, needed our attention. After all, when we’d only been home for about three days, she told me to “take babies back.”

  My mother and Sofia were there to help with the older children, not wanting to interfere with our bonding to the twins. Without them, I am not sure we would’ve come through that time unscathed. It was rough, but in the absolute best way.

  After three months, I still spent long minutes several times a day just gazing happily at my family. Not just the babies, but all of them—Gavin Jr., Amanda, Cora, and Lydia. I no longer stayed in the city or stayed away from home if I could help it. I always tried to be home by the end of the day, because no matter how difficult things were with work, being at home with my family was...well, everything. We were about to embark on another challenge, however.

  Lydia was having knee surgery in a couple days. Barring any complications, she would be on her feet almost right away, but she would have to take it easy, and rely on crutches in the beginning. My mother was already back in Italy, and Sofia started school at the nearby community college and was busy with her studies.

  Rose came from Ohio to help us out for the first week or so, but then she had to get back to her own life. She too had recently started taking classes, something she’d felt she was not able to do before. Now with both her daughters grown up and stable, and only having her stepchildren part time, she was able to pursue the life she had wanted as a young girl. We had Dara’s help if necessary, but she’d had some health problems lately, and we didn’t want to burden her.

  I didn’t let Lydia see my concern that I would screw up the parenting thing. I also didn’t let her see I worried she would be hardheaded and do too much too fast and injure herself worse than before. She was already having second thoughts about doing the surgery, and I didn’t want to give her any reason to postpone or cancel it altogether. She needed it, and not because I thought there was anything wrong with the way she looked or walked, but because she was in pain and the situation had the potential to become dangerous if not fixed. When Lydia told me she wanted to have our first date since the babies were born, and probably our last for another couple months, I happily pushed away my concerns. Mostly.

  She found me in the living room with all the kids, Rocco in my arms, gurgling happily, Amanda stood on the couch at my side, her fingers playing absently in my hair as she watched television. Cora was watching cooking videos on the iPad, Gavin was absorbed in a comic book, and Luna Ro was sound asleep in her bassinet. She liked to sleep, whereas Rocco liked to be up at all hours of the day and night.

  Lydia’s lips lifted as she absorbed the scene. “Are you ready?”

  I took her in, drank in the site of her. When I’d first met her, she hadn’t been taking good care of herself. Her focus had been only on the well-being of her family. Somewhere along the way, she began with baby steps for her selfcare. She’d put on some weight before the pregnancy, and a good amount during it. Her breasts were fuller, as well as her thighs, hips, waist, and butt. She still had sharp angles in her face due to incredible cheekbones, but her face had rounded just a bit. The red hair that had barely touched her shoulders when we met now hung in waves down her back.

  None of these changes had gone unnoticed by me, but they were always things I’d noticed one by one here and there. Now they were all obvious, especially because of the way she was dressed. Tight, distressed blue jeans, brown boots, and a white sweater that hung off her right shoulder. That shoulder and, half her upper arm, and part of her chest were bare. A scarf hung around her neck, and down to her belly button, completing the outfit. Her right breast was completely covered and in no danger of popping out, but still, that exposed skin was extremely sexy. She was extremely sexy, standing there with a smile curving her lips, and the skull and crossbones cane Adam gifted her for her birthday.

  I stared hungrily at her, my mouth slightly open, my body reacting to her.

  She waved a hand “Hello? Are you ready?”

  “Oh. Oh! Yes.”

  I hurried to my feet and passed my son into his grandmother’s waiting arms and tried not to stumble to the incredibly beautiful woman waiting for me. My woman.

  “You are stunning,” I said to her, only loud enough for her ears.

  Her smile widened, and her cheeks turned pink. She would never be used to my compliments, and I found that endearing.

  “Thank you. You’re pretty stunning yourself.”

  It wasn’t really her words, but the love and heat in her eyes as she said them that made me wrap a hand around the back of her neck and kiss her fiercely in front of our children and her mother.

  We lingered a little longer than necessary to say goodbye to the kids. Both of us were nervous about leaving them behind for the day, but Rose practically shoved us out of our own home and slammed the door in our faces.

  Once we were inside the car, I looked over to my fiancée. “Where are we going?”

  She was the one who planned the whole day, wanting it to be a surprise. However, there was only so much surprising she could do since I was the one driving.

  She smiled mischievously. “Head to the city, park at the apartment and we’ll go from there.”

  Putting the car in drive, I frowned. “You aren’t going to tell me where we are going from there?”

  “Do you not trust me? I trusted you when I barely knew you for our first date.”

  “Hmm,” was my only response.

  After we got into Manhattan and parked the car, Lydia led us down to the street, hailed a cab with the ease of a New Yorker, and gave the driver an address I was unfamiliar with. I gave her a sidelong look, but she just smiled smugly and sent out a text message. When we got out of the cab ten minutes later, to my surprise, Celeste was waiting.

  “What are you doing here?” I questioned after we kissed cheeks.

  Her smile was secretive. “Just helping out a barely tolerable friend.” She thrust a burlap bag at Lydia. “Everything is in there that you requested.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate it. You, too, are barely tolerable.”

  The two women who had not liked each other in the least bit when they’d first met embraced.

  “Have fun,” Celeste said, and within seconds disappeared into the crowd of pedestrians.

  I stared down at Lydia. “What was that all about?”

  She shrugged. “You’ll see.”

  Five minutes later we walked into an art studio, similar to the one we went to on our first date so long ago, and just like so long ago, we sipped on the wine and snacked on the cheese and crackers Celeste had provided in the bag. Instead of painting dragonflies this time, it was a scene with a path that went through fall foliage. It was a little more complex than last time, but no less fun and relaxing. Also like before, we poked fun at each other.

  “Your trees look like they’re vomiting,” Lydia teased.

  “Your trees don’t even look like trees. And what is that?” I gestured to a gray blob in one corner.

  Lydia was indignant. “It’s a fox.”

  I made a dubious sound. “Looks like some animal dropped a pile of poop.”

  There wasn’t any paint fighting this time around, even though she tried by swiping her paint brush over my cheek. Her sweater was so pretty, and she looked so pretty in it, I didn’t want to risk ruining it. Instead, I took her face in my hands and kissed her tenderly.

  After the paint and sip, we started back to the apartment. I thought that was the end of our date, and I would’ve been okay with that, but I was wrong.

  “I have to pump,” she said apologetically. “But our date isn’t over. I’m sorry. I know that’s not the sexiest thing you want to hear or witness.”

  “Do not ever apologize for that. You nurture our children with that milk, and that is a beautiful thing.”r />
  She covered her face. “Oh, my god. Why is this conversation so uncomfortable? I can’t nurture them with this milk because of all the wine I drank. This is just to avoid any embarrassing leakage and discomfort.”

  I gently pulled her hands from her face. “You are embarrassed about this? I have been in the bathroom with you while you pee. I have had my face in your very pretty pussy. Why are you embarrassed about this?”

  “I don’t know. Am I being ridiculous?”

  I kissed her nose. “Very ridiculous.”

  She calmed after that, but when we were back in the apartment, she still locked herself in the bedroom away from my prying eyes to complete the task.

  When we left again, Lydia hailed another cab, refusing to tell me what our next destination was, even though I had my suspicions. However, when we crossed the bridge into Brooklyn, I became a little concerned. Lydia had little experience with New York City, and as far as I knew, she had zero experience with Brooklyn.

  “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” I questioned as we climbed out of the cab.

  Her eyes rolled before she took my arm. “I know exactly what I am doing.”

  I wasn’t so sure she did know, but I didn’t want her to feel like I didn’t trust her. So, I shut up and let her lead the way.

  We walked around a corner. Halfway down the block, Lydia paused, looked up, and then nodded. “Here we are.”

  I looked up, too, and saw that we had arrived at a small restaurant—a small, Vietnamese restaurant. Just like the first time we went out together, we sat side by side. The place in Columbus had been small, but bright. This place was literally a hole in the wall with bad lighting, but every table was full, and still more people came and went.

  “I did my research, and apparently this place has the best Vietnamese food in the whole city,” Lydia said just before the waitress arrived to take our drink orders. “We’ll both have a Coke or Pepsi, and we’re ready to order.”