by K. D Clark
“You going to be OK?” he asked.
She nodded. They stood there for a moment. Him staring at her like he wasn’t sure he believed her.
“You’re not mad?” she asked.
He just shook his head and pulled her into his arms. He smelled like fresh soap, and she couldn’t stop the tears from falling down her cheek once again. She had missed him so much during these last several days. She didn’t realize she needed someone to help her shoulder all the weight she felt on her shoulder until she was crying in Andre’s arms. She’d thought about calling him as she’d waited for the nurse to call her name. That would have been the right thing to do, but she chickened out. She knew what he would say once he found out. He would say that everything would be alright and that they would figure it out, but she didn’t want to hear that because she had already made up her mind. Andre ushered her into the car, sliding in beside her in the backseat. He held her until the tears and hiccups had stopped. She was grateful for the tinted windows. She could only imagine the mess she looked like right now. Once she had calmed down enough, they both made their way to the front seats. He held her hand as he drove through the streets of Chicago until they made it to the garage of Andre’s penthouse. Once they got inside, she was amazed again at the beauty of the penthouse.
“You hungry?” he asked as he made his way into the kitchen.
“Yea.” Her voice came out scratchy and quieter than she meant it to. She sat on one of the kitchen chairs as Andre walked around the kitchen, grabbing ingredients and throwing them together. She watched in silence until he was done. He brought her a plate of pasta and sat down next to her. They ate in silence. The silence seemed to grow louder as they chewed until it was thick in the air. When they both finished their food and Andre had cleared their plates, she cleared her throat, breaking the silence.
“How was your trip?” she asked.
He raised an eyebrow and shook his head. Coming around the counter, he grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the chair. He guided her into a room that looked like a small theater. He sat down on the couch and pulled her into his lap. She leaned into his shoulder. Silence.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked quietly as he ran his hands through the soft waves in her hair. She tensed up. This was the talk she had feared. She looked up at his glum face; his eyes were trained on her. She let out a deep breath.
“It all happened so fast. I found out, and I freaked out. I knew if I told you…you would say it was OK and that we would figure it out.”
He nodded waiting for her to continue.
“We’re in such a weird place right now. How could we raise a child? You in Canada and me here. We have a bull’s-eye on our back every time we walk out that door. Our child would always be our weakness, and anyone who would want to hurt us would know that.”
She couldn’t control the tears again as they rolled down her cheek. She was so tired of crying. “When you’re around and when I talk to you it’s like I can’t think clearly and I needed to think to make the hardest decision in my life.”
He held her closer to him as she started to hiccup. She was such a mess, and she felt so out of control, it scared her. “I tried so hard to go through with it, but I couldn’t.”
She felt Andre freeze, his arms felt stiff. He placed his fingers under her chin so she looked up at him.
“Are you telling me you’re still pregnant?” he asked.
She nodded. “I tried, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about it, the baby. What would it look like? Would it be more like you or…” she trailed off as his face lifted into a huge smile.
He dropped a kiss to her salty lips and placed his hands on both sides of her face.
“We’re having a baby?” he asked.
She nodded. His next words made her feel better than she had all week.
“I know you don’t want me to say this, but we will be fine. If you think I would ever let someone get close to our child, you are crazy, and I would never leave you to raise our child on your own. It’s you and me from here on out. We will figure out all the other stuff. Got it?”
To rely on Andre was against everything she had learned growing up, but at this moment it felt so right.
“We’re having a baby,” he repeated again.
She smiled. “Yea, we’re having a baby.”
Epilogue
Cries echoed through the brownstone house and woke Cassandra out of her sleep. The baby monitor screeched. She groaned, preparing herself to get up and make her way to the nursery, but Andre was already out of bed.
“I got it,” he said as he walked out of the bedroom. She relaxed back in the bed, filled with relief. She was exhausted. No amount of time in the Mafia could have prepared her for motherhood. After twelve hours of labor, Jacob Calvin Rizzuto had made his way into the world just three months ago. He was the spitting image of Andre, but Andre had no problem pointing out that the baby’s stubbornness was all like Cassandra. Like Andre promised he had stayed by her side the entire time, and she knew Jacob would always have two parents who loved each other and him more than anything in this world.
She hated being pregnant. She hated waddling around and people treating her like she was made of glass, but it was all worth it in the end. They had moved into the brownstone right before Jacob was born. Although Cassandra would have been fine staying in Andre’s penthouse, he wanted a home for Jacob to grow up in his whole life and at least a little backyard to play in. Cassandra loved the house now. It was warm and inviting and felt like a safe place which was exactly what they had needed considering the lack of safety in their careers. It felt like things had settled down, but she knew in the world they lived in, it was only a matter of time before everything got crazy again; but that was the life they lived. While Cassandra had been working from home of sorts, she planned to start going back to the club next week. Although she loved being home with Jacob, she was itching to get back to being the boss. Andre had taken a more permanent change and stepped down as boss so he could stay in the States and do what he was good at for the Montreal Mafia: making money. Their businesses still crossed paths, and Andre kept his fake office in the city to keep up appearances. He managed all the money in the States while someone else took care of the bigger issues in Montreal. Andre had a small crew that worked under him; the only difference was now he had someone he had to answer to. About twenty minutes later Andre made his way back into the bedroom looking exhausted.
“You’re still up?” He asked making his way to his side of the bed and sliding in beside her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
“Yea, you know that one was my turn, right?”
He shrugged. “You’re here with him all day.”
“I’ll be going back next week. I love this house, and I love being with Jacob, but being here all day is starting to drive me mad.”
She felt Andre nod. “I know I’m surprised you’ve taken off this long. Don’t worry about Jacob; you know your mom and dad are just itching to watch him anyway. He has a whole Mafia of people looking out for him.”
“I love you, Andre.”
“Do you?” he asked tilting his head to the side.
Her eyes widened, and she turned in his arms to face him. “Of course, I do,” she said, curious why he asked.
In the dark, she could see his lips twist into a smile. “Then marry me, Cassandra. Make me the happiest man on this earth.”
Her breath caught in her throat. “Andre….”
“I’m serious, Cassandra. I have everything I need right here. You, Jacob, this house. This is all I want.”
Tears pricked at her eyes, but before she could wipe them away, Andre lifted his hand and used his thumb to brush them away.
“Tell me those are happy tears?” he said. All she could do was nod because of the huge lump in her throat. She hated crying, but she blamed it on all the damn hormones still running through her body. She didn’t think she could love anyone more than her husb
and and the little boy sleeping in the next room over. What she was agreeing to was a life she was never able to even dream about, and Andre was offering it to her on a silver platter.
“Say something, Cass,” Andre begged.
“Yes, yes, I want to marry you.”
He leaned forward and touched his mouth to hers.
The End
What’s next? Giovanni’s book is next in the Mafia series! Twisted Judgement is the next book in the New York Capos series! Sign up for my newsletter to stay up to date on all new releases. http://eepurl.com/dF1a0D
Notes
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About the Author
K. D. Clark is a United States author living in Saint Louis, Missouri, with her high school sweetheart and being a dog mom to two amazing pit bulls. She spends every minute she can either working on her books or reading the great works of other romance authors. For more information on book releases and her writing process, please feel free to check out her website, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
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