When It Falls Apart (The D'Angelos, #1)(90)
Brooke found herself holding her chest and wanting to cry.
“What’s the matter, tesoro?”
“I didn’t expect this.” A single tear fell down her cheek.
“Get used to it.”
She leaned forward, and he moved in for a kiss. She loved this man.
Never felt that more than in this moment.
“Now,” he said when he pulled away. “No more doctor appointments without telling me. Next time I’m going with you.”
“I thought that when I was sitting in there.”
He kissed her again.
“We’re going to have to be very careful. Buy the Costco box of condoms.”
Luca shrugged. “Eh.”
“Luca!”
“You don’t want to have a baby?”
“Yes. I do. At some point.”
“Okay then.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
He grinned. “Nothing.”
This man . . . this man! He couldn’t have responded better to the whole what if.
“Now . . . for the really big news.”
Luca looked at her as if she were crazy. “What?”
“Guess who is pregnant?”
He was silent.
“Antonia.”
“What?” His jaw dropped.
“Yeah. I overheard her at the doctor’s office. Was she sick with Franny?”
He still looked shocked. “Very sick. Couldn’t keep anything down for three months.”
“She was upset because she isn’t sick and is putting weight on.” Although Brooke wouldn’t know it to look at her.
Luca shook his head. “She tried hard to get me to go to her room when she first got here. While you were in Texas. I always met her in public.”
“That won’t stop her from trying to say otherwise.”
“Easily proved when the baby is born.”
“It makes sense now, doesn’t it? She’s not looking for a sugar daddy because pretty soon it’s going to be obvious she’s pregnant. Where do you go when you need something reliable?”
“You go home.”
“And here she is. And the lies and rumors she’s been trying to spread and the attempts to get between us all have a deadline for her.”
“The part about her being sick . . .”
“Sick with a nine-month cure,” Brooke told him.
“Why didn’t I see her lies before?”
“She’s a damn good liar, Luca. Cut yourself a break.”
He groaned. “I have Franny.”
“And she’s the world. It wasn’t all bad.”
Luca collected her hands in his. “Anything else to blow my mind today?”
Brooke laughed. “No. That’s all I got. I’ll try again tomorrow.”
His nose brushed against hers, and he looked deep in her eyes. “I want you to have my children,” he whispered.
“Luca.”
“When the time is right.”
“You better not say that in front of your mother or she’ll lock us in a bedroom and not let us out until the stick has two pink lines.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “That is a collaboration I can approve.”
“You’re killing me here.”
He pulled her off the bench and they turned toward home.
Luca gathered her in his arms from behind, placed his hands on her belly.
She brushed him away, laughing. “Stop it.”
“No.” He reached for her.
Brooke dodged him.
He returned and swung her in his arms. “Thank you for this woman!” he shouted toward the sky.
A couple walking by pointed at them.
“He’s off his meds,” Brooke shouted.
They were still laughing and playful when they walked back into the restaurant.
They stopped short when the woman they’d been discussing stared back at them.
She tried not to look disturbed and failed. “I see you two are acting like teenagers.”
Brooke laughed, looked at Luca. “We have the rest of our lives to act old.”
Antonia gave up any pretense of being amused. “I came to discuss our daughter.”
Luca indicated a booth in the back. “We can all go over there.” He kept Brooke’s hand in his.
“Alone.”
“Whatever you have to say about Franny can be said in front of Brooke. We don’t keep secrets from each other.”
“That isn’t always true, now, is it?”
“Antonia, let it go. Brooke and I are solid from the foundation up. Now, can we move this conversation from the middle of the restaurant and let the patrons eat in peace?”
“Fine.”
They sat as waiters walked by. “Did you want something to drink?” Brooke asked Antonia as if showing her that it was Brooke’s place to extend hospitality.
The other woman looked taken aback.
Brooke turned to Luca. “I could use a glass of rosé. And food, I forgot to eat today.”
Luca laughed at her. “You’ve had a lot on your mind.”
He waved at a waiter, spoke in Italian.
Brooke loved listening to him talk in his native tongue.