pregnant” she blurted out before bursting
into tears and rolling away from me.
I think it was
shock that set in first then pride, then before I could stop it,
the tears came—“No way!” I finally mustered, instinctively placing
my hand across her stomach, “wow. God Inta, wow! That’s…
amazing!”
“You’re…
happy?” she said sitting up and looking me in the eye
questioningly.
“Of course! I’m
kind of a bit shocked but, wow, I’m stoked. Wait, you’re not
happy?” I asked, feeling the air getting sucked out of my body. I’d
be devastated if she wasn’t happy.
“No, I am happy
Dom, I was scared you wouldn’t be. I had planned to tell you the
day I left the studio, but then we argued and I started to worry
that maybe this wasn’t the right move…” she replied back
hesitantly.
“So you’ve
known for two weeks?” I asked.
“I’m sorry for
not telling you Dom, I really am but I’ve been struggling with
trying to come to terms with it myself and I needed to get my own
feelings under control before telling you, in case—“ she trailed
off.
“There’s no ‘in
case’ Inta. Oh wow, I’m going to be a dad” I laughed out loud,
“you’re going to be a mum! God, Inta, you’re amazing—this is
amazing!”
Looking down at
her, she looked pale and fragile—nothing a good meal, some rest,
and TLC wouldn’t fix. Bending over her, I kissed her head before
pulling her up into my arms, settling her across my lap and tucking
her head under my chin. “I love you Inta” were the only words I
could think of to describe the way I felt right now.
“I love you too
Dom” she whispered, snuggling in closer to my chest.
“Let’s go home”
I whispered.
“Yes” came her
reply, “I’ll meet you there, I can’t ride—“ she said gesturing to
her stomach.
“I have solved
that problem already Miss Inta” I said, settling her on her feet
and pointing her in the direction of the front door.
“Dom, wow,
that’s very cool. When did you get it?” she asked.
“I organised it
after the first night you came riding with me. I wanted you to feel
comfortable and it wasn’t fair to ask you to get on the bike, given
everything you’d told me. But between ordering it in, getting the
wheels on and the sign writing done, I only got it a couple weeks
ago. I hadn’t even driven it until today—I wanted to take you on
the first drive—“ I replied.
“Then let’s go
home, together” she said walking toward me and into my arms.
“Pack what you
want to keep, I’ll get Roman and Luca to pack up the rest and we
can put it in storage until we decide what to do with it”.
“Dom, none of
it is mine; it’s a furnished flat. I’ve literally only got a
handful of stuff that is mine—“ she replied, almost
embarrassed.
I felt terrible
for her. I knew what it was like to be able to carry your every
possession on your back, we’d all had to do that when we left
Italy. It was an awful, degrading feeling to know you had so little
to call your own. “Let’s get what’s yours now and whatever else you
need and want we can get for you when you’re feeling up to it” I
offered.
“Thank you Dom”
she whispered, “I do need something this afternoon” she said,
looking up at me.
“Anything,
Inta. Anything at all”
“Will you run
me a bath and shampoo my hair; it’s been weeks since I relaxed”
“I’d already
planned to” I winked back at her, “let’s go”.
CHAPTER
FIFTEEN
The barbeque was sizzling and the smell of burning
sausages hung thickly in the air. Roman had just surfaced from the
kitchen after making a loaf of Michetta to eat with lunch and Luca
had the tunes and drinks flowing.
The gathering
was meant as a housewarming of sorts to welcome Inta into the
family and to celebrate our pregnancy.
We’d invited
Inta’s parents to the barbeque and though they’d been happy about
the pregnancy decided against coming to the barbeque. Inta had been
hurt by their decision
David Farland
MR. PINK-WHISTLE INTERFERES
Leigh Bale
Alastair Reynolds
Georgia Cates
Erich Segal
Lynn Viehl
Kristy Kiernan
L. C. Morgan
Kimberly Elkins