Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 72480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
“I know!” I scream back. “Stop yelling in my face!”
Marcello laughs as he holds my hand tight.
“It’s not funny!” I squeeze his hand so tight even his face flinches. “It fucking hurts.”
“You can do this, Harper,” he replies.
The feel of a football-sized human being slowly shoved down my vagina was not something I could mentally or physically prepare for, and it makes me want to punch and kick and bite.
“I’ve never met a stronger woman than you,” he adds.
“Thanks,” I say. “But that’s not gonna help me get this goddamn baby out!”
He raises his brow and pulls something out of his pocket. “Maybe this will.”
It’s a tiny box, and when he opens it, the sparkle of the ring inside makes me dizzy.
“Will you marry me?”
“Holy shit,” I mutter.
Marcello snorts. “Well, that’s not the reaction I expected, but I’ll take it since you seem to like it.”
I shake my head.
“What, you don’t want to marry me?” he scoffs.
“No, I mean, not now. It’s too sudden. Unexpected.”
Another wave of contractions hit me, and I brace myself against the bed. “I’m a little busy right now.”
“Of course,” he says, tucking the box back into his pocket.
But I could give two shits what he does with that motherfucking ring. I don’t care if he shoves it up his ass for crying out loud. I just need this fucking baby to come out already.
I push again, straining against the bed as a sheen of sweat covers my skin.
“FUCK!” I scream.
“That’s it! I see a head!” the nurse says. “Keep pushing!”
“SHUT UP!”
Marcello laughs again, and I squeeze his hand so hard that he starts to bite his lip and turn red from the pain. Good. I want him to feel just an ounce of the pain I’m feeling for laughing at me.
I push again, giving it my all, and something slips out of me with great speed. With a ragged breath, I lean over to witness a little girl being caught by the nurse. She’s so small, and her cries immediately wrench my heart open and make me cry.
“It’s a girl,” the nurse says, looking at Marcello, who has a proud smile on his face.
“Give her to me,” I say, beckoning with my hands. The nurse quickly places her on top of my chest, and the girl wriggles her way toward my chest. Her lips part, and she immediately starts to suckle my breast.
“OUCH!” I shriek as it almost feels like she’s biting me.
“Feisty little girl, just like her mother,” Marcello muses.
And even though I hated him mere seconds ago for making comments such as these, now I can’t help but laugh. Louder and louder, until everyone begins to laugh along with me.
Because none of it matters anymore … Not as long as I have this little girl by my side.
Now I understand what they mean when they say a parents' love transcends all.
Because there is nothing I wouldn’t do to protect this little girl.
“What should we name her?” Marcello asks, approaching us to softly caress his girl’s cheeks.
“Sophie?” I say, and I look up into Marcello’s eyes to see what he thinks.
He only briefly looks at me before returning all his attention to the little girl in my arms. “Sophie … I love it.”
I grin and press a kiss on top of her little head, taking in a whiff of that addictive newborn smell. “My little Sophie.”
“She’s already made me proud to be her dad,” Marcello says, and he takes her little fingers and holds them gently.
I take a deep breath and say, “About your question.”
Marcello lifts his love-drunken gaze away from our baby to meet mine. I’ve never seen him this happy, and it quite honestly brings warmth to my heart.
Maybe it’s not such a bad idea after all.
“The answer is yes.”
Epilogue
Harper
“I don’t understand what we’re doing here,” Ricardo says as the car stops, and we park near the sidewalk.
“There’s just someone I need to thank, that’s all,” I say, looking around the bus stop.
I’ve left Sophie in her daddy’s arms. He’s only changed her diaper a few times, and with his aversion for stench and dirt, it was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a very long time. But I thought it’d be good for him to bond with her every day, so now he gets personal time with Sophie while I go out and about for some me-time.
But I’ve been meaning to do something important for a long time now, and I’m not giving up until I’ve completed the task.
“But you come here every day, and there’s nothing,” Ricardo adds.
When my eyes finally land on the person I’ve been looking for all this time, I swiftly open the doors and step out of the car. I don’t care what Ricardo says or that he wants to accompany me so I don’t get in trouble—I’m going. There aren’t any mobster families out for my blood anymore. The Irish and Polish have dispersed, and who was left have joined our ranks. There is no more threat, and I feel safe enough to walk about the streets by myself.