“Are you laughing at my expense?” he asked, wrapping a hand around my throat.
“Who me?” I teased. “Never,” I said, batting my eyelashes innocently.
A slow grin spread on his beautiful face. “Just because I’m stuck here for another night, it doesn’t mean shit.”
I searched his face, a lump burning in my throat. A sob left me and I threw my arms around his neck.
His back stiffened, no doubt shocked by my sudden reaction. “My sweet girl.” His hand caressed my back in small circles. “I’m fine. I promise you. Thinking about the past and talking about it, triggered the heart attack.” He leaned back, kissing me softly on the mouth. “I love you. So fucking much.” He wiped the tears from under my eyes. “And this baby that you’ve blessed me with, I can’t ever thank you enough. You showed me that I can be happy. That I can experience more than just pain. You love me. Even though I can be difficult. You. Love. Me.”
Fresh tears welled in my eyes. “You were easy to fall in love with.”
“I was?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes.” I nodded. “You were patient. You showed me that I can trust again. You…” I rubbed my lower abdomen. “You’ve given me a baby and I can’t wait to hold it in my arms. I can’t wait to give birth to our…our baby.”
Matteo’s eyes shone. He cleared his throat. “Everything that happened in my life doesn’t matter now that I have you.”
No more words were said as we curled together on the bed, holding each other. The heart attack gave us a scare, proving how short and unexpected life could be.
Matteo wouldn’t take his hand away from my belly, telling me over and over how much he loved me and how he was already falling in love with our baby.
An hour or so later, Matteo’s father walked into the room. His shoulders slumped with relief when his gaze landed on his son wrapped around me. “How is he doing?”
I glanced at the man in my arms. My fingers brushed back and forth through the hair at his nape. Matteo slept soundlessly beside me. Every so often, he would pull me tighter against him.
“He’s doing much better,” I said softly.
“He scared me,” Edwin said a moment later, ringing his hands together in front of him.
“He scared me too but Matteo is strong. He needs to remember not to take on so much and that he’s allowed to have breaks. He thinks he can help everyone else but he needs to take care of himself first.”
Edwin nodded. “You know my boy better than I do.”
My heart twisted. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He pulled up a chair beside the bed. “I’m glad he found someone to take care of him. That loves him like you do. Because honestly, I didn’t do a damn thing for him.”
“You taught him to be the powerful man that he is today,” I told him.
“I didn’t do shit for him,” Edwin snapped, shifting in his seat.
“Watch how you talk to my girlfriend,” Matteo bit out. He sat up, pulling me beside him and kissed my head.
“How are you feeling?” his father asked, folding his hands in his lap.
“Why are you here?” Matteo ignored his question, stretching his arms above his head.
“I wanted to make sure that you were okay. You scared me.” Edwin paused before continuing. “I thought I lost you.”
“You were scared that you would lose me and you felt guilty for treating me like shit my whole life,” Matteo added for him, rising from the bed.
“Of course. I’m here to apologize. Not because you had a heart attack but because I was going to admit that I was sorry last night. But then you—”
“I am sorry my heart didn’t like the fact that I was forced into revealing my past. I’m sorry those memories made me almost die. How dare I have medical problems that stopped you from apologizing to me,” Matteo said, his voice dripping with contempt.
“Matteo,” I said, knowing how he felt but I also knew that his father meant well.
“What do you want from me?” Edwin held his hands out in front of him, admitting defeat.
“I want you to be my father!” Matteo shouted. “I want you to ask me what happened and not fucking judge me for submitting to a woman.”
“I never judged you.”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Matteo scoffed, pacing back and forth.