Page 65 of The Mafia’s Fiancee

I was not. As I returned to the room, the pregnancy test jammed into the back of my waistband and covered with my shirt, I felt like I was carrying a gun back there. It was a loaded instrument, all right, able to reveal news that would change my life forever.

Excited and giddy, I did my best not to hurry or run. That would raise everyone’s suspicions, and I wondered when and how I wouldn’t have to deal with the Rossinis automatically assuming I was a spy or up to no good. Would they accept me after I married Luke? Would they ever believe that I was with them, siding with Luke, instead of the family I was born into?

It was a matter to think about another time.

I got into the bathroom and hurriedly skimmed the instructions. This was a foreign experience, something I’d never needed to do before, and for a sad, wishful moment, I wished I could call Krista and have some sisterly support. It was a girl thing, and I wondered when she would reach out to me. I didn’t want to assume I could call her phone. If Justin was as smart as he seemed to be, and a decent spy, he wouldn’t risk taking her phone with them. The more he avoided ways to be tracked, the better.

The instructions seemed daunting. How the order of steps to pee on a stick could cover a large folded paper was beyond my imagination.

In too much of a rush for an answer, I stuck with looking at the images and the simplified phrases and followed that sequence. Pee on a stick, close the cap, and let it sit for—

“Two minutes? Or five?” I looked again, so nervous I’d mess it up.

I did the test, and as I sat on the closed toilet lid and waited for the stick to be measured, I bounced my foot and steadied my breaths. The nausea hadn’t returned, but I didn’t feel comfortable. Good anxiety meshed with downright worries about how this would change everything. I was a bundle of nerves, frayed ones. When the timer on my phone went off, I squeezed my eyes shut and stood to read the results.

“Oh, shit.” I grinned as I swore.

Two lines showed clearly in the rectangular screen.

Positive.

I was pregnant.

Luke had knocked me up.

Elation immediately filled me. I was swept away with excitement, so much so that when I grabbed the test and turned to rush out of the bathroom, I moved so quickly that I collided into Luke.

“Whoa. Hey. Are you okay? I was just coming to check on you and—”

I bit my lip and held up the test.

He went silent, staring at the slim stick of plastic.

It wasn’t the cutest or sweetest way that I could reveal this big news to him, but I couldn’t keep it in. I was too happy. Too giddy. And too hopeful that he’d share in those sentiments.

“Oh, shit,” he whispered.

“That’s what I said.”

He opened his eyes wider and raised his brows. Shock showed on his face, but also a slowly spreading smile on his lips.

“Is this real?”

I nodded, relieved that my worries about his reaction were all for nothing. He laughed once, so surprised, and lifted me in a tight hug. Spinning me around, he laughed and then kissed me hard. “Are you serious?”

“Yep.”

“Really?!” He set me down and looked at the test again, like it was a marvel to behold. As he raked his hand through his hair, unable to shake off this lopsided grin, I hugged him close.

“We’re having a baby, Luke.”

“It looks that way.” He set the test down and cupped my face. After a delicate kiss that made me sigh, he gazed into my eyes with such intense love that I could’ve melted.

“I can’t wait to see you as the mother of my children.”

“Children!” I laughed incredulously. “How about we just start with one?”

I loved that he’d want more. I was naïve, so completely clueless about being a mother, but I wasn’t opposed to having as many as we could.