AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, I can hardly believe it’s finally here.”
“I’m excited to meet them, but so nervous.”
He stroked my hair. “I’m nervous too. I worry about you.”
“No need to worry about me,” I said.
“I can’t help it, Bella. I love you.” That was the first time he’d ever said those words to me, at least in verbal form. I turned my head to look at him. Even in the darkness, I could see the smile on his face.
“I love you too, Gabe. I’m going to be fine. I worry about the babies though, especially little Vincent.”
Since we knew that the baby with the heart defect was a boy, we had started calling him Vincent, the name Gabe had picked out. He always seemed to light up every time we talked about little Vincent; the name was perfect and I knew it was right for our little fighter.
“I worry about them too, but we have some of the best doctors around. They’re going to be okay.”
“I hope so,” I said. “I already have so much love for them.”
He stroked my cheek and face, dotting kisses on my forehead and the tip of my nose.
“And I love that you do,” he said. “You’re going to be an amazing mother.”
“And you’re going to be an amazing father.”
“Thank you. Have you thought about what you might want to name another little boy, if we have more than one?”
He’d told me since he named Vincent, if we had another boy, the name was up to me.
“I have actually. I was thinking… Vincent and Lucia are both Italian, and we talked about Ariana for another little girl, which also seems to fit the theme. What if we went with Elio? Eli, for short.”
“I love it,” Gabe said.
“Really? Because I do too. I’ve always thought the name Eli was adorable, but it felt more like a nickname to me.”
“I agree, and I think Elio is perfect. It fits in well with the others, and yes, it has Italian roots.”
“What if we have all boys?” I said with a laugh. “I mean, it’s not likely, but maybe we need more names picked out, just in case.”
“I think we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
As I relaxed back into the bed, I felt my eyes growing heavier. I had to be up in a matter of a few hours, and I knew that the day would be long and tiring, even though I would spend a lot of it laying down. It was going to be emotional too.
“You need sleep,” Gabe said softly, as if reading my mind.
“I know, I just can’t shut off my brain. Do we have everything packed and ready to go? What will tomorrow look like? What if something goes wrong? What if—”
“Shh,” Gabe said. “Worrying about all of that won’t change a thing, will it? Can you do anything about any of it right now? We will deal with whatever happens, when it happens, and you won’t be going through it alone, Bella. You have me. I’ve made sure we have everything packed, I’ve checked five times already, and if we do forget something, I can have Ava grab it. Or Roman and Dante.”
I opened my eyes. “Your brothers?”
“Yeah, I got a text that they’re in town apparently, and they wanted to be here to meet the babies, if we were okay with that. I told them I’d talk to you, but with everything going on, it just wasn’t a priority.”
“I’m fine with them being here if you are, Gabe. I’ve never had a problem with your brothers, but I respect whatever you decide.”
“Thank you, sweetheart,” he said, kissing my forehead. “I’m just saying, we aren’t alone. If we need anything, I know there are people we can call. We’ve got this.”
His words soothed me. With him at my side, as well as Ava, I knew he was right. We could do this.
18
