Beautiful Life: The Carpino Series (25 page)

She jerks around in my arms to look at me with her big eyes but smiling this time, “They did?”

I half grin back down at her and say, “Yeah.”

She leans into kiss me then adds, “I’m proud of you, honey.  Congratulations.”  Keeping her big smile, she goes on, “We’ll celebrate tonight, do something special.  Does your job change?”

“Not really,” I answer.  “I wasn’t expecting it this soon.  I guess I have Richard Blaton to thank for speeding along my career.”

“Stop it, Tone.  You worked hard for it, don’t diminish it.  You saved that company and brought in tons of new clients.  You deserve it.”

“Whatever.  I’m all up for celebrating though,” I say as I pull her into me again, tucking her tight in between my legs. 

After many long moments of silence, I tug lightly on the end of her hair that I’m twirling in my fingers and ask, “You okay?”

She pulls in a deep breath and I feel her slump a little in my arms before she says quietly while looking out to the yard, “Today was my due date.”

I crush her to me with my arms and legs, “I’m sorry, gem.  I didn’t know.  I wouldn’t have left you today.”

“It’s okay,” she says quietly again.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“I guess.  I didn’t want to dwell on it but I can’t help but think about it, especially now.”

I give her another squeeze and ask, “Why now?”

She turns a little in my arms and gives me her emerald eyes to say softly, “I’m pregnant.”

I feel myself go solid and then blink in slow motion as I stare into her eyes.  “You’re pregnant,” I repeat slowly.

Her face turns softer and she smiles small to whisper, “Yeah.”

I pull my hands up to cup her face and I say again, “You’re pregnant.”

This time she just nods as her smile gets bigger and I pull her to me to kiss her.  Finally letting her go, I have to lean my forehead against hers, still trying to take in what she just told me. 

“Tony?” she calls.

I open my eyes to look at her.

“My life couldn’t be more beautiful.”

I inhale again and say against my wife’s lips, “Neither could mine, gem.  Never more than this.”

“I’m late. I’m meeting Leigh Carpino, can you point me in the right direction?”

The receptionist looks down at her computer and after flipping through a few screens, looks up and says, “They should be under way, go through that door, take a left and it will be the third on the right.  Room one-o-seven.”

“Thanks,” I say, tapping my hand on the desk and move fast through the door to get to Leigh.

I find the room marked “Sonogram” on the plate outside the door and go right in. Through the darkened room I see the back of a woman sitting at a computer screen moving a mouse around.  Leigh’s lying on the patient bed with her medium size bare belly sticking up.  Even through the darkened room, I see her head turn toward me, immediately giving me her emerald eyes. 

Smiling, she says, “We’re just getting started, we waited as long as we could.”

Moving to my wife, I go to the other side of the bed and lean down to kiss her forehead before saying, “I couldn’t get out of my meeting, sorry.”

She smiles again and turns her head back to the monitor where the sonographer is measuring the blobs on the screen that’s my child as she says, “Everything looks great so far.  We just have a few things to check before we get to the fun stuff.”

“Ba-by?” I ask.  Needing to make sure, I reiterate, “You’re sure there’s only one?”

I hear Leigh giggle as the smiling sonographer says, “Yes, there’s only one this time.”

“You knew there was only one, Tone.  We heard two heartbeats from the beginning last time,” my wife tells me. 

“Just making sure,” I mutter.

“You want to find out the sex today?” the sonographer asks further.

I look down at her, raising my eyebrows in question.  She smiles small and nods back up to me. 

“Yeah, we want to know,” I answer.

She moves the wand and jelly around Leigh’s belly again, pushes more buttons on the keyboard and finally settles on one spot, clicking more buttons making the screen come to a standstill. 

“There,” she says pointing at the screen.  Smiling again she says, “Surely you two recognize that.”

I huff one single chuckle and look down and Leigh.  She’s grinning up at me as I ask, “Are you disappointed?”

Her grin turns soft and she says, “He’s healthy.  How could I be disappointed?  And I get to spend my life surrounded by Carpino men.  I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

I lean down to kiss her mouth and say against her lips, “Another boy.”

“Another boy,” she agrees happily.  However, she instantly raises her eyebrows and with a serious face warns me, “But if they ever get married on the sly, there’ll be hell to pay and you’ll be the one paying it.”

I do nothing but grin down at my wife. 

*****

I watch the boys play in the backyard with Finny from the deck.  They start to climb up the rock wall of their new playset they got for their second birthday a couple months ago.  This makes me cringe because I know they’re going to get hurt.  I wanted to wait one more year to get it, but Tony insisted they should have it now.  He said they’d be more than ready for it before they were three, but we’ve already had plenty of scraped knees and bruises so far, thus the reason for making me cringe.  I bandage them up, cover them in kisses and send them back on their way praying they don’t break a bone.  They’re all boy, just like their dad, and nothing seems to slow them down. 

Our twins.  Tony was on a mission to get me pregnant back in the beginning and he sure did a bang up job of it.  But I wouldn’t want it any other way.

With their dark hair, almost black eyes and despite coming six weeks early, they’ve grown big and strong.  But their personalities couldn’t be more different.  Jack, who is seven minutes older than Gabe, is the definite leader.  Gabe is quieter, more observant in most situations, but keeps up with his big brother without a problem when it’s just the two of them. 

They jump off the rock wall, making me cringe again.  Running around to the swings, they dive head first onto their tummies with their arms and legs flailing about.  Finny is running around them barking, not knowing which boy to run after since they keep coming back and forth.  Finny loves his boys and they wear him out, but he’s still my dog through and through. 

I hear the deck door slide open and without taking my eyes off my boys, I say, “Hi honey.”

“Hey,” he responds and when I look up at my husband, he’s lost the suit jacket, tie and his sleeves are already rolled up with his top two buttons unbuttoned.  Oh, and his over longish hair is rumpled like he’s been running his hand through it again.  As hot as my husband is in a suit, I prefer him this way.  Home from work, relaxed and half rumpled ready to spend time with us. 

He smiles down at me and says, “Sit up.”

I sit up and scooch forward enough for him to straddle me from the back in my lounge.  He doesn’t pull me back but starts to rub my back down low and makes a suggestion that I know is more like a plea, “Since you’re half way, you should reduce your shifts at the hospital.”

“Honey, I’m fine,” I insist. 

During my pregnancy with the twins, I had a lot of swelling and finally had to go on bed rest for the last month.  Tony blames it on me being on my feet too much with my job, but I know it would have happened anyway.  So far, this pregnancy has been easy and I don’t see that happening again. 

I go on, “It
is
official, Tony.  We’re not having twins again.  I’m fine to work.  And I’m down to two shifts every other week, how much more can I cut it down?”

“How about one shift every other week?” he strongly suggests. 

I grin and turn slightly, not wanting to disrupt my backrub because I love his hands on me, and say, “Sorry.  Not gonna happen.”

I hear him sigh and he finally pulls my back to his front and his big hands come around to cup my tummy.  We sit here for many long peaceful moments watching the boys play, who have yet to see their dad home, otherwise the moments wouldn’t be so peaceful.  But I love every minute of it, the busy family and constant noise in our home.  It will be busier in a few months with our third little guy, but he’ll only complete the picture making it even more perfect. 

Tony breaks into our peaceful moment, obviously wanting to piss me off or start an argument, and says, “You can’t put it off any longer, gem.  We have to go this weekend.”

“Would you stop?  We have plenty of time.  We’re just going to fight, why do you keep bringing it up?”

“Because knowing us, it’s going to take a long time.  If you want to wait, that’s fine with me.  I’ll show up with something new when it’s time to bring this little man home from the hospital, but I really don’t want a standoff in the hospital parking lot with a newborn.  You can’t fit three car seats in the back of your car.  It’s time to get something bigger and we need to go this weekend,” he explains to me for the millionth time.

“I told you what I want,” I say, watching Gabe kick a ball across the yard and watch it slam into the fence with Finny chasing after it. 

I feel his fingers lightly grip my tummy and he bites out, “We are
not
getting a minivan.”

I sigh again, thinking my husband really would look silly driving a minivan, but I can’t help but like the sliding doors and the one I want has about ten thousand cup holders, which would be helpful and cool. 

“Can we please talk about this later?” I beg.

“All right,” he murmurs in my ear as we both feel boy number three kick the shit out of me.  “Wow,” Tony says, moving his hands around my tummy again.

“Are you sure you weren’t a soccer player?  I think you lied and said you played basketball all those years.  No way does a basketball player kick like this,” I say.

He chuckles and says, “He’s healthy and perfect, sweetheart.  He can be anything he wants.”

“Yeah,” I agree at the same time I hear our boys scream, “Daddy, daddy!” They start running to us from the yard, realizing their human jungle gym is home for them to play with. 

I smile as I put my hands over his on our baby and say, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

He gently squeezes me, pulling me into him tighter and simply agrees, “Beautiful.”

The Carpino Series will continue with Paige’s story…

About the Author

Brynne Asher grew up in the Midwest and now lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, three children and her perfect dog.  When she isn’t creating pretend people and relationships in her head, she’s running her kids around and doing laundry.  She enjoys cooking, decorating, shopping at outlet malls and online, always seeking the best deal.  A perfect day in “Brynne World” ends in front of an outdoor fire with family, friends, s’mores and a delicious cocktail.