"Wouldn’t expect you to." Luca said. "Just be beautiful, pregnant and entirely mine. Donna." he winked.
Vee pinched the bridge of her nose. "Did you at least buy the supplies for the barbecue?"
Luca went still. Her hand dropped. The silence answered before he did.
"Luca."
"Shit," he said with a wince. "I forgot."
"That was the whole point of you leaving home. You left this house with one mission. One. Food for the barbecue. And you came back with a truck full of purple baby furniture?"
"It was on the way."
"The baby store was on the way to the butcher?"
"I got excited."
"What am I going to do with you?" she asked.
Luca stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Love me?"
She jabbed a finger into his chest. "I love that you are excited, but when I ask you to pick shit up, you pick that shit up," Vee said.
"Language, babe," Luca said.
Veronica turned her head slowly towards him. There were many looks a wife could give her husband. This particular one was the look of a pregnant woman who was seconds away from stuffing her husband’s head beneath the truck he came home with. "Are you fucking with me right now?" she asked.
Luca lifted both hands. "No."
Her eyes narrowed.
"I am simply saying we should watch the forks and spoons around the baby."
Vee maintained the you must be stupid look. Luca recognised the look.
"I’ll go get the stuff," he said quickly.
"That would be wise."
He leaned in and kissed her. His hand brushed briefly over her stomach, a soft little touch. Vee’s irritation wavered because he kept doing that now. Touching her like the baby was already someone he knew. Someone he would burn cities for. He slid back into his car and drove off, leaving Veronica to supervise the shitstorm of baby furniture and equipment he had just loaded into their home.
By the time Luca finally returned, the house looked like a baby shop. Marco and Valentina had arrived.
They were in the courtyard setting up the barbecue grill. Matteo sat in a high chair near the shaded side of the courtyard, holding a bright toy and banging it against the tray.
Luca pulled the shopping bags from the car and carried them towards the courtyard.
"Hey, Luca!" Val called.
He looked up. She had a knife in one hand and a tomato in the other.
"I hear you can’t get anything done," she said.
Vee did not even look ashamed of spreading the report.
Luca chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, blame the delay on me. I’m just one man."
Val laughed softly and went back to helping her sister with the vegetables.
He handed the bags to Marco. "Here. Before my wife accuses me of ruining her event."
"You did almost ruin it," Marco said, taking the bags.
"People are very ungrateful today."
Vee lifted her head. "I heard that."


VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABEL
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Undressed By The Mafia God