Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
My mother smiled impishly, her upper lip dusted with powdered sugar. “I brought some fun things on the plane with me.”
I groaned around a bite of chocolate-covered strawberry. “You can’t do this to me.”
“I most certainly can!” She dragged a tote bag out from behind the couch she sat on that she must have hidden there when I wasn’t looking.
“Ooh, whatcha got?” Dahlia asked. I smacked her arm lightly, and she pouted.
“Don’t encourage her,” I grumbled.
“Well,” she said. “This is Olivia best guess at what a rhinoceros might be, at age six.”
She pulled out a piece of construction paper on which I’d drawn a bright purple T-rex. Everybody laughed and awww’d.
“The word rhinoceros sounded like a dinosaur name to me!” I protested.
Dahlia patted my arm. “And the purple?”
I buried my head in my hands.
“Here she is at ten, next to a pumpkin she carved herself in class.”
My mom pulled out a picture of me, grinning wildly with my hair in pigtails next to a pumpkin bearing nothing but a horrifically crooked grimace.
“I remember that!” Alessandro said. “You said there was no reason for something that couldn’t move to be able to see, but it needed the mouth to eat souls.”
I groaned, and the humiliation continued. My mother began passing the pictures around while everybody teased.
At one point, Gio leaned into me with a picture in his hands.
“I don’t want to see,” I declared.
He smiled at me. “Please, carina? I want to show you something.”
I couldn’t resist him. I looked down. The picture was of a very young me, maybe less than a year. I wore a Winnie-the-Pooh onesie I knew my mom got secondhand and had the head of a baby doll halfway in my mouth.
“What?” I asked.
“She also brought the onesie,” he murmured. “She says we should keep it for the baby.”
Another wave of laughter swept over the group, and tears filled my eyes. Despite everything, I was overcome with love. I was surrounded by my family, and no matter how tough things got, they loved me more than words could say.
Gio pressed a kiss to my cheek. “I hope the baby looks just like this.”
I stared up into his eyes, and suddenly, I had to have him. I needed him to know just how much I loved him.
“Well, it’s getting late,” said my mom. “I think I’ll turn in.”
Alessandro turned to Elena and Vivianna. “Can I offer you both a ride home?”
“That would be lovely, thank you,” said Elena.
We all said our goodbyes, and I turned to Gio. “We’re gonna turn in for the night,” I told Dahlia and Tallon without looking at them.
I couldn’t wait another minute to be alone with my husband.
Dahlia wolf-whistled, and though Elena wasn’t quite out the door, I didn’t look at her to see her reaction. I didn’t need it. I just needed to take my husband’s hand in mine and lead him to the room we shared.
He smiled at me as I closed the door behind us.
I pushed up on tiptoes and kissed him. “I couldn’t resist you any longer.”
His smile turned to a smirk. “I’m that irresistible?”
“You’re being an ass.” I deepened the kiss, cutting off all conversation. Words couldn’t communicate what I wanted to say. I kissed all my love into him, all my trust and hope for the future. I would do anything to spend forever in his arms.
When I finally pulled back for air, he smiled softly. “I love you, too.”
He scooped me up and carried me into our bedroom, just as he had on our wedding night. I pulled him in for another kiss.
We wouldn’t be going to sleep any time soon.
*Olivia*
It was easy to forget all the chaos of the previous weeks while standing in the living room decorated with colorful balloons. Baby blues and bright pinks were bunched together on either side of us, and a huge colorful banner hung above where Gio and I were standing.
With his arm around my waist, supporting me, I glowed happily as I had on my wedding day, our friends and family surrounding us. Everyone I loved was there–Dahlia, Alessandro, Tallon, my mom, and James and Becca.
And of course, standing happily in front of us with her swollen belly was Elena, just out of the way but close enough to reach out for her. She’d gracefully taken a step back even after we offered to let her join us on our makeshift stage.
“Here comes the cake!” my mom sang, pushing through the others as she set the cake on the simple table in front of us. She handed the knife to me.
The cake knife felt heavy in my hand, and I couldn’t stop my excitement from bubbling up, rocking on my heels back and forth. Gio chuckled behind me, his hands loose around my waist as he laid his head on my shoulder.
“Are you ready?” I grinned, glancing at him excitedly.
“Always.” He pressed a kiss to my temple. “No matter what the outcome, it’ll be perfect.”
“Last minute guesses!” Dahlia called out, grinning as she held a thin cylinder in her hand, readying it.
“Boy!” Tallon called out.
“I say girl!” Becca laughed, her own husband holding her close. Despite her age, she looked just as beautiful as when I was a child, and I was honored to have her and James here with me to celebrate this.
I grabbed Gio’s hand in mine, sending him a teasing glance as we held it together and approached the cake. It was beautiful–half baby blue and half pink and easy and delicately, our knife sliced through the soft spongy cake.
We waited with bated breath, all eyes transfixed on the cake as we dug in and lifted the piece out. My eyes met with the soft color hidden beneath the sweet icing, and I clenched Gio’s hand tightly in mine.
“Gio….” I said, my voice thick with emotion.
“I know, carina.” His hold tightened around me, pressing his lips to the top of my head as he murmured the baby’s gender allowed for the first time.
“It’s a boy.”
Cheers rang out like a New Year’s Eve party counting down to one, and several bangs went off as confetti burst into the air in colorful pastels.
