Chapter 33 #33
Chapter 33
Shailyn
Dante was quiet for a long moment, his hand still on my arm, guiding me back toward where we'd parked the car. I wanted to hear what he had to say, I mean this involves the both of us. When he finally spoke, his voice had a strange quality to it, something I couldn't quite identify.
"What if she's right though?" he asked softly.
I stopped walking and turned to look at him. His face had completely transformed from the shock and tension of moments ago to something else entirely. His eyes were bright, almost glowing, and there was a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"What?" I asked.
"What if she's right?" he repeated, and now he was full-on grinning. "What if you are pregnant, Shailyn? What if we're going to have a baby?"
Dante though, seems so happy about the thought of having a baby. The joy radiating from him was almost palpable, like he'd just been told he'd won the lottery. He was really excited, his whole demeanor changing in an instant from skeptical to almost giddy.
"I... I don't know," I said hesitantly. "I mean, it's possible, I guess? We are married, and we've been... you know..."
"Intimate," Dante supplied, still smiling. "We've been intimate. And why wouldn't we be? We're husband and wife. We love each other."
"Right," I said, but something about the way he said it felt off somehow. Like he was reminding me of something I should already know.
"This would be amazing," Dante continued, his hands coming to rest on my shoulders, his eyes locked on mine with an intensity that was almost overwhelming. "A baby. Our baby. Can you imagine? A little version of us running around. A family."
But I couldn't match his energy. I felt frozen, paralyzed by the possibility. I don't know how I feel about all this. The idea of being pregnant, of having a baby, of becoming a mother, it was all too much, too fast, too overwhelming.
"I mean, I want a baby with you," I said carefully, trying to sort through the jumble of emotions in my chest. "Of course I do. You're my husband. I love you. But I don't know how soon. I can't even remember the last four years of my life, Dante. How am I supposed to take care of a baby when I can't even take care of my own memories?"
His expression faltered slightly, some of that bright joy dimming. "Hey, hey, it's okay," he said, pulling me into a hug. "Don't stress about it. We don't even know if it's true yet. That old woman could be completely wrong. Let's just go home, okay? We can figure this out together."
I nodded against his chest, grateful for the solid warmth of him, for the way his arms felt safe and protective around me.
\---
We got home and freshened up, both of us moving through the motions in a kind of daze. I showered, changed into comfortable clothes, and found myself gravitating toward Dante like he was a magnet and I was helpless to resist.
I was laying with Dante on the love seat in our room, my head resting on his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. It was soothing, grounding, helping to quiet some of the anxiety that had been building since the food truck encounter.
"So," Dante said after a while, his hand absently stroking my hair. "Tell me about your day. Before the ice cream, I mean."
"It was awful," I admitted. "I already told you about Hannah."
"Right. But was there anything else? Anything good?"
I thought about it. "Not really. Just work. Debugging code. Nothing exciting."
"Mmm," he murmured. Then he started telling me about his day, and how work had been going for him. "It's been hell, honestly. Absolute hell."
"Why? What's going on?" I asked, tilting my head to look up at him.
He sighed heavily. "It's this project. This new AI model I'm supposed to develop. The board is breathing down my neck about it."
He ranted about how he was working on a new project but it was taking a toll on him, the stress evident in his voice, in the tight set of his jaw, in the way his fingers kept flexing like he wanted to punch something.
He explained about the board members and what they demanded. "They want something revolutionary. Something that will blow Dwayne's X-Intel model out of the water. They've given me three weeks to develop it, test it, and present it."
"Three weeks?" I asked, sitting up slightly. "That's not much time."
"No, it's not," he agreed. "And from what my father said, Dwayne is already weeks ahead of me in development. He's been working around the clock, apparently. Making progress while I've been..." he trailed off.
"While you've been taking care of me," I finished quietly, guilt settling heavy in my stomach.
"No, baby, that's not what I meant," Dante said quickly, pulling me back against his chest. "Taking care of you isn't a burden. I want to be there for you. I love you."
"But the project…"
"Will get done," he said firmly. "I just need to focus. I need to buckle down and really dedicate myself to it. It's just exhausting, you know? The pressure. The expectations. Knowing that my entire future with this company depends on what I create in the next three weeks."
Overall he was just drained. I could hear it in his voice, could feel it in the tension of his body beneath me.
"I'm sorry you're going through this," I said softly. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Just being here helps," he said. "Just having you support me, believe in me. That's enough."
"Well, you have that," I assured him. "Always. And if there's anything else I can do, just tell me. We're a team, right?"
"Right," he said, and I felt him relax slightly. "A team."
"I told him not to worry, that I'm there for him and we will do it together," I said more firmly. "Whatever you need, Dante. I mean it. If there's research I can do, or brainstorming, or just being a sounding board for ideas, I'm here. I will help you out with the project"
"Really?" he asked.
"Really," I confirmed.
"I love you, baby," he said, pressing a kiss to the top of my head.
"I love you too," I responded, snuggling closer to him.
We lay there in comfortable silence for a while, and gradually I felt myself getting drowsy. The emotional exhaustion of the day, combined with the warmth of Dante's body and the soothing rhythm of his breathing, pulled me toward sleep.
I didn't know when I slept off, but one moment I was awake and the next I was dreaming, strange fragmented dreams that I couldn't quite remember upon waking.