Chapter 51

As if on cue, a nurse brought a fretting, pink-wrapped bundle into the room. She paused for a moment, sensing the tension in the room before pasting a bright smile onto her lips and bringing the baby over to Eliza.

"I think that it's way past time this little one meets her Mama properly." Eliza’s entire face lit up, and her heart filled with overwhelming love as the nurse placed the beautiful infant into her arms.

Eliza finally took inventory...counting fingers and toes, stroking downy black hair and velvety skin. She even enjoyed it when the little one opened her rosebud of a mouth and started to wail angrily.

"Hello there, sweetheart," she whispered. "You are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life." The nurse brusquely proceeded to give her a crash course in breastfeeding, ignoring the way Eliza’s face flamed when the older woman started talking about breast pumps and let-down reflexes.

Her father shifted uncomfortably while Romano sat down at her bedside, a mixture of amusement, overwhelming pride, and bewildered love on his face.

Eliza had never seen Romano look more vulnerable or more protective. He sent a warning glare Eliza’s father's way, before his unsettling scrutiny shifted back to Eliza.

Eliza, in the meantime, was struggling to conceal her milk-swollen breast from them after the nurse unceremoniously yanked the bodice of her nightgown down. 

The woman obviously thought that Eliza had nothing to be embarrassed about in front of her husband and father.

Eliza fumbled with a towel but it was Romano who reached across and draped it over her shoulder to cover her breast and the baby's head. The baby found her nipple and latched on with enough force to make her wince.

Romano concealed her from her father but kept the towel up on his own side so that he could watch, ignoring Eliza’s flustered glare.

"She's got a pretty healthy appetite, doesn't she?" Romano muttered in fascination, his voice alive with adoration.

"Does that hurt?" 

Eliza shook her head slightly in response and snuck a glance up at her father, who was unused to being so completely ignored and clearly did not like it.

"Victor, we'll discuss the details of the broken contract at a later date. You can have back the vineyard, and you're more than welcome to keep the damned money, but keep your wretched paws off my mate, she is mine , as is the beautiful baby she's given me. Sue me for breach of contract if you must."

"I don't want that useless piece of land back, we could renegotiate the terms..." her father sounded almost desperate, and Eliza suddenly lost patience with both alphas.

"Stop talking about me like I'm an expensive piece of meat," she seethed. "Take your sordid business elsewhere. I want it nowhere near my baby. Father, I've given you my conditions."

"You're so brave now, aren't you?" Her father sneered. "But if push came to shove, I wonder how strong you'd be?"

"I'm stronger than you'll ever know, father." Eliza smiled serenely. "Years of constant rejection from the people you love can leave you with pretty tough skin. You can't hurt me anymore than you already did. I don't want or need your version of love. I find that I no longer want or need you in my life."

"Yes, so brave now that you have your loving husband's support." The man's words were laced with bitterness. "But while he may love your baby, Eliza, he'll never love you. He has Luisa Delvecchio, and, yes, he's Italian enough to want that baby of yours, so it's just a matter of time before he finds a way to get her away from you."

Eliza blinked, her fear showing, as her father presented a scenario she had never once considered. Eliza couldn't prevent herself from glancing over at Romano, whose face was dark with fury, his entire body coiled with tension. He looked like he was about to tear her father's throat out.

"I think it's time you left, Father," Eliza whispered painfully, and her father sneered one last time before he pivoted on his heel and strode from the room.

"Don't you dare believe what he just said, cara," Romano whispered rawly, focusing his desperate glare on her.

"Don't you dare!"

"I know that you love her, Romano," Eliza whispered. 

Romano wasn't sure if she meant the baby or Lusia, and Eliza could tell by the look of uncertainty on Romano’s face that he wasn't sure either and so he was at a loss as to how to respond.

"Would you try to take her from me?"

"No!" Romano practically shouted, and the baby startled.

 Eliza soothed her with slight rocking motions until she started suckling again. Romano reined in his temper and gentled his voice with visible effort.

"I wouldn't do that to you. I'd never hurt you like that."

"But you want her..." Again the ambiguity and Romano’s frown deepened.

"If you mean the baby, then yes, of course I want her. I want both of you. You're my family. I don't want a life separate from yours. I want our life. The one we've been building together these last few months."

"What do you mean? All we ever talked about was divorcing," Eliza asked in confusion.

"I'm referring to all those nights together. The movies, the games, the great conversations...What the hell was that if not relationship building? We know that we're great in bed. But we'd never really tried all the other stuff that couples do. The last few months, we did do those things. We may have done things a little backward, cara, but that doesn't mean that we can't have a solid marriage like Ryan and Nadia’s. The only one of us who'd ever mentioned divorce was you. I don't bloody want a divorce. I want us. Together."

"I think," Eliza whispered so softly Romano could barely hear her and had to lean in closer to make out her words, "I think that you're a wonderful man, Rome. A decent man, and because of that, I know that you'd do anything to make things right. You'd make any sacrifice to give the baby and me a normal life. But I can't let you do that. I can't let you keep forfeiting the things you want just because you think it's the right thing to do."

"This again," Romano muttered impatiently. "I went from demon to saint in pretty short order, didn't I? I want you to listen to me very, very carefully, Eliza because I won't be saying this again. I'm not a saint. I'm being very selfish when I say that I want you and our baby with me and when I say that I want us to be a family. I have duties back in Italy, people I love and need to take care of. But right now I don't give a damn about any of that because I want to spend my every waking moment with you and this baby. This life I've built with you, it's the only one that matters to me anymore. So please stop telling me what you think I really want and try listening to me for a change."

Eliza stared up at him uncertainty. Dare she believe that Romano meant this? 

That it wasn't just a really good act? 

She cleared her throat, trying to formulate a response, but Romano leaned over and kissed her gently, stilling the words.

"Don't say anything, Liz. Just give me a chance." Romano looked like a man perched on a ledge with Eliza as his last chance of redemption.

How did Eliza resist that? How could she?

"I know I'm asking you to make yourself vulnerable again, and I'm so sorry for that. But I want you to trust me. Just one more time...allow yourself to trust me, please cara." 

Eliza bit her lip before taking a deep breath and stepping out onto that ledge with her husband.

"We need to name this little one before we take her home," Eliza said lightly, ignoring the way Romano released the breath that he'd been holding for countless moments. 

Eliza felt the tension drain out of her husband, and his relief was so overwhelming it was an almost tangible thing.

"Any ideas?" Romano asked huskily, reaching over to stroke the top of the baby's soft head with his thumb, somehow managing to brush the sensitive skin of her breast too, and she shivered at the contact.

"Well, since she has all this fuzzy black hair, we should probably stick with Lisa." Romano’s face lit up with pleasure, and he dropped a quick kiss on her smiling mouth.

"I only hope she has the temperament of a Lisa and not that of a Sofia."

"If she takes after you, we're in for a bumpy ride," Romano joked, and Eliza rolled her eyes.

"Please, you're no angel yourself," Eliza retorted without any heat. "Let's just name her Lisa and hope for the best."

"Hmm, if she does have your stubbornness and fiery temper, I'll adore her even more," he admitted. "It'll certainly make life interesting."

"Why did you keep buying girl's toys and clothes, Rome?" Eliza asked after a short silence, and his thumb paused its stroking for an infinitesimal second before continuing on.

"I mean, I'm grateful for them now, of course. But why?"

"Why?" Romano shook his head and hesitated again before raising his eyes to meet Eliza’s. "I was just...hoping for a girl."

Eliza’s jaw dropped as she gaped at her husband for a few moments. That thought had never once crossed her mind. (A/n: Girl how?)

"You were hoping for a girl?"

"Yes. Very much," He staggered Eliza by confirming, his eyes remaining steady so Eliza was in no doubt as to his sincerity.

"I don't understand." Eliza shook her head slightly. 

"Why?" 

He didn't respond, dropping his eyes to the suckling infant at her breast.

"Romano?" She prompted, and Romano raised his eyes to hers once more. He smiled cryptically before shrugging.

"This is neither the time nor the place to be having that particular conversation, Cara, you need to rest." he frustrated Eliza by saying.

"But..."

"We'll discuss it soon, but right now I think Lisa is ready to be burped." He pointed to the infant whose tiny mouth had slackened. 

Eliza awkwardly dragged her bodice back up and then clumsily repositioned Lisa until the baby was draped over her shoulder.

"Could you get the nurse?" She asked Romano, putting her husband's previous comment from her mind for now. "I'm not sure how to do this."

"Rub your hand on her back in a circular motion." He noted the surprise in Eliza’s eyes before shrugging.

 "The nurse showed me how to do it last night. You were out cold, but they managed to get her fed and handed her over to me for burping."

Eliza complied with his instruction and was soon rewarded with a tiny burp. The sound was adorable in a way that only a new parent could appreciate, and they grinned at each other when they heard it.

In that one glorious moment of solidarity, Eliza started to believe in the possibility of a happily ever after again, and it frightened her to death.

A/n : dundundunnnnnnnnnnn