Page 106 of Better Left Unsaid

I glanced at my reflection in the mirror, arched my back, and smiled, a genuine, confident smile. I wasn’t going to do this. I was going to be positive—maybe even like that stick would read in a few seconds.

If I was pregnant, it’d be a blessing. Babies were always a blessing. And Dom was great with kids—hello, he treated Isabella like his own in every way imaginable.

He wasn’t her biological father, but he may as well have been. Biology was important, yes, but blood didn’t always matter. What mattered was how he was with her, how he took her shopping on the weekends, how he practically begged me to let him pick her up from school, how he cut the crust off her sandwiches, and how he tucked her in at night.

That was fatherhood.

That was why I wasn’t afraid.

You know, what? I held up the pregnancy stick as the last five seconds remained and decided to count down with it because I hoped and prayed that I was pregnant with Dom’s baby.

Five.I will be a mother again.

Four.Dom will be so frigging happy.

Three.My sisters will totally freak. In a good way, obviously.

Two.My dad will be a nonno again.

One.Isabella will have a sibling.

I closed my eyes and held my breath.I will grow full and round with Dom’s baby.

Flickering my eyes open, my mouth fell, and I covered the dramatic way it hung open with my other hand. I couldn’t believe it. I got what I wanted. Oh my goodness. I began shaking for a whole other reason now as happy tears streamed down my face. I was going to be a mom again.

Dom was going to be a dad.

I was pregnant.

* * *

Dominic

I didn’t know what took Maria so long in the bathroom every night. It was like when she got ready in the morning—it took her an obscene amount of time. Honestly, what the hell was going on in there? There were some things men did not need to know, though, and I had a feeling this fit squarely in that category.

All I knew was that when she finally did come out I was going to propose.

That was right. Your boy was ready to get down on one knee and propose to the woman he loved. It was about time, didn’t you think?

I’d thought about it a million times. How would I propose? Would it be a grand affair planned to perfection? Would her family be present?

She deserved for it to be one of the most special and beautiful moments of her life.

But then I thought about it some more. And some more. And, finally, it dawned on me. It didn’t get more special or beautiful than this right here—us living our lives together. The way we got ready for bed every night to share the same bed where she was a notorious sheet hog (and I let her because I knew she was always cold), where she talked in her sleep (usually ramblings), where we played footsie beneath the covers, and where I had the immense pleasure of waking up to her gorgeous, angelic face every single solitary morning.

Most days I woke up with a hard-on because it was sort of difficult not to, you know, seeing as I was sleeping next to the love of my life. So I said good morning to her with a long, languid kiss that made her toes curl before burying my cock deep inside her. In response, she sang good morning to me very quietly so as not to wake Isabella.

To make a long story short, I was proposing to her right here in this moment. No other way to go about it, and I didn’t want to wait another second. I’d had this ring in the bottom of my nightstand, buried in the back beneath a bunch of crap, for a month.

I held the black velvet ring box in my hand and got down on one knee. When she came out of the bathroom, she’d come out and see this. I couldn’t fucking wait.

Hopefully, she didn’t take much longer in there.

* * *

Maria

I was pregnant. I was pregnant. I was pregnant. I audibly squealed this time before covering a hand over my mouth.Oops!I couldn’t help it, though. I was pregnant, and I couldn’t wait one more second to share the good news with Dom.

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