Page 56 of Mafia Doctor's Secret Baby

“This is Katie. My fiancée.”

For a moment, the two of them just stand there, staring at each other—I realize that I’m holding my breath as I look between them, not sure how this is going to go. My old life and my new life, coming together, the final test of whether or not they will fit with one another…

“Great to meet you, Mr. Mariana,” Katie offers finally, holding her hand out to my father.

After a pause, he takes it.

“Please, call me Marco,” he replies, and there’s a note of warmth to his voice that draws a sigh of relief from between my lips at once. He might have had a few choice words for me when he found out about all of this, but as long as he’s kind to her, I don’t give a damn about it.

“Marco,” she repeats, smiling. “It’s so good to meet you. Would you like something to eat? I made us some dinner…”

“A good cook, Luca?” my father remarks as he slaps me on the shoulder. “It sounds as though you’ve done well…”

“Perhaps if you say that again after you’ve eaten my food,” Katie jokes, as we make our way along the corridor toward the dining room, “I’ll be more inclined to believe you…”

We sit for dinner, with Polly being taken care of by one of the nannies I hired to help out around here—of course, Katie has barely made use of them, insisting that she’s perfectly capable of taking care of her daughter on her own terms. I know better than to argue with her, especially in these early days as she starts to relax into this new life, but I hope she’ll start exploring a little more of the city and make some use of her newfound freedom when she’s ready.

“So, a marriage, eh?” My father remarks, when the final dishes are being cleared away by the kitchen staff—another addition to the house that I made before Katie arrived, mainly because I want as much time with her as I can get. The less time she spends distracted by silly little things like cooking and cleaning, the more time I have to catch up with her and Polly, and that’s everything I need right now.

“Yes, and your son has given me a ring big enough that I’ll never be able to forget it,” she jokes, flashing him the engagement ring on her finger.

“I’d have rather he not waited till after you had a baby,” my father remarks, cocking an eyebrow, “but I suppose better late than never. When have you set the date for?”

Katie and I exchange a look—truth be told, we’ve been so caught up in everything that’s been going on, we haven’t had time to talk about when we’re actually going to get married. The details don’t seem all that important, not when her presence here is so fresh and she still has so much to get used to.

“Honestly, we have no idea,” Katie replies, taking the lead with her honesty, and my father sighs heavily.

“Well, I suppose you’ve had bigger things to be thinking about,” he adds, conceding the point. It’s as close as I’m going to get to an apology for the way he lost his shit at me when he found out I had a baby with a woman I wasn’t married to, but I’ll take it. A dark shadow flits across his face as he looks at Katie, and I know he’s thinking about what he heard of the kidnapping that took place just a few months ago.

“I’m sorry you were caught up in all of it, Katie,” he continues, his voice lowering gruffly. “I’ve known that the Magliones would stoop low before, but I never imagined they would target someone like you…”

She shakes her head. “I’m safe now, and so is my daughter,” she replies. “And I wouldn’t be able to say that if it weren’t for your son.”

She reaches across the table and takes my hand, giving it a squeeze that I return.

“I know that…I know Luca will be returning to work with you, now that he’s back in the city,” she continues, her voice slightly halting—I can tell she’s having a hard time with this, speaking it all out loud to this man who she barely knows but who wields such immense power, and I’m proud of her for not backing down.

And she’s right, of course. Now that I’ve finished my tenure at the hospital, I’ve taken up my usual position at my father’s side, managing the medical needs of the men who come and go through our business. With the death of Maglione, there have been less pressing matters to attend to, but in our line of work, I know it’s only a matter of time before the demands begin anew.

“And now that I’m going to be part of the family…I’d like to do my part too,” she continues. Her voice is a little shaky, but she’s holding it together. I’ve heard her rehearsing this conversation in the ensuite bathroom attached to our sprawling double bedroom, though of course I haven’t told her. I want her to go into this with the utmost confidence—that’s the only thing my father responds to, and I don’t want him to have any reason to second-guess her.

“Do your part?” he says, lifting his chin and eyeing her for a moment. “And what does that entail, exactly?”

“The women who Maglione kidnapped,” she explains. “I might not know everything that they’ve been through, not the intimate details, but I know how terrified I was when they had me locked up there—when they were threatening me, telling me what they were going to do to me…”

She swallows hard, her throat rising and falling as she pulls herself together again. Though she doesn’t talk about it much, always quick to tell me that she barely scratched the surface of what the other women went through, I know the kidnapping has left an indelible mark on her.

“And I want to do what I can to help them.”

My father raises his eyebrows, prompting her to keep going.

“I know there will be plenty of women looking for a way to get back on their feet now that they’re free from all the bullshit Maglione put them through—uh, excuse my language,” she quickly corrects herself, flushing slightly. I nudge her with my foot under the table, a silent reminder that this man has heard a whole lot worse than a little cursing over the years.

“And I want to help them onto the right track,” she goes on. “I have experience in politics, petitioning people, setting up support groups that could actually help…”

I can tell that my father is impressed by her certainty, a smile spreading over his face as he nods. “I’m sure I could see some way to setting you up with something like that,” he agrees, and she grins widely.

“Thank you,” she murmurs. “I know I have a lot to learn about this world, but I…I want to be a part of it. I want to make a difference.”

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