Page 37 of Pregnant in the Italian's Palazzo

‘Not a chance.’ Aria laughed and stood up, swaying from side to side, and hummed a little bit of one of the Italian nursery rhymes her mother-in-law had taught her. Her muscles remembered doing this, night after night when both of the twins had developed colic at the same time.

Nysio had held one and she’d held the other and some nights they’d both fallen into bed exhausted, only to be pulled awake again a short time later. She had no shame in admitting that the first year of parenting had brought her to the brink of her own limits. But that wasn’t the reason why they’d decided they were content with their little family as it was. It was simply something they’d both discussed and unanimously agreed upon. Two was their number.

Their boys would turn four soon and they adored being parents and couldn’t wait to see what wild times lay ahead. She had loved watching Nysio find his way as a new father and had felt his support as she did the same. They had a beautiful balance in life that meant they could do things like sail off to Greece for this past week. They had also taken a long-overdue honeymoon last year when Nysio had sailed them on a romantic week exploring the Mediterranean for their second wedding anniversary.

She still laughed every time she remembered how long she’d made him wait before finally getting married. It had been a running joke amongst him and their new extended family that Nysio had been the only brother not to marry in a rush after that fateful jilted wedding, despite being the first to become a father. So when the time finally came, Aria had suggested they play a trick on their loved ones, inviting them all to a party where they joined the brothers’ anniversary club as a surprise.

Their wedding had taken place exactly two years after the mile-high night that had bound them for ever, in the centre of the maze where he had first told her he loved her.

‘I’m actually pregnant,’ Pandora blurted.

Priya and Aria both froze and looked down at the third sister of their slightly unconventional extended family set.

‘Oh, my God, did I just say that out loud?’ Pandora clapped a hand over her mouth. ‘Oh, no, I promised Xander that I wouldn’t tell anyone yet. It’s really early.’

‘My lips are sealed.’ Priya beamed, reaching out to give her a one-armed hug. ‘But now you get the honour of minding Amara for practice while I go meet Eros at the dock.’

‘No funny business!’ Aria shouted at the rapidly shrinking silhouette of her best friend as she practically ran down the beach towards the opposite end of the island where the small dock resided. Aria looked down to find Amara’s head lolling slightly as Pandora tried to get a handle on the active infant. Aria smiled, carefully helping to readjust the baby’s head.

‘I don’t even know how to hold a baby.’ Pandora groaned, shifting the little girl’s weight awkwardly into her elbow. ‘I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.’

‘Neither did I, back when Emilio and Mauro were born,’ Aria confessed to the woman who had joined her life as a sister-in-law but had quickly become one of her best friends. ‘You must remember the day of their christening when I almost dropped one of my sons in the font?’

Pandora laughed at the memory. ‘Oh, yes... I’d almost forgotten that.’

‘I was so nervous, having so many family members watching me. I was a wreck as a parent most of the time at the start, but I found my way.’

‘I wouldn’t mind skipping ahead to this stage.’ Pandora gestured to the party above.

Aria looked up at the party, spying the familiar broad silhouette of the man she loved up on the deck above them. Two tiny heads bobbed on either side of him as the boys jumped and called for her and Pandora to come and join them. She waved, feeling her heart thump painfully with so much love.

‘The hard times are made easier with the right person by your side. I promise.’

Nysio sneaked a look at the two little boys resting peacefully in their bunk beds on the yacht and sighed with relief. Asleep at long last. The impromptu football game with Zio Eros and Zio Xander had been the perfect way to end their weekend, but the excitement had made the boys even more difficult to get to sleep than usual. Still, he’d never tire of the sight of seeing his wealthy and powerful half-brothers felled by the boundless energy of the Bacchetti twins.

He smiled and wondered what the all-powerful Zeus would think, knowing that his attempt to pit his sons against one another in a race to inherit had only succeeded in bringing them together. Their joint charity efforts were now numerous and they met regularly for family gatherings. A shadow in the doorway made him pause, and he looked to see his wife watching him as he gently tucked the duvet around both boys and tiptoed backwards from the room.

‘That was a long day,’ he said, once the door was safely closed behind them. ‘I never thought I’d say this, but I think this age might be the hardest yet.’

Aria’s brows rose in disbelief. ‘Harder than the potty-training stage?’

‘They couldn’t run quite so fast back then.’

The medium-sized yacht had been one of his best purchases in the four years since Aria Dane had walked into his life. Dinner was a beautiful cheeseboard with a side of home-made crusty bread gifted to them by Eros and made with all local ingredients. They ate in companionable silence out on the top deck, accompanied by nothing other than the sound of the waves and the small flickering light of the baby monitor.

Nysio was content. An emotion he’d never thought he might claim for himself. Gone were the constant stomach aches and the need for rigid routine and control. It hadn’t disappeared fully, of course, he was still a creature of habit and ferociously dedicated to the three-day working week he’d adopted for himself. A life of balance suited him beautifully, he’d soon discovered. Travelling the world had never been a part of his plans but every time he watched his wife’s eyes light up exploring a new city, he felt a peace as he’d never known before.

She’d given this to him, this powerful, beautiful warrior of a woman who had come bursting into his life like a comet, changing everything for evermore.

‘You’re looking strangely at me again,’ Aria said. ‘What are you thinking?’

‘I’m not thinking, I’m living,’ he answered honestly.

‘Ah yes, living in the moment. Glad you thought of that one, babe.’ She rolled her eyes, then squealed when she seen his brows raise in dark challenge.

Nysio pounced, gripping her around the waist and pinning her between him and the yacht’s galley-kitchen counter. Aria made a weak attempt at wriggling away before relaxing into his hold, smacking him lightly on the shoulder for good measure.

The scent of her wild-summer-berry shampoo filled his nose and he groaned, taking a single playful nibble of her earlobe before whispering softly, ‘Bellezza...must you take credit for everything?’

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