Page 31 of Italian Professor

She takes the bracelet out of the box and holds it up to the candlelight.

“That’s Ariel’s birthstone and…wait, is that the new baby’s birthstone beside it?” she wonders, tears already welling in her eyes.

“Yes. See, I did my research. Next month’s birthstone is aquamarine.”

When she wasn’t looking, I snuck her Andreoli heart back to the store for an alteration. Now, her diamond heart is flanked on either side by a smaller heart encrusted with the birthstones of our children.

“I love it. Thank you so much.”

She holds her hair up so that I can slip it around her neck. “I have something for you, too,” she adds as she hands me a gift bag filled with colorful paper, “I hope you like it.”

I reach into the bag and remove a picture frame from the inside. It’s one of those frames designed to hold two photographs. On one side is a black and white photo of Aria and me standing in front of the office at school. She’s wearing her school uniform and is smiling up at me as we’re engaging in some conversation that I don’t recall. The second is our wedding photo taken on the beaches of Capri where we married.

“I love both of these pictures, but where did the first one come from?” I ask. I was so certain we’d been discreet enough at school that no one could have photographed us together.

“Do you remember when I volunteered to help with the memory wall at school last week?”

“Yes.”

“Well, they gave me a box of pictures that didn’t make it into the yearbooks over the years. When I was looking through them, there it was! I couldn’t believe my eyes. Look at us. I looked so young.”

“You haven’t changed at all, Princess. You still look like a teenager and you probably always will,” I kiss her cheek.

“So, do you like it?”

“I love it. It’s going on my desk at school so I can see you all day while I’m gone.”

We have our dessert and move to the sofa where Aria lies down and places her head in my lap. I stroke her hair as we reminisce about our life together. She begins to drift off to sleep but leaps up as Ariel’s faint cries come across the baby monitor.

“I’ll go get her,” she tells me but I put my hand up and tell her to stop.

“No, I’ll get her. Once she’s settled, I’ll run you a nice bath. Then, if you’re lucky, I might give you a nice massage before bed,” I smile.

“You know where those massages lead, Daddy,” she grins.

“Well, then. Maybe I’ll get lucky, too,” I tell her as I head off to the nursery.

I reach into the crib and Ariel smiles up at me. She looks so much like Aria and is an amazingly sweet baby. As I cradle her in my arms and rock her back to sleep, I marvel at this miraculous gift that Aria has given me. She’s made me a family man, a father.

It’s something I always thought I’d wanted, but as the years went by, I resigned myself to believing it wasn’t in the cards for me. That was because I hadn’t met a woman that I could see mothering my children. That is, not until Aria.

Ariel closes her eyes and I gently lay her back down. When I’m sure she’s sleeping, I creep from the room to keep my promise and run Aria her bath. I light the three candles that she keeps on the tub and place a big fluffy towel on the vanity before dimming the lights.

She’s still lying on the sofa when I come back downstairs. In the candlelight, she looks even more beautiful, almost unreal. I didn’t think that was possible.

“Baby girl, your bath is waiting,” I tell her and she smiles at me.

It takes a moment for her to get to her feet. This pregnancy has her a little off balance, so I lift her into my arms and carry her up the stairs.

“This is nice but I must weigh a ton right now,” she whispers as we get closer to the nursery.

“You don’t weigh a ton. You’re light as a feather and sexier than a supermodel.”

EXTENDED EPILOGUE

ANTHONY

We arrive at the cottage just as the movers pull into the driveway. The kids are anxious and restless after the four-hour drive, and I can’t wait to get them out of the car.

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