The door opens. “Orlando? You down there?” It’s a woman’s voice. There’s no more hiding. I gather up what courage I have and face him. I have to tell him the truth. “I need a moment,” I whisper to him. “I have to tell you.”
He looks at me and holds my chin. “What is it that you have to tell me?”
“Orlando?”
“I’m down here, Rosa. I need a minute.”
He stares into my eyes. “Will I have to punish you again when you tell me?” I look down at the floor, but he moves my chin back up so that he looks into my eyes.
“I’m...” I can’t say it. My voice is clogged, my throat tight. I don’t know how to say it. It requires courage I’ve only dreamed of having. The necklace feels like a collar, heavy and unyielding, but nowhere near as heavy as my heart.
“Orlando, I’m pregnant.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Orlando
I stare at her, comprehension taking a few minutes to dawn on me.
“You’re pregnant? I tied you up and used the flogger on you and you just now decide to tell me you’re pregnant?”
I drop the flogger to the dungeon floor. It’s a tame implement, one that sounds a lot harsher than it is, but still. If I knew she was pregnant, I wouldn’t have brought her here, wouldn’t have punished her at all.
She sags against my chest, her shoulders heaving. It seems a suitable reaction for what she’s told me, what we’ve been through, but absolutely the first time I’ve ever given comfort to someone in the dark, windowless dungeon. For her, though…
I wrap my arms around her, pulling her to me, and my heart aches. I wouldn’t consider myself a compassionate kind of guy, at least not anymore. But I love this woman. She’s my wife. She was brought here without her consent, forced to marry me before we’d ever met. She gave me her virginity. She gave me everything.
I wanted to scare her. I wanted to put the fear of God into her for not telling me the truth, but she hasn’t done anything worthy of a severe punishment. And the sadist in me revels in the chance of wielding my control over her.
Not telling me she had her phone’s hardly a serious infraction. She should have told me, yeah. But I knew it’d be tapped, and what’s she gonna do with a phone call anyway? It’s tapped for her own protection above all.
But I don’t want my pregnant wife in the dark, dank confines of the dungeon, where we convene in private and do unspeakable things.
“Upstairs. Now.” I lift her in my arms, and she nestles her head against my chest.
“I don’t want to see anyone.” She sniffles. I hold her tighter.
“Of course not, piccola. I understand. Let’s get you upstairs. I’m going to call the doctor immediately.” I walk up the stairs with her tucked up against my chest, so sweet. A deep, abiding sense of the need to protect this woman and my child that she carries thrums through my veins with the heady insistence that this is it, this is what I’ve wanted. What I’ve waited for. I was born with the instinct to protect. Now I’ll have a family of my very own.
When we get upstairs, my family mills about in the rooms adjacent to the war room. My brothers and sisters drink whiskey and wine in the study, and Nonna has everyone laughing around an open fire.
Rosa stands in the doorway.
My chest warms at seeing her. My big sister, come home. Natalia’s by her side, and she runs to me.
“Please, Orlando,” Elise whispers.
Rosa’s eyes fall to Elise, tucked into my arms. “Ah,” I tell Rosa, “so good to see you. I’m sorry, she doesn’t feel well. I’m taking her upstairs.”
“Oh, of course,” Rosa says. “Good to see you. Good to see both of you.”
Elise lifts her head, her hair falling all around her face, and waves at her, then collapses against my chest again. I hold her to me. Rosa grins.
“Aww, Lando. God, it’s good to see you with her. I can’t wait to catch up.”
She turns and joins the others. My heart is filled to bursting. My sister’s home, my family’s safe. And my own family is going to grow. We’ve done what we were supposed to, married and now we’re bringing children into our home. I never dreamed it would all happen so quickly.
“Thank you,” Elise whispers. I hold her tighter.
“Why do you tremble, little one?” I whisper in her ear.
My wife.
My child.
“I’m just a little overwhelmed.”
The overhead lighting glints on the necklace I gave her tonight, the Riot of Flowers. Worth every goddamn penny. It all was. My time in prison, the immediate joining with Elise.
A baby.
I wonder if Romeo will be jealous that we’ll be the next who bring children into our fold. A cousin for little Natalia.