“She’s right,” Stefano said before Val could reply. “You did hit the jackpot. Because aside from the fact that she’s not bragging—every single thing she stated is a fact—she’s our baby sister.” He swept his hand around to include his brothers.
They all looked up, alert.
“You’re Emmanuelle’s choice. She’s made that more than clear. I know she loves you and I can see very clearly that you love her for herself. So the biggest part of the jackpot is Emme and her abilities and how much she loves you, but the rest is her brothers and their women and how much we love her. That means we include you. We back your play and keep you alive. So she’s right: you did hit the jackpot. Don’t fuck it up by being overprotective.”
“What did he just say?” Francesca asked.
A ripple of laughter went around the plane. Stefano frowned at his brothers.
“He told Valentino not to fuck things up with Emme by being overprotective,” Vittorio said. “Great advice. I concur wholeheartedly.”
“You do?” Grace asked. She looked up at her husband as if she couldn’t quite understand what was being said. “You don’t think a man should be too protective of his wife? Is that what I’m hearing from the two of you?”
“Yes, do explain, Stefano, Vittorio,” Francesca said. She got up from her seat and began to make her way to the empty chair on the other side of Stefano.
The moment she was standing, nearly every man in the plane was up, reaching for her, as if she were fragile and needed help. She glared at them, but they ignored her. It was Giovanni who had his hands on his sister-in-law’s waist, guiding her to Stefano.
“You mean like that?” Francesca demanded as she took the seat beside her husband. “The kind of thing that makes a woman want to pull her hair out?”
“If there had been any kind of turbulence, you could have fallen,” Stefano said, leaning down to brush his mouth gently over hers. “Your brothers are just careful with you. Don’t be upset with them because they care.”
She rolled her eyes. “You told them I was pregnant again, didn’t you?”
Emmanuelle gasped and turned toward Francesca. “You are? How far along? What did the doctor say? Should you be on the plane? Stefano? Should she be on a plane?”
“I would never allow her on a plane if the doctor hadn’t given permission, Emmanuelle,” Stefano assured. “Seeing you married was important to Francesca, to all of us.”
“I’ve made it past the first trimester. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed I’m wearing looser clothing.”
“You still look thinner to me,” Sasha said with a little frown. “How can you be pregnant and lose weight, not gain it? I’m at your house nearly every day. How come I didn’t know?”
“I get sick. Sometimes I’m so sick the nurse comes and has to give me an IV with fluids. It’s really quite horrible, but at the same time, if that’s what it takes to have the baby, I’m willing to be sick,” Francesca said. “We didn’t tell anyone until it looked like I might be able to carry this one.”
“What did the doctor say about the delivery?” Vittorio asked. “Are you going to have to go on bed rest?”
Immediately, Valentino noticed the tension rise on the plane. Emmanuelle’s hand gripped his tightly. Already, he’d gleaned from the conversation that Stefano’s wife had lost at least one baby, most likely others, and that when she had delivered, it had been life-threatening. Why the hell had Stefano allowed her to get pregnant? Was he so determined to have heirs? Val would have to ask that question when he was alone with Emme. He could see Stefano loved his wife and wanted her safe, yet she was risking her life carrying a baby. There were surrogates. What the hell?
“He said maybe bed rest as the baby grows. We’re having a girl. I’m very excited about that. Stefano is sharpening all of his knives.”
A heavy sigh went around the plane.
“Stefano, really? You had to do that to us? A niece?” Ricco glared at his older brother. “More sons, yes; daughters, no. We all agreed on that. We don’t need more girls in the family. They’re stubborn and want equality.”
Valentino noticed that Francesca hadn’t answered the question of her delivery and neither had Stefano. He decided to test his initiation into the family. “Weren’t you all just instructing me on how I should make absolute certain that I give Emmanuelle a full partnership and not fuck up my relationship by being overprotective? The next thing I know, you’re handing Francesca down the aisle like she can’t walk on her own and declaring no female children are allowed to be born because they demand equality. I’m getting whiplash from the constant back-and-forth.”
“I am as well,” Grace said in her quiet voice. “Vittorio, you were going to give me an explanation of what you meant. How a man shouldn’t be overprotective of his woman because that could ruin his relationship.”