Page 47 of Sandro

I stood from the bed, and after I slid my feet into my loafers, I held out my hand for Leo. He came to me, and we left the bedroom together. It wasn’t uncommon for me to be touching him in some way, and even though the walk to the office wasn’t a long one, I still needed to have that connection with him.

“Are you sure you have time?” Leo asked as we reached the door to leave the suite.

“I do. The meeting doesn’t have a set time. Once we’re finished here, and I see that you’re either happily in our suite or with Abel somewhere, I’ll go to the meeting then.” I knew the meeting had something to do with Leo’s grandfather, and it was probably not going to be good news. Master Vincent and Marcello wanted to discuss things with me because they weren’t sure how Leo would respond to any sort of news. Probably not the best, but they weren’t incorrect in their assumption that any news regarding his parents or grandfather was most likely better if it came from me.

“Here you go,” I said after opening the door to the office I shared with Rio. I liked the warlock doctor. He was amazing at what he did, and he had a perfect personality to be a doctor. And although I often felt lacking when comparing myself to his skills, I knew I, too, was a capable doctor and was an asset to the coven, but I was also aware that Rio would always be able to help those in the coven more than I could.

“I can’t wait to see the baby,” Leo said.

“I’ll help you up onto the bed, then we’ll get things going.”

“It’s not going to be uncomfortable, is it?”

“The gel can be cold on the stomach, but that is usually the most uncomfortable part that I’ve heard. Otherwise, you won’t feel anything.”

“That’s not so bad, then.”

I shook my head as I picked up the bottle of gel. I’d come in earlier while Leo was still sleeping and turned on the warmer for it. The gel would still cool on his stomach, but it would be warm from the beginning, and that was really when it seemed to matter most.

I smiled again as I helped Leo lift my shirt from his stomach and move his lounge pants down a bit. Before we got started, I leaned down and kissed his stomach simply because the growing bump there represented new life, and that was something that I would never take for granted again.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

“I am,” Leo told me. I squirted the gel on his stomach, then picked up the transducer to spread it around. I hit the key to turn on the screen and speakers, and when no sound was suddenly filling the room, my excitement dimmed a bit. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing as far as I can tell,” I said. “I was expecting to hear the baby’s heartbeat, but that’s not what’s happening.” I pointed to the screen, showing Leo our baby. “The baby is right there though, and if you focus here, you can see the heart beating,” I told him. “It’s nothing that seems to be wrong with the baby, but the speakers aren’t working for some reason.”

I moved the wand around, trying from the other side, but still nothing. I reset the machine, but still we only had picture and no sound.

“Still not working?”

“I’m not sure what is wrong. The sound seems to be broken. The imaging is working fine, but we cannot hear anything.”

I started to reach for the machine again, but Leo’s hand on my arm stopped me. “It’s all right, Sandro. It’s sad, sure, but I get to see our baby with you. Show me again.”

He was right, of course. I was so worried about hearing the baby’s heartbeat that I wasn’t showing him our little one. I placed the transducer on his stomach again, and instantly, the image appeared on the screen. I quickly moved it to his side a bit, and there we were able to get a better look at the baby.

“I don’t know, Sandro. I mean, I know the images isn’t a real one and the ultrasound only works so well, but the baby sort of looks like an alien.”

I chuckled, which caused Leo to laugh, and the baby started shaking. “You’re right. The imaging picks up the bone and not the soft tissue. Once Rio gets back, he can do a better one for us.”

“I’m not complaining. It’s a bummer I didn’t get to hear the heartbeat, but not the end of the world. What’s most important is that the baby is doing well.”

I nodded slowly. “The baby is measuring where things should be for the gestational age, so I believe things are good with that,” I said to reassure my beloved. “Nothing looks out of the ordinary, so again, things are going as hoped.” I offered a smile, and Leo returned it before his eyes moved back to the screen.

He sighed after a moment. “Did you ever think you’d have a family one day? I mean, before Vitto and all of that?”

I nodded without thinking. “I had hoped that one day I would find my beloved and we would be blessed with a family. I had always envisioned that Vitto would be here with me and that possibly he would find his as well, but that wasn’t meant to be.” I grabbed a towel and quickly wiped Leo’s stomach.

“I’m sorry, Sandro. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

I stood and leaned over my mate so I could kiss him. “You didn’t upset me, mio amato. I was simply thinking about things that weren’t meant to be. It is sad that Vitto’s life ended, but I have to remember that his ending was traded for many more innocent lives not having the same fate. The men we were helping to find, they were powerful and difficult to stop.”

“They were though, right?”

I nodded. “They were finally caught. One was evil enough to kill his own fated One and their unborn child upon his capture.” Leo gasped. I reached up and cupped his cheek. “There are many truly evil people in this world, my beloved. How he was gifted a One, I do not know, but perhaps it was that they were paired before he turned evil. Or maybe she was always just as twisted as he was. I will never know. But he is gone, as is his cousin, so Vitto’s death wasn’t for naught.”

Leo nodded. “I’m still sorry that he’s not here to be an uncle.”