Page 277 of Ricardo

“I didn’t want to keep it from you,” she says. “Victoria said you needed to know before you did anything about Harrison.”

Victoria is right, of course.

Mario chose well, even if I will never say that aloud because he would become intolerable.

“She was right.”

Julia searches my face. “You don’t think it’s too much right now?”

A tear slips down her cheek.

I catch it with my thumb.

“Life does not ask whether we are ready before it changes us,” I say. “And this child is not too much. You are not too much. Do you understand me?”

She lets out a broken breath. “I’m trying to.”

I bend and press my forehead to hers. “Try harder.”

A tiny laugh leaves her.

There she is.

Even now.

“For years,” I say quietly, “I believed Dante would be the only child I would ever have.”

Her fingers tighten around mine.

“I never thought…” I stop because the words do not come easily. Not with Dante hurt. Not with Harrison alive. Not with my heart split between a hospital room and this bedroom.

Julia waits.

I force the truth out because she gave me hers.

“I never thought I would want the possibility again,” I say. “Then you walked into Mario’s office and made me feel old, foolish, hungry, and alive, all in the same breath.”

Her eyes fill again, but not with tears. With feeling.

“Ricardo.”

“And now you are standing in my room, carrying something I did not know I was still allowed to want.”

“I love you,” she whispers. “Is that crazy?”

“Yes,” I say, smiling. “I'm not sure I deserve it, but I love you too.”

I pull her to me and kiss her.

Downstairs, my brothers and nephews are waiting.

Harrison is waiting too, though he does not know it yet.

The Winthrops, the East Coast, Luca, every old family name and political machine Julia warned me about, all of them can wait a few more minutes.

Because right now, my family comes first.

When we pull apart, I tell her. “You need a doctor.”