Stella (Book One of Dark Souls Series)

Epilogo

I love your dad because he gave you to me.

You're half me, half your daddy.

I focused on the heartbeat of my mom now that the song we were listening to spoke of laying against her chest.

"I love you a million percent, mamma," I whispered as the song ended.

"You know I don't like anyone the way that I like you, right?" she asked, quoting the song as well.

I nodded against her chest.

"Even when you betray me for a boy who doesn't like you the way I do."

I looked up at her and narrowed my eyes, which made her laugh.

"Was that too soon?" she asked.

"Yes, mamma. I loved him," I mumbled as I played with her necklace and experienced my first heartbreak.

She sighed. "I hate to see you so sad. When your father hears about this, he will be furious."

My eyes widened at her words which were scary and true. "Mamma, please don't tell him."

She sighed again as she rubbed her protruding belly. "You are a headliner, darling. I'm sure he's reading it about it now."

I groaned in defeat and waited for daddy to get home.

Now that the music was no longer playing, I could hear the sounds of the busy city. Evening traffic was heavy, and I knew he was stuck in it which meant he definitely was not going to be happy when he made it home.

Mom hated when he missed dinner, and he hated not being here for dinner. He was already an hour late and dinner was in another hour.

"Mamma?"

I sat up to see one of my brothers, Milo, standing at the door of mom and dad's room.

"Come on, baby," she softly spoke as she slowly sat up. I helped her since her huge belly made her positions awkward and slowed her movements.

My brother cheered and raced towards the bed.

"I wanna' come!" I heard my other brother, Adrian yell. At the speed of lightning, I felt the bed bounce which meant he'd followed in his brother's footsteps and jumped in the bed.

"Adrian and Milo!" she scolded.

I snickered at their sad expressions and watched them fumble with their fingers.
"Sorry, mamma," they both mumbled.

"You're going to shake the baby into a boy," she responded with a pout, holding her stomach.

"We want a boy, mamma!" Milo said.

"We want a lot of boys!" Adrian added in.

I was nine when the twins were born. Milo and Adrian were our light when the darkest parts of life washed over the Veretti family. When mom and dad got married, they instantly started trying to make a baby. Daddy wanted a boy, but mom wanted a girl.

When I was eight, she had a girl who was stillborn. She was dead inside of the womb, and it broke her and Nonna E's heart when she was forced to push out a baby she wanted but could not have.

Daddy became a workaholic, and things were not the same. If I spoke honestly, life was better before they got married.

Every success he made made us a million dollars richer, but it made him a million miles more distant from us. Even though I could never imagine dad cheating on mamma, Nonna E was convinced that he spent the majority of his time in my hometown, Calabria.