The Body #4: Nico and Cosi

Chapter 28 (Cosi): Trust Me

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

Cupcakes were just the start of Nico's campaign of atonement. He brought me food everyday and asked me to pick which meal I wanted, then he'd always eat some of mine. He did the same thing with desserts, not saying a word when I split them very unequally (ninety-ten), and he never hesitated to eat whatever portion I handed him.

"I will always eat whatever food you want me to so you know I haven't tampered with it, whether it's tomorrow or on our twenty-fifth anniversary," he promised.

He'd taken three more weeks off once I was released from the hospital, and had appointed himself my nurse, refusing to let anyone look after me. Nico helped me with every task imaginable, nagged me into resting more than I wanted to and helped me build back my strength by gradually increasing the number of steps I took each day. He took me to all of my rehab appointments for my shoulder and my follow-up doctor appointments.

He drove me around looking at houses for sale and when I finally saw one that had the same kind of charm and smaller scale as our first house, I asked for a tour. Nico reluctantly allowed me to go inside -- But you're going straight to bed for a nap when we get home, Costanza -- and I loved it.

"This is it," I said once we'd toured the ranch house.

Nico put in a bid, told the real estate agent he expected an answer in ten minutes and in eight minutes, our cash offer had been accepted. All very typical in the Body.

We'd closed in a week, and I had all of our new furniture that I'd picked out ready to be delivered the day we moved in.

Nico had painted the nursery himself and put together the crib, the changing table and the bookshelf. He moved the furniture into about twenty different arrangements until I was satisfied and he didn't blink an eye.

"You need it to be exactly how you want it, Costanza," he said patiently as I looked critically at whatever current configuration was in front of me.

He washed all of the baby clothing and bedding, and I had to sit in the glider in the nursery and direct him as to where to put the clothes, in either the dresser or in the closet. Watching those huge hands try to fold the tiny onesies kind of melted my insides into goo.

"I can do it, Nico," I protested. "I'm just sitting here watching you."

His brown eyes burned into mine. "You almost weren't," he said, his voice getting that tone that told me he was reliving the incident. "So until I decide you're fully recovered, which, by the way, is going to take a lot longer than your ridiculous doctor seems to think it will take, you're going to do a lot of observing and resting and growing our baby."

When he was back at work, he was checking on me every chance he could. Given his job, it wasn't that often because, as I had pointed out to him, if he was calling or texting me, he wasn't giving his full attention to work. But he still managed two or three short texts a day and sometimes a call. I made sure I kept my replies to a single emoji so he wouldn't be distracted guarding Lucio.

Janie had told her husband that she was done torturing Nico so he could go back to protecting the Head of the Body. I think she preferred to be guarded by someone who wasn't the husband of one of her best friends. She wouldn't do more than shrug when I asked her why, but I knew her well enough to know that she never wanted my husband to take a bullet for her.

"We came to an understanding while you were in the hospital," Janie had explained. "Our only issue now is that he isn't fully on board with naming your baby after me yet. The good thing is, I still have some time to get him used to the idea."