20.

TABBY

"The boys are the picture of health for six-week-old infants," the pediatrician said as he looked from Paulie over to Dean and then up at Brett. Finally, he smiled at me before he said, "I'm still not sure I understand the complete dynamic of your parenting relationship, but whatever you"re doing seems to be working spectacularly."

"Thank you," Brett said with a smile as she tossed Paulie's clothes toward me and started dressing Dean.

"I wanna dress my baby!" Ember said huffily as she bumped into my leg.

"Yeah! Gimme my baby, Mama!" Coco said just as grumpily as she climbed up to sit on the table next to Dean. She waved her hand at Brett and said, "Go on. I know what I'm doing."

I glanced over at the doctor and saw he was trying his best not to laugh, but when Ember nudged my shoulder and yanked Paulie's clothes out of my hand, he lost the battle.

"They're gonna need to eat soon," Ember told Coco. "You know they'll be crying before we get home."

"Ugh.Yes. Again," Coco grumbled.

"Well, I can see that you've got this in hand, so I'll leave you to it," the pediatrician said as he stood up from his stool. "I'll see them again in a month unless there's a reason for an appointment before that."

"Thank you, doctor," I told him as I watched Ember carefully roll Paulie over to his side so she could get his onesie underneath him. My usually wild and rambunctious daughter and Brett's fun and bouncy little girl had each found a new sense of calm since the twins were born. They had taken it upon themselves to be the boys' caretakers every chance they got. In fact, I'd caught one or both of them arguing with Luca and Zach when they wanted a turn caring for the infants. Ember seemed to be struggling to get Paulie's arm through the sleeve, so as I helped her I asked, "Do you want to have lunch before we go back home?"

"That sounds great," Brett said as she helped Coco zip Dean into his outfit. "We should call the guys and let them know so they can meet us."

"I have a better idea," I said as I lifted Paulie up from the table and helped Ember get down to the floor. "Let's drop the kids off at their office and go have lunch, just the two of us," I said as I strapped Paulie into his seat in the large stroller wagon Brett's mother-in-law purchased before she left town.

"You are definitely the brains of this operation," Brett said as she put Dean in his spot. I helped Ember into her seat as Coco climbed into hers, and within the next few minutes, we were out in the hall with the four guards who had been sent with us for today's excursion. As I pushed the stroller, Brett sent off a text and then laughed at the response she got. "I sent Zach's assistant a message asking if he was busy, and she asked if it was tattling to say that he's taking a nap on the couch in his office."

"That means he'll be well-rested and can take care of all four kids by himself."

Once we were back at The Castello, Brett and I went up to the office and found Zach still sleeping on the couch, so I left Brett there with the kids while I went searching for Luca. I found him in Matteo's office and greeted my brother-in-law with a smile before I gave my husband a kiss.

"Hello, beautiful," Luca said as he pulled me down to sit on his lap. "This is a pleasant surprise."

"We came to drop off the kids with you and Zach so Brett and I can have some girl time."

"That sounds fun. How did your appointment go this morning?"

"All clear," I told him with a grin.

Luca's eyes lit up, and he pulled me closer and started to nibble on my neck.

"And that's my cue to leave," Matteo said as he stood up from the chair across the desk from us and walked toward the door. "I'll let your secretary know not to disturb you."

"Thanks, big brother," I called out right before he shut the door behind him. "I think he likes it when I call him that."

"I don't want to think about my brother right now," Luca said before he lifted me up and sat me on the desk in front of him. "You're wearing way too many clothes, Lou."

"I don't have time for you to get me naked right now, Luca!"

"Make time. I've been a very patient . . ." I snorted, and he gave me a mock glare before he continued, "Okay, I've tried very hard to be patient, but now that you've gotten the all-clear from your doctor, it's on, mia moglie."

"I love it when you call me wife," I murmured as Luca's hands came up to cup my breasts and he leaned forward to kiss my neck again. I hummed when he hit that spot right beneath my ear and then smiled when he growled low in his throat. "Brett will be here any second now."

"Dammit," Luca said when we heard Brett talking to Matteo out in the hallway. "Ask her if she'll watch Ember tonight."

"Already did, and she said that's not a problem."

"And tell Simon that you're going to be too busy for his usual nightcap."

"Sent him a text," I murmured as Luca ran his thumbs over my nipples. Even through my bra and shirt, his touch drove me wild.

The last six weeks had been hell on both of us, not just because of my roller coaster hormones and my healing body, but because we were both still trying to adjust to married life. As with any new relationship, especially one where two people were thrust into a living situation while they were still trying to get to know each other's quirks and foibles, Luca and I had been through our ups and downs.

I tried my best to have sympathy for the man since he didn't just have to adjust to sharing his home with me but also with my daughter who was known to be a little extra at times. I had found early on that Luca was a creature of habit and liked his home a certain way, but having a four-year old on the premises meant that things were never put back where they belonged, and there was always clutter.

I had tried very hard to keep her toys and all of the other things that came with a small child organized, but as any parent knew, that was next to impossible. Ember had never had this much space to run around, and the fact that Carlo and Marla visited often - always with gifts and toys in hand - didn't help the issue.

I had to say that Luca had handled the situation better than I would have in his position - his home had been invaded, and he'd accepted it all with a smile on his face. However, I was well aware that after I went to sleep at night, he spent more than a little time downstairs resetting the house for the next day. He had a hard time turning off his brain to sleep if there was chaos anywhere in the house.

The fact that he didn't nag me, or even say anything at all, made me love him all the more. However, I'd finally found a way to keep the majority of Ember's toys contained by purchasing a waist-high fence and installing it in the corner of the living space where Ember could have all of the sunshine and bright sky as a backdrop to her myriad of toys and activities.

I laughed every time Ember zoomed through the living room around the track that Luca and Matteo had cleared for her to use and loved it when one or both of them would chase her around and around until they were all breathless. Ember was so tired at the end of the day now that getting her to bed at night wasn't an issue at all.

There was a knock on the door, and Luca groaned as he let his hands drop from my breasts to rest on my thighs.

"Your friend is a cock-blocker," Luca mumbled before he called out, "Come in."

Brett stuck her head into the office with her eyes closed as she asked, "Is everyone decent?"

"What do you want?" Luca asked grumpily.

"To kidnap your . . ." Brett paused and winced before she said, "That word just hits different now, doesn't it? Anyway, I'd like to take your wife to lunch and then have some girl time before I return her to you in one piece later this evening so you can ravish her to your wee little heart's content."

"What time are you bringing Ember home tomorrow?"

"I'm not. She and Coco are going shopping with Paula and Frankie, and then they're going to spend the night with Sasha."

"I'll have thirty-six hours of uninterrupted Lou time?" Luca asked hesitantly.

"Let's go with a solid forty-eight and call it good."

"You promise?" Luca asked.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Brett said earnestly.

I winced and said, "That takes on a whole new connotation, too, considering our circumstances, don't you think?"

"You'll never be without guards, so that none of that should be an issue," Luca insisted. "Who did Zach assign to go with you today?"

"Jersey's back on duty, so he'll be with me," Brett explained.

"Emorett will drive you, and I'll send Dino along too."

"Where are we going for lunch?" I asked.

"I want Mediterranean, so I was thinking we'd go back to that one place we ordered takeout from a few weeks ago," Brett suggested.

"That sounds wonderful," I agreed as I started to get up.

"Give us a minute," Luca ordered as he waved his hand as if to shoo her away.

"One minute, and that's it," Brett ordered. "You're about to have forty-eight uninterrupted hours."

"Go.Away."

Brett's laughter was drowned out by the closing door, but I barely noticed because in the next second Luca's hands were on me again, and the kiss we shared was full of promise that let me know the next few days were going to be fantastic.

◆◆◆

"I don't know that I'll ever be able to get used to all the attention we get when we go out," I admitted to Brett and Bex as I tried to ignore the people taking pictures of us through the window nearby. "I feel like a sideshow."

"I know. I found myself getting caught up in what I was going to wear just in case we ended up on a gossip website somewhere, but then I got over it and got back to my old self again," Bex admitted.

"If they don't like us, then fuck ‘em," Brett said with a shoulder lift.

I heard Dino snickering behind us and smiled as I said, "I don't know why you guys don't just sit at the same damn table since you can hear everything we say."

"I can't hear nothing, and I didn't see shit," Jersey said as Dino mumbled, "La la la la la."

The girls laughed but stopped when I leaned closer and said, "They're going to be shocked when they find out where I want to go shopping."

Bex's eyes got wide when she asked, "The toy store?"

I gave her a bored look and said, "I get that stuff online like a normal person, weirdo. I want to go shopping for some pretty lingerie to wear for Luca."

"I can't do that with Zach. It all gets ripped up the second he sees it, so it's a complete waste of money."

"Mrs. Russo?"

I looked up and found a woman who wasn't much older than me standing a few feet away wringing her hands nervously. I heard Dino's chair move, and I knew he was about to get up to stand between us, but I put my hand up and said, "That's me. How are you today?"

"I need help, and I wasn't sure who else to go to."

"Have a seat, honey," Brett said as she pulled out the chair next to hers. "What's wrong?"

"These are my friends Brett Campana and Bex Romano." Even though Brett and Zach weren't married yet and neither were Bex and Rico, we all considered them married and found it easier to just use the men's last names since they held the same position a wife would. "What's your name?"

"I know who all of you are," the woman said shyly. "I'm Gina Lopez. My mom suggested that I come to your family for help, Mrs. Russo. She said that back in the old days, that's what people did instead of going to the cops."

I laughed uncomfortably before I said, "I'm not sure what the protocol is for this, but tell us what you need, and we'll see if we can find a way to help you."

"I tried to file a police report, but they weren't any help because nothing ever happens when they're around, so it's my husband's . . . my ex-husband's . . . word against mine."

"What's going on?" Bex asked as she watched the woman squirm in her seat. I knew that Bex was a professional when it came to reading body language and wasn't shocked when she asked, "Are you in danger, Gina?"

Gina burst into tears before she whispered, "He told me he would kill me if I called the cops again, and the last time he broke into my house, he hurt me so bad."

I put my hand on hers and squeezed before I whispered, "We won't let that happen again, honey. What do you need us to do?"

◆◆◆

LUCA

"I just got a call from Dario, and he said that our women are about to get him and the guys in trouble," Rico said as he walked into my office. "Do you have a few minutes to go and figure out what the fuck is going on?"

I pushed my chair back from my desk and picked up my phone to call Zach. The second he answered, he said, "I'm going downstairs now. Sasha's got the kids." He disconnected the call without another word.

"What kind of trouble are we talking about?" I asked Rico.

"Your wife ordered Dino to off a guy, and Bex told Dario to throw him in the river to make an example out of him."

"Shit," I mumbled as I slipped my phone into my pocket and walked around the desk toward the door. "What guy?"

"What we've been doing lately has apparently really taken effect. Some lady came up to them during lunch and asked for their help."

"When we said we were going to establish a presence and get shit in order, I didn't know that meant people would start accosting my wife when she's out in public," I snapped.

"First of all, she was never alone, and secondly, you can ask your mom. She'll tell you that back in the day, if a woman had a problem, she went to the don's wife for help. It's more comfortable that way, I think."

"Does this mean we have to get involved in every domestic dispute that happens in our territory?" I asked angrily. "Isn't that what the cops are for?"

"Apparently, this guy they want to throw in the river is a cop."

"Oh for fuck's sake," I mumbled as I stopped in front of the elevator. When the doors opened, I sighed when I saw Zach standing there with a murderous expression. "Are you going with us?"

"Damn right," Zach said angrily as he stepped aside so we could join him in the elevator. "She said that woman is covered in fucking bruises."

"And this is where he loses it," my brother said from the corner where he'd been standing just outside of our line of sight. "Hey, guys. I thought I'd join you for the family adventure the ladies have planned. It's been a while since I've gotten to watch Zach go apeshit on some asshole. I wouldn"t miss this for the world."

"Let's make it quick. I've got plans with Tabby tonight."

"The doctor finally released her?" Rico asked with a grin.

"He did, and we've got a sitter for the next forty-eight hours. I don't want to waste a single minute."