Episode 115

Episode 115

Epilogue 3: Julianne & Giovanni

JULIANNE

The prison bars clanked shut behind us, sending a shiver of nerves racing up my spine.

"I can't believe we're doing this." My voice quivered as a guard led us into a small room. The walls were cement blocks and gave a foreboding feeling. I'd never even been to a regular jail, let alone a prison.

"We can leave any time. It is not our responsibility, Jules. Not a single soul would question us if we decided against this plan. It's our lives too," Gio reminded me for the tenth time today.

We'd been contacted by the State's child services. When Bianca had put Brenden Myers as the baby's father, the system immediately started to work on finding a next of kin for the baby. Bianca was serving back-to-back life in prison sentences. Once she had the baby, the system needed someone to give that baby to, or it would go into foster care. We'd been debating our options ever since that call.

I closed my eyes and counted to ten while breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. "I just…my parents. If they were here, they'd tell us this is the right thing to do."

He pulled me into his arms and held me close, his face pressed to the side of my head.

"Jules, if you want to leave, it's not too late." He shifted his body and put a hand over my abdomen where our ‘little pea' was growing safely. "We have more than just us to think about. And Alana and Christophe are an incredible second option. They offered to become the baby's guardians."

I shook my head, clearing the fear away as I swiped at my tears. "No. Even though my brother was an asshole in the end, he'd want us to take care of his only child."

Giovanni cupped my cheeks. "Look at me, Jules."

I frowned and slid my gaze up to his. His eyes were a dark, beautifully stormy gray blue today, but I'd walk through that storm to be by his side…anytime every time.

"Brenden is dead." Each of those three words was like a knife wound to my heart. "You do not owe him anything. We tried to save him. We tried. The doctors tried. The burn center did everything they could, but after a month of fighting, it was just too much for his body to handle."

I choked on a sob as I clung to his shoulders.

"His child is not ours. You do not owe anyone anything," Gio was firm but kind.

"But the baby is all I'll have left of him…of my parents," I gulped.

Gio closed his eyes, his nostrils flaring as he inhaled sharply. "I understand. You know, I loved him like a brother. Even after everything, I loved him."

"I know," I lifted up onto my toes and kissed him gently, pressing my face to his. "I know."

"We don't have to do this."

I swallowed, opened my eyes and focused on my husband. "Do you not want to?"

He shook his head. "Jules, I told you I'd love any baby we had. Ours, our niece or nephew. I'd have a house full of them with you. It's not about the child. It's about what pieces of you and me are going to be cut up and destroyed by taking on this responsibility. That's what I'm afraid of. We've already been through hell and back."

"I'm more afraid of the pieces of myself and my soul I'd lose by not taking this child into our home. The baby is my blood. The only blood relative I have living besides our baby," I covered my growing bump protectively.

"So you are one hundred percent sure you want to raise Bianca's child?" His voice was a low, scratchy rumble.

"No, I want us to raise Brenden's child. Teach him or her about who Brenden was before Bianca ever entered any of our lives. I want the child to know the real Brenden. The loving, caring, protective brother. The funny, zany, silly jokester. The baseball lover. The young man that was happier boating on a lake than anywhere else in the world. The man who claimed his favorite color was purple because it was rad."

Gio chuckled, his shoulders relaxing. "He was the funniest man I ever knew. I always told him he should do standup comedy as a hobby."

I patted Gio's chest. "Exactly. I want his child to know that. I want his child to know the brotherhood you had before it all went to hell in a handbasket."

"And this isn't the grief talking? Because once we make this decision, Jules, we can't go back. If we adopt this child, it will be our child. Our responsibility for life. And it will be hard. Having two under the age of one at the same time will not be easy."

I shrugged. "We can afford the help. Besides, when Maggie found out we were not only having a baby but planning to take over guardianship of another, she offered to transition her role from nurse to nanny."

Giovanni's eyes lit up. "Really? Just last month we were looking at vacation homes in Florida for her."

"Turns out Maggie would rather be a grandma. And that best friend of hers found herself a retiree at their monthly bingo game and bailed on her ass. She's planning to move in with him, leaving Maggie in the dust." I snarled thinking about how crappy it was.

Maggie had become a staple in our lives and anyone going against their word to her could suck on rotten eggs in my book. Maggie might be rough around the edges and have a take-no-shit type of personality, but she was good people. The best actually. She'd forced Gio to do everything his doctors instructed, and he healed beautifully. Sure, he was stiff and would need physical therapy for years, and future surgeries if he wanted to remove the worst of the scarring, but he was alive, mobile, and happy as a clam to become a daddy.

"You're kidding?" Gio scoffed. "Maggie must be pissed."

"Oh, she's mad. Isn't talking to her best friend at all and hasn't for a month. Says she's got another couple months of being angry with her before she is willing to talk it out. Though her bestie calls her every day begging for forgiveness."

Gio smiled. "I'll bet Maggie lives for the groveling."

"You know it!" I chuckled.

Just then our social worker entered with a small bundle cradled in her arms.

"It's a boy." She smiled and passed the bundle to me.

I cuddled him close and stared into his sweet little face. "Hi, little one. I'm your Auntie Jules. Your daddy would have been so proud to meet you." I let out a shuddering breath, doing my best to hold back the overwhelming need to clutch this baby to my chest, fall to my knees, and cry my eyes out. The baby had already suffered so much loss in his young life, and he didn't even know it. Yet I knew I needed to be strong right now, for Gio, for the baby, and for my brother Brenden. May he rest in peace.

Giovanni cupped the baby's small head. "What's his name?"

"Angus Myers-Sokolov," the social worker claimed.

Giovanni shook his head. "We'll be changing that immediately. We will not utter that name again in his presence. What do you want to name him, darling?"

I thought about all the years with my brother, my parents, and the love we all shared. Knowing the real Brenden would want to honor our father in some way.

"I think we should name him Myers Lewis Falco. That way he'll always know where he came from."

"Myers it is," Gio smiled, dipped his head, and pressed his lips to the baby's forehead. "I'll be a good father to you. Protect you from harm, teach you right from wrong, and love you as if you were my very own."

Tears fell as I looked at my brother's baby. His son. No…he was my son now. I'd never have him feel as though he was second place to our child.

He was family. Our family.

* * * *

Exactly six months to the day, I gave birth to our daughter Caterina Rachel Falco, named after our mothers.

* * * *

To my beloved son,

Every day I conspire to make it back to you.

Every day I find new ways to survive in this hellhole your fake parents put me in.

Every day I dream of getting out, of escaping…one day I will.

One day we'll be together again.

One day…

All my love,

Bianca