Scowling, Rico took a sip of beer that he didn’t want and willed the icy brew to cool off the fires within. It didn’t help any. “How’s Melinda feeling?”
“Oh, nice change of subject. Very subtle.” Sean snorted and leaned one hip on the patio railing. His gaze still focused on his wife through the wide bay window, he sighed. “She’s nesting. I swear, Rico, the more nervous I get, the more serene she gets.”
“Probably in self-defense,” Rico mused. “Watching you go crazy with worry, she can either go with you or…”
“Yeah.” Sean scraped one hand over his face. “Okay, yeah, I am going a little nuts. But damn, Rico. I’m about to be a father. That’s just scary as hell.”
“It must be.” For one incredibly brief instant, Rico’s mind dredged up an image of Teresa, pregnant with his child. Then that image shattered and he mentally swept up the shards and disposed of them.
“I mean,” Sean was saying, “what the hell do I know about being a father? What if I mess it up?”
“You won’t.”
“Yeah? My dad wasn’t the best role model in the world.”
True. Sean’s father, Ben King, had many sons and had never married any of their mothers. He had done his best by his children, but he hadn’t always been around for them. Rico could understand Sean’s doubts even as he knew that Sean would never let down his children or his wife.
“You’re better than that.”
“I’d like to think so,” Sean admitted, then he gave a shaky laugh. “But the God’s truth is, this is…huge. My kids will be looking to me for answers, about life and the world and—” He shook his head and took a long pull of his beer. “Okay, freaking out a little, I guess.”
“It’s understandable.” Rico slapped his cousin on the back. “But some of your brothers are fathers. Surely they can give you some tips.”
Sean laughed a little and shook his head. “Yeah, if you listen to Lucas, his Danny is ready for college and the kid’s just about to turn three. And as for Rafe, his and Katie’s daughter, Becca, is only a few months old. He’s still as confused as I feel.”
Chuckling in spite of everything, Rico reminded him, “In the last few years, how many of our brothers and cousins have begun multiplying? Think about it, Sean. If they can handle being fathers, so can you.”
“How do I know they’re doing it right?” Sighing, he admitted, “Nope, there’s no hope for this kid. I’m all he’s got and I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”
All joking aside, Sean really did look as though he was worried about this, so Rico took pity on his cousin.
“You will love your son, Sean. That’s all he really needs from you.”
“Well, that much I can do for sure,” Sean said with a nervous grin. Shaking his head again, he admitted, “You know, nothing in my life has ever made me so happy and at the same time scared me boneless as the idea of my son being born.”
“I think,” Rico told him, “that is how it is supposed to be.” He used his beer to point at the kitchen window. “Besides, look at your lovely wife. Does she look worried? No. Because she has you. And because she knows that the two of you are making a family.”
Sean blew out a breath. “When did you get so damn smart?”
Rico laughed at the idea. Smart. If he was smart, he wouldn’t have wedged himself into his current situation with Teresa. “It’s not being smart,” he said. “It is knowing my family. And you will be a good father, Sean.”
“Hope you’re right.” He grinned. “No backing out now. Hey, did I tell you Melinda and I are taking the baby to California for Christmas? Get a chance to let everyone meet our new son and I can show her around Long Beach…”
Rico was only half listening now. His focus was Teresa. She was wearing a short-sleeved green silk blouse and a pair of white slacks and she looked…edible. His insides twisted anew as fresh desire pulsed in his bloodstream. She smiled and tossed her hair back from her face. The line of her throat was elegant. The shine in her eyes was magnetic. Her lush body was everything a man dreamed of.
“Oh, yeah,” Sean said on a laugh, catching Rico’s attention. “Your plan’s working real well. Damn, dude. You can help me, but you can’t dig yourself out of your own mess.”
Rico straightened up. He ignored Sean’s teasing and snapped out, “Melinda.”
Behind the glass, Sean’s wife had doubled over, one arm wrapped around her belly. Teresa was hovering over her and throwing a frantic look to Rico.
“Holy—” Sean broke off and ran. “It’s time. Get the car.”
Seven
In fifteen minutes, the four of them were at the hospital and Melinda and Sean were taken away to the mysteries of the maternity ward.
Then time started ticking past so slowly that Teresa almost thought they’d stepped into some vortex where time had actually stopped.
The waiting room was long and narrow. It had mint-green paint, beige linoleum floors and the most uncomfortable chairs she had ever experienced. And why, she asked herself, did all hospitals smell the same? In America, Italy, even here on this beautiful tropical island, hospitals stank of antibacterial cleansers and fear. She wrapped her arms around herself, stood up and walked out to the light-filled hallway. Across from her was a nurses’ station, manned by one very tired-looking woman. Teresa didn’t bother to ask any questions, mainly because Rico had been plaguing the poor woman for hours now and Teresa just didn’t have the heart to bother her more.
During the long night, anxious husbands and excited grandparents had come and gone from this waiting room, and still she and Rico waited. Teresa took a seat in the narrow, nearly empty lobby, ignored the small television on the wall playing an old movie she had no interest in and stared instead at Rico, who hadn’t stopped pacing since they arrived. She could understand that.
She’d realized from the moment she met him that as a King, he didn’t accept inactivity easily. He was a man who took charge. Who stepped in to do what needed doing. It was part of his nature. His heritage. And now he was in the position of being able to do nothing.
Helplessness was not something he was even remotely familiar with.
“You might as well sit down,” she finally said. “This could take a long time.”