Aurora’s POV
My eyes opened slowly as I felt warm hands on me while I tried to familiarise myself with the environment. It was funny that Matteo took me to a hospital for something as trivial as nausea. He’d probably been scared beyond his wits.
“How do you feel now?” He asked with worry etching his features.
“I feel like throwing up everything in my stomach, maybe my intestines as well. I feel so awful,” I complained as he stifled a chuckle.
I flashed a glare at him and he chuckled again then kissed my forehead.
The door creaked open with doctor Luca coming in, his face wearing an excited countenance. I frowned, wondering what could make him smile when I was feeling so sick and exhausted.
“Will she get better?” Matteo interrogated and he nodded.
“Sure, she’ll get better if she doesn’t do stressful things or exert herself.” He replied, swinging his gaze from Matteo to me.
I wasn’t sure that I was the only one who noticed, but his excitement was suspicious. “You look happy to announce the test result. Is it good news?” I probed.
“Miss Mancini is over three weeks gone.” He announced and my heart did a staccato beat as my eyes darted to Matteo who froze without responding to doctor Luca.
I was pregnant?
My mind processed the news over and over again. Then I remembered the sharp pains I felt incessantly in my lower abdomen and my tender breasts which hurt at my touch.
I’d missed my period for one week but since I’d only had sex once with Matteo, I didn’t attribute my missing period to the lovemaking we had. I shared the notion that one round of sex wasn’t enough to get me pregnant. My pregnancy had proved it to be a lie.
My eyes were averted to Matteo, while I waited for the shock on his face to elapse and then excitement would take over him but he scrunched his face in anger.
“Matteo, aren’t you happy that I’m pregnant with our child?” I asked, my heart breaking at his obvious displeasure.
He kept mute while I felt more nervous by each passing second. He was supposed to be happy, not sad, or maybe he had a reason for not expressing his happiness. But his quietness was pushing me over the edge.
“You can leave, Doctor Luca. I want to be alone with her.” He said with a gruff tone.
Doctor Luca left, leaving me with Matteo whose reaction was beginning to scare me.
“I don’t want this child,” He said blankly and it was my turn to be surprised.
Which Capo rejected a child?
“What do you mean?” I asked, rising up from the bed so that I could look into his eyes and be sure that he wasn’t under an influence.
“I don’t know how to be a father. My own father treated me like I was a mistake.. in fact, he treated me worse than a mistake. I never received love from him or my mother so how can I do the same to a child that I’m not ready for.” He explained sadly.
I sighed in understanding and at that point, I felt really sad for him. His parents did a bad job in bringing him up and they ended up scarring him. Probably he thought that he’d do the same with our child, but I knew that he’d do better than that.
Matteo could be cold and heartless when he wanted to be, but he hid those traits around the people he loved. I saw how he was around Angelo and even Ilaria, his househelp, he cared for them in his own way.
“You’ll be a great father, Matteo, and you won’t know that except you become a father.” I urged him, but he shook his head in disagreement.
I certainly had a lot of convincing to do because I wasn’t going to abort the child. Just a few minutes after the announcement and I was already growing to love the baby in my womb, I had to find a way to convince Matteo as well.
“I’ve had a very rough past, Aurora. My father beat me up at any slightest mistake and he also told me that I wasn’t good for anything. I had low self-esteem until Ginevra came into the picture.” He revealed and I cocked my head to the side.
“What do you mean?”
“Ginevra was my lover until a few years back when she became overbearing.” He divulged.
I was taken aback by what he’d just revealed. That explained the jealousy that shone in her eyes every time she saw me with him and her tenderness with him as well.
“How did it all start?”
“I didn’t plan to sleep with her or get intimate with her, but I needed someone to talk to and she was the only one available. My mother didn’t care about me because she was also suffering by merely being married to my father. He beat her up at every slightest provocation and honestly, he was the true definition of a sadist.” He said, his hands balling into fists and his face turning red.
I almost gnashed my teeth at the memory that his father murdered my parents. He didn’t hurt others but his family too and all because he was in love with my mother.
“Story has it that he was in love with another woman but she didn’t love him back, and her father didn’t agree to the union because he didn’t want her to marry my father.” He paused, then held my hands. “So you see, Aurora,” He continued, “I don’t want to raise a child with so much baggage in my life. I want to love him with all my heart but I don’t even know how to do that.” He said sincerely.
My heart was moved by his sincere words, causing me to snake my hands around his neck and kiss him lightly on the lips.
“Matteo,” I began. “I want to have this child. My parents died when I was just a year old and because of that I never got to experience the love of a parent. Though Lorenzo tried to fill in that gap, he couldn’t because his actions sometimes reminded me that I was just his niece. We all have rough pasts but if we keep looking at the back we can’t move forward. So will you raise this child with me or not?” I asked and placed his hand on my stomach.
He looked smitten while I hoped with the whole of my heart that my words had an effect on him.