6: Chapter 6

MARCO

“Thanks for agreeing to come this weekend. My entire family is going to be here, along with a few of my parents’ friends,” Marco explained as they pulled into the driveway of the lake house.

“Are you planning on telling them that I’m pregnant?” Ryan asked.

Marco wasn’t entirely sure. “Let’s just see how it goes.” He paused, then added, “There’s one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

“The house is only four bedrooms, so we have to share.”

It wouldn’t be the first time they shared a bed, though they had both been drunk last time. He crossed his fingers Ryan wouldn’t be upset about it now.

Ryan just nodded. “It makes sense; you said you told your family we’ve been seeing each other for a few months, so it would raise red flags if we didn’t share a room.”

“Thank you,” he said fervently, grabbing her hand.

Surprisingly, she didn’t pull away. Maybe she was finally starting to like him.

“It’s about fucking time,” said a man as he walked out of the house.

“Language,” an older woman scolded him, smacking the back of his head.

“Ouch, Ma.”

Marco laughed. “Ryan, this is my brother-in-law Luca and my mother Connie.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ryan said, stepping out of the car to shake both their hands.

Connie smacked Luca again. “Help your brother with the bags.”

“Ma!”

Ryan laughed, and Marco smiled at how genuine it sounded. He really wanted her to like it here.

“Your sister and the kids are outside,” said Connie, turning to Marco, “and your father is at the grill.”

Marco placed his hand on Ryan’s lower back. “I’ll introduce you to Maria and the kids.” He guided them to the backyard, leaving Luca to carry the bags inside.

“Hey, everyone,” he called, grinning around at the little group.

Maria came running up and hugged them both. “Hello, brother,” she said, kissing his cheek. Then she turned to size up Ryan. “You must be Ryan; I’ve heard about you.”

Marco’s dad, Roberto, placed a plate of hot dogs on the table. “A girl named Ryan?” he asked, glancing their way.

“Roberto, be nice,” Connie scolded.

“I am, mia cara (my dear),” he protested.

“It’s fine,” Ryan laughed. “When my mom was pregnant, my dad was convinced I was a boy. By the time it turned out he was wrong, they’d already fallen in love with the name.”

Everyone sat down at the table, and Roberto started serving up assorted meats. It felt just like every other cookout the family had ever had, and Ryan fit right in.

“Marco tells me you’re a doctor,” Maria said to start the conversation.

“A cardiothoracic surgeon actually,” Ryan corrected.

“At such a young age? Your parents must be so proud of you.”

Marco tensed; with the benefit of Tony’s background checks, he knew this was a sensitive subject for Ryan, but he wasn’t sure how to intervene. She rushed to change the subject. “How old are your kids, Maria?”

“Five and six.”

Marco reached under the table and grabbed her hand, hoping that she could sense the comfort in the gesture.

The interrogation continued, Connie asking, “Do you have any siblings?”

“I had a sister; she was ten years younger,” Ryan took a deep breath and then continued, “My parents and my sister died in an accident five years ago.”

“I’m so sorry, mia cara,” said Connie, sounding stricken.

Ryan smiled and nodded her thanks, giving Marco’s hand a squeeze.

“Uncle Marco,” said his little niece Fiona, running up to him, “come play with me.”

“Come play with you?” he repeated with a smile.

“Yes, Louis is being mean to me.”

He picked her up and set her on his lap. “Why don’t you and your brother eat some lunch and we’ll go swimming afterward?”

She got off his lap and ran over to Roberto for food.

Marco waved Louis over and scolded him, saying, “Don’t be mean to Fiona; she’s your sister.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “I’m tired of tea parties, Uncle Marco. Mom says you were mean to her when you were little.”

“Yeah, and you ask Nonna if I got in trouble for it.” Marco laughed. “Go get some food from Nonno. We’ll go swimming later.”

When he turned back to Ryan, she was smiling at him. He shot her a shy smile back. He figured they were both thinking the same thing: soon enough, he would be having these same kinds of conversations with their child.

RYAN

Maria was sitting on a blanket by the lake when Ryan joined her, wearing her swimsuit now and ready for some sunbathing.

“Here,” said Maria, smiling in welcome and handing her a glass of what looked like white wine.

“I’m good,” she said with a nervous laugh. “I’ll just stick with water for now.”

“It’s actually apple juice,” said Maria, pressing the glass into her hand. “How far along are you?”

Ryan was shocked. “I…what?” She couldn’t seem to speak.

“No one told me. I have a sense for these things. Are you planning on announcing it this weekend?”

“Three months, and Marco wasn’t sure.”

Maria nodded. “Mom is going to flip, so be prepared. I’ll try to save you.”

“Thank you,” she said numbly.

“Come swim with us, Mamma,” Fiona yelled, interrupting the strange, frozen moment.

“Come on,” said Maria, offering her a hand up.

Marco was already in the water, splashing around with the kids, but as soon as Ryan stood up she felt his eyes on her. She found she had a little extra flounce in her step as she headed toward the dock and dove in.

She wondered if he was hard for her. Sadly, underwater she couldn’t tell.

“Hi,” he said breathlessly, swimming up to her.

“Hi. Your sister knows,” she said, pulling her thoughts back to the most urgent matter at hand.

“I didn’t tell her,” Marco said reflexively.

“I know. She figured it out and warned me about how your mom would react.”

Marco smiled. “We should probably tell them at dinner tonight; otherwise, Mom will figure it out when your morning sickness hits.”

She nodded. She just hoped that Connie would “flip” in a good way, and not be upset about the unorthodox nature of her and Marco’s relationship.

MARCO

After playing in the water for a while, Ryan and Maria both headed back to the blanket to dry off in the sun, leaving Marco to entertain the kids.

He didn’t mind. In between rousing games of Marco Polo, he found his eyes constantly returning to Ryan, all the skin on display in that bikini.

When he noticed a wine glass in her hands, he made his way over. He looked at the glass in her hand and then back at her in silent question.

She shook her head. “It’s apple juice,” she whispered when he sat down behind her.

He sighed in relief but didn’t move away.

“Any preference of whether it’s a boy or girl?” Maria asked, watching them.

“I think it’s a boy,” he said, laying his hand on Ryan’s still-flat stomach. He already knew from the paternity test that it was a boy, but he didn’t want to divulge everything to his sister.

Luca joined them, asking, “How did you two lovebirds meet?”

“At a masquerade ball a few months back,” Marco said. He wasn’t lying. But again, he felt no need to tell them everything.

The adults kept chatting and hanging out till Connie came down. “How does everyone feel about ordering in tonight?”

“Can we have pizza, Nonna?” asked Louis hopefully, emerging from the lake wet and muddy.

Everybody agreed that pizza was good, and within an hour they were all seated around the table again, citronella lanterns strung up to chase away the mosquitoes.

Marco was nervous about telling his family, but he knew he had to do it. Before Roberto could start cutting the pizza, he blurted it out. “Ryan’s pregnant.”