Chapter 224

“Isn’t he adorable?” Isobel gushed over Beau, who was busy playing with Siena. He laid her down on the grass and pulled her legs while Siena burst into fits of laughter.

“Sure.” I breathed. If him calling my daughter an evil little demon was adorable to her, then so be it.

Today was the first day in a while I finally got to spend some time with my family. I couldn’t remember the last time we were complete, but having my parents and all of my siblings together for dinner felt great.

Maybe I was annoyed by the fact that Beau and Isobel could spend some time together while Christian was working again. I invited him and even Dario—but apparently, the two were too busy with their so-called plan.

I knew it was all to take down Berto, but I couldn’t help but wonder—what if I was indeed pregnant and had to take care of two babies all by myself? Christian promised me all of this would almost be over but was it really?

I had yet to take the pregnancy test, and it was all because a small part of me was still in denial.

Maybe it was just a cold or some crazy virus, and I was just overreacting.

“I just love him so much.” Isobel cooed. “I can’t wait until our babies get here.”

A warm smile grew on my lips as Isobel rubbed her hand over her stomach. It was hard to remain salty after hearing her speak about my brother. If those two could work out their differences, it would’ve been embarrassing if Christian and I couldn’t.

“Neither can I.”

Beau stopped playing with Siena and made his way over. I scoffed as he ignored my existence and pushed me aside to kiss Isobel. I didn’t want to see that, not even for a second. They were too affectionate and disgusting. Or I was just too jealous…

“You’ll be a great dad.” Isobel praised him. Beau leaned closer. “I’m sorry, what was that?” He spoke. “Did you just give me a compliment?”

“Yes.” Isobel nodded. “I said you’re a good daddy…to me.”

Jeez. I covered my mouth to stop myself from gagging, but it didn’t stop there as I was forced to watch my brother make out with Isobel. “I’m just going to pretend as if I didn’t just hear all of that.”

“Uh, hello!” I coughed loudly, pulling Beau’s arm. “My eyes, thank you!”

“Oh, sorry Serena.” Beau chuckled, slamming his arm around my shoulder. “I almost didn’t see you there.”

“Yes, and it seems to be some kind of pattern!”

“That’s not true,” Beau spoke, offended. Isobel stepped back as she clearly had no intentions of interfering.

“Isobel, come and look at all these baby clothes!” My mom yelled from inside.

“Coming!” Isobel yelled back. “Do you guys remember when your mom used to hate me?” She asked proudly.

Beau and I shot each other a look. “Do you remember when we used to hate you?” Beau teased her.

“Yes, you still hate me.” Isobel giggled, making her way inside.

Beau and I sat down at the table. “What’s with the look on your face?”

“Nothing…just a bit sad Christian couldn’t make it,” I told him. Being apart from him was hard, and not knowing about whatever they were planning made everything so much more difficult.

Beau shot me a pitiful look. “He wanted to be here…really, but—“

“Work, work, work—yes, I know it.” I rolled my eyes.

“He’s doing it all for you and Siena.”

“I know,” I leaned my head against my brother’s shoulder. “But I miss him, and I miss you too.”

“Serena, I’m here.”

Yes, and so was everyone else. “I know, but I feel like I barely see you anymore.”

Beau ruffled his hand through my hair. “Stop overreacting. We see each other almost every day.”

“No, we don’t,” I whispered to myself. A lot had changed. This whole situation with Berto had sucked the life out of everyone, especially since he was someone unpredictable who couldn’t care less about any of our lives.

“I’m scared, Beau,” I spoke. “I feel like we should spend time together while we still can…and I don’t want to lose anyone.”

“While we still can?” Beau chuckled. “And why would you lose anyone?”

I looked at him with a sarcastic expression on my face, but by the looks of it, his question seemed to be serious. “Christian’s uncle is a monster…you know that.” I reminded him. “And things have been extremely quiet—“

“Don’t worry. We’ve got everything under control.” Beau cut me off. He sounded a whole lot like Christian, and it was probably because it was Christian’s order.

“Do you, really?”

“Yes.”

I stared into Beau’s eyes, hoping he would crack—but he didn’t. “Just don’t do anything stupid, okay?” I forced a smile. “Don’t try to play the hero like you always do, and don’t forget to put yourself first.”

“Even before Isobel and the babies?” Beau joked. As expected, he didn’t take me seriously. All he ever did nowadays was a joke around, and it wasn’t exactly helping. Maybe it was a way of hiding his fear, but whatever it was—I was not okay with it.

“Beau!”

“Okay, fine—I promise!” He laughed. “ “But if I do happen to die—“

I smacked his shoulders and widened my eyes, threatening him not to finish his sentence. Just the thought of it made me dizzy.

“I’m not saying I will!” Beau pointed out. “But if I do, I want you to put something real on my gravestone.”

“Something real?”

Beau nodded. “Something like, at least I don’t have to listen to my girl’s nagging anymore.”

“Oh wow, you’re sick.” I couldn’t hold back my laughter. Somehow his words made a lot of sense. “I don’t think Isobel will like that.”

“Just don’t die…I love you.”

“Suddenly?”

“Yes.” I smiled. “I don’t know if I ever mentioned it before, but I love you—and I can’t imagine my life without you as my twin.”

Beau pulled a disgusted face. “I hate it when you’re being nice. It’s weird.” He awkwardly patted my back. “But thanks.”

“I heard you visited Vince.” He changed the subject. Strangely enough, I could never understand why those close to me had a hard time opening up.

“I did.”

“Did you know he was the first one to notice a resemblance between us?” Beau mentioned.

Thinking about it, it was not that surprising. Vince was known to have sharp eyes.

“Really?”

Beau smiled. “Yes. He called you, Beau, with a wig.” He said. “He described your meeting at the store as love at first sight—and he was so hopelessly in lo—“

“Don’t finish that sentence, ever.” I squinted my eyes. There was nothing worse than your best friend having a crush on you.

I looked at my brother, trying to find the resemblance—but I couldn’t see it. All I could see was the nervous look in his eyes. I wasn’t stupid and could tell he was trying to keep it together for me.

Was Christian really okay?

“Is Christian okay?” I asked him. “Is he getting enough sleep? Is he eating enough? Is he—“

“He’s fine, Serena.” Beau sighed. “I know what you’re thinking, but I am only being awkward because you’re staring at me.”

“Right,” I spoke, embarrassed. Christian was okay. That was all that mattered.

“Can I tell you something? But you have to promise not to tell anyone.”

“Always.”

I took a deep breath. “I think I might be pregnant…again.”

Beau blinked his eyes. “Think?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “I’m too scared to take a pregnancy test.”

There was a moment of silence as I waited for my brother’s reaction. “Well,” Beau chuckled. “I hope you’re not pregnant.”

“Excuse me?” I spoke, worried. My biggest fear was my brother judging me. It was not a secret that I had some difficulties taking care of Siena at the beginning, and that I was too afraid that I wouldn’t be able to bond with her.

A lot had changed, but the memories were still there.

“I don’t want to see you in pain ever again, and Siena is evil.” Beau smiled. “But if you are pregnant, it wouldn’t be a problem—because you’re a good mom.” He said. “You’re doing a good job, you should know that.”

“I’m a good mom,” I repeated. I tried to be, but was I really?

“Look.” Beau pointed at Siena, who was playing with her toys. “Does that not look like a healthy and happy baby to you?” He said. “Yes, she’s a bit aggressive and evil—but she’s a Lamberti, so that isn’t something we can change.”

“Evil?” I frowned. “Your babies will be Isobel’s offsprings.”

“True.” Beau shrugged nonchalantly. “Anyway, how about you do it right now.”

“T-the test?”

“Yes.” He spoke. “I would like to experience a live reaction.”

“I’m not a hundred percent sure…it’s just a feeling.” I tried changing his mind. “And weren’t you there for Isobel?”

“No, she completely threw me off guard.” Beau corrected me. “I was driving, she told me the news, and I almost crashed…that’s it.”

“Poor you,” I mumbled, remembering my own experience. It was funny how finding out about the pregnancy was the worst day of my life, while giving birth to Siena was the best day of my life.

“How did you feel?”

“Scared,” Beau admitted. We weren’t only twins, but we shared the same reaction as well.

“Why?”

“Because I’m still not over Lita and Matteo handing me over to Fabio,” Beau spoke. “I don’t want to be a bad parent, and I don’t want to be a worthless dad…I don’t want to be like them.”

He forgave them, but he didn’t want to be like them. For some reason, I could relate to that.

Although Beau had it worse than me, I could not ignore all that I had been through.

“Is that why you’re forcing yourself to be with Isobel?” I wondered. “Because you want your children to grow up in a stable household?”

“No, I’m with her because I learned to love her,” Beau spoke. “Yes, she’s crazy—but not always.”

“I feel the same about Christian.” I grew a smile on my lips. “Yes, he’s crazy—but not always.”

After all the pain he had caused me, I decided to give him a second chance because I didn’t want Siena to grow up in a broken family. Only after a short while, I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t because of Siena, but because I didn’t want to lose him.

“Come on, let’s just do it,” I told Beau. Having my brother by my side wasn’t all that bad. I didn’t have to do it alone this time.

“Really?” He asked, surprised. “Yes, come on.” I picked up Siena. “You want to see a live reaction…

so let’s just do it.”

We took Siena back inside and made our way to the bathroom. Although a pregnancy would not be the best option, I felt less anxious than the first time, and that was a good thing.

After a few minutes had passed, I walked out with the stick in my hands. “So what did you do?”

Beau asked. “Do you like pee on the stick, or do you pee in a cup and then…” He went into deep thoughts. “Does it smell like…pee?”

I frowned at his weird question. “Do you want to smell?”

Beau stepped back. “N-no, I’m good. Thank you.” He blushed. “What now?”

I put the test on the cabinet and sank to the floor while Beau did the same. “Now we wait.”

Only a few minutes had passed, but it felt like forever. The last time I waited for a pregnancy test, my eyes were covered in tears. This time I had my brother by my side.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we could raise twins at the same time?” Beau grinned. I turned my head to look at him. “No?” I spoke. “What are you even talking about.”

I was already stressing over the possibility of raising two small children, let alone three.

“I’m not crazy!” Beau stated. “Twins run in the family.”

“Yes, they do—and I’ll skip the curse.”

“So, do you want a boy or girl?” He continued. Having someone to talk to instead of staring at the wall felt nice.

“I wouldn’t mind another girl, but I really want a son,” I spoke, excited. “Wait, what are we even talking about? I’m not pregnant!”

Beau ignored my outburst. “I hope it’s a boy, so you can name him Beau?”

At that moment, I realized he was doing all of this to calm my nerves. Ashamed, I stared down at my shaking hand. I thought I was calm, but that clearly wasn’t the case.

“Are you going to name your daughter Serena?”

“No?” Beau responded. Our conversation got interrupted by the sound of a beep. Beau got up from the floor and pulled my arm.

“No!” I pouted. It was not too late to turn back around and pretend as none of this happened.

“Come on. You can do this.” Beau grabbed my hand. “It’s not like you can run away from this, so you might as well just get it over with.”

I took in Beau’s words and raised myself from the floor. “You’re annoying.”

“I know, come on.”

With baby steps, I made my way to the cabinet and reached for the pregnancy test. A gasp escaped my mouth as I looked at the two thick and obvious lines.

“Oh my god!” I squealed. Beau flinched before looking over my shoulder. “What's wrong?”

“It’s positive!”

“Really?” Beau pulled the test from my hand. I let out a squeal of excitement and threw my arms around his neck, pulling him into a tight hug.

“W-what’s happening, are we happy, or are we upset?” He spoke, startled. Before I could stop myself, tears rolled down my cheek.

“Happy!” I sniffled. “I mean no, I don’t know!”

I had not expected to react the way I did, but it all happened naturally. Even though I was secretly hoping for the test to be negative, I could not hide my excitement. Maybe it was all meant to be.

“Don’t you have to tell Christian?” Beau pulled away.

Christian…

He had always been vocal about wanting more children, but we both knew that it wouldn’t be the smartest thing at this moment.

“No, let’s keep it between us for now,” I told Beau.

“Oh…why?”

“Because I don’t want to stress him out,” I explained. “I don’t want him to get distracted, and I want him to enjoy this moment.”

“Good point.” Beau wiped my tears. “Do I need to cry with you?” He asked, confused. “I’m sorry…I want to help, but I’m not really good at this.”

“No,” I reassured him. “You’re here…and that’s more than I could ever ask for.”