“You got it, babe.”
“Now.”
Everybody bit into their cupcake, and blue frosting colored up the middle of the sweet cake. John stared at the sweet in his hand for a long while, and Siena reached over to wipe a bit of blue frosting from his bottom lip while cheers lit up the room.
“It’s a boy!”
“A boy!”
John barely blinked as his father crossed the room to clap his son on the shoulders, and congratulate them. Jordyn followed behind Lucian, and did the same. Siena and John took a moment to take the congratulations, and the ones that followed from everyone else.
But soon, the room settled, their family faded as John looked at Siena, and it was just them once more. No one else.
He had wanted this gender reveal.
For his family.
To allow them in.
Sometimes, he still found it hard to let them in.
The pregnancy was one thing he continued to try to open up for them, but especially for his mother and father.
“Luciano, then,” John said.
Siena smile wider. “Luciano Johnathan Marcello. And he will be perfect, John.”
So perfect.
Just like his father.
• • •
Luciano Johnathan made his way into the world loudly. He made damn sure his mother felt every pain, and he didn’t let her rest in the labor for even a single second.
Siena didn’t mind.
Once that hazy-eyed, dark-haired baby that looked so much like his father was placed in her arms, the rest was forgotten. Nothing mattered but little Luciano.
And then his father got a hold of him, Luciano’s eyes opened wide and found John’s. Siena knew in that moment, she was probably never going to get him back.
Not entirely.
“Oh, my God,” John murmured. “Look at this boy, Siena.”
She had.
And in those few seconds, she memorized him.
“He looks just like you,” she said.
He chuckled. “And you.”
But not nearly as much as Luciano took after his father. Siena didn’t mind.
John’s finger traced the line of the baby’s nose. Soft, gentle, and sweet.
“Everybody’s waiting to meet you, Lucky,” John said.
Everybody could wait, too.
John smiled. “Yeah, I’m your daddy, bambino.”
At the same time he spoke to their son, he reached for her. His palm cupped her cheek, and his thumb stoked her skin.
Even while falling in love with his child, he never forgot about her.
He still loved her.
Their forever was now.
And it was beautiful.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’m not going to use this space to discuss mental health again as I did that in the first book of the John + Siena duet. But I do hope that if you haven’t read that note from me in Loyalty, then maybe you will go back and do that now. Especially if the subject matter in these books touched you on any level with a sense of compassion—mental illness needs a voice, please help it to become louder so that more people can get the help they need.
Thank you to every reader who messaged me about John, who thanked me for writing him, who admitted secrets to me about their life because John made them feel bolder, or because they felt they had something in common with my life … thank you for sharing the beauty of yourself with me—every part of it, even if you feel like it’s not the best part of you. It doesn’t matter. Every part that makes you who you are is exactly what you are. It’s you. And you are more than welcome to keep the messages coming.
To every reader who felt like they had to say they had never read books like this before … I wish there were far more, and then maybe this wouldn’t feel so eye-opening, or misunderstood. Please find compassion and care for those who are struggling—you never truly understand what someone is going through in their life, or the battles they fight just to survive.
To my editing girl, Eli, thank you for making the words shine! To Sasha, for helping me behind the scenes. Tracy, all my love to you for proofing and getting these books earlier than everybody else. London for letting me be the petty queen at least once a day, haha. And thank you to Mignon for the beautiful covers that captured this duet so perfectly. Sometimes, life and love feels like standing knee- or throat-deep in water that’s about to drown you, doesn’t it?
And to my hubby and boys … I always seem to thank you last in every one of these, don’t I? Saving the best for last, I guess. Thank you for loving me just the way I am. Every obsessive, overreactive, difficult, broken, and honest part of me. Not all are so lucky.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to four young sons, one cat, and three dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, a snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a spouse calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something ... when she can find the time.
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OTHER BOOKS
John + Siena
Loyalty
Disgrace
Cross + Catherine
Always
Revere
The Companion (Coming Soon)
Guzzi Duet
Unraveled, Book One
Entangled, Book Two
DeLuca Duet
Waste of Worth: Part One
Worth of Waste: Part Two
Standalone Titles
Effortless
Inflict
Donati Bloodlines
Thin Lies
Thin Lines
Thin Lives
Behind the Bloodlines
The Complete Trilogy
Filthy Marcellos
Antony
Lucian
Giovanni
Dante
Legacy
A Very Marcello Christmas
The Complete Collection
Seasons of Betrayal
Where the Sun Hides
Where the Snow Falls
Where the Wind Whispers
Gun Moll Trilogy
Gun Moll
Madame Moll
The Chicago War
Deathless & Divided
Reckless & Ruined
Scarless & Sacred
Breathless & Bloodstained
The Complete Series
The Russian Guns
The Arrangement
The Life
The Score
Demyan & Ana
Shattered
The Jersey Vignettes
Find more on Bethany-Kris’s website at www.bethanykris.com.
Copyright © 2018 by Bethany-Kris. All Rights Reserved.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted material is illegal and punishable by law. No parts of this work may be reproduced, copied, used, or printed without expressed written consent from the publisher/author. Exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in reviews.
eISBN 13: 978-1-988197-54-8
Editor: Elizabeth Peters
Proofreaders: Tracy A.
Sensitivity Reader: Shonda L.
Cover Design © Mignon Mykel from Oh, So Novel
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations, corporations, locales and so forth are a product of the author’s imagination, or if real, used fictitiously. Any resemblance to a person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Bethany-Kris, Disgrace (John + Siena Book 2)