Chapter Thirty-Four

Trinity

Stephen’s words are a distant echo in my ears. I know I need to get away from him before I say something I’ll regret.

Without a word, I walk through the familiar rooms of our old home, heading straight for our old bedroom. I close the door behind me, turning the lock with a decisive click.

The past few days have been a whirlwind of emotions, and the ~last~ thing I need is to discover that my husband has been keeping secrets from me. He promised he wouldn’t do this again.

I get that he’s trying to protect me from stress, but doesn’t he realize that learning about his secrets from a stranger is even more stressful?

My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of someone trying to open the door.

“Baby, open the door please,” Stephen pleads from the other side.

I ignore him. Right now, I need space.

I’m usually calm and collected, but if I let my anger get the best of me, I’m bound to say something we’ll both regret. So, I stay silent, waiting for my anger to subside.

“Doll, please. Open the door.” Stephen’s pleas continue, but he needs to understand that I need my space.

“Baby, I'm just going to sit outside this door until you're ready to open it. I love you,” he adds.

I kick off my shoes and lay down on our old bed.

***

I must have fallen asleep at some point because when I wake up, it’s dark outside.

I sit up, rubbing my eyes, and reach for my phone. It’s ten o’clock. Shit, I must have been more tired than I thought.

I get up and wash my face in the en-suite bathroom before returning to the bedroom.

I’m torn between going back to bed or facing everyone outside. As I sit on the edge of the bed, my phone buzzes.

Stephen

I'm guessing you just woke up as I can hear you moving around now, I love you baby I hope you'll speak to me soon, but I'm willing to wait here as long as I have to xx

Despite my anger, I love my husband. So, I unlock the door and crawl back into bed, switching off the light.

A few minutes later, I hear the door open and close again. Stephen slides into bed next to me, wrapping his arm around me and gently stroking my belly.

He kisses my neck, and we lay there in silence until I fall asleep again.

***

When I wake up the next morning, Stephen is still holding me close. I try to get up to use the bathroom, but he pulls me back into his arms.

“Don't leave baby, just stay here with me a little while longer,” he begs.

“Baby, you need to let me get up.”

“Please Trinity, I'm sorry. Please, just stay here with me.”

“Baby, your children are doing a dance on my bladder. If you don't let me up, I'm going to pee the bed.”

“Oh, okay. But please come back.”

I squeeze his hand softly and head to the bathroom.

After freshening up, I return to the bed where Stephen is waiting. He lifts the blankets for me, and I crawl back in.

“I'm sorry baby,” he whispers. “I truly am.”

“I know.”

“I know you’re stronger than I give you credit for sometimes. It's just hard for me when all I want to do is protect you and shield you from that part of my life. I never wanted you involved in it.”

“Baby, I get that. But we promised absolute honesty. You have to trust me with these things. I'm a part of you, which means we’re in this together. I chose you, I ~choose~ you, I choose ~us~. Don't keep these things from me.”

“Okay,” he says.

“Because next time, I'm going to kick your ass,” I add.

He chuckles. “I promise, no next time.”

“Good. Now give me a kiss.”

“Mm, that I can get on board with.” He leans in, capturing my lips in a soft kiss.

Just as the kiss starts to heat up and Stephen presses closer, one of our little ones decides to kick.

“Are you serious right now? One of my children is already trying to cock block me?”

I giggle. “I think your children are hungry.”

“Oh shit, I totally forgot you haven't eaten since yesterday afternoon. Come on, let's get my little peapods and you fed.”

We head down to the kitchen where Mia, Clint, and baby William are.

I watch Stephen as he picks up William, showering him with kisses while the baby boy giggles and grips his face. My heart swells with love for my husband, and I can't wait to see him with our own children. We sit down and have a coffee with them before we have to leave. The nursery furniture is being delivered today.

We get home and shower, and I’m in the kitchen fixing us something to eat when the doorbell rings.

Stephen gets up to answer it and shows the delivery guys where to take the stuff. He leaves them to set it up while he comes back down and we have breakfast.

After about two hours, everything is set up and Stephen decides it’s time for me to see the nursery.

“Close your eyes, baby,” he says.

“Okay, babe, but I'm sure I’ll love it, I trust you.”

He kisses me on the back of the neck as he guides me down the hallway then opens the door.

“On the count of three, ready?”

“Ready.”

“One… two… three! Open your eyes, baby!”

I open my eyes and gasp. The cribs and bassinets are set up, and there are two rocking chairs next to the window.

“Oh Stephen, this is beautiful!”

“Are you sure it's okay? I know it’s not much right now, I wanted to keep it minimalist for now so you could add the touches you wanted.”

“Sweetheart, this is amazing, I can't believe you organized all this. You definitely made up for being a shithead yesterday.”

Stephen laughs. “Yes! Maybe I should surprise you more often.”

“Talk to me some more, baby.”

“I love you, Trinity. I hope you're happy with it, but feel free to change whatever you want, sweetheart.”

“I love you too. And honestly, it's perfect, just like you.” I flash him a playful wink.

“So, Mrs. Gotti, now that you're not doing open houses anymore, do you have any plans for your day off?”

“Hmm, nothing set in stone,” I reply. “Why? What are you thinking?”

“You should know better than to leave that decision to me. You know my answer will always be to take you to bed.”

“You can be such a horny teenager sometimes,” I laugh.

“Then stop looking so irresistible,” he retorts with a playful wink. “But no, I was thinking we could go out on a proper date.”

“With it just being the two of us for a little while longer, I wanted to take you out and spoil you, baby, like we used to.”

“I would love that, babe,” I say. “What did you have in mind?”

“Well, I thought we could catch a movie this afternoon. I didn't want to plan anything too strenuous that might tire you out, baby. But there is one place I would love to take you first.”

“Alright, I’m all yours, Mr. Gotti.”

“Yes, you are, Mrs. Gotti.” He grins as he leans down to kiss me softly.

We head to our room to grab our coats. I pick up my purse while Stephen grabs his wallet and phone. Once we're in the car, Stephen pulls out a blindfold.

“Do you still trust me?”

“Always.”

He gently ties the blindfold around my eyes and I settle back in the seat as he starts the car.

***

We don't drive too far before he pulls up and I hear him turn off the car. He comes around to my side, opens the door, and gently helps me out.

Stephen stands behind me, his hands on my hips, and kisses my neck.

“I wanted to bring you here because this place holds so many good memories for me, memories of you. A moment of pure happiness, just the two of us, before we started this journey together,” he whispers.

“A moment when I realized how special you were to me and how I had to do everything I could to make you mine. That night, looking at you, I realized for the first time in my life that I had found a woman I could see a future with.”

“And now here we are, married, with you carrying my babies. All the dreams I had that night are now standing in my arms.”

He slides off the blindfold and I blink a few times to adjust my eyes. We’re at the planetarium, the place where we had our first date.

I turn to face my husband and kiss him. I pull away from his lips and gently stroke his face.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think, a little over two years ago when I first brought you here, that I would be going on a date with my future wife. I never truly felt worthy of you.”

“I love you, baby, so much. This is beautiful,” I say. “Thank you for bringing me back here, for loving me, for making me your wife, and for giving me the honor of carrying your children.”

“I love you, Trinity.”

He takes my hand and we walk inside. We head to the dome where we spent several magical hours on our first date.

Even though we didn't have the place to ourselves this time, it was still as perfect as the first time we came here, if not more so. I was here with my husband.

We cuddled up together and enjoyed the show in the overhead dome sky, basking in the warmth and comfort of each other.

It was moments like these that made me fall in love with Stephen over and over again.