I'm going to post this everywhere because Grace Reagal aka 12amwriting is a beautiful goddess who's going to write my college essays for me (she has one more left) BUT SHES ALSO GETTING PUBLISHED!!!!! Since I'm broke and can't buy a million copies of "The Italian Mafia's Daughter Meets The Russian Mafia's Son" you guys should read her preview chapters and if you love it help me get her book to BLOW UP!! I'm talking about book reads and signings and like the best seller lists... I think I might be more excited than she is...
I'd dedicate this chapter to you, momma noodle (did I do that right?) but I don't know how to so I'm just gonna tag you a bunch of times
12amwriting
12amwriting
12amwriting
12amwriting
12amwriting
12amwriting
12amwriting
12amwriting
12amwriting
12amwriting
I prob will never be this nice to you in real life b!tch so enjoy it on Wattpad <3
K, now you guys can read the ending that took me over a year to write but still isn't much better than the original *facepalm/crying emoji*
Sorry for any lack of details but I mean, it did take me over a year to write this (pathetic) and it's long affff, like double what most chapters are. I think the length is what made the app I use for spelling and grammar to glitch so there might be some mistakes 😊
One night my mom called me completely out of the blue, claiming to have really big news. "Can you just tell me already." I sighed, tired of listening to her nervous ramble.
I was usually the nervous one around her, especially after Angela's funeral. Dante kept reassuring me that it wasn't my fault, and that I shouldn't worry too much. Silvio's police came up with a bogus story that explained what had happened.
"I'm getting married."
"Married?" I choked on my sandwich.
"Yes, you remember Andrew. You said you liked him."
I said I liked him in an effort to be polite, but in reality I had no opinion on the man. We had only seen each other a couple of times at big family gatherings where we would exchange no more than a few sentences, so I wasn't sure how to react.
"Oh. Well, congratulations!" It sounded like a question.
Dante sat next to me with a curious look on his face while he wiped up the pieces of sandwich that I had choked on.
"This is good. It's really good."
"Well, I'm glad." It was about time she found someone who made her happy because more than half of the men she met online were the very definition of trash.
When I told Dante about the wedding he laughed and laughed and laughed.
"Really? She actually found someone who wants to marry her."
"You are such a jerk!" I pushed him over onto the other side of the bed.
"Sorry, but she can be a little..." he trailed off.
"Yes, I know but come on, we should be happy for her."
"I am. Don't expect me to go to his bachelor party though."
"Oh you're going. I'm gonna personally ask for an invitation on your behalf." I grumbled, turning away from him.
Dante snaked his arm around my waist and kissed my cheek. "Well, have fun when you have to throw your mother a bachelorette party with pen!s piñatas and strippers giving her lap dances."
"I won't be adding those things into it." I tried to push his arm away.
"But Jade is a bridesmaid too and we both know that she's the type of person who will put d!ldos and sex toys into the gift bags." I turned around to see an evil glint in his eye at the thought. "Actually, that might not be–"
"No, no, no, no! I will shove it down your throat if that's what it takes to get you to shut up."
"Hm..." He let out a low chuckle. "You don't make it seem so bad."
"I hate you!" I whacked him over the head with a pillow and closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep.
The bachelorette party was just as insane as Dante had predicted thanks to Jade. Dildos, pin the pen!s on the naked guy, strippers dancing to horrifically graphic songs...
Everyone, including the bride were insanely hungover the next day. I had secretly replaced vodka with water, meaning not only did I have to soberly witness my mother get a lap dance and pin a pen!s on a guy's face, but I was also left with the responsibility of making sure everyone was presentable for the wedding.
They all came close to overdosing on Advil and Gatorade, but managed to get ready in time.
The ceremony in the church was sweet and the reception was huge. All of mother's parties were big, but this one surpassed any other.
I only knew about half of the guests and it was impossible to introduce myself to everyone, so I eventually took my seat at a table with Dante, who looked absolutely flawless in his new Italian suit, Jade, Sean, and a couple of the guests who, as my mother put it, were a part of the 'younger crowd.'
"You're stunning. You're so beautiful that I can't even put it into words." Dante smiled, running a hand up my thigh.
Before things could escalate any further between his hand and my leg, Sean picked up his drink and proposed a toast to our table.
"Wait, Skyla doesn't have a drink!" One of the girls called out.
"I'll just use this." I offered, picking up a glass of water that was in front of Dante. "The line at the bar is too long."
Everyone else seemed okay with it except for Jade. "Oh sh!t, Skyla!" She yelled, sudden realization lighting up her face.
"Cheers!" I called loudly, lifting my glass up in an effort to take the attention off of her outburst.
Sean just laughed and pulled her closer to him. Although I hadn't heard any updates regarding their love life, I could clearly see that they were leaning more towards couple than friends.
But I guess it was inevitable. They were living together, they had a baby together, and perhaps it had something to do with Sean's rehab, but neither of them even considered re-entering the dating world.
Dante had asked Sean plenty of times and each time the answer remained the same. "She's it, man." He just wasn't sure how to tell her that.
I avoided Jade at all costs after the wedding, afraid of the questions she would bombard me with.
"You've been acting strange." Dante observed one night. "Is everything okay, are the dreams back?"
"No, I'm fine." I gave him my best attempt at a reassuring smile. Sure, I could have told him right then and there but I wanted the time to be right, I wanted it to be special, so I stayed quiet.
Eventually though, on the night where I finally decided to be bold and brake the news, he stole my thunder. Typical Dante.
"Let's eat in tonight." I suggested, wanting to do it in private.
"Let's eat out."
"In."
"Out!"
I groaned. "But I wanted to talk to you!"
"And I wanted to talk to you!" He responded, frustrated.
"Fine, we'll go out." I grabbed my coat and made my way toward the door.
"No, we'll just stay in. What did you want to tell me."
"What did you want to tell me?"
Now Dante groaned. "Why don't we just say it at the same time, if not we're going to end up running in circles all night."
"Fine. I'm pregnant."
"Marry me."
We both froze. "What?"
Dante pulled out a little black box and handed it to me. But rather than acknowledging the huge diamond that I held in my hand he asked, "You're pregnant? How? When? Are you sure?"
I walked into the bathroom, opened the drawer, pulled out the pregnancy test and handed it to him. So now we both stood there like idiots staring at what was in our hands.
"Um... I found out a few days before the wedding, I just wasn't exactly sure how to tell you."
"But when did we... when did, well you know." He stumbled.
"Remember the day Silvio called, interrupting us...?"
"Really? F*cking Silvio." He laughed, still looking down at the pregnancy test.
"Yeah. You finished even though I hadn't and then bam baby!"
"Bam baby." He laughed again. "I'm going to be a father."
"Yep."
"And if I'm lucky... maybe I will be a husband too."
Now I laughed. "I guess today is your lucky day, isn't it?"
"I have to do it right." Dante took the ring out of my hand and got down on one knee. "Skyla Williams, will you marry me?"
"Yes." I never thought I'd be the type of person to cry during a proposal, but I guess I was.
Dante slipped the ring on my finger while wearing the biggest smile I had ever seen and then placed a kiss on my lips.
"It really is my lucky day, but I must say, amore, I do feel bad. The night our baby was conceived, you did not finish. Care to give me a second chance?"
I laughed. "Si! But I'm starving. Can we eat first?"
So we agreed to stay home and blow off the reservations at the restaurant that he intended to take me to.
He cooked dinner instead. Dante was one hell of a cook. He told me that his nanny back in Italy taught him a few recipes when he was younger. The food was amazing. Much better than anything I could ever make. Sometimes he would ask if his cooking skills were the reason why I stayed with him.
He changed out of his suit and into sweats to match my attire and we sat on the couch stuffing our faces with lasagna already making plans for the baby and the wedding.
The best part about being pregnant was the fact that I could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted without any judgement. I used my huge stomach as an excuse to get me out of a lot of family events and chores around the house too.
"I'm having your child," I'd say to him. "The least you could do is load the dishwasher."
"There's a human growing inside of me but you can't mop the floor?" It worked every time.
Dante cooked for me every night and made sure the freezer was stocked with ice cream and fish sticks which was what I would crave during the middle of the night... not together, of course.
We told immediate friends and family, excluding Silvio.
"What do we tell my father?" Dante asked one night while his palm rested flat against my stomach.
"Your grandchild was conceived during one of your phone calls." I laughed
"Yeah, that's not happening."
"So let's just let it be. If he calls and you want to tell him, tell him. If not we just... I don't know." I shrugged my shoulders.
"I guess that makes sense. He hardly ever calls." Even after the whole Nick ordeal, Dante still wasn't sure what kind of relationship he wanted to have with Silvio.
Jade immediately started to plan the baby shower. Since Dante wanted the sex of the baby to be a surprise, although he kept telling me it was going to be a girl, the color theme was yellow. Yellow blankets with ducks on them, yellow hats, yellow onesies. We got a ton of gifts, some would be going back to the store, but for the most part they were all pretty cute, and they made us even more excited about becoming parents.
My dad gave us a three thousand dollar check that he told us to buy the baby's furniture with. My mother, who of course had to one up him, started a savings account for the baby by putting ten thousand dollars into it.
Rich divorced parents, it can't get any better than that.
The parties did become tiring though. First was the baby shower, then my birthday party which Dante insisted on throwing for me, and then, thanks to my mother's constant nagging, my wedding.
I did want to marry Dante but I was always so tired and just the thought of going through the hassle that comes with planning a wedding caused my stress level to shoot through the roof.
Dante, maybe afraid to get on my hormonal side, said he understood and was okay with waiting until after the baby was born.
But then I would remind him of things like the recovery and postpartum and all of the other stuff that came with giving birth. "Who knows when it will happen if we wait?" I said, frustrated, on the verge of tears thanks to the hormones.
"I'll plan it for you! You won't have to lift a finger. Tell me what you want and I'll make it happen." Mother offered one night.
"We're inviting my friends not dad's business partners." I stated.
"Oh honey, don't worry about those horrible old men. They won't know a thing."
"I don't want your judgmental crowd from the country club coming either." I was the horrible judgmental one.
"They were never even on the list." She smiled. "Why don't the two of you make a list and think about what you want. Call me when you're ready."
I squinted my eyes at her, suspiciously. "You're being too nice." I accused.
"I'm your mother. Look, if you don't trust me, make Dante come along and supervise the whole thing."
"What! No that's okay, Anne, I believe you." Dante cut in, horrified by the thought that he would have to spend the next few weeks all alone with my mother.
"You're going Dante." I ordered. "I'm-"
"Yes, yes, I know, you're bringing life into this world and the least I could do is help plan a poor, uncomfortable pregnant woman's wedding." He finished.
"Good boy." I kissed his cheek and sent him off with my mother, his nightmare.
The wedding was small with only a handful of friends and family. I was surprised that my mom was actually okay with it.
Dante seemed to be more exhausted than I was during my third trimester which was around the same time that he got stuck with Mom.
"You good, babe?" I asked as he collapsed onto the bed one night.
"No." He whined. "She is insane, Skyla? She made a man cry! He cried! I have never seen a six foot three man who works in a slaughterhouse cry!"
"Why were you in a slaughterhouse?" I asked, rolling over so that I was the big spoon and he was the little spoon. My belly got in the way of it being comfortable though.
Dante turned around and laid his head on my chest as I stroked his hair. He ran his hand up and down my stomach as he spoke. "I don't know! We were at a dress place, then we were tasting cakes, and then she wanted to make sure that the steak option was going to be fresh. Your mother is crazy, Skyla!" He pretended to cry.
After many torturous weeks for my fiancé, the wedding finally rolled around. We had a small outdoor ceremony in a park upstate and then a perfectly planned reception at a hall afterwards. It was open bar thanks to my dad, who surprisingly loved Dante.
"You got a good one, Sky." He said to me the night before the wedding. "Much better than that Nick you were with," Way to be sensitive to my dead ex-boyfriend, Dad. "This one is a real man with real values. He's good for you."
Silvio however, did not come. He wasn't even invited partly due to the fact that he didn't know about the baby. He would have to know eventually though considering the weight that came with the Di Stefano name, but we decided to wait as long as possible.
Everyone asked about Dante's family, and each time he responded with, "This is my family", referring to me, my belly, Sean, Susan, and even Jade.
My dress had to be specially made because my stomach was huge and round while the rest of me, aside from my breasts remained the same, size wise.
"They're giant!" Dante exclaimed as he helped me step out of the shower one night. Since I was usually clumsy, Dante became extra paranoid now that there were two people I had to support, so he helped me with basically everything including stepping in and out of the bath tub.
The dress was white laced and long. It hugged my belly, making it appear even bigger than it actually was. But at least I didn't have to go through the struggle of reaching a certain weight before the wedding. I could freely get as fat as I wanted with no shame and I loved it.
I wore a pair of slippers rather than heels, not that you could tell thanks to the long dress. My father held one arm as he walked me down the aisle and Sean, who was practically back to his normal self after a couple of years of therapy, held onto the other one. I guess it wasn't just Dante who was concerned about my clumsiness...
I couldn't help but smile as I saw Dante looking more perfect than he ever had standing beneath the alter. A man in a tux... you really can't get any better than that.
I was sort of bummed out about not being able to go on a honeymoon after our wedding. But I was due in only a few weeks and we wouldn't have had as much fun anyway. Being big and bloated all of the time really got in the way of sexy... well in my opinion it did. Dante didn't seem to have much of a problem with it.
But he promised to spend our wedding night massaging my feet and watching one of those romantic movies he hated. Dante also told me that the second I was ready, he would take me anywhere I wanted to go. Our honeymoon was simply postponed, but it would happen eventually.
***
"I, Dante Di Stefano, take you, Skyla Williams, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."
Stupid hormones, stupid tears that came with them.
Dante let out a small chuckle as he wiped away a tear from under my eye. Putting a pregnant woman through something this emotional was just cruel.
"I, Skyla Williams," Soon to be Mrs. Dante Di Stefano. "Take you, Dante," Damn these tears! "To be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse," Sniffle. "For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."
"I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride!"
The small crowed erupted in cheers and Dante placed a big kiss on my lips then on my belly, causing everyone to cheer even louder.
***
I went into labor exactly a week after our wedding. I was very casually sitting in front of the TV when all of a sudden I felt this liquid pour out of me.
I covered my groan with a cough and tried to act normal as Dante rambled on about what he had for lunch.
Stay in! I foolishly and silently yelled at my stomach.
I was beginning to have flash backs of the horrifying things I witnessed while Jade was giving birth and, as irrational as I may have been, thought that I could get out of it by staying quiet.
He or she would just have to stay where it was.
"Skyla, why are you making that face? I know you don't like lobster but I ate it two hours ago at a restaurant that's four miles away."
"It's like a giant bug." F*ck that hurt.
"Are you okay?"
"Mmhmm." No!
"No you're not. Tell me what's wrong." He demanded, forgetting all about his lobster.
"Nothing! So lobster, tell me about your giant sea insect."
"Your water broke!" Dante finally saw the big wet spot on my pants.
"Yeah, but I don't want to – Ahh – I can't do this!"
"Of course you can!" He tried to encourage. "Everything will be fine."
"Oh, easy for you to say. You're not the one who has to push a person out of your vagina!"
"Yes, well you're not the only one who's afraid. I'm having a baby too and although you dragged me to those classes and made me read all of those books, I have no idea what's going to happen. Please let me take you to the hospital. They'll walk us through it and calm the both of us down."
"Fine." I gave in, feeling guilty by the look of worry that took over his face. "But promise me something."
"Anything."
"Make sure they give me the drugs. I want whatever they have. Promise me you'll get me the drugs."
Dante chuckled. "I promise."
He helped me down the stairs where we were met by my father's private driver. Although we had Dante's car, my father thought it would be a good idea to have someone on call twenty-four seven in case I needed anything.
Being in labor was the longest and most stressful thing I had probably ever experienced... minus the time I was kidnapped by Nick and thought I was going to die. But aside from that, being in labor and having my vagina on display for a room full of doctors was not fun.
"Are you okay?" I asked, breathlessly in between pushes. Dante's face was incredibly pale and little drops of sweat were beginning to form on his forehead.
"I see a head." He said weakly, holding onto the bed frame. It looked like he was going to faint, but he his eyes were trained on the thing that was coming out of me.
I was not into the whole miracle of birth thing... it was gross, painful, and messy.
"F*ck!" We screamed out at the same time. I yelled because it was the final push that hurt like hell, Dante screamed because I had apparently squeezed his hand a little too hard, jamming the giant diamond on my wedding ring into him.
"It's a girl!" The doctors announced.
"Haha! I was right!" Dante cheered while I thought I was going to die.
It was a sense of relief mixed with death... like I shouldn't have been able to do that but I did... I couldn't quite put the feeling into words.
I heard our baby girl crying and I felt someone place her on my chest. She was covered in this disgusting white stuff but surprisingly, I didn't mind it. Dante didn't mind either. He sat beside us and rubbed her thick black hair with his thumb as the doctors continued doing whatever it was they were doing to me.
She didn't look like much yet... well aside from the nice hair, that was thanks to Dante.
She was seven pounds two ounces and healthy, so the nurses let us hang out with her in my room rather than stuff her into the nursery with a bunch of other strange babies.
We got plenty of visitors all complimenting on how beautiful she was and wondering what name we had decided on.
"What about Alessandra?" He asked me, late one night after everyone had gone home.
"I like that." I said with a smile. "Alessandra Di Stefano."
Without getting all mushy, I just have to say I love you guys!!!! Thank you so much for reading and voting and commenting it really means the world to me (if I wasn't so lazy I would fill the page with heart emojis)
And just to prove how much I love you guys, if it wasn't for your support on Wattpad I (Grace) wouldn't have had anything cool to write about on my college essay, so thank you for making me at least semi-interesting to the colleges I will hopefully get accepted to (fingers crossed)