#morrone

‘’You’ve been seeing me for quite some time, Alessia. And we both know we haven’t even scratched the surface of all the trauma you’ve endured.’’

 You offered an airy chuckle, absent mindedly playing with your fingers as you did so often when confronted with hard facts. Deflecting, you believed Jeevika had pointed out, was a common occurrence during your bi-weekly meetings.

 ‘’My trauma? I told you everything. My childhood, my real parents, meeting Massimo.  I don’t know what more you could want from me,’’ your e/c gaze met her honey-colored orbs.

 ‘’What I want from you is to allow me to do my job, to help you open up emotionally. How about what you really feel? How are things with Massimo?’’ her tone softened. You sighed, tapping your fingers against your jean-cladded thighs.

 ‘’We’re fine, great even. He’s been very understanding. Honestly, I was worried I would resent him. I felt as though I should hate him, for everything. I even hated myself for not being angrier at him. For not screaming at him. But I never had. It’s like. . .it’s like. . .I don’t know,’’ you trailed off.

 ‘’And you read the articles I recommended to you, yes? On Stockholm syndrome?’’

 You nodded, biting at your bottom lip momentarily before turning your head back at the waves meeting the ivory shores.

 ‘’I was sure it was that, at least at first.’’

 ‘’What changed?’’

 ‘’Everything.’’

  The incident at the mansion had taken place nearly three months ago. Both Massimo and you had worried about how the fire and general stress would effect the baby, Massimo had the best doctors from around the world checking up on you, taking your vitals, and you had grown used to the dreadfully cold gel they slathered over your growing bump. It wasn’t until you personally told him that you were both fine that he backed off a bit. You let out an easy sigh through your nose, smiling to yourself as you laid against the cool sheets of your shared bedroom. Spring was fluttering into summer and a gentle breeze carried the smell of the orange blossoms into the room. Your hands gently pressed and traveled over your growing bump, which by now was more noticeable and your baby was apparently the size of a nectarine. 32 weeks, and your baby proved to be perfectly fine and almost unbothered with all the turmoil that surrounded his or her parents.

 ‘’I love you so much,’’ you spoke gently, as if any loud noise would startle the life growing inside you.

 ‘’And your daddy, he loves you so, so much,’’ you continued, smiling at the thought of him.

 Your smile faltered only slightly, your subconscious drifting back to your own parents. Both of them. The ones stolen from you and the ones forced upon you. An uneasy, uneven sigh escaped your lips.

 ‘’My parents. . .they loved me too. I didn’t know them, not really, but they loved me enough to fight for me. I missed out on knowing them. My dad, he. . .we. . .there wasn’t enough time,’’ you choked on your words, hands pausing on your stomach.

 ‘’There just wasn’t enough time. . . and my wish for you is for you to know how loved you are. I promise to love you, and to love your daddy until the day I die. Because. . .the love a parent, a mother, has for her child. Well, I’d do anything for you. No matter how much we might argue or disagree, whatever you choose or wherever you go in life. . .I will love you until the day that I die. Both you and your daddy,’’ you whimpered, smiling down at your growing bump and letting the warm tears roll down your cheeks.

 You jumped when you felt a warm hand wipe away your tears, sighing in relief when Massimo’s warm smile lit up the already sun-kissed room. You held your arms up to him and he laid down beside you, ever careful around your stomach and rested his forehead against yours.

 ‘’I love you so much,’’ you whispered, leaning into his touch and the butterfly kisses he covered your cheeks in.

 ‘’Mia bella principessa,’’ he responded, his lips turned up into a charming smile.

 His massive hand rested carefully but firmly against the flesh of your abdomen, jumping in surprise when he felt a powerful and distinctive kick. He laughed, looking up at you as you grinned back at him. ‘’He’s always playful whenever daddy is near,’’ you beamed, completely in love with the way Massimo’s eyes lit up as he looked down.

 ‘’You seem pretty confident that we’re having a boy,’’ he teased. The right side of his mouth turned up into a smirk that was nothing short of sinful. You nudged him with your knee.

 ‘’I’m always right,’’ you quirked your brow in defiance. Massimo chuckled, bringing you down to his lips with a gentle hold of the back of your head. ‘’I know now better than to underestimate you,’’ he whispered between kisses. You nodded your head at him. The two of you fell into a comfortable silence, his head resting against your growing bump as he traced invisible patterns along your exposed skin.

 ‘’Any ideas on a name?’’ you broke the silence, fingers threading through his dark locks. You felt him stiffen before hearing him sigh, your own brows furrowing in question as he sat up to face you.

 ‘’I’ve been thinking. . .’’ he trailed off. You squeezed his hand gently, prodding him to continue.

 He hesitated for only but a moment before meeting your eyes. ‘’I feel almost ridiculous deciding our child’s name when I don’t even know what name to call you now.’’

 Every muscle in your body tensed, even the breath in your lungs seemed to erase itself from existence. Against your wishes, against every fiber of your being and every molecule in your essence, flashes of the flaming estate and your ‘’father’s’’ charred corpse flashed through your mind’s eye. Coupled with phantom memories of your faux mother, Mario’s smile and comforting baritone voice, a distorted/murky vision of a woman you had met but was ripped apart from. All of these images, burned into your subconscious and rotating on some sadistic merry-go-round.

 ‘’It doesn’t matter-‘’

 ‘’Of course it matters,’’ Massimo cut you off, much to your shock and annoyance.

 ‘’Massimo,’’ you warned, readying yourself for the imminent fight.

 ‘’We need to acknowledge what happened. We need to at least talk about it once, we can’t pretend that none of it happened. You have not cried once since that day. You don’t mention it at all and when you wake up screaming in the middle of the night you brush it off like it’s nothing.’’

 ‘’That isn’t your place to decide, Massimo. It’s not your fucking right to tell me when to open up or to corner me into talking about my fucked up life and what happened.’’

 He clenched his jaw, running his hand down his face in an effort to keep levelheaded. You, on the other hand, sat up in your shared bed, hands in tightened fists and nostrils flared in defiance and anger. Massimo’s gaze flickered briefly to your bump, releasing a breath he didn’t even know he had been holding in.

 ‘’You’re absolutely right. It’s not my fucking place to tell you how to mourn or to corner you into opening up to me about all the shit you’ve been through,’’ your body remained tense, but your breathing began to even out as you processed his words.

 ‘’But, if there is any hope of us getting you through it and getting you to a place where you can at least acknowledge the past, you have to open up to someone about it, eventually. Even if that somebody isn’t me.’’ His hands hesitantly reached for yours, thumbs stroking your knuckles.

 ‘’I don’t know how this ends for us. I don’t expect him or her to come along and make everything right, because the truth of the matter is I don’t know if anything will ever be ‘right’ between us. After all I’ve put you through, I don’t expect ‘and baby makes three’ or ‘happily ever after.’ But I know I want to try. I want to try for you, and I want to try for them,’’ he nodded at your stomach. You didn’t even know you were crying until a strangled sob escaped your lips.

 Massimo’s hands cupped your cheeks, gently batting the tears away with his thumbs as his forehead pressed against yours’ in a gentle embrace.

 ‘’I’ve done wrong by you, so many times. And I will never make it up to you, because I can’t. Maybe in the next lifetime I can, but not in this, mi amore. But I mean this with every fiber of my being; I am in love with you. I want to raise our child with you and give them some sense of normalcy that we were robbed of in our youth. I want to grow old with you, if you’ll permit me. I’ve done wrong by you, principessa, and I’ll never be able to make it up to you, but I swear to all of the Gods above and below that I will spend the rest of my days trying to.’’

  You held each other like that for what felt like eons. Crying together, slowly letting down your walls only slightly. He was right, in some aspect. It didn’t make anything okay, any of it. But he was right nonetheless. He had been wrong and done wrong so many times. So many wounds imprinted on your heart, some by him and many by others. And, while the wounds were not your fault, the healing was your responsibility.

 ‘’Call me Alessia.’’

 You located a Dr. Jeevika Singh from New Zealand just a few weeks later and booked the first available slot in her schedule. And just like that you found yourself in therapy via video chats and phone calls. And not two months later did you find yourself with a child with wavy locks the same color as yours and the same beautiful amber brown eyes as his father.

  ‘’You mentioned in past appointments that you struggled with your son shortly after he was born,’’ Jeevika’s voice tore you out of your deep thoughts.

 You nodded, a bitter taste of guilt and shame infiltrating your tastebuds.

 ‘’I struggled with postpartum.’’

 ‘’And you still feel guilty about that, yes?’’

 ‘’I love my son more than anything in this world,’’ you whimpered, accepting the tissues with gratitude as Jeevika handed them to you.

 ‘’There is no shame in that, Alessia. You are a great mother. The fact that you show up to every appointment and have the courage to talk about all of this is proof alone of that,’’ her voice soothed the pain in your chest as you sniffled. You remembered all those early mornings with y/s/n crying and being too defeated to get up and tend to him. Massimo had been a godsent and part of you was envious at how well and natural parenting came to him. You remember spending countless days in bed, drowning out the world around you.

 The night terrors came and went, you found yourself arguing with Massimo about irrelevant things occasionally. While he would sometimes shout back, you had to hand it to him on how patient he had been with you. He stood by your side as you video chatted with Jeevika during a handful of sessions, working through his own trauma before Dr. Singh had put him in contact with a colleague of hers.

 ‘’I’m still so afraid,’’ you admitted after minutes of deafening silence.

 ‘’That your past will affect your son?’’

 ‘’That it will destroy him.’’

  You hardly remember the drive home, only realizing you had actually driven home when you found yourself in the comfort of your driveway. Massimo’s car was in its’ usual spot and if you strained your hearing, you could already hear his and your son’s laugher bounce of the foundations of your house.

 New Zealand took some getting used to. Traveling with a one-year-old during a pandemic had been no easy feat. Faking your deaths and obtaining new passports along with birth certificates and the appropriate paperwork was even more difficult, although you would argue otherwise at times. Trading a mansion for a humble, two-bedroom house was a welcome change of pace, as well as the small town you currently resided in. Nobody knew who you two were. Nothing tied you to Italy any longer, but you knew Massimo struggled saying his goodbyes to Laura and laying the ghosts of her and the child he lost to rest. Only Jeevika knew the truth, sworn to secrecy. Although it took some time trusting an ‘’outsider’’, you found it increasingly necessary for your sanity. Now you were just Alessia and Antonio Amarro to your neighbors. Or, as a certain little boy referred to you, you were Papa and-

 ‘’Mama!’’ squealing made you jump in your seat, only to grin at the sight of your son eagerly reaching his arms out from his father’s strong arms on the porch towards you.

 ‘’There are my handsome boys,’’ you beamed, rushing towards them. A sloppy kiss from y/s/n precedented an affectionate kiss from his father.

 ‘’How was it?’’ Massimo asked, closing the front door, and setting y/s/n in your arms before you two walked to the kitchen. You sighed, offering a tired smile. He offered one back, reaching into the cupboard.

 ‘’Was it a one one-shot or two shot kind of day?’’ he joked, setting two glasses down on the kitchen island as your son crawled off to play with his toys the second you set him on the floor.

 ‘’Honey, it’s a pour the bottle in a bucket of day,’’ you retorted, switching your shot glass with a wine one and helping yourself to a local bottle.

 Massimo chuckled, kissing your temple as the sweet liquid left a pleasant burn down your throat.

 ‘’And you? How did you fare with your mini-you?’’ you grinned, the two of you watching y/s/n organize his various stuffed animals into a half circle and make incoherent noises.

 ‘’He is my penance for giving my parents grief in my youth,’’ he snorted, but it was clear to see how much Massimo adored your son. You both did. He was the center of both of your universes and the best parts of both his parents. At times, you questioned how something so beautiful and sweet could have been forged in so much hurt and strife. Massimo’s strong arms wrapped around your waist, his lips pressing against your head as the two of you watched the proof of your love play with his blocks. So, maybe it wasn’t all grief strife and pain. . .maybe it really was love your son was born into. And maybe even hope.

  ‘’He asleep?’’ Massimo asked, flipping the page of the latest novel that caught his interest.

 ‘’Out like a light,’’ you grinned, making sure the baby monitor was on despite your son being just across the hall. You sighed as you shimmied out of your clothes in favor of your undergarments. You didn’t need eyes in the back of your head to know something else now had Massimo’s full and undivided attention, and you smirked in satisfaction. As any new mother was, you were not immune to the self-consciousness that came with motherhood. Your thighs a little thicker, breasts a little fuller, and a few stretch marks left their mark on your abdomen. But according to the father of your child, you were enchanting all the same. You were still his principessa.

 ‘’Have I told you how beautiful you are today?’’ his voice rumbled as he abandoned his novel on his nightstand in favor of crawling to you at the foot of the bed. You bit back a smile, failing at it, as he began pressing kisses up your spine to the dip of your neck.

 ‘’You may have mentioned it,’’ you whispered back, heat rising to your cheeks as his expert hands unclasped your bra.

 His warm breath fanned your shoulder and the column of your neck as his kisses made their way to the soft spot of your neck. A tiny, almost inaudible gasp left your parted lips as his hands cupped your exposed breasts, rolling the tiny buds between his thumbs and index fingers. A low growl of approval vibrated against you, and the hardness of his erection made itself known against the small of your back.

 You were flipped around, meeting the familiar smoldering gaze of the man before you. Your mouths fought for dominance, with you winning in a rare display of submission from your better half. And as your tongues intertwined and explored each other’s caverns, you tore at Massimo’s clothes freeing his thick appendage. With panting breaths you leaned forward, keeping your eyes locked onto his as you bent down to take his weeping cock between your lips.

 ‘’You don’t have to, mi amore,’’ he rasped out. You offered a quick smile before taking him in, his manhood quickly hitting the back of your throat. Bobbing your head, mewling around his cock you felt his hands tangle themselves in your hair as his deep groans and heavy breathes filled the room.

 He tasted divine. The saltiness of his precum was a welcome taste on your tongue as you whimpered when you felt his thick fingers rub against your pantie-clad pussy.

 ‘’You’re so wet for me, principessa,’’ he growled out, teasing your lips from outside your sopping wet underwear.

 You gave a particularly deep suck, flattening your tongue against the underside of his manhood as your hands cupped his balls, earning a tug at your hair and a long, thick finger entering your tight womanhood. A second one quickly followed with a third attending to your throbbing clit. You moved quicker, taking him in deeper as his fingers thrusted hard and filling your drenched canal.

 The way he tensed made it aware of his impending release. The lewd squelching noises emitting from the two of you filled your ears and you were grateful you closed your door so that your son would not be awoken by the debauchery his parents were taking part in. You promptly removed yourself from Massimo, his eyebrows furrowed in question before you shoved him onto his back and taking your place on your throne.

 Without breaking eye contact, your took the fingers that had previously been inside you and took them into your mouth, sucking the sweet juices off of them. He groaned, looking up at you as if you were Venus herself. You never tired of that look. You never would.

 Spreading your legs and moving up his body, hands clasping with his as he filled your needy pussy. You gasped, cheeks flushed as blood coursed through your body. You sunk down, impaling yourself on his thickness. His hands held yours, grunting as your tight walls welcomed him home. His hips rolled up against yours, bucking you with that Devil-may-care smirk of his. You scoffed, releasing your hold on his hands before steadying them against his pecs. You swiveled your hips, grinding against him as the two of you gasped each other’s names.

 ‘’I’ve missed this,’’ you whispered, bouncing as his hands traveled up and down your body.

 He moaned lowly in agreeance, his mouth taking one nipple between his lips as you rode him hard and fast. You cried out his name, biting your lip in a futile effort to keep your voice down, hissing as his cock hit seemingly new depths inside of you.

 ‘’You feel me right here, mami?’’ Massimo grunted, pressing a firm hand against your stomach. You whimpered at the feeling of his bulge filling you over and over with each of your movements. Hands planted firmly against his chest, Massimo’s hand cupping the side of your face as you made love to him. You leaned forward, breaths intermingling as the coil in the pit of your stomach was close to snapping undone.

 ‘’I-I love you,’’ you whispered so quietly you were afraid he didn’t hear you. You knew that wasn’t the case as one hand cradled the back of your neck and the other brought you forward to meet his soft lips in a climax-inducing kiss.

 ‘’I love you too,’’ he whispered back, the throbbing of his cock causing you to whimper as his release flooded your insides. Each twitch overstimulated you as you moaned out his name like a sacred prayer.

 There had been no time to recover as you were gently placed onto the mattress, laying face down and your legs spread. You sighed into the sheets at the feeling of Massimo’s release dripping out of you and making its’ way down your inner thighs. You bit down at the comforter as he filled you once more, the force of his thrust making your body bounce and eyes shut in overstimulated ecstasy. His hands gripped your hips, drawing you back to meet his powerful thrusts.

 Your mind drifted back to the scene of the ocean, the strong and powerful tide rocking against the steady shore. And you found yourself moaning his name as his strong thrusts rocked against your sensitive core.

 ‘’Like this, amore?’’ he groaned, the dragging of his manhood against your silky walls driving you mad. You could no longer form a coherent sentence, but the tears gathering at the corners of your eyes and the flush of your cheeks let him know you weren’t too far off from another sweet release. He sped up the pace, holding you firm enough to ensure you could not escape the onslaught of his thick member entering and reentering your most precious place.

 ‘’Mas. . Massimo,’’ you mewled out, turning your head to catch a glimpse of him and the way he moved against you. He leaned over the canvas of your back, grunting as his thrusts displayed the urgency residing within him. A powerful hand wrapped around the column of your neck, the other shoved beneath your quivering body as his fingers found your pearl and flicked at it.

 You gasped, twitching under him as your orgasm coated his cock. He didn’t stop even then, only speeding up to bury his manhood as deep into you as he could. Your legs shook around him, your hands clutching the forearm nearest your face as you whimpered and moaned his name and sweet praises.

 The warmth pooling inside you, along with the violent throbbing of his powerful cock made you all too aware that he found his release. His body went rigid on top of you, his forearms holding his weight as to not crush your smaller form beneath him. He stayed inside you long after you two had finished, lazily thrusting his hips to ensure every drop stayed inside your sated core.

 His sweet kisses brought you out of the post-coital bliss, a tired smile gracing your swollen lips as you turned to meet his lips. A tired, content sigh escaped each of you, neither of you daring to part even as sleep overcame you both.

  Y/s/n awoke early the next morning, you springing to your feet to throw on your robe before greeting your pride and joy.

 ‘’My handsome boy,’’ you beamed down at him, brushing the tuft of h/c locks that adorned his little head. With gentle ease you held him close, pressing a kiss to his soft forehead before making your way to the kitchen to get breakfast ready.

 As y/s/n happily drank from his bottle in his highchair, you cherished the warm cup of coffee in your hands, keeping your eye on the waffle machine a few feet away. You heard Massimo turn off the shower before his footsteps thumped down the hallway.

 ‘’Good morning my loves,’’ his throaty voice, still laced with sleep caught the attention of your son who gladly abandoned his breakfast in favor of his father. You grinned, sipping your coffee before leaning up to meet Massimo for a kiss.

 ‘’y/s/n, your mother is the most beautiful treasure in the world, never forget that,’’ Massimo grinned, pressing a kiss to his chubby cheek. ‘’Mama!’’ y/s/n squealed in delight, chubby hands grabbing at his father’s facial hair.

 You smiled, shaking your head as you prepared breakfast.

 ‘’Alessia, I think he wants you.’’

 You tsked before setting down Massimo’s plate in front of him, taking y/s/n into your embrace. Your smile slowly faded and brows furrowed when something caught your eye.

 ‘’Y/s/n, what do you have, my love?’’ you questioned, setting him in his highchair before carefully prying his tiny fist open.

 There it sat in your hand now, relatively small but immensely heavy all the same. Your mouth flew open and a tiny gasp fluttered from your mouth. It seemed like the house went completely still. You’re your son seemed to stop his fidgeting to admire the item you had taken from his hands. There, now in the palm of your hand, was the most beautiful ring you had ever seen. A diamond ring.

 Your body turned around before you could process it, only to see Massimo kneeling down before you.

 ‘’Marry me.’’

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