Page 15 of Mafia Heir’s Alpha (Mated in the Mafia #7)
ORI
SEVEN MONTHS LATER
I read once that pregnancy was like your body becoming a haunted house.
There were creaks where none should be, joints that stuck, and confusion at every turn.
My haunted body was less “spooky Victorian” and more like a “condemned row house after a shootout.” The tendons in my lower back tugged and pulled with every move, and my knees wobbled more with each trip to the bathroom, which seemed to be every five minutes.
I never expected to be about to deliver a baby at nineteen, but the other omegas assured me it was a good thing. Young bodies healed quickly and all that nonsense. Unfortunately, my body felt like it was a hundred going on a million .
The only thing that made me feel less self-conscious about my size and lack of grace was the absolute certainty that Rosco truly thought I was beautiful.
“You’re so perfect. Made to grow my babies,” he’d said the night before as I peeled my sweat-stuck shirt off with more groans than I could count. I flipped him the bird but let him rub my feet anyway because pregnancy was a democracy, and I’d lost the vote on the swelling in my ankles.
Like all mornings, I slowly stretched and got my muscles moving while Rosco made me a cup of tea and some toast. I couldn’t even think about getting out of bed without buttery carbs and some peppermint to warm me up.
As my limbs finally loosened enough for me to sit up, I realized the pain in my lower belly was different. Tight, but throbbing in a way I hadn’t felt before. I pressed my palm to the taut curve of my stomach and wondered if this was it. Was it finally time to meet our little one? Fuck, I hoped so.
The journey of this pregnancy had been long, and I was more than ready for it to be over. I wanted to hold my baby in my arms. I knew that I would miss feeling them move, or so all the omegas told me, but I was so ready to see my feet again.
“Babe! Orlando!” Rosco bellowed from the kitchen, using my full name because he knew I hated it.
“What?” My voice cracked through the desert in my throat.
“You want honey with tea or toast or both?”
“Both.” Duh.
My stomach seemed to tighten up like something was pressing against me, and as Rosco walked in the door, a flood of fluid burst free and soaked the bed. “Fuck.”
Rosco was shirtless, a masterpiece of muscle and strength as he carried the tray to me. “I know I look good but you need to eat first, Ori.” He waggled his eyebrows to soften the joke, but the grin quickly dropped when he looked at me. “Shit, what’s wrong?”
“It’s happening.” I threw back the comforter and showed him the wet spot I was sitting in. “The baby’s coming.”
“Now?” He put the tray on the dresser and gently lifted one of my legs to take a look. “Holy shit… Is that a…head? ”
“I dunno!” My lungs started working double time as I wondered if he was right. “Is it?”
He nodded and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll call the doctor and get them here.”
We had opted to continue living at Cord’s home.
Our suite had been expanded to include an office for me across the hall and a nursery right next door to our bedroom.
We put in a connecting door so we could easily get to the baby’s room.
Eventually, we might move to our own home, but it was comfortable here, and I liked being close to Rosco while he worked.
In the seven months since my confession to the family, we had come a long way in rebuilding our trust with Cord and Andro.
It helped that Joey and Avery were some of my closest friends.
When getting me set up with the access I needed to do the jobs Cord assigned to me, I helped Joey get set up with a better accounting system that ended up saving Andro a shit-ton of money.
“Hurry.” I closed my eyes and did my best to fully inhale. It wasn’t easy with Rosco’s rambling, but I was able to center myself and get my breathing under control until I felt his fingers fumbling around my bottom .
“Yeah, it’s definitely coming out.”
My eyes snapped open. “It can’t come out yet. We need to get to the hospital!” We had talked about having a home birth, but I hadn’t decided for sure that was what we were going to do. Now the decision was being made for me.
He shook his head and put the phone on speaker. “Sorry, babe, but it’s too late. I’m delivering this baby, apparently.” He looked a little pale, but he seemed to be mentally psyching himself up for what was about to happen. “I’ve watched this a hundred times. I can do this.”
“I don’t think I can.” I tried to close my knees and just hold the baby in a bit longer. Maybe forever. But that didn’t last long because another contraction wracked through me, and I almost flew right off the bed. “Do it. Do it now.”
He nodded and jumped into action. While he listened to instructions about grabbing towels and shoving pillows behind my back, I popped my earpods in and blasted my “You Can Do Hard Things” playlist.
Like some kind of out-of-body experience, I was weirdly detached as I watched him move around me .
When he was ready and seemed to sense I was ready, he pulled out one of my earpods and looked me in the eyes. “You got this, babe.” He leaned forward and kissed my lips. “We’ve got this.”
I tried to smile, but a cramp slammed into me, like a rusty vise tightening on my insides. “Fuuuck.”
He squeezed my hand. “That’s it. Breathe.”
I hated breathing. Breathing was for losers. But I did my best until the pain ebbed slightly. “You sure you know what you’re doing?” The contractions were coming faster and lasting longer. Whoever said your first birth took forever was a damn liar. I didn’t even get to eat my toast.
“I’m gonna figure it out.” He tried to sound calm as he pulled back and took another look. “Just breathe and push because he’s coming right now.”
I wanted to panic, but the next contraction hit, and I lost the thread. I dug my nails into his forearm, and he barely flinched. “Help me, alpha.” The world narrowed to a relentless wave of pain that was moving through me like a rising and receding ocean.
“I’ve got you, Ori.” Rosco kept talking as he rubbed my calves and pushed my legs back. “You’re doing so good.”
I wanted to tell him I loved him, but the words were trapped under an all-encompassing blanket of discomfort.
My strength was waning as exhaustion started to set in.
I couldn’t fight much longer. Fortunately, our son was willing to do most of the work because the urge to push was sudden and total.
“Fuck. It’s coming, Rosco. I can’t stop it. ”
He nodded and positioned himself between my legs. “Just do what feels natural. We’ve got this.”
Somewhere in the back of my head, I wondered if he was gonna faint or if I was, but Rosco Gallo wasn’t the fainting type. He was completely serious and ready to catch our baby.
And when the pain eclipsed everything else, I sucked in a ragged breath and pushed. Seconds or hours passed before the pressure was suddenly gone.
Just as I took my first full breath in months, I heard a tiny little cry.
“Oh, fuck.” Rosco looked at me with tears streaming down his face. “Ori, you did it. You did it.” Before I could ask any questions, he held up the squirming mess of our baby boy.
“Is he okay?” I stared at him as Rosco did a quick inspection before placing him on my lap and then covering him with a towel.
“He’s perfect. Just like you.” Rosco stared down at the tiny little baby in my arms and more tears formed.
I stared at our son’s little face as it scrunched up, probably furious for being in such tight quarters for so long, and felt something in my chest collapse and rebuild itself in the same moment.
I’d never loved anyone more.
Rosco kissed my forehead as he joined me on the bed. “You’re amazing. You’re fucking amazing.”
A minute later, the midwife burst in and checked us both over. She said something about a “perfect delivery” and “strong lungs,” but I was already drifting off, exhausted as my high of excitement quickly dissipated.
Rosco held me to his side as the baby made little fists and drifted off to sleep .
“What do we name him?” Rosco ran his finger along our son’s cheek.
I thought about it for a second, but I already knew. I’d been thinking about names for months. “Rory.” A mashup of our names. A peak in our story.
Rosco grinned. “Rory Gallo. I like it.”
“Me too.” I curled into my alpha and let myself fall asleep, safely holding everything in the world that mattered to me.