Page 110 of Tragic Empire

Sure enough, when she swings open the door, Gerard is standing there. They exchange a few quick words before he hands her a blue gift bag and excuses himself.

“What’d you get?” Armani asks, eyeing the delivery as Ana returns to the counter.

“Something for Cassio,” she answers cryptically. Sliding back into her seat, she starts to eat again, ignoring the elephant in the room.

Colton snorts. “Way to leave us in suspense, doll.”

“I’ll give it to him as soon as you both leave.”

“Umm, rude,” Armani gripes.

Dramatically holding a hand over his heart, Colton pouts. “We were here for your gifts! Why can’t we see his? Why don’t we have any? What kind of backwards Christmas is this!?”

“It’s March,” Ana replies blandly, not allowing their antics to make her crack. “And Cassio can show you after, if he’d like to.”

“It’s a sex gift, isn’t it?”

“Oooo, is it a butt plug? There’s no shame in the anal game, Cass. The prostate is the male g-spot, you know?”

Give me strength.

“It’s not a butt plug, and if it were, it would be for me,” Ana tells them matter-of-factly.

The goofy grins my wife’s over-share causes end my patience with these two little shits.

“All right, time for you two to go,” I gripe, nodding toward the stairs. “Take your lunch and fuck off.”

Huffing, they both do as they’re told, grumbling about mybitchy attitudethe whole way. Ana finds it quite amusing, giggling as she watches them go. If they didn’t bring her so much joy, they would probably drive me nuts.

Raising a brow in her direction, I nod to the bag. “You got me something on the same day I had your gifts delivered?”

Smiling wistfully, she nods. “I didn’t even plan the delivery date, I had it delivered to Gerard’s place so it would be a secret and he just texted me after my nap. Funny how fate works.”

“Yeah,” I agree softly. “Fate.”

Fate is exactly the right word to use concerning Ana. It’s like she was dropped down straight from the sky, destined to land in my lap.

“Now finish your lunch, I want to give you this.”

Chuckling, I do just that. After we wash up, Ana corrals me to the couch, pushing the baby blue bag into my hands.

“Open it,” she insists.

Riffling through the tissue paper, my fingers clasp around a thick, square box. It has some weight to it, and as I pull it out, I notice hinges on the side for an easy to open top.

I can feel my wife’s eyes on me as my thumbs push open the lid. Seeing what’s inside, I freeze before lifting my gaze to her.

“It’s like three months early,” Ana says, biting her lip. “But I wanted to get you something for Father’s Day, and I couldn’t wait to give it to you once I saw pictures of the final product.”

I swallow hard, looking back down to stare at the gift in awe. It’s a custom white goldCartierwatch, with glacial blue gemstones framing the circular clock, and the minute and hour hands in a matching shade of blue.

“The aquamarine stones,” she continues, sounding nervous. “They’re your son’s birthstone. I asked Dad what month he was born before I designed the watch. I know talking about him is hard, but even if he isn’t here with us, you’ll always be Angel’s father. I’d like to celebrate that every year… if you’ll let me.”

If I’lllether?

Cristo, she is too lovely for words.

Shedding my current watch, I quickly replace it with the new one. Ana beams at me, emotion dancing around her caramel eyes.