The Beginning

Chapter Seventeen

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?", Lorenzo asked sitting on the bed.

I was fine now and I calmed down. I gave a soft smile to both Val and Lorenzo. "I'm okay. Thank you guys for being here and I'm sorry for pulling you away from the party. Go back and spend time with everyone. It's a big deal for you", I told Lorenzo touching his shoulder. When he didn't move I sighed. "I'll be down soon".

He sighed and got up giving me a hug before going back to the party. I turned to Val and she took my hands into hers.

"Let's go", she smiled softly before we left the room. I walked downstairs and quickly went to get a drink. I needed it badly. I still felt the pain in my chest but it was less now.

I saw Aria sitting down drinking a glass of wine, looking around. I walked up to her and she looked at me. "Hey, I've been looking for you. Where have you been?", she asked. She furrowed her eyebrows. "Are you okay?", she asked.

"Come with me. I want to talk to you", I said.

I took her hand and lead her outside to the balcony. I set my whiskey glass down after taking a sip. I turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry. I know I haven't been very nice or uh...easy to deal with. It's not you. I know that's a cliche thing to say but it's true. It's me and what I'm dealing with. The way I deal with things that's even normal in my life is difficult for me. Even to speak to you about this now...is difficult for me", I sighed.

Aria reached for my hand and held it in hers. She gave me a small smile. "You don't need to apologize. I don't know how you're feeling or what you're going through, but I understand why. Giovanni you lost your wife and that on anyone is difficult. This arrangement between our families should have been arranged differently. You should be able to move on and get remarried when you are ready. Not because you have to bring peace between our families", Aria said.

Aria understood. She knew a little bit about what I felt. She listened to what I had to say wasn't selfish about it.

"You deserve everything. A loving husband, a friend. You deserve to be treated better than how I have treated you.", I told her truthfully. Aria gave me a small smile. I pulled her to me and hugged her tight. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me. Aria deserved better than how I treated her. No matter what I was going through.

"I'm going to try and be that for you", I told her.

I looked at her and she touched my face. "Make sure you're happy too. I want you to be happy too", She smiled. I nodded then placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"Come on, let's get back to the party", I said taking her hand and leading her inside.

Some of my relatives started conversations with Aria and me. We talked for a bit before walking over to Lorenzo and Riviera. My brother gave me a small smiled before putting his arm around me.

"Congratulations, again", Aria said to Riviera.

"Thank you. Lorenzo and I are so excited. It means a lot that you both are here", Riviera said giving me a small smile.

"We're happy to be here for you guys", I said.

My mother and father walked over, taking Lorenzo and Riviera away. They took them to a table and had a cake that said Congratulations on being pregnant! Aria and I walked closer to see.

Everyone clapped on congratulated them. We all took pictures with them both. It wasn't a party everyone did. For our family we did it, it was a celebration for a new life. We, of course, would still have the baby shower and all of that. Riviera wanted a gender reveal, though none of us have done it before. Riviera and Lorenzo talked about being happy that they were having a baby.

Aria watched them with a smile on their face. She cared about them a lot and I could tell that her being here meant a lot to her. I wrapped one arm around her and pulled her closer to me. She looked at me and smiled.

"Thank you for being here", I whispered.

"Thank you for having me", she smiled.

It wasn't long until everybody began to leave. Aria and I stayed to help clean up. Aria helped Riviera while I was helping Lorenzo.

"Gio, I'm sorry about earlier", he said throwing garbage in a bag.

I shook my head, "You didn't do anything", I told him.

"You had memories come up because of the party", Lorenzo sighed.

"Lorenzo, the same thing happened to me when Val had her party. You both didn't do anything wrong it was just me. I missed Greta and it was just hard not being able to have a party like this for us. But, you didn't do anything wrong and I'm happy for you and Riviera", I said truthfully.

We finished cleaning up and the girls walked over to us. Aria gave me a soft sleepish smile.

"We should get going. Congratulations again. Lorenzo, I'll see you tomorrow?",

"Yeah for sure", Lorenzo replied shaking my hand and giving me a hug. We said our byes before walking out to the car. Our driver taking us back home.