Updated Oct 23, 2025 • ~9 min read
LINA’S POV
I woke up to the smell of espresso and the sound of Isabella singing in the kitchen.
Seb was still asleep, his arm heavy across my waist, his face buried in my neck. We’d fallen asleep tangled together like always, but sometime during the night I’d ended up completely on top of him, using his chest as a pillow.
“Good morning,” he murmured against my hair.
“Your mom is awake.”
“She’s always awake. I think she sleeps three hours a night maximum.” His hand traced lazy circles on my back. “We should get up.”
“Should we?”
“Probably.” But he didn’t move. Neither did I.
The bedroom door burst open.
“Sebastiano, do you want—OH!”
Isabella stood frozen in the doorway, eyes wide, hand over her mouth.
I scrambled off Seb, pulling the blankets up despite being fully clothed in pajamas. Seb sat up, running a hand through his disheveled hair.
“Mama, have you heard of knocking?”
“I was bringing coffee!” She held up two mugs like evidence. “I didn’t think—you’re both dressed, why are you acting guilty?”
“Because you just walked in without warning?”
“I’m your mother. I’ve seen you in worse states.” She set the mugs on the nightstand, studying us with those sharp eyes. “You sleep like octopuses. All tangled up.”
“Mama—”
“It’s good! Couples should sleep close. Your father and I, we were the same way. Couldn’t stand to be apart, even in sleep.” She smiled. “I’ll leave you to your coffee. But Lina, when you’re ready, I want to take you shopping.”
“Shopping?” I repeated.
“For the baby. You need things. A crib, clothes, all of it.” She headed for the door. “And before you protest about money, this is what grandmothers do. Let me spoil my grandchild.”
She left, closing the door behind her.
Seb handed me a coffee mug. “I’m sorry. She has no boundaries.”
“I like it.” I took a sip—perfect, somehow she’d remembered I took two sugars. “My mom is all boundaries. Everything proper and scheduled. Isabella just… bursts in.”
“That’s one word for it.”
“It’s nice. Feeling like part of a family that doesn’t tiptoe around everything.”
He pulled me back into his arms. “You are part of this family. Official or otherwise.”
“Your mom wants to buy baby furniture.”
“I know. She’s been making lists since she got here.”
“Seb, we haven’t even thought about that stuff. Cribs and clothes and—” Panic started rising. “We’re not ready. I’m not ready.”
“Hey.” He turned me to face him. “We have time. You’re not due for about three more months.”
“Three months isn’t that long!”
“It’s long enough. And you’re not doing this alone. We’ll figure it out together.” He kissed my forehead. “Besides, my mother will probably have everything organized by the end of the week.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“A little?”
SEB’S POV
I should have known Isabella would turn baby shopping into a military operation.
She had lists. Color-coded lists. Lists for the lists. By the time we reached the baby store, Lina looked overwhelmed and I was wondering if we needed this much stuff for one tiny human.
“A crib, obviously,” Mama said, steering us toward the furniture section. “But also a bassinet for your room. The baby should sleep near you for the first few months.”
“We haven’t really discussed sleeping arrangements,” Lina said quietly.
“What’s to discuss? The baby sleeps in your room. That’s what babies do.” Mama examined a white crib with the intensity of someone buying a car. “This one. Sturdy. Converts to a toddler bed later. Very practical.”
“Mama, maybe Lina should choose—”
“Lina, do you like this one?”
Lina looked at the crib, and I saw something shift in her expression. She touched the rail gently.
“It’s perfect,” she said softly.
“Good. We’ll take it. And this changing table. And those storage bins.” Mama was already moving on, leaving me to flag down a sales associate.
Three hours later, we’d ordered enough furniture to fill a small apartment. Lina looked dazed.
“Your mother just spent—”
“Don’t think about it,” I said.
“But Seb—”
“She’s happy. She’s excited. Let her have this.” I squeezed her hand. “Besides, she’s right. We need this stuff.”
“We need a nursery,” Lina said. “We only have two bedrooms. Yours and the guest room where your mom is staying.”
I’d been thinking about this. “We could convert my office.”
“Your office?”
“I barely use it. I work from the living room most of the time anyway.” I pulled her closer as we walked through the parking lot. “The baby needs a space more than I need a rarely-used office.”
“Are you sure?”
“Completely.”
Back at the apartment, Mama was already planning.
“The office becomes the nursery,” she announced. “We’ll need to paint. Something neutral—yellows, greens. Not too bright. Babies need calm environments.”
“Mama, you’re going back to Italy in two weeks.”
“So? I can still plan. Lina can send me photos.” She pulled out another list. “Speaking of which, we need to schedule a video call with your mother, Lina.”
Lina paled. “My mother?”
“Of course! We’re going to be co-grandmothers. We should meet properly.” Isabella pulled out her phone. “What’s her number?”
“Isabella, maybe we should—”
“Nonsense. No time like the present.”
LINA’S POV
Watching my mother and Isabella meet over video chat was like watching two planets collide.
My mother—perfectly coiffed, sitting in her organized living room in Arizona—looked bewildered as Isabella dominated the conversation from Seb’s kitchen.
“So wonderful to finally meet you!” Isabella gushed. “Your daughter is lovely. And that baby! Our grandchild! Can you believe it?”
“It’s… a lot to process,” my mother said carefully. “Lina only told me about the marriage a few weeks ago.”
“Same! These children, keeping secrets.” Isabella waved a hand. “But we’re family now. We’ll have to coordinate visits. Make sure the baby knows both grandmothers.”
“I… yes. Of course.”
“And you must come visit! See where Lina lives now. Meet Sebastian properly.”
My mother’s eyes found mine on the screen. “I’d like that. If Lina wants me to.”
“Of course I want you to, Mama,” I said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. Everything happened so fast.”
“Too fast, mija. But… you seem happy.”
“I am.”
“And Sebastian treats you well?”
Seb appeared on camera, sliding an arm around my waist. “I try my best, Mrs. Moreno.”
My mother studied him through the screen. “You better. That’s my baby girl.”
“I know. And I promise, I’ll take care of her. And our baby.”
Something in my mother’s expression softened. “Our baby. Not ‘the’ baby. I noticed that.”
“It’s our baby,” Seb confirmed. “In every way that matters.”
After the call ended, I collapsed on the couch.
“Your mom likes me,” Seb said.
“She’s reserving judgment. That’s different.”
“But she didn’t hate me. I’ll take it.” He sat next to me. “How are you feeling? You’ve been quiet since we got back from shopping.”
“Just thinking.”
“About?”
“About how real this is becoming. The nursery. The furniture. Our mothers meeting. It’s not fake anymore, Seb. If it ever was.”
“I know.”
“Doesn’t that scare you?”
“Terrifies me.” He pulled me into his arms. “But the good kind of terrified. The kind that means it matters.”
Isabella walked through carrying fabric swatches. “I’m thinking sage green for the nursery. Calming but not boring. Lina, what do you think?”
I looked at the swatches—three different shades of green, all beautiful.
“The middle one,” I said.
“Perfect choice. I’ll order the paint tomorrow.” She kept walking, already on to the next task.
Seb laughed quietly. “She’s going to have that nursery designed and decorated before she leaves.”
“I don’t mind. It’s nice. Having someone care this much.”
“She does care. About you. The baby. All of it.” He kissed my temple. “You’re stuck with her now. The Santoro family adopts people and doesn’t let go.”
“Sounds dangerous.”
“Completely.”
That night, after Isabella had gone to bed, Seb and I stood in his office—the future nursery.
“We should probably start clearing this out,” he said.
“It’s your space. Are you sure you want to give it up?”
“It’s just a room, Lina. We’ll fill it with something better.” He wrapped his arms around me from behind, his hands settling on my stomach. “Can you picture it? A crib where my desk is. That rocking chair my mother insisted we needed in the corner. Tiny clothes in the closet.”
“It’s surreal.”
“Good surreal?”
“The best surreal.” I leaned back against him. “I felt the baby move today. At the store. Just a flutter, but I felt it.”
His hands pressed more firmly against my stomach. “Really?”
“Really.”
We stood there in the empty office, imagining it transformed. And for the first time since I’d seen those positive tests, I felt ready.
Ready to be a mother.
Ready to build this life.
Ready for everything that came next.
SEB’S POV
I woke up at two AM to find Lina’s side of the bed empty.
I found her in the kitchen, sitting in the dark with a glass of water.
“Can’t sleep?” I asked.
She jumped. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t. I just noticed you were gone.” I sat next to her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Everything. I don’t know.” She set down her water. “Your mom leaves in two weeks. The baby comes in six months. Jasper wants a meeting to discuss visitation. And I’m sitting here wondering when my life became this.”
“Regretting it?”
“No. That’s what’s weird. I’m not regretting any of it.” She looked at me. “But Seb, what if I’m a terrible mother? What if I mess this up?”
“You won’t.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I’ve watched you for three months now. The way you care about things. The way you throw yourself into everything you do. The way you love—completely, no half measures.” I took her hand. “You’re going to be an amazing mother.”
“And you’re going to be an amazing father.”
“I’m terrified.”
“Good. We can be terrified together.” She leaned her head on my shoulder. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For staying. For fighting. For making me believe we can actually do this.”
“We can do this. Together.”
“Together,” she echoed.
We sat in the dark kitchen, holding hands, and I thought about how far we’d come. From strangers in a coffee shop to this—planning a nursery, meeting each other’s mothers, preparing for a baby that would make us a family.
It was insane.
It was perfect.
And I wouldn’t change a single thing.
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