December 10th
“Daddy!”
Lucian looked over his shoulder to see familiar, sweet faces coming his way. Liliana and Cella darted in his direction with matching red chiffon dresses, and shiny black shoes. Jordyn had the girls’ hair pulled into high ponytails with matching red bows.
He barely turned in the bench before his girls were on him. Cella, his youngest, climbed into his lap. Liliana jumped onto the bench, then the metal table, and wrapped her little arms around his neck. She hugged for dear life, taking away his ability to breathe.
Jesus.
He didn’t even care.
His kids were everything.
“Daddy, I missed you!”
Liliana’s arms tightened around his neck with her words.
Cella was right up in his face. Her hazel eyes—eyes that matched his—were wide, clear, and happy. “Hi, Dad-day!”
Somehow, he managed to deal with both his girls at the same time. A hand patting Liliana’s head, and a kiss to Cella’s cheek.
“My girls,” Lucian said. “Ti amo, mia bella caras. Daddy loves you, my beautiful girls.”
Jordyn had finally made her way across the visiting area as well. A soft smile played at the edges of her lips. Lucian looked up at her with a smile and a chuckle. Neither one of the girls had let him go yet, after all, so he couldn’t offer her much more.
Unfortunately, the girls didn’t get to come to visit as much as he would like for them to. That was a decision made by both him and his wife. Jail was not a place for children. He was lucky enough that when his children did come to visit, the guards agreed to remove his cuffs for the duration.
It saved them explanations to the girls, anyway.
“Hey, bella.”
Jordyn leaned down enough to give him a quick kiss. “Hey.”
“No John?”
Lucian really wanted to see his son. Despite what Jordyn told him on the phone to keep him from worrying about Johnathan, he knew his boy was having trouble. His behavior was already reckless enough for a kid his age, but conversations with his father and brothers let him know John was giving his mother hell.
“No John,” Jordyn said with a shrug. “Backed out this morning. Giovanni came to pick him up before we left, said something about gelato and Christmas shopping.”
Lucian scoffed. “Giovanni doesn’t Christmas shop. He hires someone to do that for him.”
“Well, that’s what he said.”
“John’s sad, Daddy,” Liliana told him.
Lucian frowned, and patted his daughter’s head once more. “Yeah, I know, Lily.”
“Santa will make him happy, right?”
Jordyn’s gaze found Lucian’s, and he really wished they had the right answer for their girl. Neither of them said anything.
What could they say, really?
Cella saved the day by distracting them all. “I pees by myself now!”
Lucian’s eyes stretched wide at her exclamation, and a laugh burst from his lips. Kids had no concept of privacy, or filters. Little milestones that their parents made big deals out of often became sentiments they repeated to others in public, so they too could share in the wonder.
Being embarrassed was a part of being a parent.
“Do you?” he asked her.
“Only took three months,” Jordyn told him with a roll of her pretty eyes.
“Only, huh?”
“That, and a package of princess underwear she found at the store one day. She was determined not to mess in them. I wish I had known that trick years ago for the other two.”
Lucian chuckled. “Maybe you’ll be able to use it once more for another at some point, dolcezza.”
Jordyn gave him a look. “Ah, no. You’ve knocked me up enough times, thanks.”
“Jord.”
“Nope.”
They had decided they were done having kids. Jordyn even had some weird looking birth control put in that was basically ninety-nine-point-nine percent effective. It could last up to eight years without anyone doing anything. Or it was supposed to, anyway.
Lucian called that shit a lifesaver.
He still might like one more.
Another boy, maybe.
But his principessas were perfect, too.
Another girl would be fine.
He just had to work on Jordyn …
“Do you misses me, Daddy?” Liliana asked.
Lucian’s attention went back to his oldest girl in an instant. “Of course, I miss you.”
“Will you come home soon?”
Jordyn plucked her daughter off the table, and sat down on the metal bench beside her husband. Liliana sat in her mother’s lap, and Cella rested happily in his. “Soon, Lily. Daddy will be home soon.”
They were so young.
They couldn’t possibly understand.
Lucian supposed he knew why it was more difficult for John to come see his father. The boy was several years older than his sisters, and understood a great deal more about their current situation. He probably blamed his father for being where he was, and frankly, had every damn right to. A conversation with his boy over the phone was easy—they could both pretend Lucian was not where he actually was. A face to face visit was not quite the same.
At least, John had his uncles and grandfather for the moment.
More lifesavers.
“Daddy,” Cella said, turning in his lap to peer up at him again, “guess what?”
“What, bambina?”
“We has big Crit-mah tree.”
“Really?”
“Eva,” she said with a dramatic nod and big eyes.
“Wow.”
“Mmhmm.”
Lucian looked to his wife with a grin. “And I bet Ma had so much fun putting that up, too.”
Jordyn made a sound under her breath, and glanced upward. “Fun, right.”
“The girls love it, though.”
“That’s the only reason it didn’t go straight out the back door.”
Lucian laughed.
This was what he needed.
A visit from his girls, and his wife. His mood was instantly better. His outlook finally improved. He probably wouldn’t see the girls again for a visit until after the holiday season, so he really just wanted to soak this one up for all it was worth.
“Love you, Jordyn,” he told his wife.
She smiled at him, reached out, and stroked his cheek with her palm. “Love you, Lucian.”