Honoured with love

Sixteen years of age...

Seven months pregnant...

One week later...

The police showed up at our front door last night intending to take me down to the police station.

Papa urgently called out to me while I was in my room moping around. When I walked out of my room, his head dropped briefly before he looked back up at me than the front door. His eyes were vivid of any real emotion.

"Mr Giovanni Venturi." The police officer asked me when I stepped forward.

"Si," I answered with a sigh.

"There has been a complaint laid against you from The Maddisons regarding their eldest daughter." The cop looks at me rolling his eyes.

"The whole town knows about you and Celeste, Giovanni." He closes his note pad.

"I've spoken to your father and I will delay the processing of the case as long as I can." He tucks the note pad back into the inside pocket of his jacket. "I just wanted Mrs Maddison to see that I acknowledged her complaint." He touches the tip of his hat and nods his head as he walks back to his patrol car.

Papa closes the door. "Come Gio." He looks at me with an unreadable look on his face.

I follow him to the living room and take a seat on the sofa across from him.

"Mama and I spoke. We will stay as long as we can until your case goes to trial. Officer Wolfgang was kind enough to fill me in and told me Mrs Maddison is attempting to get the maximum." "Of course she is," I mumble.

"Gio, this is serious. An allegation like this will follow you around for the rest of your life." Papa said in a worrisome tone.

"I know papa," I reply meeting his gaze. "And I'm truly sorry."

"I know you are. Sometimes our destiny chooses us and leads us down a difficult path. Our future is never forged in perfection. I see that now."

I swear this is the rawest thing he's said to me since I told him about Celeste. I've missed his wisdom and our talks. Picking his brain and feeding off his knowledge has always been my favourite time spent with him.

"I don't want to leave my family behind papa. The old lady is evil and she will destroy my Celeste and take my daughter." I can't help but soak my words in fear.

"Celeste is a remarkable young lady. You should be proud."

"I love her so much papa." I confess "I feel like I'm drowning in my misery and it's suffocating. It's daunting." I sigh deeply expelling some of my heartaches.

"There will come a time when you

will need to make that decision Gio. I

am telling you this now so you can have a plan set out and ready to follow when the time comes. If we try to take Celeste and your child, it will be considered kidnapping. Celeste is still a minor and she is not a blood-related relative." Papa says with a tinge of despair.

"I'm just sixteen papa. I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'm about to become a Papa myself in a few months. What plan can I put together that I won't stuff up along the way?" I grow more nervous each passing day.

"Ah... I remember the day you were born like it was yesterday," his eyes glaze over. "Your mama stole my heart all over again and she didn't even know. When you were crowning and the midwife told her to pant, she cursed the gods and told me she would rip my penis off if I ever tried getting intimate with her ever again." He chuckles...

"You've never told me this story," I say, being fully invested in it.

"Yeah well, it's not an everyday kinda story to tell," he gazes at me. "The nurse reached down in-between your mamas' legs to help guide you out. The pressure was too much for your mama to take and she gave one good push, and nearly sent you flying across the room." His shoulders moved up and down as he laughed.

"Explain nearly?" I ask.

"Well, if it wasn't for that nurse holding your head. You would've flown through the air like a buttered bullet," his face lights up. "When the nurse placed you in your mama's arms, she took one look at you and fell in love with you hard. She looked up at me and said Gio. We will name our baby boy Giovanni Enzo Venturi. The pride your mama felt shone blindly through her beautiful eyes. I have never seen your mama look more glorious then she does after birthing my sons."

I look at my papa in awe. He got to witness his sons being born, I probably won't have the honour to do the same. I worry about Celeste having to go through labour on he own, without me. No one will be

there to encourage her to pushed. ne

whisper sweet words in her ear, letting her know how amazing and beautiful she truly is. My daughter won't get the chance to hear my voice when I cry and tell her how long I've waited to meet her and how

much I love her.

"I envy you, papa. I can only hope and wish that I am granted the chance to witness the birth of my baby." I yearn to be the kind of papa my daughter will grow up to love and respect.

But, I can not be loved or respected. If I'm not there when she enters our lives like a surge of lightning. I am being robbed of so much more than I deserve.

"I don't have the words to illustrate your future. But I do believe, that the gods have a plan for everyone and everything they do. Patience is a virtue Gio." He says confidently.

He stands and I stand too. "Thank you for everything you continue to do for me, papa," I say with meaning.

"I will always and forever be here when you need me." He leans in and hugs me, patting me on the back.

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