This is it! This is the end (for this story anyway). Like it or hate it, this is the Fellowship of the Ring of the trilogy. The next part is like the Empire Strikes Back (hopefully I can live up to greatness).
I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for reading this story. It gave me an outlet for my anxiety during the COVID-19 crisis and I hope that you all found the same escape. Now, on to the next story (to be uploaded in the next two weeks or sooner).
I love you guys!
There were only so many things Contessina could stand during her last few months of pregnancy. A good book was one of them, but everyone fussing over her was not. She became frustrated over not having the ability to move around like she could when she was not carrying a child. She could no longer bend over without having to hold on to something because she felt as though she would topple over. The aches and pains that came with her growing belly did not help her mood either. At some point she had yelled at Claudia for no reason and then cried shortly after out of guilt. The young Auditore woman took no offense to her sister's emotional outburst, but it became apparent that Contessina was absolutely hating being pregnant.
The first few months had been fine with the nausea and occasional dizzy spells, but once she could feel the child moving around well enough, her troubles started. Some nights were unbearable because of the odd feeling of the baby moving within her and sometimes kicking her organs around. She had told herself that this was something she should be enjoying, yet that was the furthest from the case. She had taken to sleeping most of the day when the child was less active, which she had blamed Ezio for several times. The real point was, Contessina wanted the little creature out of her.
The women from the village did not care about how Contessina felt during her pregnancy, they only wanted to be able to be in the room with her when she gave birth. This was, as she was told, custom in most close-knit villages. The idea was uncomfortable to even think about. She honestly did not know how the ladies in the village could stand such a thing, but perhaps she was only accustomed to the women of the family. The women kept coming and showering her with gifts of pastries or bits of fabric to earn that ticket in, well, she kindly accepted the gifts and sent them on their way with a smile.
Carlotta was the only one outside of her family that she wanted in there with her when the time came. Maria and Claudia agreed to this, while Lucia was more than happy to have a small crowd to make things easier for her and the assistant to work in. Too many people and one would think royalty lived there. As it was, Contessina was only a Medici bride and her husband is a banker's son who is also an assassin. There was no royalty there, at least not in the grand scheme of things. It also did not help that Ezio seemed to be leaving every other day for a lead on one of the Pazzi conspirators. He wanted to find one of them at least.
As February roared its way in with a heavy windstorm in the middle of the night, she laid awake wrapped in her husband's arms and watched the fire burn. Her child had gone quiet days ago, which did give her a spike of fear, but Lucia told her it was because the baby was getting closer. Her belly was so big she could not see her feet when she stood up, nor could she see anything else below the waist. Sometimes, she forgot what her feet looked like, to which Ezio joked that they were ugly and covered in warts. For now, though, she counted the days before her child entered the world.
"What are you thinking about?" Ezio's voice mumbled in her hair as he pushed his face into the back of her head. He had on hand on her stomach and the other on her forearm, which was very comfortable for her.
"How miserable I am." If there was one thing she knew he thoroughly enjoyed about her in this state was the way her body changed. He had remarked on how he had seen his mother go through pregnancy twice, but somehow this was completely different for him. "I love our child, Ezio, but I cannot take any more of this...pampering and fuss." She moved to lay on her back so she could look him in the eyes. "Or the lack of involvement." She tried sitting up but found it difficult to do so and gave up after trying. "You know I could sit up in bed no problem before I became a whale?"
"Contessina." He gave her a warning as he moved his arm out from underneath her to prop his head up so he could look down on her. "You are not a whale." He had never seen one in person, but he knew the stories from the merchants who had gone to sea and had seen the magnificent creatures. "I promise it won't be much longer." He was not sure if he could actually promise that, but he wanted to make her feel like it meant something. "He can't stay in there forever."
"He?" Contessina's eyebrows creased at the thought of her child's unknown gender. "I never really thought about what it will be. My mother always said if a woman looked at a man for too long that a child will be born a boy." Ezio seemed to understand what she was trying to convey.
"You look at me all the time." He told her wrapping a strand of hair around one of his fingers. He was content with the world at that moment even though there was a lot that weighed on his mind.
"No, my love, I stare at you all the time." She reached up and patted his cheek before turning herself back on her side to face the fire. "Go back to sleep." Ezio was not sure how to respond to her comment, so he sighed and resumed his previous position of holding her close. "Do you think it will always be like this?" She asked him.
"Ask me again twenty years from now and I'll give you a good answer." Ezio said after a moment before kissing her cheek.
There were a lot of thoughts running through Contessina's mind, besides the images of her life in the future. Glimpses of happy smiles and childish laughter from her hypothetical children as they played in the garden. She supposed she could withstand a few more pregnancies for the sake of those smiles, however she had to get through the first one and that was what really terrified her. She squeezed her husband's hand to see if he was still awake.
"What is it?" He knew her well enough to notice something dangerous was on her mind. "Contessina?" Ezio propped himself up again to look down at her.
"It's nothing." She said keeping her thoughts to herself. Contessina hoped Ezio did not have to make the choice to save either her or the infant because she did not know if he could bear having to make that decision. He was a strong-willed man, but even he had a breaking point that was unknown to the both of them. He did not question her further before going back to sleep.
The middle of February brought the last of the cold days and nights to Toscana with the promise of spring. The air was still chilly when Contessina walked out of the villa and into the garden after a night of sleeplessness. She wanted nothing more than to sleep, but the twinging pain in her back would not let her relax enough to do so. Instead of staying still, she found walking helped to ease the pain and of course she told no one about it. Strolling through the garden with a hand on her lower back, Contessina was pleased to see Fiona tending to the garden with a happy tune coming from her small figure.
The blond could not help but to watch for a moment while the little girl merrily plucked up the dead weeds that had taken over the garden while Contessina had been unable to tend to it herself. The little girl had left Nannia's home every day to visit the villa where she sat with the blond who started to teach her things like math and literature. Contessina felt that if given a chance, Fiona could use that education to find a good match when she was old enough to marry. Then perhaps the girl could be free of the retched woman who practically enslaved her. The dark-haired girl smiled wide when she saw Contessina and ran over to the woman who was just as happy to see her. In Fiona's hands were the first buds from the tiny roses she had planted last year before going to Pistoia.
"What do you have, Fiona?" Contessina said taking the small flowers from the girl's hands and bringing them up to her nose to smell their fragrance. The sweet smell that the yellow roses gave off was enough to calm the blonde's anxieties for a moment and allowed her to smile in appreciation. "These are beautiful."
"Grazie!" The little girl jumped up and down in excitement. "The other ones have not bloomed yet." She said settling down before Contessina held out a hand for her to take. "No bambina yet?" Fiona made it clear when she found out Contessina was pregnant that she wanted the child to be a girl.
"No, not yet, but soon." The woman said as the little girl took her hand and they began to walk through the garden. "So, what are we going to go over today?" Fiona's current fascination was over the little statuettes in the garden that represented the Greco Roman Gods.
"Minerva and Vulcan." Fiona said looking up at Contessina with a smile on her face. Contessina could barely smile when her back gave another spasm, but she was able to push through it anyway.
"Minerva is equivalent to?" The blond asked.
"Athena!"
"Bene." Contessina went on to list all the gods which Fiona answered each question with vigor. They rounded the corner going to the front of the villa where the sounds of mercenaries training could be heard. "Now, to math." There was not enough time to say anything else when Nannia's figure could be seen coming up the steps. The look on Nannia's face went from searching to complete anger when she notices Contessina holding Fiona's hand. "What do you want?" A protective feeling came over the blond as the older woman strode up to her and wrenched Fiona's hand away from her.
"What are you filling her head with this time, Witch?" Nannia's words no longer had an impact on Contessina, but that did not stop the woman from letting her tongue loose. "More of your devilish talk I suspect." Nannia spat before looking down at the girl. "I told you never to come here again, brat." The grip the older woman had on Fiona's wrist tightened causing the little girl to scrunch her face in pain and this made Contessina angry.
"Stop it! You're hurting her!" Contessina reached for Fiona, but Nannia pulled the girl away with a swift jerk causing her to yelp. "Let her go!" The blond yelled out enough to catch someone else's attention from the training grounds. Luckily, it was Mario and following him was Ezio with a very angry look on his face. Contessina could barely make eye contact with her husband when a different pain seized her for a moment. "Nannia, you are hurting her." She said putting a hand on her stomach as the pain seemed to intensify.
"I can hurt her if I wish to, she is mine to care for, is she not?" The woman had caused too much trouble for Contessina in the past and now she was taking it to another level by bringing her hatred on a little girl. "I could sell her to the whores if I wanted too. Just like her sister."
"Why? Why would you sell her into a life like that?" Contessina said in slight pain and she had taken to hiding it as much as she could in that moment.
"If you want to sell her, Nannia, then I will pay the price." Mario spoke up after witnessing the treatment Nannia had been suspected of for months now. Ever since Contessina lived in Monteriggioni, the old woman had made it her mission to hurt the blond in every way and she had used Fiona to do so. "Either that, or you can leave Monteriggioni." Mario had the authority to remove anyone who caused discord from his village, and Nannia was on his short list. "Your choice." The old woman looked at Mario with a shocked expression on her face at the options she was given, and her grip loosened on Fiona's wrist.
"You invited the witch in, and she cast her spell over you." Nannia pointed at Contessina. "You are all her playthings and she will doom all of you!" Contessina could not take it anymore. She balled up her fist and strode forward with all she could muster with her pregnant belly before punching the old woman in the face.
"That's enough out of you!" The blond said grabbing her hand and then bending over in pain as a strong spasm came on. "Mio Dio." She almost fell over before Ezio ran over to catch her.
"Uncle!" The young man did not hesitate to pick his wife up as she found herself almost crying out in pain. Contessina got a good look at the damage she had done to Nannia's face as blood streamed from her nose and the astounded expression on her face was enough to satisfy the blond. "The midwife!"
"I'll go get Signora Lucia." Fiona spoke up as Mario started to berate Nannia for her behavior and Ezio nodded to the little girl. "I'll run as fast as I can!" The girl said before taking off towards the village despite what had just happened with her guardian. The matter of Fiona could be solved later, for now Ezio had more important things to tend to.
"It hurts." Contessina mumbled as she put her head into his shoulder with one arm around his neck and the other clutching her abdomen. He did not waste time in rushing her into the villa where Claudia had come out of her office to investigate the commotion.
"Ezio, what is going on?" She asked him upon seeing Contessina in his arms in obvious discomfort and then she knew that her brother's child was close. "I'll go get mother and Carlotta." Claudia said turning away in a hurry to fetch the two women. Ezio was not sure if he could speak at that moment because he was not sure if his words would come out properly. He looked calm on the outside, but like any new father, he was panicking on the inside. Ezio had brought Contessina up to their room and set her down so she could remove the dress she wore.
"Help me." She motioned to the laces on the back of her dress as she grabbed on to the bed post to support her as he worked to remove the dress. "I have never saw you so quiet before." She said taking a deep breath. Ezio cleared his throat to get rid of any nervousness in his voice before answering.
"I am not sure what to say on the situation other than 'I'm nervous' and I'm sure you feel the same way." He tried smiling to comfort her, but she gave him a sardonic look that almost made him feel awkward. Once the laces were undone, he helped her out of the dress and then watched as she began to pace with her hands on her lower back. "Do you need anything?" He was trying to be the helpful husband in the situation before Lucia arrived to remove him from the room.
"I need you." She said a few minutes later when she stopped walking and braced herself against the bed as a contraction seized her. "Right now." Ezio was about to spring into action when the door opened to reveal his mother right as Contessina moaned out a sound he had never heard from anyone before.
The pain was almost unbearable and when Maria came in the door, Contessina could not have been so happy to see the woman she called her mother. The Auditore woman lent her quiet support by rushing to the blonde's side and rubbing her back as she groaned from the pain. Carlotta was the next woman to come in the room while Ezio had taken to sitting in a chair feeling as useless as any man in the situation. The brunette woman came in with a bowl of water and a cloth to help wipe the sweat that Contessina had worked up in her labor.
"What is he doing in here?" Lucia's voice pulled Ezio from his meandering thoughts and then he realized he was going to have to leave the room. Of course, he knew this was something he would never be allowed to do, but Claudia was quick to inform him that he had no choice. "Out you go, Ser Ezio. You will get to come back in when all the work is over." Lucia said with a smile as she walked him out the door and patted him on the back as his uncle came to take him away from all the commotion.
Hours seemed to pass slowly for Contessina as the pain steadily grew worse for her to the point, she felt like she was being ripped apart. She had been laid in the bed with her head in Maria's lap as she tried resting in between contractions, but it was no use. The pain was too much for her and she yelled out with every spasm. Carlotta sat at the laboring woman's side holding her hand through each wave of pain and giving her encouraging words while Claudia worked to help Lucia as much as possible. The feeling Contessina felt during one contraction was strange as a burning sensation coursed through her.
"It's close now, Signora. Very close." Lucia said as another wave of pain coursed through the blond. "Breathe." The midwife held her hands over a bowl as her assistant poured wine over them to wash any contaminates from them.
"You can do this, Contessina." Carlotta smiled at her as she squeezed the blonde's hand in reassurance while Maria grabbed her other hand with an encouraging look on her face. Inside, Contessina was terrified of the next few minutes. The pain did not scare her, but the thought of her child being still born or worse, she herself suffering from complications which could lead to her death. This was a whole new territory for her and not one of her choosing.
"Push girl! Push!" Lucia's voice kept her attention as pain tore through Contessina making her yell out from the unrelenting burning sensation she had never felt before. Another strong contraction and she yelled out a final time before relief came and then she laid eyes on her child for the first time.
"Well done, Contessina. Well done." Carlotta gave her a joyful look as the child began to wail. Contessina looked over to her mother and saw the tears rolling down her cheeks at the sight of her new grandchild. She herself was crying at the sight of her baby and then she reached for her newborn, sobbing as Lucia handed the child to her.
"All this fuss over you, and here you are." Contessina looked down at her child and saw the resemblance to Ezio and of course the dark hair. "You look like your father." She said kissing the child's forehead with a smile and happy tears in her eyes.
"He does." Maria's voice spoke up for the first time in years causing Contessina to gasp. "There is no denying it." The older woman said leaning down to kiss the blond on the forehead with a happy smile on her face.
Ezio had paced through the whole ordeal as he was prone to doing in stressful situations, but the cries from the room upstairs made him agitated. No man likes to hear his beloved screaming in pain and no matter how hard he tried to talk himself into downplaying the situation it always ended up taking a dark turn. What if the child was dead? What if Contessina died too? What if the child survived and she did not? Then sometimes he would go to the typical thoughts a first-time father often thought about. Was it a boy? A girl? Both? He shook his head on that one. Twins would be a little much. Did the child look like Contessina or did it look like him?
If anyone walked in at that moment, they would see a very different Ezio Auditore da Firenze. The Ezio that worried and had no idea what the hell he was doing, not the one that was a composed and calculated assassin. He hoped his fears were nothing and that all would be well with the birth of his first child (that he knew of). Of course, hearing Contessina's yells did nothing to calm those fears, but when the yelling stopped it only made him worry more. That was until his sister came out of the room with a happy look on her face and his worries disappeared for a moment.
"Claudia?" Ezio stopped his pacing as she made her way down the stairs and over to him before embracing him tightly. He was slightly taken aback by this strange mood his sister was in, but he decided not to question it. "What is it? Is everything alright?" He said pulling away from her.
"It's a boy." Claudia told him and he did not know how to react at first. A boy. He had a son. Upon hearing this Ezio saw his uncle come out of his study with a broad grin on his face. The jovial man walked up to his nephew and embraced him tightly enough to cut off the younger man's air for a moment.
"Congratulations, Nipote!" Mario yelled out before letting go of Ezio who had yet to understand he actually had a son now. The reality had not sunken in yet and probably would not until he laid eyes on the boy. "I suppose we should start preparing for that feast, Claudia."
"Give it a couple weeks, Zio." The young woman said. "Let Ezio and Contessina adjust to the idea of a newborn." Somehow, Ezio felt like his sister was hinting at something he missed before.
"You're right." Mario said. "You should go introduce yourself to your son, Nipote." He put a hand on Ezio's shoulder, and the young man nodded not sure what reality he was in at the moment, but he decided it was time to walk forward.
He was only nineteen years old, having married at seventeen and in the same year he had lost his father and two brothers to treachery. As he walked up the stairs, he thought about everything he had learned and gone through in the last two years. He had another role to fill besides a banker's son, husband, and then assassin. The last one being something that had chosen him against his better judgement, but this new role was something he felt underprepared for. It was bigger than any of his roles before and it involved another life. He was young, and there were men out there that had become fathers at ages younger than him but managed well. However, they were not assassins and he had no idea how to balance the two roles. The only example he had to go by was that of Giovanni Auditore, his own father.
Opening the door to Contessina's room he watched as the women stood back to let him pass while Maria walked up to him and placed a hand on his cheek. She smiled at him for the first time in a long time before kissing his cheek and moving away so he could move to Contessina where she sat up in the bed with their son in her arms. His exhausted wife smiled at him with the brightest look in her blue eyes before she held her son out to his father.
"Mind his head." She told Ezio as he took the baby into his arms and held him with steady hands. The boy looked up at him with wide eyes and that was when Ezio knew his son was going to be trouble. He smiled as he sat on the bed next to Contessina and leaned over to kiss her with as much passion he could muster.
"I think it is time we left." Carlotta said to the other women around and ushering them out of the door to announce the new to the rest of the village. "If you need anything, all you need do is say the word." The brunette said as she shut the door behind her leaving the couple alone with their newborn.
"Your mother said he looks just like you." Contessina said pulling away from the kiss to see his face and then looked down at the boy in his arms to see the uncanny resemblance. There was almost nothing of her in her son, but then again, he was an infant. "What are we going to call him?" There was another problem. They had not decided on a name for either sex.
"If he had been a girl, Giulia." Ezio said handing his son back to his mother. "It is almost expected of me to name him after my father." He told his wife as she looked down at her sleepy son who was barely two hours old.
"We would be naming him after both of our fathers." That was right, her father was also Giovanni only the name sounded cursed now because they had both died before their natural time. As much as they both respected and loved their fathers, it did not seem appropriate. "But everyone is naming their sons Giovanni these days." Contessina said before putting a thoughtful look on her face. "What about your ancestor, Domenico? It's a strong name and it's important to your family." Ezio looked down at his son and then back up to Contessina who seemed to like the name. It was not a name that was heard around Italia that often.
"Domenico Auditore." Ezio tried it out and found it fit his son perfectly while not losing any of the importance to his family. Not that it mattered, but tradition was rooted in family. "Si, that will do."
"Bene" Contessina smiled before leaning against her husband as they admired the child.
The saga continues...in The Assassin's Wife