WHISPERS OF RAIN

BONUS SCENE: THE NIGHT LIGHT

The baby monitor crackled softly on the nightstand.

It was nearly 3 a.m.

Leo lay half asleep, one hand stretched toward the other side of the bed empty. Still warm.

Then, a small creak from the hallway. Quiet. Careful.

He smiled before opening his eyes.

Emilia stood in the doorway, hair messy, robe slipping off one shoulder, holding Luca eight months old, red-cheeked and drowsy against her chest.

“He had a bad dream,” she whispered.

Leo sat up, patting the bed beside him. “So did I. Come here.”

She climbed in beside him, adjusting Luca between them. The baby’s breathing was shallow and uneven, and his tiny hand searched for something familiar.

Leo offered his finger. Luca latched on without hesitation.

“Remember when we thought raising a child would be poetic?” Emilia murmured, her voice dry with exhaustion and love.

Leo chuckled under his breath. “I remember thinking we’d sleep again. That was cute.”

Luca hiccupped once, then settled, his head nestled between them like a peace offering from the gods.

“I was scared,” Emilia admitted quietly, stroking the baby’s hair.

“Of what?”

“That I wouldn’t know how to love him right. That I’d mess him up the way I sometimes felt I was broken.”

Leo turned to her, gently touching her chin so she’d look at him.

“You are the safest thing he’s ever known,” he said. “You loved him before he had a heartbeat.”

She blinked against tears.

He smiled. “And if we mess him up, we’ll teach him how to heal, too. Together.”

Luca sighed, shifting slightly, one foot kicking free of the blanket. Emilia tucked him in with practiced ease.

“I never knew this kind of love existed,” she whispered.

“Neither did I,” Leo said, kissing her shoulder. “It’s like falling in love all over again every single time he smiles.”

The baby stirred.

Both of them froze.

Then he settled.

They exhaled in perfect unison.

Outside, the wind swept gently through the lemon trees.

Inside, beneath the soft hum of the monitor and the warmth of their child’s breath, Leo reached for the night light and dimmed it down to a golden glow.

Not darkness.

Not light.

Just enough.

Just right.

Like them.