Bound By Blood Anthology

“Do you think Lily and Romero will join us tonight? We haven’t had dinner together since we both gave birth,” I said.

Aria gave a delicate shrug. Matteo of course was less restrained. “Even if they come over, I doubt Liliana can tear herself away from admiring the little poop machine.”

“They have two, I doubt Sara is out of diapers yet,” Luca commented.

Aria sent both men reprimanding looks. “Lily is a very caring mother.”

Matteo’s cough sounded remarkably like a cluck.

“What does that make me, a cuckoo?” I joked. Isa laughed as if she could understand what was going on. For a second, I felt horrible because I had almost become the cuckoo to drop her off with Aria. She would have had the perfect life with my sister, but I couldn’t imagine giving her away anymore.

Aria looked flustered. “Of course not. I just don’t want us to make Lily feel bad for being a bit over caring with Flavio. Every mother handles the newborn phase differently.”

“All right, Dalai-L’Aria,” Matteo said with a wink.

She pointed her fork at him. “Remember you’ll need to be on my good side if you and Gianna want more couple time.”

“As if you could ever say no to them, if they ask you for a favor,” Luca muttered.

I stifled a laugh at the caught look Aria gave him.

Lily and Romero actually joined us in the Hamptons with their kids that afternoon, and even had an almost adult-only dinner (if you didn’t count Marci and Amo) with us. The rest of the kids were already asleep. It almost felt like old times, apart from Marci’s pouty-face because Luca had told her to turn her music down in less than favorable words for the band members. He’d compared their songs to castrated cats. Amo of course couldn’t shut up about castrated cats since then, making mew sounds all the time to provoke Marci.

Lily was a bit jumpy whenever Flavio made the slightest sound or even when the baby monitor only let out a crackle but apart from that, we had a pleasant dinner. We even chatted about more than diapers and spew incidents. I grinned at Matteo. Old Gianna and new Mom-Gianna could co-exist peacefully.GiannaWe fell into a good routine and eventually I really thought I’d mastered motherhood while also keeping up my classes in the gym. Of course, Aria’s warning that especially the first year could be a constant up and down proved right.

At five months, Isa was teething and absolutely intolerable most days. I was torn between worry and pity over her red cheeks. Yet, my worst enemy was exhaustion.

Matteo and I decided to spend a few days in the Hamptons to come down. The ocean air usually calmed Isa but even that was barely working. Aria and Luca had stayed in New York because Aria had a pregnancy checkup and Amo some kind of neck-breaking dirt race. I still wasn’t sure how Amo and Luca had convinced Aria to let him choose this insane hobby. Probably Luca’s argument that he needed to harden the boy for the mob had worked its magic.

It was late in the evening while Matteo was out to grab us food at our favorite place when Isa had a particularly bad crying episode.

Eventually I began to cry as well, overwhelmed and doubting myself and my decision to become a mother. Aria would have been the better choice.

I was rocking Isa, trying to calm her down when heavy steps rang out. I let out a surprised cry when Luca suddenly appeared in the doorway to the nursery.

I was only in Matteo’s shirt and I wasn’t even sure if I was wearing underwear.

“Aria decided to spend a few days here,” he said carefully.

“What about that race?” I said, trying to pretend I wasn’t a crying mess.

“It was in the afternoon. We drove here right after.”

“I guess it’s Aria’s sixth sense,” I said with a forced laugh. “She could feel I didn’t have my shit together and came to the rescue.”

Luca nodded, still watching me. “She’s downstairs, trying to settle an argument between Amo and Marcella.”

Isa let out a particularly loud wail, her cute face becoming a grimace.

Luca approached me as if I were a spooked horse. “Let me hold her for a bit.” In the past, I would have chewed his ear off for the commanding tone but I was glad for his presence. He gently took Isa from me.

“I don’t even remember if I put on panties,” I said miserably.

Luca regarded me. “Don’t worry, I won’t lift that shirt to find out. I saw you down there once, that’ll last for a lifetime.”

I snorted, and a knot loosened hearing his familiar jibe. “Bastard, I was squeezing a baby out of me. I don’t always look like that down there.”

Luca smirked. “If you say so. Still, no thanks.”