The Rocchetti Queen - Bree Porter Page 0,71

his hair lightly.

"Mamaaa, Dadaaa," sung my little girl on the monitor.

I twisted around, grabbing the monitor and turning it down. I wasn't going to get back to sleep and I would rather keep the kids away from their father so he could rest. With one last look at Alessandro, I carefully slipped out of bed, wrapped my dressing-gown around me and went in search of my daughter.

The baby's door was open, her little voice floating out into the hallway. I peeked through the door, taking in the pink princess room, with a canopy over the crib and little toy princesses cast around the floor.

Pia was hanging onto the side of the crib, swinging herself and singing. She wore a little onesie with patterns of butterflies. Her golden-brown hair was in two little space buns, held tight with pink hair bands. The awkward position of them told me her big sister had done it for her.

"Hi, baby," I cooed, sweeping into the room.

She cheered at the sight of me. "Mama! Morning, Mama!"

"Good morning, Pia," I laughed.

She stretched out, leaping into my arms before I even got a good hold on her. Pia clung onto me like a monkey, her warm little body pressing into me. The smell of baby powder washed over me.

"Did you have a good sleep, baby?" I asked, hooking her onto my hip and holding her to me. I smoothed down her curly buns.

"Mm." She reached out, little fingers clenching and unclenching. "Gubby!"

"Oh, we can't forget Gubby." I leaned over the crib, grabbing her pink teddy bear that was missing an ear and eye. She clutched Gubby to her chest. I tried to hide her binkie from her eyeline, but Pia spotted it and pointed.

I passed it to her, and she happily plopped it into her mouth, smiling around the pacifier.

Pia Salvatrice Rocchetti was the youngest of all my children and perhaps the most like me. She was loud, charming and chatty, enjoying dolls and princesses more than anything. At the moment, she was going through a phase where she would only leave the house dressed up in a princess costume.

"Should we go and check on your siblings?" I asked, leaving her bedroom.

"Zozo?" she asked.

I peeked into Enzo's room. He was half on the bed, leg hanging in the air and wearing no clothes (I had dressed him the night before, but he managed to strip into the nude every single night). His tongue was hanging out and golden-brown hair ruffled.

I closed the door softly. "Enzo's asleep."

Dante was also still asleep. He was tucked into his covers, breathing softly.

"Dante's still asleep. Let's check on Caterina."

"Cat, Cat," Pia sung.

I peeked into Caterina's room, expecting to see another sleeping child, but Cat was tucked under the window, wrapped in her blanket, with a book in front of her.

"Cat, Cat!"

Caterina looked up at us, smiling. "Morning, Mama. Morning, Pia."

Caterina Sofia Rocchetti was my second-born. Though her looks favored her father more than any of my other children, from her long straight dark brown hair to her olive skin, she was the calmest and quietest out of all my children. Intelligent, watchful and introverted, I was more likely to find her reading a book than playing with her toys.

"Good morning, baby." I swept over to her, plopping a kiss onto her head. "Pia and I are going to make some breakfast. Do you want to help?"

"Okay." Caterina climbed out from under blanket. “Nonno said Grandma is busy today so I can go with him to Evanston.”

“We’ll see what your dad says.”

To everybody’s surprise, Toto and Caterina were extremely close. Since the day she was born, Toto had doted on her and Cat considered her nonno one of her best friends. Toto was kind to my other children, but Cat was the least-childlike, so I could see why he favored her.

In the kitchen, Polpetto greeted us. He was getting slower these days, and usually slept on the first story so he didn’t have to go up and down the stairs.

“Hi, Petto!” Pia greeted, wiggling in my arms.

“Gentle with Polpetto,” I told her.

Pia was obsessed with dogs. All she had been asking for lately was a puppy. Alessandro had put his foot down—one of the rare times he did with one of his girls.

I’ve got enough wild animals in this house, he had said when the children had been pressuring him about it. You will have better luck asking me for another sibling.

That was something I had put my foot down on.

My house looked