she stepped out onto the terrace in a summer dress that made her look like a runway model.
Marcella had Aria’s beauty, only the pale skin against the black hair was even more eye-catching. She was fourteen and men began to notice her. Every time I went shopping with her, I noticed the appreciative looks. Every man who knew of her father kept their eyes to themselves. Anything else would be suicide. I couldn’t imagine Luca ever being okay with Marcella dating anyone, much less marrying. The perfect man for her probably didn’t exist on this planet.
“Ask again in seven years,” Luca muttered from his position at the barbecue.
“Daaaaddd,” Marcella moaned with a roll of her eyes and went back inside.
“She’s at a difficult age,” Aria said.
“When aren’t they?” Luca asked.
A high-pitched laugh sounded. Isa was playing hide-and-seek with her cousins Flavio and Valerio. As usual, the boys did what she wanted, she was only four but already very strong-willed. Aria’s second son was only nine months younger than Isa, and Flavio one day younger. They were inseparable.
“Dinner’s ready!” Aria called as she set a salad down in the center of the massive patio table. Luca carried over a plate with grilled meat.
“Flavio, Valerio, Isa!” I called but they kept chasing each other.
Aria sighed. Matteo waved at Amo. “Come on, Amo, move your butt and help me catch the little monsters.”
Amo pushed out of his chair. Only ten and the kid was already taller than Aria. He and Matteo began running after the children who began screeching. Marcella came out on the terrace, Lily’s seven-year-old daughter Sara trailing after her like a lost puppy.
Eventually, Matteo headed back to the table with Isa wedged under his left arm. Amo carried his little brother Valerio upside down so the kid’s blond hair fell into his face. He reminded me so much of little Fabiano, it sometimes gave me a wistful pang until his gray eyes reminded me that he wasn’t my brother. Flavio trotted after them. He was easier to handle than Isa and Valerio but far more trouble than sweet Sara. Lily sometimes said it was a boy thing, but Isa proved that theory wrong.
Matteo set Isa down in the chair beside mine.
I gave her a stern look when she was about to get up again. “Dinnertime.”
My tone made it clear that arguments were in vain, so Isa nodded with a small pout. Lily waddled outside, pregnant again, followed by Romero who always kept a close eye on her now that she was about to pop any day now.
Eventually everyone sat at the table, and the food was even still moderately warm.
Soon we all dug in and chatter filled the table. I cut Isa’s steak and she eagerly wolfed it down, much to Matteo’s delight. The girl loved meat and her dad’s motorcycle but she never missed our weekly mother and child yoga either. I brushed a few of her reddish-brown curls away from her forehead and she gave me a grin around her fork, those bold blue eyes getting me every time. So far Isa hadn’t encountered any restrictions. She was allowed to brawl with her cousins. The older she got, the more people would speak up to tell her what she could and couldn’t do because she was a girl. I’d make sure they all shut up, and if necessary, I’d even let Matteo use his particular scary talents to keep anyone at bay who’d try to make Isa believe her potential had limits only because she didn’t have a penis.
Matteo leaned over to me. “You got your fierce mother bear expression. Worrying your pretty head about Isa’s future again?”
I gave him an annoyed look but didn’t deny it.
“Trust me, babe. I’ll make sure our girl has all the freedoms she wants as long as she never brings a date home, unless it’s her lesbian lover.”
“You are impossible,” I muttered, trying to stifle a smile.
“That’s why you love me, admit it.” Matteo kissed me briefly until Valerio let out an ewww.
“Your mom and dad are being disgusting again,” he said with a scrunched-up nose.
“I know,” Isa said as if she had to suffer under our PDA all the time.
“You wouldn’t be sitting here if your mom and I didn’t enjoy being disgusting,” Matteo said. I rammed my elbow into his side. Marcella shook her head in disgust and Amo let out a laugh.
“What does that mean?” Sara asked, and the younger kids all looked from Matteo to Romero then Luca.
The