*Cat*
“There you go! Co on, co to Mama!” I cheered happily, clapping as I sat on my knees across the living room. I held Emilia’s favorite plushie in my hands, a stuffed blue dog from her favorite cartoon, holding it out to her and wiggling its little feet.
Emilia had her little face scrunched up in concentration, chubby arms flailing on the floor as she lay on her tummy, now able to hold up her big head all by herself. She didn’t quite know how to crawl yet, only waving her arms excitedly like she was trying to swim across the carpet and sotis, she’d managed to scoot herself a couple of feet, but that was all.
She looked adorable, like a little duckling trying to learn how to swim for the first ti, and I stifled my laugh behind the plushie, grinning madly at how cute this was. I was recording with one hand, shaking the plush with the other as I encouraged her to head to where I was just out of reach.
I didn’t expect her to crawl. It was still far too early for that. She’d get there eventually but for now, this was just an exercise to build up her muscles, to prepare her for when she’d be standing up then walking then running all over the house.
As many tis as I’d been warned about the terrible twos, I was excited to experience it with Emilia, though I’d miss these days once they were gone, I was sure.
“Alright, here you go, good job, Emilia,” I laughed, ending the recording as I handed Emilia her plush dog.
She grabbed it with her hands, imdiately sticking its ear into her mouth to suck on and I laughed, lifting her up into my arms and taking a seat on the couch.
She leaned against obediently, giving a soft little yawn as she nibbled on her plushie’s ear. I chuckled, taking the mont to send the video to Elio but right before I was about to send it, I got the ding of a text from my phone.
‘On my way ho. Be there soon. Love you.’
I smiled, gently whispering to Emilia, “Daddy’s coming ho soon. You’ll be so excited to see him.”
Emilia loved him dearly, sotis I think even more than , and I thought it probably had to do with how she was stuck with twenty-four seven and Elio was gone most of the day. She was really clingy with him once he got ho though. I sent the video, wrote back a quick text basically saying okay, and lifted Emilia up.
I settled her into her pack-and-play, making sure her toys were in sight. She continued playing with her plushie happily.
That gave a chance to get sothing done. I cleaned up the living room, putting up all her toys in the cute little basket I’d bought for that purpose. Usually, the maid helped , but I was feeling pretty active today. I wanted to do it myself, just to give sothing to do.
By the ti I was finished, pretty proud of myself for how spotless it now looked besides the few toys thrown around her play mat, Elio was already pulling into the driveway.
“Welco ho.” I grinned brightly, holding Emilia in one arm as Elio ca.
He blinked in surprise at us standing in the foyer to greet him, but that quickly disappeared into a tired smile.
“My princesses.” He reached out, pressing a kiss to Emilia’s forehead then taking her from as she whined excitedly, curling her little hands imdiately around his curly locks. He kissed on the lips, smiling as he pulled back.
“I saw you at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Leo sent the pictures. You looked amazing,” I teased him, leading him to the living room by the hand. My smile faltered though as I saw his gloomy expression.
“Yeah,” was all he said, taking a seat on the couch with Emilia. He grinned brightly at her, lifting her up in the air as he cooed at her.
Sothing was up.
I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to find out what was wrong just by a look, but all I could determine at this point was that he was not very excited about the ribbon-cutting. Was it the event? Did it not go well?
Shoving those thoughts to the back of my mind, I switched topics.
“How was your eting with Franky?” I asked, rembering all the text updates he’d sent throughout the day. I hardly rembered this morning except for vaguely saying bye to him and waking up in a mountain of pillows confused.
Elio’s eyes lit up at the ntion of Franky.
“Turns out I’m not on the Feds’ radar, so all of our guys have remained loyal. Leo and Franky are in the clear as well, thankfully. Franky’s co up with so plan to get our guys out and back to Italy but he wouldn’t tell the details.”
“Frustrating, isn’t it?” I smirked, crossing my arms at the irony.
“Yeah, yeah.” He rolled his eyes. “How long are you gonna hold that over ?”
“Probably forever.” I laughed at the look of dismay he sent , bumping into his shoulder playfully as I leaned on him, snuggling my head on his shoulder. “I’m just kidding. Does this plan of his include pissing off the Feds cause that seems like sothing important?”
“I don’t know but probably,” Elio shrugged. “Breaking out of a federal prison tends to piss off the guys in charge. Shocking, I know.”
“They’re so unreasonable,” I teased. “Are you sure you’re okay with Franky taking over on this project? I know you like to be in charge of things, especially when it cos to the Valentinos. It’s your family legacy.”
“I trust Franky to handle this without ,” Elio said confidently, giving a small smile. “And it’s not just my family legacy but Al’s too. He trusts us to handle this, so I can trust the person he picked out to help . Besides, Franky has more than earned his place here. We’d never have gotten this far without him.”
“True,” I nodded sagely. “Though, I still say he’s a bit of an asshole.”
“No argunt there,” Elio snorted.
Emilia babbled in agreent, pulling tightly on one of Elio’s curls and I stifled a laugh at the pained expression on his face.
“Damn, she’s getting strong,” Elio grumbled to himself.
“Yes, she is!” I cooed, proudly at our little girl, giving her a big kiss on her chubby cheek. She blinked her wide eyes at , looking absolutely stunned that I would do such a thing to her and her lips wobbled before she let out a wail.
She buried her face into Elio’s chest, acting like she’d been so horribly wronged and I pressed my lips together to stop from laughing as Elio sent a mock offended look.
“How could you? To our princess?” Elio gasped.
“I know! I’m so evil,” I cried dramatically, falling back to lean on Elio’s shoulders. I laughed as Elio comforted our daughter who wasn’t even crying, just faking it to get attention from her daddy.
I sighed, happy with our family but also that he’d finally let back in. I told him so, giving him a kiss on the cheek as a reward and he grinned.
“I wouldn’t be where I am without you. You’ve been the driving force behind everything.” He sighed, closing his eyes peacefully as he pulled into a side hug. “I’d never be as great without you by my side. I just needed a little reminder of that.”
“Or a few,” I corrected with a pout. I was still a bit bitter from the many conversations we’d had and the promises he’d failed to keep over and over. Frustrating didn’t even co close to how I felt.
But I was learning to trust him again, just as he was learning to let him in behind those walls he’d built up.
“Do you have any more etings to go to tonight?” I asked, curiously, not wanting to be alone tonight again but Elio shook his head, giving a sweet smile.
“I’m all yours tonight.”
At this promise, he kept whole-heartedly.
I picked out a few movies to watch, so rom-coms I liked and then a few action movies I knew Elio liked, and then one that was sohow both we’d never seen before. We ordered take-out from my favorite Chinese place, dismissing the rest of the servants for the night.
Emilia, as always, tried her best to get a taste of Mom and Dad’s food, but Elio was much more careful this ti, not letting her sneak a piece of his sweet and sour chicken. I sneakily pretended to feed her scoops of my rice, throwing in one of her toys at the last minute.
It seed to work as she cald down, content with just being involved. After a while, she fussed again and I gave her a bottle.
The night passed by as Elio and I just hung out together, enjoying one another’s company as we snuggled up on the couch. Emilia passed out after the second movie and I put her down in her crib. I headed into the kitchen to make so popcorn at the sa ti, with extra butter, of course.
I settled back onto the couch with him and we kept watching the movie.
I smiled to myself, lying on top of Elio as he played with my hair, my eyes feeling heavy and fluttering shut as the lights were off, the movie played quietly in the background and his soothing heartbeat lulled into a blissful sleep.
I didn’t know when I fell asleep but I did apparently cause I woke up, eyes opening blearily to feel myself being lifted into the air with strong arms underneath .
“Elio?” I murmured, tiredly and I heard his heartbeat thumping in his chest. I yawned, curling into his embrace as he hushed , carrying to our room.
He slid on top of the bed and I let him maneuver as he pleased as he tucked into bed, sliding in right after to hold together. Once we were settled, I gently nuzzled up to his neck, entwining my cold feet with his warm ones much to his ire.
“I’m glad we’re okay again,” I murmured sleepily to him.
“ too.” He chuckled, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Get so sleep. You’re slurring your words.”
I humd, not having enough energy to respond though I rembered wondering ‘How did I get so lucky to be with him?’ before sleep overtook and the rest of the night was just a blur.
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