“You made my birthday wish come true,” I said.
My wife was as magical as the stars.
20
Brando
The next morning, I woke up to a small finger lodged in my eye. Then in my mouth. The owner of the digit tried to stick it up my nose next, but I caught her before she got too far.
I rubbed my head against her stomach and growled. She yanked my hair, giggling. She thought it was hilarious when I growled at her.
“Buongiorno tesoro mia,” I said.“Dai un abbraccio a papà.”
She threw her arms around my head, giving me a fierce hug. After, she kissed me on the forehead. “Muah!” She made the kissing noise.
I kissed her back with the same enthusiasm. Her cheeks were still chubby, and so warm from sleep. Her hair smelled like roses, and her skin lavender. Then there was her diaper.
“Pueee!”
Scarlett cracked an eye open, giving Mia a hug, but settled back when I told her I’d take care of her. I remembered how much she’d slept when she was pregnant with Mia, but with Mia here, she wouldn’t be getting as much. She was hands-on and refused to let anyone do what she could.
I told my wife good morning, went to kiss her, but there wasn’t much of a response. The evening before had been a short-lived victory. She mumbled something about breakfast in town and I cut her off.
“You don’t know me.” I shrugged, covering Mia’s ears. “Get to fucking know me. But this behavior won’t go on for much longer,capisci?”
She narrowed her eyes at me in response.
“Bene,” I said.
She bristled even more.
Our day began there.
We all bundled up in preparation for the onslaught of cold. Mia looked like a thick bundle by the time Scarlett was finished with her. She had a hard time walking with all the layers, either toppling over or falling. It didn’t deter her, though. She just expected us to keep a hand in one of hers.
There wasn’t a crevice in the village that wasn’t touched by snow. Drifts were constantly in motion, swaying back and forth with the mouth of the wind. It reminded me of my time in the Coast Guard, in Alaska, when, during downtime, I’d learned how to ski and snowboard. I could ski but preferred snowboarding.
Our group, including Luca and Maggie Beautiful, waited at the bottom of the trail that led to the restaurant. It was tucked into the mountainside with expansive views.
Chatter kicked up right away, the entire parade of us making our way up the high-rising terrain in a long line. Each person discussed whether they were going to ski or snowboard to start.
It seemed my brothers preferred to snowboard too.
“You know how to navigate in the snow?” Luca said to me, not even breaking a sweat from the strenuous incline.
I nodded. “Learned while in Alaska.”
“Ah.” He nodded, his reflective glasses hiding his eyes.
He said no more, and neither did I. We rarely discussed my time in the Coast Guard—he had been against me joining. He considered it a branch of the military, which connected to the government, and unless they were working for him, he didn’t support it.
Before we managed to get too far, Rocco lifted Mia up, freeing our hands. I stopped Scarlett.
“You need to be careful,” I said. “These roads are slippery. It will be up there too.” I motioned to the Matterhorn.
We both had our Ray-Bans on, and she seemed to be trying to burn me through my lenses with her heated glare.
“I will,” she snapped. “I’m not going skiing.”
