“What are you doing?” I groan, voice rough with sleep. “It’s too early to be so noisy.”
They giggle—the sound warming my chest—and then both launch themselves directly at me.
“Oof!”
The air rushes from my lungs as thirty pounds of toddler times two lands on my stomach.
But I’m already wrapping my arms around them, pulling them down even further as I shift into my “monster” voice.
“You better be careful, or Beasty will come out!”
Their eyes go wide with delighted terror.
“No, Daddy, no!” Siena squeals.
“Too late!” I growl, my fingers finding their ticklish spots. “You came into the monster’s lair! Now you must feel the wrath of his tickles!”
The room erupts in chaos. Ravi squirms and wiggles, trying desperately to escape while laughing so hard he can barely breathe. Siena grabs at my beard with her sticky fingers, tugging hard enough to make me wince.
“Give me back my daddy, you mean Beasty!” she demands between giggles.
I keep up the tickle attack, my hands relentless as they try to escape. Ravi almost makes it off the bed before I catch him by the ankle, dragging him back into the fray. Siena is braver, or maybe just more stubborn—she stands her ground, still pulling at my beard like she can actually wrestle me into submission.
“What is all this racket?”
Nevaeh appears in the doorway, arms crossed but her smile giving away her amusement. She’s still in her long robe and matching pajama top and bottoms, dark hair pulled up in a messy bun.
Beautiful doesn’t even begin to cover it. My wife is gorgeous even bare faced in the morning.
The twins freeze for half a second, panting and breathless, their curls even more disheveled than before.
“Mommy!” Ravi gasps. “Beasty got us!”
“Youdidgo and wake the beast,” Nevaeh says, walking into the room with a light laugh. “What did you expect?”
I grin up at her, and before she can anticipate my move, I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her onto the bed. “Mommy can get tickles from Beasty too!”
“Cael, don’t you dare?—”
But I’m already attacking her with tickles along her ribs. The twins join in with renewed energy. The four of us become a tangle of limbs and laughter, Nevaeh squirming and shrieking while trying to fend off both me and our children. Ravi goes for her sides while Siena somehow ends up sitting on her mother’s legs. I focus on the spot on her ribs that always makes her lose it.
“Okay, okay!” Nevaeh gasps between laughs. “I surrender! Beasty wins!”
We finally collapse in a heap, all four of us breathless and grinning. Ravi is sprawled across my chest, Siena has wormed herself between Nevaeh and me. My wife’s head rests on my shoulder as we all catch our breath.
These mornings. I’ve truly come to love them.
Three years ago, I never imagined this. Being a father to two incredible kids. Having lazy mornings filled with laughter instead of violence and brutality like I once envisioned for my life.
I study my children as they recover from the tickle assault. Ravello, with his serious little face even now, already looking like he’s a miniature man with tough responsibilities and burdens. He’s got my classic Italian features—the strong nose and the squared jaw that’ll only broaden when he’s older—but Nevaeh’s beautiful dark eyes and curls. He’s cautious, thoughtful, precocious in a way that’s impressive and amusing all at once.
Siena is pure chaos incarnate. Wild, free-spirited, fearless, my little girl is a handful. She looks like a mini version of Nevaeh—a shade or two browner than her brother, with thick, darkchocolate hair that’s always escaping whatever style we try to put it in. But she’s going to be tall. I can already see it in the length of her legs. She’s going to tower over her petite ballerina mother by the time she’s a teenager.
The thought of teenage Siena makes me want to build higher walls around the estate.
“Alright, little ones,” Nevaeh says, sitting up and smoothing down her pajama shirt. “You’re going to miss the rest of your cartoon if you stay up here bothering Beasty. You have to finish your breakfast first, remember?”
“Oh no!” Ravi’s eyes go wide with genuine distress, and both Nevaeh and I burst out laughing.
