“Yes. Baby. Baby Rose.”
“Ba-ba Rose.”
“Yes,fiorellina. Baby Rose.” Violet beams at me, loving her new nickname of little flower. A few months ago, on a completely random day, I began calling Oliverlupacchiotto, which means little wolf. He took to it naturally, immediately growling, and thought it was mostly in reference to his Uncle Luca being an alumni for the Denver Wolves NHL team. In reality, I thought it suited him, and had such fond memories of all the nicknames my mom had for us kids growing up. I want my kids to experience the same thing.
“Mama, will Baby Rose come home with us today?” Oliver asks.
Ella giggles lightly. “No, Rose will stay with me here today, but we’ll both come home tomorrow.”
“I can’t wait to show her my swing set,” Oliver gushes. “When will she be allowed to play on it with me?”
“I think it’ll be quite a bit of time before that happens,lupacchiotto,” I tell him, kissing the top of his head. “I think Mama will need Rose to grow up a bit before she’s allowed on the swing set.”
His face falls. “Bummer. Uncle Luca showed me how to put bubbles on the slide, and it makes it really fast! I was excited to show the baby.”
Oh, my brother is fucking dead. “Uncle Luca should have thought about if that was a safe choice.”
I watch as Ella picks up her phone, and when I catch her eye, she rolls her eyes. “Sorry. I’m warning Aunt Hannah that Uncle Luca is about to get a visit from Daddy.”
Oliver’s eyes light up. “Do you think Caleb knows about the bubbles on the slide?”
Luca’s son Caleb is only a little bit younger than Oliver, and I find myself grinning wickedly. “Do you think we should go tell him? And you know what? I think we should go get a gallon-size container of slime to bring to Caleb. You know how much he loves slime.”
“That’s a great idea, Daddy!” Oliver exclaims happily.
“Aunt Hannah is not going to agree,” Ella comments.
“Her husband threw down the gauntlet. It’s really his own damn fault.”
Ella sighs. “I’ll try to remind her of that when she shows up and asks for your head on a platter.”
I grin at my Ladybug, my little flower, Violet, and my little ladybug, Rose, all cuddled together on the hospital bed. “As long as I have the four of you, I’m happy.”
Ella beams at me as I sweep Oliver into my arms, then perch on the edge of the bed. A year ago, I had nothing. Now I have the most perfect family, with the four people I love most in this world. I don’t know what I did to deserve this, but I’ll never take it for granted. Everything up to this moment was worth it. They’re all worth the wait.
ELLA
ONE YEAR LATER
Stone Dixon renamed the group Santo Survivalists
Me: Santo Survivalists? Really?
Stone: Travis has a thing for alliteration.
Travis: Hey! That wasn’t my suggestion.
Stone: You were pretty excited about it when Natalie brought it up.
Travis: Sigh. I guess I was.
Kate: We are surviving the Santos children. It fits.
Me: Well, I’m still honored to be included.
Sebastian: It’s calm in here. Don’t let them add you to the entire family group chat. It’s absolute bedlam in there.
Natalie: How has she not been added in there yet? She’s been a Santo for MONTHS!
