“Sorry, my hands are full and this one is a menace, as per usual,” Matteo grumbles but there’s no anger behind it. It sounds more like he’s trying to be stern when he wants to laugh instead. “Jade abandoned me with the heathens so I’m trying to juggle them alone.”
“Are you babysitting?” I laugh softly, watching with wide eyes as Cesar tries to wiggle forward and grab the phone from Matteo’s hands.
“Is it babysitting if I’m not being paid?” Matteo asks, huffing as he softly maneuvers Cesar’s hands down. “You can’t pull her from the phone, bud. No, you can’t eat my phone either. Close your mouth, you’re going to get drool all over your shirt again. I just put this one on you.”
Isobella sits peacefully on her uncle’s lap, totally unbothered by the way her brother wiggles around and squirms. She’s holding a babydoll with brown pigtails that match her own, cradling it close to her middle.
I wish I could reach through the phone and pick her up. Instead, I have to settle for watching them and asking, “Are you watching both of them all by yourself?”
“Sure am,” Matteo says, finally distracting Cesar with a small toy phone. It lights up and makes quiet beeping sounds as he smashes his tiny fingers into the plastic. “Jade didn’t get much sleep last night and wanted a nap. Everyone else is doing random shi—stuff. Training, errands, and all that noise. So, Uncle Matteo gets to show why he’s the favorite yet again.”
“Are you sure this is a good time to talk?” I ask, amused by his flippant cockiness. “It can’t be easy to hold them both and your phone at the same time.”
“Are you kidding?” He chuckles. “This is the best. My two favorite kiddos and my favorite new friend keeping me company? I’d multitask for that any day.”
My face feels warm at his words, but thankfully doesn’t project a blush over the camera.
“Besides,” he continues. “I told you I would video-chat with them. They’re going to recognize your voice the next time they see you. Isn’t that right, Isobella?”
She blinks at him and lifts her doll to show him as if he’s never seen it.
“Oh, sorry,principessa.I didn’t mean to ignore your dolly,” he tells her with all the sincerity of a man who genuinely means it. “Do you want to show Aunt Anya, hmm? Maybe tell her your baby’s name?”
Isobella looks contemplative for a moment, her tiny eyebrows scrunching closer as she thinks. “Mama.”
“That’s right,” Matteo cheers quietly. “She looks just like you and mama, doesn’t she?”
Brown hair, blue eyes, soft features…I suppose the toy baby does look like a Moretti.
“Uncle Armani had the doll made for you, isn’t that right?”
“Mani,” Isobella agrees in a tiny whisper. I almost don’t catch it.
“Such a smart girl,” her uncle says, dropping a soft kiss to the crown of her head.
“She is,” I agree, feeling warm with emotion. “I read that babies start learning more around their age. Does she know many words? You told me some of Cesar’s favorite words at the wedding, I remember.”
Mama, dada, milk, socks, no, and fuck.
“The regular ones, and a couple extra,” Matteo answers with a proud smile. “Pink and dress are up there. Plus she has some kind of nickname or sound she tries for each of us. Cesar doestoo. Sometimes it’s more like babbles, and sometimes it’s very clear. Mani for Armani, Co for Nico, Ma for Matteo, Mo for Remo. Stuff like that.”
My heart gives a funny flutter, hearing all the attempts they make at their uncles’ names. It makes me wonder what they call Ivan, or what they’d call me if they had the chance.
“They recognize all of you? That must be really nice for them, to know that they have so many people who love them.”
I imagine that being a baby surrounded by so many aunts and uncles every day would be comforting. I doubt Cesar and Isobella have ever felt an ounce of loneliness.
Matteo hums. “I don’t think they can tell the difference between Elio and Emilio but to be honest, Emilio is never here, so that’s his fault.”
I’m never there either, I think sadly.
“Do you have any plans with the kids?” I ask, needing to shift the topic. “How long will you have them?”
“We’re just going to chill out, maybe sing a song or two. Dmitri and Ivan are going to be home soon to steal them away from me.”
My smile wavers at the mention of my brothers but I force it to stay in place.
“You sing songs with them?”
