FOUR YEARS LATER
Sofia’s pov
“Be careful, honey!” I called out at once, but I doubt she heard me as she hurriedly raced forward till she was standing before James, a glass of milk carefully clutched in her hand.
“Here it is, Uncle James!” She called out enthusiastically and a familiar feeling of fondness swelled in my heart as I watched as an exaggerated look of awe got plastered on James’ face as he accepted the glass of milk.
“Thank you, Aria! You’re so hardworking.” He complimented as he took a few gulps of the milk because a tiny sip wasn’t gonna be accepted by Aria who’s clearly still waiting for more compliments.
“It tastes so nice and fresh, wow.” James gushed and I listened as Aria’s pleased giggles filled up the room. She began to bounce on her toes when she began to speak.
“If you noticed, uncle James, the glass wasn’t totally filled up this time because mommy said that’s how it’s supposed to be to avoid it spilling from the top, and I listened to mommy because she’s always right!” She gushed, sounding pleased with herself and completely unsurprisingly taking all the credit when I had been the one to fill up the glass with milk before handing it to her.
“Wow, I’m so impressed!” James gushed as he ruffled her hair, and I didn’t need to see her face right now to know that she was currently frowning as she instantly attempted to pat her hair down.
“You listen to your mommy so well, that’s what every child should do and I’m glad you’re no longer giving your mommy any more troubles.” James continued and I could hear the pout in her voice as she instantly defended herself.
“I always listen to mommy!”
“Hmm… doesn’t seem like it sometimes.”
She let out a bewildered gasp like James was suddenly making things up. “That was in the past! I listen to everything mommy says now!”
James chuckled heartily as he got up and scooped her into his arms with one hand, with the glass of milk still in his other hand. Aria shrieked a little before letting out a pleased laugh as she wrapped her small arms around his throat.
“You should stop lifting me up, Uncle James. I’m a big girl now!” She informed him but made no attempt to get down from his arms, spoilt, little thing that she was. James arched a brow at her as he kept the glass of milk on the low table at the side of the couch.
“Is that so?”
She nodded vigorously. “Yes! Daddy says so.”
“And what did your mommy say about that?”
“She still calls me a baby…” the pout was back in her voice and I found myself rolling my eyes while slipping back into the kitchen.
I could still hear their voices as I began pouring milk into three glasses for ria, her twin and their daddy.
“Want me to drop you then? Since you’re not a baby any longer.”
I knew what her answer was gonna be before it came.
“Um… maybe not yet?”
“Are you sure you’re indeed a big girl?” I heard James demand through an amused laugh and a delighted squeak and soft giggles emitted from her, which indicated that she was currently being tickled or being swung around.
Aria clearly struggled with her response, voice finally coming out winded and reluctant. “I guess not, which means mommy was right.”
“Well, you did tell me that she’s always right.” James reminded her.
“She’s always right! Mommy knows best. I love mommy so much.” She exclaimed happily and a warm smile spread out on my face while my heart ached even more.
“I just wish she’d stop forcing me to drink milk every time.” She revealed a little too loudly for someone who’s attempting to whisper.
“Why do you still hate the taste? It tastes just fine.”
“Stop lying, uncle James! You hate the taste too, you never drink past half of the glass whenever I bring you one.” She pointed out accusingly and I busted out laughing, not feeling surprised one bit over how she had definitely completely taken him off guard. Having a child like that around me 24/7 has made me extremely attuned to how her over energetic mind works.
The sound of two more voices joining the bickering ones of James and Aria arrived at the right time. I picked the tray of glassful of mik, making my way into the sitting room and Luca’s eyes found mine almost immediately.
It’s been over six years but one Luca had never stopped doing since I could remember was this one thing. It doesn’t matter what last he saw me or if he had just killed me, but whenever I make my way into a room he was in, the first thing he always does was to glance at me, then at once, his eyes were gonna light up as if it has been ages since he last saw me.
A little color infused my cheeks as I closed the distance in the sitting room till I was situated before him. The kiss he had given me in the kitchen about an hour ago flashed before the front of my mind, a kiss which was more like a make out session and I pointedly refused to glance at his distractedly handsome face as I held the tray out.
Luca had Andre perched over his lap, while Aria was bouncing behind him on the couch, clearly trying to climb over his broad shoulders because she was always energized. Andre eagerly reached for the milk because he was a lover of the protein unlike his twin sister, Aria, who hated it so much. Once she learned how to discriminate against some food, we had to come to a compromise. It took having Luca drink it along with her before she agreed to force it down her throat everyday. Luca wasn’t a fan of milk but he easily agreed to it because he loved making his children happy and because he knew milk was essential in a growing kid’s life.
“Here’s your glass, baby.” I spoke sweetly as I held her greatest enemy in my grip in front of her. She frowned and glanced at her daddy, ready to start whining, but the protest died in her throat when she noticed he was already with his own glass of milk. A pleased smile settled on her face as she accepted the glass of milk and began to force it down her throat.
“I hate this so much.” She whined once she was halfway through.
“But why? It tastes so good!” Her twin brother reassured her like he always does every damn time. Her frown deepened.
“Your opinion doesn’t count in this conversation because you like a bunch of things normal people wouldn’t like, you wouldn’t understand.” She sighed out dejectedly as she forced the rest of the milk down.
“And you’re so picky.” Andre reminded her.
Here we go again…
“I’m not! It’s not my fault you don’t have great taste! Even daddy doesn’t like milk! Uncle James doesn’t like it either!”
“You’re just being difficult like you always are.” Andre pointed out as he handed his empty glass to me.
Aria let out a very dramatic gasp, a drop of milk clinging to her chin as she leveled her brother with a glare. “You’re being mean to me once again, I don’t appreciate that.”
“I wasn’t being mean, I was telling the truth.” Andre argued and James snorted, clearly amused by their bicker, although Luca and I found it far from that.
It was exhausting.
We had the twins thinking they were gonna have the same tastes, preferences, hobbies, and act like each other’s besties, but what we didn’t expect was for them to be polar opposites. They agree on a compromise, sometimes, but to an extent. They get into fights I never imagined they would start having at a young age of four, which James blamed on them being too smart for their own good.
When I had expressed my worry to my counselor, one I began to see after having the twins, she explained that this was a normal thing between siblings and reassured me that I had nothing to worry about so far they weren’t physically hurting each other or acting wicked, jealous or selfish towards each other.
“Thank you, mommy.” The grin on Andre’s face was a very satisfied one as he handed me his empty glass. I smiled down at him and ruffled his hair, and he leaned into my touch, because once again, him being the polar opposite of his sister, loved his hair getting ruffled.
“Daddy, tell Andre to stop being mean to me.” Aria whined as she turned to her daddy at once. Luca leveled Andre with a look.
“Andre, stop being mean to your sister.”
“I wasn’t being mean, I was telling the truth!” Andre argued and Luca glanced back at Aria to relay monotonously. “Andre wasn’t being mean, he was only telling the truth.”
Both kids whined at once. “Daddy!”
James chuckled as he got to his feet. “You’ve really got your hands filled up, man. And I used to think having one kid was so much stress.”
The kids weren’t paying James any attention, because they were clearly still waiting on a response from their daddy who tugged them to stand in front of him like he always does when settling a disagreement between them.
“I’ll just see you out.” I offered James and we fell into steps after I quickly put away the empty glass cups, leaving the kids with their father to help settle their dispute, he was effortlessly great in that, after all.
“You’re getting a lot of rest, right?” James asked and I snorted.
“It’s definitely a lot more than when the kids were babies, so that’s something to be grateful about. What about Blair? How is she fairing?”
“The same as always. The kid is the only headache we have.” The fondness in his voice was very obvious.
“A kid you both love to death.” I pointed out and he grinned as he tugged me into a hug. “To the moon and back.” He murmured as he patted my back.
“I’ll bring the kids over later in the week, they’d love to spend some time with Blake, and I’d get to hang out with Blair.”
“She’d really like that.”
When I made my way back into the house and into the sitting room, Luca was on the floor, with Andre in his lap, gripping his chin and grinning at something he was saying, while Aria, the koala, clung to his back as she bounced on her tiptoes, laughing along to what her daddy was saying.
I remained in the doorway, watching them with so much joy swirling in my belle. That feeling was cut short when Aria tripped on her foot and fell. Of course, her dad had her in his arms immediately, but not before a high pitched ‘fuck’ excaped her lips.
Luca gave me a guilty look while I shot him a glare as I massaged my forehead with my fingers. Luca had kept cursing around the babies because he couldn’t help himself most of the time, and when he realized that he had to actually try controlling his potty mouth, the kids had already learned a bad word or two from him. In his own defense, he hadn’t expected them to be able to understand all what he actually says until they were over a year, but they had taken us by surprise because they could almost speak properly before they hit one year old.
It had been easy to get Andre to stop saying the bad words and to promise to never ever say them in public, but Aria had been a completely different case as expected.
Luca sat her in front of him after confirming that she wasn’t hurt anywhere, and then he let out a sigh before he began to speak in his serious voice.
“Baby, remember what we once talked about? You promised not to say those bad words again…”