The Mafia's Babies by Kaycee Romano (howl and other poems txt) 📗

There was a knock, and before the two of them could react, Adam walked in Lucas in his arms and followed by an expressionless man and a woman, who looked more a teen than an adult.

Mateo was immediately on his feet. "Xander King." He nodded at the man, and looked quizzically at the woman with him.

"Joanne King." She smiled, understanding exactly why she was being stared at. "I am just as confused as you as to why I am here." She added.

Xander took in a deep breath and turned to her. "Go sit there." He pointed at the couch at the other end of the room.

Joanne rolled her eyes and turned to River who smiled at her. "I will converse with the wife while you do with the husband."

Mateo liked the woman instantly, because she addressed him and River as husband and wife.

"Alright." Mateo said, "We will talk outside."

Adam let Lucas down before the three men left the room.

"Would you like to sit here?" Lucas asked Joanne cutely, pointing at the chair that his father had previously occupied.

Joanne's eyes widened and a smile appeared on her face as she looked between River and Lucas.

"You raised him well." Joanne nodded at River, who smiled proudly.

Joanne turned to Lucas. "Thank you, Mr. Adesso-"

"It's Mr. Johnson, but you can call me Luke." Lucas said politely.

Joanne was in awe of this kid.

"Alright, thanks Luke but I am going to take that chair so you can sit here." She said.

Lucas nodded and took his iPad from the night stand, and his air pods before taking his seat and turning to his games.

"You have pretty children." Joanne commented.

River smiled. She was so used to hearing it – having inherited the genes of two extremely good looking parents, the two five year olds were no less than works of art. And they get complimented for the looks all the time. But that didn't make it any less special to hear it ever single time.

"Thank you." She smiled. "Do you have any of your own?"

"Yeah." Joanne rolled her eyes. "He is an idiot." She turned her phone for River to see. It was a picture of a beautiful girl hugging a huge ferocious looking dog.

River blinked, confused. "That's a boy?"

Joanne turned the phone back to her. "Oh no, that is my niece. Ava." She shrugged.

River let out a hearty laugh, finally understanding that the woman was referring to the Great Dane in the picture.

"I have three babies at home. Chase, Rubble and Skye." She laughed.

Joanne scrunched up her face.

"Please no." She said. "I used to love Paw Patrol until my niece made me watch too much to the point that I hate its existence now!"

"Hey-" River was about to protest but stopped immediately when she felt pain in her right abdomen, making her bite her lips to not cry out loud and scare her children.

Joanne made no sudden moments, her eyes darting to the sleeping child and then the other one hooked to his iPad and said slowly, "You want me to call your husband? Or the nurse?"

River shook her head. She took a few deep breaths and the pain disappeared on its own.

"He is not my husband, by the way." River said. Though she did not correct it when Jacqueline called him her husband, she knew it was different when someone not close to you, mistook their relationship.

"You should make him." Joanne smiled. "He looks like a keeper. And trust me when I say I am a good judge of character."

River smiled. She did not need anyone to tell her for her to know that Mateo was indeed an amazing person. But there was always one problem between them – the fact that Mateo constantly ran from his problems.

River wished more than anything that somehow, the man gained enough maturity to handle his problems. It was not that he lacked the courage or power to deal with problems; it was just that he was like a kid when such problems arose and he would simply run away. Whether it was an argument between them or their kids getting hurt, Mateo always run away.

She didn't want to make the vows with someone who would run away at the first sign of problems.

"What about you and..."

"Xander."

River nodded.

"Arranged marriage." Joanne shrugged, but it was clear as day that there was more to the story.

"You love him?" River asked. She found it weird to ask something like that, unlike the woman who she was chatting with – she had no problem asking questions away.

"I hate him." Joanne said flatly and River's eyes immediately darted to Lucas.

"Oops, aren't we allowed to say the word here?" She asked.

River bit her lip and shook her head.

"Sorry." Joanne mouthed.

And then sat up straight. "He is bossy, definitely cares for me, but bossy AF."

River chuckled.

"But if I ever fall in love with him, I will tell him, despite him having the IQ of a chicken and a pain in the lower than lower back." She shrugged.

River smiled again. The woman was almost endearing.

"But what's stopping you?"

"What?" River was suddenly taken by surprise. She thought this was simply a light hearted conversation.

Joanne looked at her knowingly. "One has to be as blind and stupid as my husband to not see how much you love this guy." She shrugged, leaning back against the chair and then smiled sadly. "I am not saying that you should overcome whatever is stopping you from admitting it to yourself and or him, but life is short."

She pointed at where River was short. "I am pretty sure you might have gotten a picture of how short your life can be in the past hours."

"I don't know what to say." River said. She really didn't.

For a moment, she had thought that the woman in front of her was someone whom she had to be nice to while her Mateo talked to her husband. But this girl was talking about her relationship with no inhibition, and the weirdest part was that though she should feel like the woman was intruding in her relationship, she didn't.