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

She nodded. Well, just because she took a vacation from work it didn't mean other poor poor helpless souls had the luxury to do so. She just hoped that Dr. Jamie Dewell got the formalities done or she would have to say good bye to her bully days.

"The housekeeper, Janet, will show you and the twins around."

She nodded again, sipping on her coffee. She guessed the whole settlement was not bad.

The two men locked themselves up in their office the whole day, not even coming out for lunch, which was served by more staff who kept showing up out of nowhere, all addressing River as Mrs. Adesso. Cue the eyeroll.

The surgeon never understood the gangs and Mafia's obsession with marriage and they almost always composed of old-fashioned weird people whose brains were replaced by preserved ones from the nineteenth century.

Aside from the inconvenience, which the kids thankfully didn't notice, the mother and children had a fun day.

Janet, a middle-aged lady who reminded River so much of her old housekeeper Mrs. Caroline Marley, showed them around and the kids were thrilled to see their personal playground with slides and swings and all of it which the workers said would be completed in two or three days.

And River's favorite part of the tour were the stables and especially Dante, Mateo's black stallion. She rode around the grounds on him but the babies were a bit anxious so they settled to feeding and petting the ponies.

.

.

.

"How was your day, little people?" Mateo asked as River scooped more pasta into Kiara's plate.

"We had so much fun, Mr. Adesso." Lucas gushed. "Mommy rode the big black horse."

Mateo raised a brow. "Dante?"

She nodded and then narrowed her eyes as Kiara brought the peas she picked out of her food to her mother's face. "Here comes the airplane!"

River raised a brow and stared at her, waiting for her to get the message that this trick of her which she used on Mrs. Marley was definitely not going to work on her because unlike her dear housekeeper, River was immune to cuteness when she needed to be.

But obviously, Kiara WAS River's daughter and her stubbornness and sassiness were amplified manifold in that midget.

"Just look at yourself in the mirror, Mommy. You are so thin. Even GG had asked me to make sure that you eat. When we were out today, I thought you were going to blow away with the wind. Eat veggies."

Mateo, Lucas and Mateo laughed while River narrowed her eyes at her daughter who was giving her the Kiara special cheeky grin.

"Alright young lady, no games. Eat your own vegetables." Mateo said in a fake serious tone, a playful sparkle in his eyes. Kiara stared at him for a few minutes, looking scared before she frantically nodded and shoveled in the veggies she had set aside into her mouth without any complaint.

River's smile dropped instantly. She looked over at Mateo; he was staring at their daughter, hurt.

It wasn't time to drop the bomb yet.

His eyes met her and she smiled at him reassuringly. Kiara was going to warm up to him soon enough.

"Mommy, can we make more lemon cookies tomorrow?" Lucas asked. "We didn't bring the ones we made for you."

Kiara looked up immediately, her eyes twinkling. She took after her mother when it came to the cookies. Both of the children did. All three of them were obsessed with the special lemon cookies that Lilith Johnson had invented.

"Yes!" She clapped.

"Yeah, I was craving them when I was in the hospital." River grinned but then pretended to be disappointed. "But then my kids ate it all without leaving me any."

"IT WAS NANNA!!!" Lucas protested.

"Nanna was just making sure you had fresh and yummy cookies to eat." Kiara narrowed her eyes at her brother.

"Was not." Lucas muttered and turned to Mateo. "Where do we buy her a new brain?"

"Mommy!" Kiara whined.

"Lukey, stop being mean."

"She's stupid." He whined and then corrected. "Not stupid, but too naïve."

River completely agreed with him on that one but Kiara was ready to burst into tears.

"And it's good." River said to pacify her daughter.

"No, it's not. Mr. Adesso, tell her!" River eyed the Papa of her children, daring him to support their son.

"Lucas, don't be mean to your sister." Mateo said.

River smiled smugly at her grumpy son.

"How old are you?" Mateo gave him a look.

She pouted and looked away to see Adam enjoying the drama with a small smile on his face.

His smile widened when she smiled back at him.

"So far so good" He mouthed. And she nodded. There were going to be a few bumps on the road, especially with Kiara but that was to be expected.

"So who's ready for bed?" She clapped.

"Nooooo!" The kids whined.

"Who's No?" River asked though she knew very well that was lame.

"Mommy!!" They whined again.

"That's right. Mommy is ready for bed. Who's tucking me in?" She asked, laughing.

"Me!!!" The both of them raised their hands.

"And who's telling me a bedtime story?"

"Me!" They threw their hands up yet again.

"And lullaby??"

"Me!!!" A third time.

"Okay, so let's go."

The same antic, works every time. River had mastered the art of parenting. At least her little cheesecakes. Compulsion rarely worked for the; she always had to come up with new innovative ways to get them to do stuff and she was forever evolving along with them. The journey of being a mother was special and like no other and she wished Mateo would get to experience the journey of being a father soon, as well.

They fell asleep reading a story out to her in her bed and she decided to let them sleep there because she didn't want them wandering the corridors in the middle of the night. Which at least Kiara was going to because she did the same back at the apartment.