The Salvatore Twins – Episode 9

The Salvatore Twins – Episode 9

 

© Happy William

 

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★Anne★

 

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Speechless didn’t even start to cover how I felt that very moment.

 

A big banner overhead was decorated, and on it were the words, “I LOVE YOU ANNE, FORGIVE ME” written in colourful neon bulbs that blinked like Christmas lights in the night sky.

 

My gaze returned back to him.

 

Emilio.

 

He looked so….romantic in that moment, the rose in his mouth, the ring and everything.

 

And it touched my heart that they all went this length, pranking me, just so I could open my eyes to a love that never died, but I refused to see.

 

Emilio took out the rose using one hand.

 

“Anne… I….. don’t even know what to say, or where to start from,” he chuckled softly at his speechlessness as I gently collected the flower that was outstretched to me.

 

Tears were pooling in my eyes.

 

“But I’m going to say this. I might’ve been a fool all those years, hiding something as important as that from you for my selfish gains, it probably made you doubt my love for you.”

 

”Definitely,” I chimed in quietly.

 

He grinned up at me. “But I did love you…. do love you. Maybe I had a weird way of showing it, being nonchalant and all….I regret it deeply. Loosing you opened my eyes to what’s important. Love. Beautiful kids. Family. I want all that with you, Anne, and more. If you can just proclaim it now that you forgiven me.”

 

From his position with one knee on the ground, Emilio stared at me with those greyish depths of his, his eyes searching

 

I was dumbstruck and I just stared back.

 

“Uhm, Anne you’ve already said out how much you love me so there’s no use dragging this out,” he whispered for my hearing only.

 

“Anne seriously my knees are hurting, although I’ll gladly kneel down throughout the night if that’s what it’ll take for you to —”

 

I cut him off by squatting on my haunches, leaning in forward to kiss him deep, hard and long as he slipped the ring onto my finger. He took control of the kiss as he’d always done, and for a second we forgot that we had an audience behind us until Lia shouted, “Excuse us, but there are kids here!”

 

“Three to be precise!” Cosima chimed in.

 

That got us, and we reluctantly pulled away, him holding me close with my cheeks cupped in his hands and our breaths mingling as our foreheads joined together.

 

“God Emilio, I’m sor—When I heard that you were sic—I should have told you that I’d forgiven you long ago. I just didn’t want to risk hurting myself again….”

 

“I’m sorry Anne,” he whispered back, using a flick of his thumb to swipe away tears on my face, “I love you so much it’ll ki*ll me.”

 

“And I love you too, we’ll die together.”

 

We shared a brief kiss before turning to face our small crowd.

 

“Mommy!” Lian yelled.

 

“Daddy!” Leon yelled.

 

They reached us.

 

“This means were going to be living together?” they both said.

 

I turned to Emilio with a small smile, and a ready one was curled on his lips. “Yeah.”

 

“Hooray!!!” they yelled, skipping and running around between the flowers and garden tables.

 

The little boy that stood with Sophia left her too and joined Leon and Lian in their happy run.

 

Holding Emilio’s hand, we walked to where the others stood, and Cosima, Sophia and I engaged in a group hug.

 

“God, I missed you guys,” I whispered.

 

“You wouldn’t have missed us at all if you weren’t such a drama queen. Seriously, I had no idea you could be so stubborn,” Cosima rushed out.

 

Lol, I missed her sharp tongue.

 

”Don’t pay attention to her Anne, we missed you too,” Sophi said softly.

 

We broke apart while I went to exchange kisses and greetings with Felipe and Augusto.

 

“Finally you’ve come to your senses,” Augusto grinned.

 

“I guess so. So, you guys flew all the way from Italy just to witness this… crazy reunion?” I smiled and asked.

 

“Yeah, we wouldn’t miss it for the world,” said Felipe.

 

Jack and Lia came closer as I looked over to see that Emilio was saying something to Cosima and Sophia. I turned to Jack. “Seriously Jack?” I said while he laughed.

 

“It was fun actually, talking you into all this. I never knew I had a fun side to me.”

 

“Yes, good for you,” I chuckled. “But what if I said no?”

 

“We knew you wouldn’t,” Emilio said as he came towards me, slipping an arm around my waist to pull me closer to his, what he always loved doing. “You love me too much to refuse me much longer. I just got tired of waiting.”

 

“Ha ha ha, very fun—”

 

He cut me off with a kiss while our friends awed.

 

We broke apart when I felt tugs at my skirt. Looking down, I saw Leon, Lian and the little boy looking up at me with large, cute eyes.

 

“Mommy, look, he’s Markus. He’s my buddy now, and he says daddy calls him Little Gangster.” Leon turned to Emilio. “Daddy can I be a Little Gangster too?”

 

Emilio and I exchanged looks, and then we laughed.

 

I don’t know why we did, I guess we’re too happy.

 

Emilio scooped Leon up as if he weighed nothing, while Markus scurried to his father Felipe to carry him up too.

 

Sophia and I exchanged glances, and she smiled shyly when I gave her a thumb up.

 

Together, with Sophia struggling to get Markus up from Felipe’s neck so that he won’t fall, Lia linking her arms in Jack’s as they talked about whatever it was they talked about, Cosima vehemently rebuffing Augusto’s idea to have their kids just cause he’s seen others, and me and Emilio walking side by side, with Leon and Lian in front of us, we stepped into the house and had a grand celebratory dinner in the dinning hall in honour of my “THIRD” engagement.

 

Who knew that I’d be so stubborn, or that my love life could be so complicated?

 

..

 

Later that night, as we had drinks and a private party in the garden, I stepped up and hit a spoon against a glass to get their attention.

 

“Ahem,” I cleared my throat, “Now I’m really mad this moment. How dare y’all play this expensive joke on me!?”

 

I pulled my meanest face to show how angry I wasn’t .

 

All their expression changed as they tried to converse between themselves if I was actually serious or…..

 

“Amora,” Emilio began, walking to me.

 

“No daddy wait,” Lian said in her tiny voice as she and Leon came solemnly to me.

 

“Mommy, I can explain,” she began softly, “You see…..IT WAS ALL LEON’S IDEA! I TOLD HIM WE SHOULDN’T PRANK YOU BECAUSE YOU’D GET MAD BUT —”

 

“WHAT!” Leon backfired, “YOU’RE CRAZY LIAN, DIDN’T YOU SAY THAT WE WERE TO SUGGEST THIS TO DAD AND AUNT EMILIA SO THAT THEY’D —”

 

“DID NOT!” Lian said.

 

“DID TOO!” Leon said.

 

“DID NOT!” Lian said.

 

“DID TOO!” Leon said.

 

They continued arguing on and on, that they didn’t even notice my smiles, or the laughter coming from the others who by now knew I was pulling their legs.

 

I squatted down and made them look at me. “Hey hey guys, no point arguing okay? I’m not mad.”

 

“You’re not?’ they chorused.

 

” Nope, I’m not. In fact, this is the best prank ever, from the best kids ever. The Salvatore Twins, ” I added with a smile to Emilio, who raised his glass to me in cheer.

 

I pulled them in a hug as they giggled, forgetting their arguments of just a second earlier.

 

“I love you so much, babies.”

 

“We love you too, mom.”

 

“And I love you all,” said Emilio, joining our group hug.

 

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I might not have found my real parents.

 

Maybe I never will.

 

But that wasn’t my goal anymore, neither was it my cumbersome load.

 

Because I had friends.

 

Friends who cared for me more than I expected; friends like Sophia, Cosima and Emilia, Felipe, Augusto and Jack, Wendy too.

 

I had my family; my loving Emilio and two adorable kids. What more could I ask for?

 

So life doesn’t always give us what we expect.

 

But it gives us more in disguise. If only we could turn a blind eye to every disappointment, and weave through it to discover the blessings.

 

I thought marrying someone I didn’t know was the worse thing that could ever happen to me.

 

Or that being lied to was the end of the world.

 

Turns out, my journey to happiness began from there.

 

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Emilio and I didn’t waste anytime.

 

We got married in a private affair in New York to which our friends, Inness and Jackie from the orphanage, and even some of my foster parents attended.

 

So far, I met only Linda and Matthew.

 

We’re cool now, after they apologized and explained to me all the misfortunes that befell them after their maltreatment of me. They now had a daughter about Markus and Leon’s age. Her name is Jessy, and she calls me sister.

 

Peter and Mary Sheridan, my adoptive parents, were in attendance too. We’d passed our feud.

 

Even Guinevere from Dellany High… that girl that was a crick in my neck in eleventh grade

 

…..

 

After the wedding, we flew back to Italy.

 

There, Emilio hosted the biggest wedding reception ever… and I was… I dunno….especially because it took me by surprise.

 

The paparazzi turned up in troops, finally having the chance to pen down the news that “ITALY’S MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELOR’S BEEN SNARED”

 

It was funny actually, though I don’t know why.

 

Vittorio joined, and Emilio privately handed over the handling of the Italian Mafia to him. He and Felipe quit, although from time to time they couldn’t escape the lure of the call from their old life. Initially, Sophia and I were worried. But we got used to it.

 

………

 

★Cosima★

 

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“You were talking about having a child the other night,” I said to Augusto as I popped a grape fruit into my mouth and chewed slowly.

 

We were still at the reception, which was held in the Salvatore estate, watching Anne’s new bride face dazzle as she and Emilio received gifts and congratulations from people.

 

“Yeah. Why would you bring that up now? Thought you were mad at me for —”

 

“I’m off alcohol,” I interrupted him.

 

He looked at me puzzled. ”And….. so..? Were talking about babies one moment and you bring in alcohol the next. Why would you even be……”

 

He trailed off when he saw me staring intently at him, quietly with a small smile tugging at the corner of my lips.

 

“Wait, Cosima… you’re saying that you’re…..?”

 

I nodded to his unasked question.

 

Yup, I’m pregnant.

 

I checked with the doctor before we’d gone to new York. I just wanted to surprise him.

 

“Dio mio (my God) Cosima, you’ve made me the —”

 

“Most happiest man on earth , I know, I know. Just kiss me already, I know that’s what would follow.”

 

Grinning, he kissed me.

 

“Marriage?” he asked later.

 

“What? You’re not romantic at all, Augie. Didn’t you see way Emilio proposed to Anne?”

 

He chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’ll give you the best proposal tonight.”

 

He winked.

 

“Naughty man,” I giggled, “But my answer’s yes.”

 

I kissed him again.

 

“I love you.”

 

“I love you more than you do me.”

 

“That’s insane!”

 

“I know.”

 

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★Sophia★

 

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“Markus….. you should not go about jumping allov—Markus!”

 

God, this boy will drive me crazy.

 

“Relax love, he’s playing with his new buddies,” Felipe said and pointed his chin to where Markus, Leon and Lian were crawling under the table where a fat lady sat, gobbling up cake.

 

“Oh no, they’re gonna prank the lady! The twins are teaching Markus to prank!”

 

Felipe laughed and held my shoulder. “Who said Markus didn’t have a naughty side to him?” Felipe asked.

 

“Obviously from his father,” I muttered.

 

” Say what?”

 

“Nothing!”

 

”Good, because I was about saying that I love you Sophia, ” he said.

 

“I love you too, Felipe.”

 

As he was about to kiss me, the fat lady jumped up.

 

“SPIDER!!!!” she yelled.

 

Emilio, Anne, Felipe and me exchanged looks.

 

Then we burst out laughing.

 

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★Emilia★

 

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“My nephews and niece, so naughty,” I said, still laughing.

 

“Yeah,” Jack breathed.

 

He’s been looking agitated all morning, like he had something to say.

 

“Is there something you wanna tell me?” I asked.

 

“Uhm, no. Well, yes. If I asked you to uh…be more than a date or girlfriend, you know, take this relationship further, would you —”

 

“Is that a proposal, Jack?”

 

“Uh, yeah?”

 

“Then hold on a week and do a better one. All the same, I love you.”

 

I took a sip of my wine.

 

Vino Annette, the third victory wine since Emilio inherited SVEW.

 

Not bad.

 

“Aren’t you going to say you love me too, or don’t you?” I asked Jack when I noticed his silence.

 

“Err…no. I’ll just hold on a week and create a better line.”

 

I gasped. “You’re pissed off aren’t you!”

 

“No I’m not.”

 

“But you are!”

 

“No I’m not, gosh, you’re just like your brother and nephew and niece.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Hmmm?”

 

“Did you say something?”

 

“No, I didn’t. And I’ll talk to you, a week later.”

 

“OK then.” I shrugged. “No kisses for you.”

 

I saw his reaction change, and I laughed.

 

….

 

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DAYS LATER

 

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★Anne★

 

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“Auntie Anne, Leon and Markus are making a hell out of the rose garlands I’m putting together for my project at school!” Seraphina, Sophia’s younger sister of eleven complained.

 

The girls and I, that’s Sophia, Emilia, and Cosima, were picking grapes from the vineyard to assist Rosa, Sophia’s mom, bake a “humongous” pie, as Leon and Markus put it.

 

“Now now, Sera,” Rosa interjected, ” Isn’t that how you used to worry Sophia?”

 

“No! I was cute, not troublesome.”

 

“I don’t remember it that way,” I said, and we laughed.

 

” You’ll get used to it,” said Sophia.

 

”Ugh!!!” Seraphina stomped her feet and ran off.

 

“Uh…does anyone see this cute little matchmaking I’m seeing?” Cosima asked and ate a grape.

 

“Hey those aren’t for eating,’ I said, but we all looked.

 

Samuels, Sophia’s and Seraphina’s younger brother who’s seven or eight by now, and Lian, were seated quietly at the extreme of the vineyard, talking and playing together.

 

We all looked at each other.

 

” Uh oh…..”

 

To be continued

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