ARELLA (A Mafia Story)

Thirty-One

Freya

"No, Arella. Leave Cerberus alone. He's trying to nap." Gently grabbing the baby, I place her on my hip and walk away from the dog.

She complains and whines, pushing against my chest to try and get down. I don't know what's gotten into her today, but she's had an attitude ever since Damon had to leave for work.

Between destroying my bathroom while I was trying to take a shower, and terrorizing the dog, I've got my hands full.

Now that Arella's comfortable with us, a more mischievous side of her has come out. Damon and I have had to toss the idea of timeout around.

If I'm honest with myself, disciplining the boys when they were young was easier. They never looked at me with those big puppy eyes. They simply went and sat in the corner when asked.

Arella is different. She's our baby girl that had a rough start to life. Damon struggles with the idea, thinking she can do no wrong. I, on the other hand, don't want to raise a brat.

So we're bringing back out the timeout chair. Three minutes sitting in the toddler chair in the living room.

There's never going to be a good time to have this talk, so I sit down on the couch with Arella on my lap. She leans into the crook of my arm and taps my breast, a questioning look on her face.

"You can have some while Mama has a talk with you." This talk is going to be hard enough. I might as well let her nurse while I have it.

Lifting up my shirt, I get her situated. Once we're both comfortable, I begin to speak, "You know Mama and Papa love you very much, beautiful baby. Because we love and care about you, sometimes when you're naughty you'll have to sit in the timeout chair.

"Like when you won't listen to Mama about leaving Cerberus alone. You'll sit there for three minutes. When my alarm goes off, you can get up and give Mama a hug and we'll talk about it."

She looks up at me with those deep blue eyes of hers and her lips pout around my breast. Unlatching herself, she points to the little blue chair in the room. I'll have to paint it pink for her.

"Yes, that's the timeout chair." I explain.

Latching herself back on, Arella reaches up with her tiny hand and pokes my nose. Giggling, I move her hair back from her face.

I don't expect her to understand the chair. Hell, she might not even understand sitting in it for three minutes. That's why I'm explaining the whole process to her. I can't blindly expect her to understand right away.

She finishes up her milk snack and wiggles off my lap, crawling towards the kitchen. Sighing, I stand and rub my eyes. I'm so exhausted. I forgot how busy toddlers can be.

Standing, I find Arella with Alessandro by the fridge. My youngest son is standing there with the refrigerator door wide open, staring down at the baby. I stay back to see what they're going to do.

These two have a weird, yet cute relationship. She's brought out the protective big brother in him.

Clearing his throat, I hear him whisper, "Do you want a yogurt?"