ARELLA (A Mafia Story)

Thirty-Two

Gianni

I can't stop smiling as I watch Arella grip the parallel bars on each side of her body, standing up unassisted. Her fake leg, decorated with yellow and black stripes with tiny decals of bees, holds her up as she attempts to take a step.

Mom sits on the floor behind her, hands hovering next to her hips in case she might fall. I doubt my sister is going to stumble. She's the strongest person I've ever met.

The physical therapist in front of Arella is crouched down at the end of the bars, holding her favorite toy for encouragement. We've been at this for almost an hour. It's slow going, yet progress is being made.

I couldn't be more proud of my baby sis. She's come so far and even though I know the prosthetic is hurting her nub, she continues to persevere. The sheer amount of determination in somebody so young is astonishing.

"You got this, princess. Just a couple of steps." Dad encourages, crouching down in front of the physical therapist who's name I learned is Kathleen.

Arella stumbles slightly and grumbles, weakly putting the prosthetic leg in front of her with Mom's help.

Not only does she have to learn to walk with her new leg, she has to learn to walk period. She's never taken a step in her life, so the learning process is even longer.

"Put your other leg on the rainbow. There you go!" Kathleen cheers as she points to the little circle decals on the floor in front of Arella.

They're there to teach her where to put her feet. It's quite a genius idea.

Everybody breaks out into a cheer when she takes her first proper step unassisted. Even Alessandro, who's sitting in the corner of the room, claps his hands.

Arella startles at the sound of our cheers and falls back onto her butt. She kicks her good leg and reaches down, trying to pull the prosthetic off. Tears start to pour down her cheeks as she has a hard time taking off the fake leg.

"Okay, okay. We'll take a break. Papa will help you take it off." Dad, ever the push over, steps up and helps her take off the fake leg and the plastic sock that goes on underneath it.

He's skin is slightly reddened and sweaty. Dad rubs the agitated skin gently, expertly comforting my baby sister.

"We can be done for the day. She's made excellent progress. We have another appointment in two days. That's more than enough time for her to recover. All I ask is that you continue practicing at home. Getting her used to the feel of the prosthetic is going to be the biggest challenge." Kathleen explains.

"Okay, thank you." Dad nods to the older woman and stands with the baby, her prosthetic in the other hand.

It looks like a small stick compared to his massive frame.

Mom stands and walks towards the pair, wiping away the baby's tears with her thumbs. "You did so good. Mama is proud of you, my love."

Arella turns her head away and points towards Alessandro. He stands without any hesitation and takes her from Dad's arms, walking out of the room without a glance back at any of us.

Ever since their little conversation in the kitchen, those two have been glued together at the hip. He still won't let any of us touch him. Nope, just Arella. She has him wrapped around her pinky tighter than Dad.