Leaving the Pirate (Book Three)

24. A New Beginning

6 years later...

Anne

He looked just like his father. He had the same dark piercing eyes and the same beautifully tan skin. It was hard to believe they weren't the same person.

I placed him in the tub. He squirmed. I told him to stop, and of course, there was a whining that came with it. "I don't want to!" There was no arguing with a four-year-old, but there was little I could do when he was head to toe in mud.

"You should have thought about that before you decided to roll in the mud," I repeated back slowly, sounding out the words in an understandable accent.

"It's hot outside," he said, finally sitting still. He looked up at me with an expression of disgust, blaming me for his own doing.

"You should have come inside then." I wet a cloth and rubbed soap onto it before scrubbing him. The once-white cloth turned a lovely shade of brown.

"But I wanted to be outside!"

"Calm down, please. Let's finish this so you can have your lunch. Wouldn't you like that?"

He settled enough to allow me to finish. And once he was dressed, he followed me down to the kitchen where I gave him his lunch. He devoured it, wolfing down the food in an instant.

I told him to slow down, but he ignored me and continued to stuff his face. He did it just in time for his mother to show up. She bent down and kissed his head before asking if her lunch was fixed.

"Yes, ma'am. It should be finished in a moment," I said in English. She nodded as if confirming something before talking to Matteo again.

"Matteo, dear, your birthday is coming up, isn't it? Wouldn't you like a new toy?" She said this in Italian. Luckily, Matteo was bilingual. He clapped his hands happily to which his mother smiled, tucking a lock of her golden hair behind her ear, away from her perfectly polished face.

She looked back at me then. I knew right away. I was to buy this toy. Maids always go out to buy the presents, especially their Mistress's children's toys. She and her husband were not even going to attend their own son's birthday. They were far too busy for that.

Another of my coworkers came out and set a plate of a hot dish on the table. He spoke Italian, telling our boss that her food was ready. She didn't even say thank you. She allowed him to pull the chair out for her and she sat down while I stood up. Maids were not supposed to sit at the same table as their Mistresses. She told us to leave so she could be alone with her son.

I followed Santo into the kitchen where we joined Leonardo who was busy preparing tonight's dinner for the family. They both looked at me and smiled, offering all their sympathy for the demon I put up with.

"The young master's birthday is coming up. I'm assuming you're buying the present again?" Santo tried to say it in broken English.

"That's right," I said back in Italian. I ran a hand through my hair to keep it from sticking into my face, hot from the humid kitchen air. 

Leonardo coughed, making sure to do it in his handkerchief before saying, "Children these days. Nightmares, I say, nightmares."

"I don't think it's that," Santo tried to say again in broken English, "children have always been that way. I was that way as a boy."

It was amusing seeing Santo try to relate to Leonardo's age, even though he was only a little younger than I was. "He's only four," I tried to add, "children are just like that at that age."

"Only spoiled-"

"Oh, Matteo! Why'd you get Mummy all dirty now? Now I have to change! Anne, get out here now!"