Their Little Princess

Chapter Fifty-Nine

I wake up the next morning. It isn't really waking up as much as it is just opening my eyes and looking at the blank wall. I don't know if it's because the room is so blank or if it's because its unfamiliar to me, but I think I'm definitely gonna sleep in one of my brothers' rooms tonight because this room makes me uncomfortably anxious.

I sit up, it's kind of dark outside but its beginning to brighten up so I decide to just get up for the day. I use the en suite and get ready for the day, sliding on a pair of tights and Xander's hoodie from the night I was in Sandro's office.

When I step out of my room and into the dark hallway, Mateo is already at the top of the stairs, rustling his hair with his free had, looking at his phone in his other hand. He looks over at me, "Oh, good morning."

"Good morning," I respond groggily. I really didn't sleep well last night.

"Nonna asked me and Gio to deal with the garden this morning, do you wanna come outside?"

"Yeah sure," I say, following behind him. I haven't seen the garden yet. I step outside with him, Giovanni is in the kitchen filling a bucket with water.

"Nonna doesn't trust the butlers with her garden," He explains as Gio comes out with the water, muffling a yawn in his sweatshirt sleeve, "Hey, Maddie," He greets me on his way over to the center of the backyard, if you can call it that.

It's as big as the mansion at least 4 times over. "Are we watering the whole thing?" I ask incredulously.

"No, most of them only grow in the spring or summer, then Nonna has the helicopter come by with the sprinklers attached. We're just doing from here, to there," Gio says, pointing out about 20 feet of land which is really nothing compared to the size of the entire yard, "You don't have to help though, Mads. It's nice to just relax out here in the mornings, try it. Mateo and I ca do it today."

"Are you sure?" I say, unsurely.

"Yeah, you're good," He reassures me as Mateo fills a can with water and goes over the first part.

I sit there for a while in silence, he was right, it really is nice to just sit here. The sun isn't rising yet, but it's getting gradually lighter, it's not too cold, a light breeze hits at one point, but it's more refreshing than harsh.

Despite what Gio said, after a while I go over to help them anyway. It doesn't take long to finish, and the light illumination from the sun has began to show itself from behind the trees surrounding the back of the house.

When we get inside, we follow the amazing smell into the kitchen where Nonno is uncovering already prepped pans of food, he looks a bit surprised to see me with Mateo and Gio, "Madison, good morning. I'm to hope they didn't wake you?" He says unsurely, as if he's on the verge of scolding them.

"We didn't!" Mateo says.

Nonna narrows his eyes at Mateo, but it's clearly in playful spirit, "Here, sit down. The cooks just arrived out front with the food, the others will be up soon. First come, first serve?" He offers.

"No argument here!" Mateo says, sitting down just as eagerly as Gio.

"Not a lot please, thank you," I say politely, sitting down beside Mateo and smiling at Nonno.

He looks pleasantly surprised for reasons I can only guess before nodding, "Of course. You're welcome, tesoro."

.    .    .

After lunch later on in the day, it's around 2:00. I think Mateo is down in the basement with Xander playing the game. Carlo is talking to Giovanni, Alessandro, and Zio Alessio. I sit down on the couch next to Carlo, I'm thoroughly exhausted.

Under the tree are so many gifts. The day before we flew out to Italy, Elijah took me out to go gift shopping, I got a gift for everyone, so that was the one time I was glad he insisted on paying because it cost a lot, so I'm happy to see that my brothers got my gifts out the car, I can see them under the tree.

There's a ring on the doorbell, and a few moments later, Alessandro comes in with a package, holding it towards me, my eyes light up and I walk over to him, grabbing the package from him, 

Jessica Lawson
Chase Emerson

I already knew it was coming, but now that it's actually here.

"What's that?" Carlo asks.

"It's a gift from Jess and Chase. Can I go upstairs to open it?" I ask, unsure if it's impolite to leave the group.

He shrugs, "Sure."

I hurry upstairs and sit on my bed, using a pen to slit the tape open. I pull out the wrapping paper, careful to keep in tact and look inside. 

I pull out a black hoodie, on the front reads Valleyview Varsity Football.

I smile, it's like the one I have from him now, except that one reads Valleyview Junior Varsity Football, and it's smaller.

I pull out a large stuffed white bear, when Jess, Chase, and I were in middle school, Sebastian won it at a school fair, and gave it to the 3 of us. Jess being as out there as she was, she obviously ended up taking it home. I wasn't mad about it, having just enjoyed being there to start with. But the big stuffed animal still brings a smile to my face. I hug it to my self as I reach back in for Mr. and Mrs. Lawson's gift, they always give them, I love getting them.

This year it's a snow globe with the city of Seattle inside, my name is engraved on the wooden plate and taped to the bottom is a $100 bill, written on with a black calligraphy pen, Happy Holidays, from the Lawsons.

I set it on my nightstand, making a mental note not to forget it when we leave.

I hear the front door downstairs and a load of chatter, so I set my gifts aside and head down the stairs. Vittorio is standing in the foyer as Zia Cecilia hugs the life out of him, "Hey mamá." He hugs Nonna, Mateo, and greets everyone else. I wave from the staircase, he holds out a fist, I walk over and give him a fist bump, "Hey, Maddie. Merry Christmas."

"Hi, Vittorio," I say.

He looks a little different from last time I saw him. He looks like he's a grad student, I can't explain it. His hair is a little more cut and clean than when I saw him at the restaurant where his hair was a little longer. He looks like Zio Alessio. He has on a brown blazer over a white button up and khakis.

"I'm gonna go up and get comfortable, I'll be down in 10 minutes," He says.

He lifts his bag up and walks up the stairs. "We're gonna open gifts after dinner," Mateo says. We usually do it early in the morning, but Nonno and Sandro were out in town.

That explains how Nonno was in the kitchen fully dressed even though I didn't see him upstairs this morning.

"We usually do the gift exchange first, you just give someone their gift first, it doesn't have to be the one you bought for them but it can be."

"Do you choose who you get?"

"Yeah, I always choose Vittorio, so don't choose him. You're supposed to choose a sibling anyway. Plus, you're supposed to choose your favorite sibling. Like, Nonna doesn't say it, but it's basically an unspoken rule.

I have to choose a favorite sibling? That feels mean. "Don't worry about being mean. They'll be fine, they're grown men."

I laugh a little, "Okay."