And now... There's us

Chapter 10

Christmas day (15 days later)

Emmalin P.O.V

It's Christmas morning, and Nick and I are at my brothers' house to open presents.

Ding Dong

I hear Sofie's footsteps, and the door swings open. Her grin is wide, as she very gently hugs me. both she and Nick treat me like I'm made of glass. I'm wearing one of Nick's huge red hoodies, so that my brothers can't see my growing baby bump just yet.

"You ready to meet your big bad uncles?" Sofie whispers, rubbing my belly. I giggle, and suddenly feel like having a cookie... And a pickle.

"Have you made cookies?" I ask hopefully.

"Obviously." She answers. I try to sprint inside, only to be stopped by my husband, who gives me a stern look. I swear, the man only lets me breathe air that's been tested by him.

Sighing, I grab his hand, and walk to the living room. Dante jumps up as soon as he sees me, and I momentarily panic, thinking about him feeling the bump. I give him a weird pat on the back.

"Presents!" I shout, to avoid th weird look Dante is sending me.

We all exchange gifts, and somehow manage to make them wait till the end to open ours. Five identical gift bags with crepe paper sit under the tree, waiting to be opened.

"Um, okay, so Emma? We love you to the moon and back, but there is absolutely no way that I'm going to wear this." Luca says, staring at the pink t-shirt, and exchanging glances with the other four.

"Hey, I made that, you meanie." Sofie pokes him in the side.

"Listen guys, I wasn't done yet. As you can see, they are inside out. I need you to close your eyes and put them on." I know their going to protest, so Sofie and I make puppy-dog eyes. One of us doing it is bad, but both of us together? That's lethal.

"Okay, fine. We'll do it." Sofie has to help Luca, because he puts his on backwards. In the meantime, I take off Nick's hoodie, which I am so keeping, so they can see my baby bump.

"Great! Now open your eyes." They do as I say, and gasp. All the t-shirts have 'I'm the favourite uncle' written in big bold letters.

Nobody says anything for a full minute. They just stare at their shirts, then at my belly. I burst into tears.

"You guys don't love me anymore."

Nicholas P.O.V

"You guys don't love me anymore." My angel sobs, covering her stomach. I'm in front of her in two seconds flat, scooping her into my arms, and sitting wit her on the couch, rocking her ack and forth, while she cries into my chest. These damn pregnancy hormones are going to be the death of me.

"Sweetheart, of course they love you. Don't you guys?" The glare I send them is murderous.

Dante snaps out of it first with a quick shake of his head. "Emma, how could you think that? We love you so much! We were just surprised." He says, holding her hand gently.

"That's right, Tesoro. We're all so happy that you're having a baby." Luca adds joining us.

"We're going to be the coolest uncles ever." Enzo wipes away her tears, and she stops crying, sitting up with hope in her eyes.

"Really." Gio confirms. "Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"

"Of course, it's a girl, you idiot. Did you not see the pink?" Gio's mouth opens and closes like a goldfish. Emma jumps off my lap to hug him, once again sobbing.

"I'm s-sorry, I was s-so -mean and now you're going to h-hate me, a-a-a-a" She can't get the word out, and is gasping uncontrollably. I panic, and so does everyone else. She needs to calm down. Now. Gio hugs her, and whispers something in her ear, making my angel calm down. I let out a sigh of relief, just as Sofie enters the room. When did she leave?

"Hey, Emmy? How about some vanilla ice-cream and pickles?" The guys make disgusting faces, but I send them each a look.

"Can I have pretzels, too?" Emma's tears are long forgotten, as she grabs the bowl, and plops down on my lap as if nothing happened. She abruptly stops eating, and looks around. "Where's Antonio?" I look around the room, and she's right. He isn't here. I see a frown begin to form on her face, and I know what's coming, so I gently rub her back.

"He'll be here soon, angel." I assure her, and let out a relieved sigh when I see him enter the room.

Antonio kneels down in front of Emma, and takes her hand in his. She takes on last longing glance at her ice-cream, and puts in down on the coffee table. Antonio takes out a piece of crepe paper, and unfolds it.

"When we had just found out the twins were boys, papa was really happy, but we all knew that he wanted a little girl. He went out and bout this bracelet. He said that the first grandchild that's a girl, will get this bracelet. When you were born, he was over the moon, but he said that the bracelet will still go to his grandchild." He takes out a small charm bracelet with little teddy bears on them.

"I'm having a baby girl." Emmalin says with a smile, making Antonio chuckle.

"That's right princess. This is for your baby. Papa would have been so happy." Emmalin's eyes fill with tears again, but I'm not worried. She hugs him, and he returns the gesture.

"I love you guys." She says, leaning on my chest, and looking at her brothers.

"We love you, too bambina."

The rest of the day, Emmalin didn't cry again, and was mostly with Sofie. For some reason, Sofie could calm her down within seconds.

"Hey, sweetheart?" She was half-asleep in Sofie's room, while they listened to music, and Sofie made a new dress.

"Hmm?"

"I think it's time to go home." I say softly.

"Mmhmm." She lifts her arms like a toddler wanting to be carried. I smile softly, and scoop her up.

By the time we got to the car, my angel was fast asleep in my arms.

"You're going to be such a great dad." She mumbles, still half asleep.

"You'll be an even better mom, sweetheart." I reply, kissing her forehead.

"Hmm. Can we get some McDonalds?" I chuckle, and tell Mario to take us to the nearest drive through.