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His eyes narrow with skepticism. “Alright, if you think that’s the best way to handle it, I’ll just keep my mouth shut.”
We call another taxi to go to my mom’s, and neither of us speaks the entire way there. I think we’re both nervous about the encounter, but neither of us knows how to make the other person feel better. I want to tell him that everything will go perfectly with no issues, but there’s no telling how a conversation like this can turn out.
We’re dropped off in front of the house, and it takes a moment before either of us is brave enough to take a step forward.
“What are you going to do if she hates me?” he asks, his expression blank despite the nervousness in his voice.
“Nothing, she doesn’thaveto like you. You’re the father of my children. This is what she’s always wanted for me. I’m sure we’ll all find a way to get over our differences once you’re more settled,” I reply with as much assurance as I can.
When we walk up to the door, I knock lightly a few times as my heart beats out of my chest. This feels like telling her about my pregnancy all over again, except it involves a grown man instead of twin babies. The babies were so easy for her to fall in love with. A tall, intimidating man with tattoos and a gunshot wound? Not nearly as much.
The first thing I hear are the voices of my two little boys as they run down the front hallway to open the door. For a brief moment, I’m able to put my reservations away as my heart swells with joy.
Just as the door opens, both of my boys try to jump into my arms. “Okay, okay, one at a time, you guys!” I say with the biggest grin on my face. “We’ll have plenty of time for you guys to climb all over me. Where’s grandma?”
Without responding with actual words, Archer turns around and sprints back down the hallway screaming for my mother. I look over to Marcello, who has tucked himself to the side of the front step.
“It’s going to happen sooner or later. You have to just come out and face them,” I say, my voice slightly above a whisper as my mom comes walking toward to door.
She doesn’t even see Marcello before she grabs me and hugs me tight enough to blur my vision for a moment. “I thought you were going to be stuck in Italy forever! I thought I would have to write some kind of character statement for you or something!”
Then, before I have time to respond at all, she turns her head and sees Marcello standing uncomfortably to the far left.
“June, do you know that man?” she asks with caution, backing up from him as if he were a mountain lion or rabid raccoon.
“Yes, that’s something I need to talk to you about. Mom, this is Marcello. He’s the boys’ father,” I say, practically vomiting the words out before I can let them choke me.
She’s stunned for a moment, maybe out of shock due to how attractive he is. Maybe she’s just surprised because he isn’t the type I always brought home in college. Even still, I can’t read her expression at all.
“June, can we talk inside for a moment?”
Oh shit.
I nod, following her and the boys back into the house, where the twins scamper off in an oblivious vortex of energy.
“Please just be as receptive as you can. I knew this was going to be difficult already,” I plead, keeping my voice down to prevent Marcello from hearing.
“How did you find him? If he was so easy for you to locate, why wasn’t he here for you and the boys when they were born? Or at any other point in their lives?” she asks with an accusatory emphasis.
The night of my kidnapping flashes before my eyes, the abject terror chasing my heart into my throat as I try to push it down. “It wasn’t quite as easy as you might think it was.”
She pulls away for a moment to look at him through the bay window that overlooks the front yard. “He’s just so... I don’t know, June. There’s something about him that seems sinister.”
I want to laugh, or maybe I want to roll my eyes. She couldn’t possibly understand how much he and I have gone through together in such a short period of time. Maybe his experience radiates from him, but she’ll have to get used to it.
“Mom, I love him. He came all the way here from Italy to raise the boys with me. He made some mistakes, sure, but he’s really trying,” I reply, doing my best to make his case before she meets him officially.
With a sigh, she wanders back over to me from the window. “Well, the boys look just like him. I guess I can’t doubt you there.”
“Please just give him a chance. I promise you’ll love him if you just get to know him,” I reply, trying to conceal the swirl of anxiety, stress, and exhaustion from the flight.
She looks me in the eyes, the depth of her own so sincere and well-intentioned. “Okay, I’ll do it for you. I trust your judgment, even if he’ll take some getting used to.”
Well, that’s a good place to start.
We both go back out to the patio together, and I’m bracing for the worst. I’ve never seen Marcello interact with anyone that he didn’t have direct authority over, so I’m as nervous for myself as I am for him.
As soon as I open the door, the boys come running back out to see what could possibly be causing so much drama. They’ve always been curious and pretty nosey, and I’ve always encouraged them to investigate things on their own in order to build their own conclusions about the world around them.
