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“Okay,” she said softly.
I hurried upstairs to grab a wide-toothed comb before she changed her mind.
When I came back to the den, Clara was sitting patiently. I got to work on her hair, taking my time and working the knots out from the bottom upwards. Her hair was the same color as her father’s—a rich shade of the deepest brown.
“Wilbur likes having his fur brushed every morning. I think he's going to like it even more now if you choose him a fresh ribbon each day as well.”
By the time I had got all the tangles out of Clara’s hair, it looked so much tidier and shinier. I gathered the top section and tied the ribbon around her curls in a bow. Picking up Clara in my arms, I held her in front of the mirror over the fireplace to show her how she looked.
“Do you like it?” I asked her.
Wilbur let out a ‘meow’ in approval. He was an intelligent animal and often tried to talk to me and answer any questions I asked, although his responses were rather limited.
Clara giggled at Wilbur’s reply and gave me a smile. “Like it,” she said.
“I think Wilbur likes it too, especially because you are wearing matching ribbons.”
She carried on looking at her reflection for a few moments and then wriggled to get down from my arms.
I watched Clara and Clemente play with their toys, letting Wilbur roam around the room at the same time so that they could all start getting used to each other. Clara, in particular, was taken with my cat. And after what she had done with the ribbons, I had an idea.
“Let’s all go to the mall. Wilbur’s collar is getting a bit old and shabby. Why don’t we pick him up some new ones and you can also choose some new ribbons for him? Then each morning you can choose which collar and ribbon he should wear.” I had always loved doing this each morning with Wilbur, and perhaps Clara and Clemente might end up liking to do it with him too.
Both children looked enthusiastic about my suggestion for an outing. I helped them to brush their teeth and wash their hands and faces. Then, with Adelina’s help, I located the children’s shoes and got them ready to go out.
We went from the hallway through the connecting door to the garage. A number of vehicles were parked there with their keys in their ignitions. Picking an SUV that already had child seats in the back, I got the children in and buckled up.
I could see the control to open the automatic garage door, so I started the car and drove down the driveway, coming to a stop when I reached the perimeter gates. The gates were closed, and there were two soldiers on duty—one older and one younger.
I’d noticed other various soldiers providing a security detail around the outside of the property, and those soldiers seemed to change throughout the day. Adelina had told me that the soldiers came and went depending on what duties Lorenzo assigned to them—if they were needed elsewhere, then they would leave as long as a set minimum number of soldiers remained at the house.
As I came to a halt, both the gate soldiers walked toward me.
Rolling down the window, I spoke to them. “I’m just taking the children shopping.”
“Do you know where to go, Mrs. Marchiano?” asked the younger one.
“I've looked it up on the internet where the local shopping mall is and programmed it into the satnav. It looks close by.”
“You'll have to take a bodyguard with you,” said the older man in a no-nonsense tone. He nodded at the other soldier. “Giuseppe will accompany you. I’ll call one of the other soldiers to come and take his place at the gate.”
“Okay,” I said reluctantly. I never had to take a bodyguard to go shopping in Venetiville. But then Venetiville had its own department store within the gated community—the wealthy Mafia families meant that the store did extremely well despite our community being so small.
Giuseppe looked at me and spoke hesitantly. “I should drive, ma’am. That way, if there’s any trouble, I can take control of the situation.”
I suppressed a small sigh, slightly irritated. I'd been allowed to come and go around Venetiville freely. However, realizing that Giuseppe’s suggestion was probably a sensible one, given that I had the children with me, I got out of the driver's seat, making my way around the car to the passenger seat where Giuseppe was holding the door open for me.
When we got to the mall, the first place we went to was a large department store. As Giuseppe tailed us, completely failing to blend into the background and looking every inch a bodyguard, I made my way to the homeware section.
After looking around, I found what I was looking for. “Look Clara and Clemente.” I picked up a plate. “Don’t these look fun?” The children’s plate was decorated with rabbits.
Clara looked at it with big eyes. “Pretty bunny rabbits,” she murmured, pressing her fingers to the rabbits decorating the border of the plate.
Clemente pointed to another plate on the display stand. “Tigers,” he said, jumping up and down.
“Yes, that's right, Clemente, they’re tigers. Why don't you both choose a set and we can use them at mealtimes?” The plates had matching bowls and cups, as well as matching lightweight cutlery in a miniature size which was much more suitable for the small hands of young children.
Clemente had already made his decision as soon as he saw the plate with tigers. Clara, on the other hand, took her time looking through the different designs on display. Finally, she pointed to another one of the designs, this one with pictures of kittens around the border of the plate.
