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As we reached the house, I couldn’t help staring at the enormous statue of the Virgin Mary on the front lawn, standing out in blatant contrast to the modern house. It must have been nearly ten feet tall.
We came to a halt, and as I helped the children out of the back seat, Marco opened the front door.
“Anni,” he nodded at me without a smile of any sort. When he looked down at the children, however, a warmness spread through his features. “Hey Clemente. Hi Clara.”
Clemente gave him a wave and then pushed past him into the house. Clara hung back by my side and didn’t reply to him.
“Hey, don’t I get a smile from my favorite girl?” he asked, picking her up gently in his arms and giving her a small kiss on the cheek, eliciting a chuckle from her.
“Tickles,” she giggled, as the scruff on his chin rubbed against her soft cheek.
“You like tickles?”
She shook her head.
He cocked his head to one side. “Well, I know you like playing with Debi and Danio, right?”
“Debi here?” Clara’s eyes lit up at the mention of Marco’s sister.
“Yep, she’s definitely here. She was over the moon when I told her you were visiting today. It’s been ages since you last came and she got to see you.”
“See Debi?”
“Sure. She’s in the living room.”
He carried Clara into a huge living space while I followed behind. The room had a large seating area with couches on one side, a dining room on the other side, and a kitchen just behind; all three areas were open plan to each other.
When we walked in, Clemente was already running around and exploring, and Clara wriggled to get down from Marco’s arms to join in.
“Hi Anni,” said a young girl.
I remembered meeting at the wedding. “You’re Debi, right?”
“Yes, I’m Marco’s sister.” She gave me a friendly hug.
At a table sat a teenage boy, whom I recalled was one of Marco’s many brothers. “Hey Anni,” he greeted with a warm smile. He was wearing jeans and a hoodie, and he was working on two laptops simultaneously.
“Hi Danio.” I was glad that I could remember some of their names.
“Yard?” Clemente said to no one in particular, pointing at the glass doors that led out to a huge backyard.
“Sure,” said Danio, pushing back from the table and standing up. “Do you wanna come too, Anni?”
“Okay.” I smiled at him. At least Danio and Debi were friendlier than their older brother. I really didn’t want to be forced to stand around and make small talk with Marco. Even though he had invited me today, I still found him scary and intimidating.
Out in the yard, Danio kicked a ball around with the kids while Debi got out a bubble wand that fascinated Clara.
I crouched down to Clara’s level. “You dip the wand in the special bubble mixture. Then you wave the wand and bubbles appear.” I guided her hands to make the actions. As bubbles appeared around her, Clara gave a delighted giggle.
Just then Clemente fell over in his haste to get to the ball and started howling.
Running over to him, I picked him up in my arms. “Hey, sweetie. Where does it hurt?”
He carried on crying but pointed to his knee.
There was no graze, so it was just a bump. “You know what will make it better?”
He shook his head.
