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“These two boys are the twins, Mattia and Tomasso,” she says, stopping an argument between them. “They’ll be three next month.”
Then she leads Gabriele to another room where our two daughters are sleeping in their cribs.
“And here we have another set of twins, father,” she says quietly. “These are your granddaughters Giulia and Emma. They are two months old.”
Gabriele reaches in and strokes their sleeping faces and he can’t help but get choked up. Giulia reaches out to him and wraps her small hand around his hand.
“You looked just like them when you were a baby,” he says as he fights back tears.
Aria stands next to her father as the two of them admire our young daughters. I have half a mind to take out my phone and snap a photograph of it. But the moment is short lived.
Alessandro runs into the room with the twin boys following closely behind.
“Come play with us, grandpa!” Alessandro shouts as he takes Gabriele by the hand and drags him out of the room.
I can hear Gabriele laughing all the way down the hall as he follows the boys back to the living room. By the time we get there, his hands are filled with various toys as they explain the rules of a game to him that could never make sense to any normal adult mind.
But he does his best to play along, and it is clear that he enjoys it. And when the boys are bored with that game, they run off into the garden and Gabriele is afforded the time to breathe.
“It’s good to see you,” Aria says with a smile. “The kids were so excited to meet you.”
“There arefiveof them,” he says in shock.
“Yeah, who would have expected two sets of twins?” Aria laughs as she picks up the toys.
Gabriele excuses himself to the bathroom, and when he hasn’t returned I go looking for him. It doesn’t take me long to find him, because I suspect I know where he’ll be. Gabriele stares out the window as the boys chase each other around a tree.
“Twenty years,” he says quietly. “That’s how long you spent away from the world because of me.”
The reminder stings me more than I’d like to admit.
“That’s true,” I say softly. “Look, I know how tough it is to come back and find that everything has changed. But if you need me, I can help you.”
Gabriele looks at me with remorse in his eyes. “Can you forgive me?” he asks. “Five years in there has destroyed me. But you were in for twenty and look at all that you have still achieved.”
“Well, it hasn’t been easy,” I tease, nudging him lightly. “I have children now, Gabriele. My past needs to remain there. So, for their sake, I forgive you.”
“Thank you,” he says. “They are the most important thing now.”
“So what will you do now that you have your freedom back?” I ask.
“You know, it’s funny,” he says. “I had some real time to think in there. And I realized that I’ve been foolish this entire time. It isn’t about enemies, it’s about allies.”
He looks at me and immediately I know that he has some idea that I’m not prepared to hear.
“You have married my daughter,” he says. “And so you have combined our two families with these five beautiful children.”
Gabriele turns to look out of the window again. “I say we combine forces entirely and create one large, unstoppable, empire,” he says.
“And who would be at the head of it?” I ask.
“There was a time when we got along, you know,” he says dryly. “And I remember us being pretty unstoppable then.”
Gabriele holds out his hand to me. “What do you say?”
I clasp my hand in his and with a firm handshake, the deal is made.
THE END
