A second chance at true love

Chapter 7 – Melissa's mom.

.Lucio.

“Come on guys.” I open the door of the car and get in first. I wait for the rest to sit down and drive to the elementary school in our neighborhood.

There are several cars in the parking lot and this is the week I hate every year. Zita always did this, I only came to our own children’s evenings and used the excuse for the rest of the family that I had to work. Not that I have to build in the evening or visit a construction site, but under the guise of starting a new business I have to invest, I didn’t go along.

Now I have to be home in the evenings for the children, so I can’t use that excuse anymore. And I hate this week.

Every year the theme of drama and play returns and the whole school performs a musical. Each class does its own thing. Since Gino spends most of his time in Washington, he’s not in the musical here, so I didn’t have to go for him anymore.

Donato and Sofia don’t go to elementary school anymore, so I thought I’d finally get rid of it. But unfortunately, I am asked by all my nieces and nephews and I don’t want to disappoint them. But I just don’t like to see all these kids dancing and jumping, half of them don’t know what to do anymore and there are always a few, in every class, who are overdoing it and the rest will look even worse.

Wednesday we went for a lot of family kids who were on stage and tonight we are back.

I park the car.

“Can I go in?” asks Sofia.

“No, I want you to stay with me. You were gone yesterday.” I remember her. She sighs.

“Melissa’s sister is in, so I know her, she’s my best friend Dad.” She rolls her eyes. Donato scoffs, he doesn’t feel like being here at all and Gino is fine with it, because he sees his family again.

“Why am I still trying.” I sigh. “Go in, Donato behave. Gino, I’ll see you by the chairs.”

All three children jump out of the car and I am left alone in the parking lot. I can already see my family’s cars coming.

James, Grace's oldest son, has just opened his own car business and of course, provides the whole family with cars. He is lucky with such a large Italian family, who also all have a tick for expensive and beautiful cars.

At least, before they all started having children. They still have beautiful and expensive cars, there are no longer ten sports cars, but the majority are for the transport of children. I’m one of the few who still has a Ferrari in the garage. Which I can only use when I go out with one of my children.

“Where are the kids?” asks Marcello when he’s out of the car and his older kids run inside. “Already inside, or outside, somewhere.” I shrug. I hug Camilla, his wife.

“Good to see you.” She rubs my back.

I nod at her. With a smile, she walks ahead of us with Liam, seven, and Mila, five, beside her.

“Oh look at that!” Camilla points to Rob, the youngest of my sister Valentina. He is holding hands with a little blonde girl. Well, I have to be honest, Rob is standing out above everyone else in his class. You can’t miss that guy. Those Bellucci genes are really not normal. You recognize all those children by their height. Even the girls are tall.

My sister hooks an arm into me. “We should savor this moment.” She sighs and I hear the warmth and love in her voice. Camilla and Bella, she is Vincenzo’s sister, stand on the other side next to me and swoon just as hard.

“God, what’s wrong with you women.” I’m trying to break free.

“Look, Rob and Madison.” She points to Rob and the girl’s name is Madison. They certainly look cute. That big guy, with the little petite girl next to him. Charlotte, Camilla, and Marcello’s daughter runs over and stands by them.

“Where’s Meredith? We need to take a picture!” Valentina picks up her phone and takes pictures of the three of them.

“Who is Meredith?” I ask, with only one Meredith in my mind. Melissa’s mom.

“Madison’s mom!” replies Camilla. Of course, she knows who Meredith is, her daughter is in Madison’s class. So Madison is nine. I’ve heard Sofia say that Melissa isn’t the only girl and has siblings, but I’ve never paid attention to it.

“The teacher separated Madison and Charlotte in class. They were talking more than working.” Marcello shakes his head.

“We need to schedule another play date soon.” Camilla decides and she walks in a different direction.

“Let’s go!” I feel a hand on my shoulder and the familiar voice makes me turn around. Riccardo with his wife Vivian is also there, their son Matt also joins the show tonight.

We greet each other and then walk into the main hall that has been converted into a kind of theater. We all sit together with the family when the musical starts. I search among the audience and see Sofia sitting with Melissa and a few more girls. Donato is sitting with some boys, I also see the oldest boys of Valentina and Vincenzo sitting with him. Gino is not far away from me, but a few rows down with the two boys from the family he grew up with, Adam and Cooper.

I’m just watching the scene on stage and see Charlotte slapping Rob in the face. “Oh god!” cries Camilla and quickly runs forward.

I look at Marcello and he’s grinning. Valentina sits with her arms crossed looking at the stage and Vincenzo shakes his head with a grin.

“What was that?” I ask as Camilla walks back.

“Rob said something to Madison, Charlotte heard it and hit Rob,” Cam sighs as she sits down again. “This is all your fault, that girl bites off even harder like a pit bull.” She looks angrily at Marcello.

I shake my head laughing, Marcello looks proud.

Yeah, I get it. Sofia is just like that, maybe a little less so because there are fewer guys around her to take on.

In our large complex family, there are very few girls. Twelve girls versus twenty-seven boys. I hear you thinking thirty-nine kids? But my sister, Valentina, was adopted as a baby by a family with four older brothers. Later in life, we found each other again and her brothers are now also a kind of my brothers and her husband also comes from a large Italian family. So all in all, we’re kind of one big happy family.

The boys in the family are mostly wild and loud and they have all been given that protectiveness from their dads. I gave that to Donato and maybe also to Gino. Even though I see more and more of Paulo in Gino.

Sofia is the oldest and officially my only child, but I see Donato watching her. He always wants to know where she is and with whom. He knows who her friends are, just as I used to know from my sisters.

Poor Rebecca, she really is the last girl born into the family. Everyone thought that after Mila, from Marcello and Camilla, it was over with the children.

I know all my brothers got snipped, so when Riccardo and Vivian told us they were pregnant again, it was a big surprise. Riccardo looked pale, he was first over the moon with another pregnancy. Everyone was worried, Vivian had already given him six children, all boys. This was different, everyone could see it in Riccardo’s face, We were all afraid that something would be wrong with the baby. But when Vivian put the box of pink cupcakes on the table, everyone burst out laughing.

Riccardo is a changed man. His biggest fear was bringing a girl into the world, he was a mess. It took us all a lot of effort to get him calm again. And now, now he absolutely loves his Rebecca. Protective and concerned. He’s going to have some s**t to deal with when she grows up. But the family also knows very well that Rebecca may have the hardest time with all her brothers and Riccardo as a father.

When the musical is finally over, I’m still waiting in the schoolyard with several other family members.

“Maddie! You can wait with us for a while, your mommy is going to help clean up.” Camilla walks away from us again.

“The girls are going on the swing.” She walks back and Marcello steps in a little to keep an eye on the girls. She kisses Marcello on the cheek and walks towards the girls.

Vincenzo, my sister’s husband, comes to stand with us and I see that his son is in the sandbox with Riccardo’s son and Gene’s son. The lights on the square provide enough lighting to still play and as at so many parties, the women are together, the children are playing and the men are hanging together. The only difference, my kids are enjoying themselves somewhere and their kids are with the women. Teenagers...

“F**ck has anyone seen Meredith?” One of the fathers I don’t know stands with our group. My family nods and groans.

“Sorry?” I ask.

Another father is the first to respond. “Yeah, we’re not all married and in love and love our wives, but f*ck Meredith...” He grins and shakes his head. “What I wouldn’t do to date her.”

“Yeah, it’s ridiculous. She’s hot.” Confirmed one of the other dads I don’t know either.

I look at Vincenzo grinning, Riccardo wiggling his eyebrows. What the f*ck?

“Seriously? Meredith?” I ask.

Marcello nudges me. “Yeah, you know her, don’t you?” he asks.

I shrug. “I never met her or anything,” I answer honestly.

Gene’s eyes grow big. “How is that even possible? Sofia is friends with Melissa, right?” he asks.

“She’s got Marley in Gino’s soccer practice and Mallory is in Donato’s class,” Vincenzo tells us. Everyone is looking at him now. He shrugs.

“I heard Valentina, Grace, and Charly talking about it. Meredith is in the organization of the school barbecue and she had asked the women what they could do,” He explains.

“I never get those things?” I ask the question out loud without thinking about it and I see the faces of the other men.

It’s the face that tells me I don’t get those messages because it reminds me that I’m alone, I’m a father, and everyone is being careful because they don’t want to hurt me. Because they don’t want to remember that I was with Zita and that my whole life was upside down.

I sigh. I’ll talk to Meredith and then I’ll tell her I can be on that list.

“There she is.” Riccardo pushes me into my side and I follow the gaze of the other fathers.

F*ck, that’s Meredith... It’s that moment when I didn’t know I had a thing for blonde single moms. Hot. Blonde single moms.

“How can she have such a figure after six children,” Valentina complains next to me.

“Bellezza, you’re beautiful and you have seven,” Answers Vincenzo.

Marcello and Riccardo pretend to throw up and I kiss Valentina on her forehead. “You’re still beautiful. And put me on that list for school stuff.”

“Are you sure?” her eyes grow large.

I nod. “Yes, I can do that too you know. I’m here anyway. It’s been long enough. I can handle more things.” I laugh. Valentina nods.

“I’m going to find my kids,” I want to walk away, but I don’t have to look far, all three of them are already walking up to me. We say our goodbyes to the family and we get back in the car home.

“Do you have Meredith's phone number?” I ask Sofia.