“Is today a special day?” she asks me, then looks over at Stefano when he answers.
“Yes, today is a very special day.” He squats down beside her. “This is my mom and dad,” he explains, looking at his parents at the same time Avery looks at them. “That is my dad, Markos, and this is my mom, Vivienne.” He smiles at Avery. “You get to meet your grandma and grandpa.”
“Umm, excuse me,” Vivienne says, holding up her hand. “I will not be a grandmother.” My stomach sinks so fast, but only until a smile fills her face. “I’ll be Glammy like a glamorous grandmother,” she says to Avery. “If you want, you can call me Glammy Vivienne or just Vivienne. It’s as you wish, ma puce.” She then turns to look at Markos.
“And he can be GILF.”
My eyes go huge and I think I’m going to choke on my saliva. “Oh my God.” It’s as if there are no words in my vocabulary except for those three.
“What is a GILF?” Avery asks me, and I don’t even know what to say.
“We are not calling him GILF,” Stefano scolds between clenched teeth, then looks at Avery. “It’s a French word,” he says to her and then looks at me, asking for help, but sadly I’m of no help right now.
All I can do is look at the tiara that sparkles in the sun.
Vivienne gets up and walks over to Markos, putting her hand on his chest and looking up at him.
You can see the love in her eyes. “I’ll call you GILF,” she whispers to him before she leans in and kisses his lips.
“Can we not right now?” Stefano hisses as he gets up and puts his hands on his hips.
“Shall we go inside, then?” Markos suggests to us.
“Yes, let’s do that,” Stefano says.
“Avery.” Vivienne holds out her hand to Avery, who goes to her without question and slips her hand in Vivienne’s. “Do you want to go shopping with me? We can go and buy princess dresses to match the tiara.”
“My dad bought me plastic princess shoes,” Avery shares, “and dresses.”
Vivienne laughs at her and then silently glares at Stefano. “Isn’t that nice?” she says sarcastically.
“But how about we get you some sparkly shoes to match the tiara?”
I watch them walk into the restaurant but don’t follow. Instead, I stand here with my eyes closed.
“Are you okay?” Stefano asks me, and my eyes open to look at him.
“I should be,” I mumble to him, “but I am not. I am one thousand percent not okay.” I shake my head. “She bought her a tiara.” I put my hand on my head to stop it from exploding. “That might be the most expensive thing in my house.”
He puts his hands in his pockets, and I see him bite down, the vein in his head looks like it will pop just a bit. “We need to talk about that also,” he says, his tone is tight. I tilt my head to the side, waiting for him to say something else. “I found a house and would like you and Avery to come and look at it with me.”
This is too much. I thought yesterday was too much. I was wrong. I was so, so wrong.
“You bought a house?” I don’t know if I’m asking him or if I’m telling myself this.
“I did.” He nods at me.
“It’s been two days.” My hand falls from my head to my side. In two days, he’s learned he’s become a father. Bought princess clothes for our daughter, informed his parents—who flew in right away, so their airline tickets must have been super expensive—and now he’s bought a house. It takes me more than one day to decide on a pair of shoes, and this man has bought a house in two.
“When you know, you know.” He takes a step toward me. His hand comes out of his pocket and he slips it in mine. The heat of his hand runs through my veins, all the way to my stomach. I’m in shock or I would have moved my hand out of the way. Imagine if his girlfriend saw us standing in the middle of the street holding hands. “Let’s go sit down before my mother does or says something that we will have to awkwardly explain to Avery after.”
I don’t say anything because he pulls me slowly with him into the restaurant. I walk in, my hand is still in his, and the first people I see are Sofia and Matty, standing next to the table filled with people.
My eyes go to Avery, sitting in the middle of the table talking to everyone, the tiara still on her head as
if it was made for her.
I take a few steps into the restaurant, and Sofia notices me. She comes over to us, her eyes going from me to my hand still in Stefano’s and then to Stefano. “I’ll save you a seat,” he says before Sofia gets close enough, his hand slips out of mine, and a cold draft runs through my fingers.
I watch him pass Sofia as she glares and then looks at me. I don’t know why, but I could cheer out loud that she is here. My body sighs in relief when she stands in front of me. “You didn’t think I’d let you go into the lion’s den without backup, did you?” She laughs at me. “Also, you look like you are going to pass out,” she says with a smile, but I can see the panic in her eyes as she looks around, probably for a chair for me to collapse into.
“Ummmm,” I say, my tongue feeling like it’s swelling in my mouth.
“Momma,” Avery calls my name, and I look toward her. She is in Markos’s arms as he holds her.
The look on his face is utter and complete love. I know she will be able to do anything with him and he will let her. “Look, this is how you wave as a princess,” she tells me as she holds up her hand and slowly waves side to side.
“Is that a diamond tiara?” Sofia leans in and asks me in a whisper.
I nod my head. “It is.” I look at her. “It’s from Buckingham Palace,” I say, my mouth going a million miles a minute. “Came in a blue embossed bag with matching box, sitting on a white satin pillow.” I blink now, and if this was anyone else, I think I would be doubled over laughing hysterically. “From Buckingham Palace, how does one even get that?”
Sofia rolls her lips. “Is this a Code Purple?” She looks around.
I hear the hollering, laughter, and claps when I look over at the table and see Avery standing on her chair, looking over at everyone in the restaurant as she practices the wave. “What is higher than Code Purple?”
stefano
. . .
“O kay, when are you going to FaceTime me?” my father asks me, or more like, it sounds like he’s a child. “I didn’t talk to her last night because your mother hogged the phone call.”
“I’m getting to the house now. How about you call me back in ten minutes?” I say to him, and he just smiles and hangs up.
I shake my head getting out of the car and walking toward her building’s front door. It’s been a week since I found out I was a father and in that week my life has done a one-eighty. I lived out of a suitcase, more or less, now I have a house with clothes hanging in the closet. I have furniture delivered daily, thanks to my mother and my aunts. I just finished Avery’s room and tomorrow I’m going to invite them over to see it.
I pull open the door and start walking up the steps to her apartment. Every single night I show up for dinner and the three of us eat as if we’ve always done it. I even went out to buy a car seat so I can go and get her from school. I haven’t actually gone, but I’m working up to it. Today I get to take her to the fair and she is so excited.
I knock on the door and hear the sound of feet approaching it. I squat down to see her when she opens the door. Her eyes light up when she sees me. “It’s my dad!” she shouts over her shoulder.
“Hello,” I greet her, opening my arms for her, and she literally launches herself into them. I kiss her neck as she hugs me, and the phone rings in my back pocket. “That’s for you,” I say, pulling the phone out of my pocket and seeing my father’s name trying to FaceTime me.
“I said ten minutes,” I scold when his face comes onto the screen and he scowls at me, “it’s been two.”