Emily's woken up the next morning by Violet's cries.
Her eyes open slowly and with effort. She eyes the clock; 6:03.
The memories of Elena and her sons floods her mind as she slowly gets out of bed. Violet's cries are already telling Emily that her teething is especially painful this morning. She finds Violet sitting up, crying, with one hand pushed into her mouth.
"Oh, honey," Emily murmurs, sorry for her daughter.
She lifts her baby and presses her lips to Violet's warm forehead, inhaling her baby smell. She changes her and carries her from the bedroom. She detours from her usual path to the kitchen and glances in the living room. Gaetan and Luciano are fast asleep, looking even smaller than they are, curled into the large sectional couch.
Exhausted, Emily walks to the kitchen and immediately grabs a teething ring from the freezer. She tries to sit Violet in her high chair by the baby is cranky and clings to her mother, not about to let her put her down.
"Alright, baby," Emily murmurs, rubbing Violet's back.
She gets Violet's breakfast ready and brews a pot of coffee. When she hears keys in the front door, she frowns for a moment before she realizes that it's Friday; Lucia will be coming to clean today.
Thank god, Emily thinks to herself.
She's been lazy about cleaning up over the last two days.
"Oh!" she hears Lucia gasp.
"In here," Emily says, stepping into the hallway so Lucia can see her.
Lucia eyes the sleeping boys again before carrying on.
"The Dioli boys?" Lucia questions, her brow furrowed.
"Luciano woke me up in the middle of the night," Emily explains, placing a bowl of halved blueberries on Violet's high chair tray before settling Violet in it. Thankfully she doesn't cry. "Elena miscarried. The boys found her on the bathroom floor."
"Dio mio," Lucia gasps.
"I mean, there was a lot of blood and she'd been there for a few hours," Emily adds. "I'm not a doctor, but I don't see how you can lose that much blood and be okay."
"That poor woman," Lucia shakes her head slowly, setting her purse down.
Emily nods into the silence. She's tired and she's sad for Elena, and all she wants is a nap. And maybe a time machine.
"Oh, the teething is bad today?" Lucia notices Violet's cheeks.
Emily nods, sipping her coffee with one hand while the fingers of her other hand are grasped by Violet.
"Gonna be a long day," Emily sighs.
"You sleep," Lucia replies. "I will look after the children."
Emily considers this.
"Not just yet," she decides. "Violet's a little clingy this morning, and I should be awake when the boys wake up. They'll be upset and confused, probably."
Lucia nods understandingly and then begins cleaning.
"Signora Reynolds?" the voice on the phone says.
"Si," Emily replies.
"My name is Vera Garro, I'm Elena's sister," the woman goes on.
"Oh! Hi. How is Elena?" Emily replies.
"She's going to be alright," Vera replies quietly. "She told me that you had the boys?"
"Si," Emily answers. "They're still asleep."
"Thank you so much for taking care of them," Vera says gratefully. "I'm sorry for the imposition. I wish I lived closer."
"It's not a problem," Emily assures her. "I'm just glad that Luciano came and woke me up."
"Yes, thank goodness," Vera agrees. "They're keeping Elena overnight. She's just fallen back asleep so I was going to come and get the boys."
"Okay," Emily says. "Has Elena, um…the baby?"
"God has taken her back," Vera replies quietly.
Emily always sees the Diolis going to church on Sundays. She knows they're religious and that Elena's husband judges Emily a little for not going to church.
"I'm so sorry," Emily tells Vera.
"If not for you, and for Luciano waking you up, we may have lost Elena as well. Our family will be forever grateful."
Emily's chews her lip, unsure of what to say.
"I'm leaving the hospital soon. I should be there before lunch," Vera goes on.
"Alright," Emily replies. "I'll make sure the boys are ready."
Emily wanders into the living room. Violet has fallen back asleep, snuggled against her mother.
Gaetan and Luciano are still out cold. The trauma exhausted them and even Violet's cranky cries hadn't woken them up.
Emily considers going next door to find clean clothes for the boys, but she doesn't know the family well enough and she's sure that Vera will go there with her nephews.
Within the hour, Vera's car pulls up. The boys are only beginning to stir.
Emily answers the door and exchanges greetings with a beautiful young woman who resembles Elena very much.
"Oh my goodness, Elena said you had a beautiful baby," Vera smiles a little sadly at Violet, asleep in the baby sling across Emily's front. "She was right."
She smiles down at Violet.
"I'm so sorry about the baby," Emily says.
Vera smiles gratefully; sadly.
"Me too," she nods. "Elena was so happy to be having a girl."
"Zia?" they hear a little voice.
They look over to see Gaetan rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Il mio amore," Vera smiles, holding out her arms as Gaetan scrambles off the couch. "Are you alright?"
Gaetan nods into his aunt's shoulder as he clings to her.
"How is Mamma?" he asks timidly.
"She's going to be just fine," Vera promises. "She misses her boys so much. I've already gotten some clean clothes for you both. Why don't you wake up your brother and get changed?"
Gaetan takes the little backpack that Vera offers and goes to wake up Luciano.
"And brush your teeth! Your toothbrushes are in there, too!" Vera calls out.
Emily invites her to sit, offering her some tea which Vera gratefully accepts. As Emily returns with the mugs, Violet begins to complain and wriggle in the sling.
Emily sits down and extracts Violet from her little cocoon.
"My goodness, look at those pretty eyes," Vera smiles, once Violet is lifted out and looking around.
Surprised by the new face, Violet just stares.
"Aye, teething," Vera makes a face. "Such a hard time."
Emily nods, taking a breath. "She's had some pretty rough days. But she's a trooper."
Vera tilts her head, confused by the term. Emily remembers that English as a second language isn't always caught up on slang.
"Oh, um, a champion. A little fighter," Emily clarifies.
"Ah," Vera smiles, nodding.
"Your English is very good," Emily remarks.
"I am a teacher," Vera explains. "It was part of my university training."
While the women chat about college and languages, Violet chews on a teething ring and observes this new stranger.
"May I?" Vera asks, when she can't bear it anymore.
She's been itching to hold the baby.
"She's a bit fussy today, but we can try," Emily chuckles.
Vera holds out her hands and smiles at Violet, cooing at her to come see her. When she doesn't fuss, Emily lets Vera take her and settle her on her lap.
Violet looks up at this new person once Vera has her settled on her lap, facing Emily.
"Hello beautiful," Vera murmurs in Italian.
She talks to Violet and the baby just stares, looking half-interested and half-unsure.
"She looks stunned!" Vera laughs.
"I think it's your hair," Emily chuckles. "She doesn't see blonde very often."
"Ah," Vera nods.
She looks at Violet and holds a handful of her thick blonde hair.
"Biondo," she tells Violet. "Can you say?"
With Emily, Violet will chatter on all day, but she refuses to make a sound for Vera.
Instead she glances back at her mother and then at Vera once more before she leans away from her and holds her arms out to her mother.
"Ah, mamma's little girl," Vera grins.
Emily smiles, settling Violet back on her lap.
A moment later, Gaetan and Luciano appear, changed but still looking tired and sad. Emily can't blame them.
"All ready?" Vera asks, running her hand through each boy's hair and kissing his forehead.
"Si," they mumble, suddenly more shy in front of Emily.
"It was very nice of Signora Reynolds to help you and your mamma," Vera hints.
The boys nod.
"Grazie, Signora," Gaetan speaks first.
"Grazie," Luciano echoes, meeting her eyes.
She smiles warmly.
"No problem," she replies. "I'm always here if you need help, okay?"
Luciano buries his face shyly into his aunt's sweater but Gaetan nods solemnly.
"Please let me know how Elena is doing," Emily says to Vera, as they walk to the door.
"Of course," Vera promises. "She's so grateful to you, I know she'll want to come and say so herself."
Emily nods and a moment later they're gone.
Violet leans forwards so she can watch them leave, and Emily has to smile at her silent interest.
They go back inside and Emily hears the phone ring. Exhausted, she blinks slowly, knowing that it'll be her mother and that she'll want to chat for awhile.
She takes a breath and eyes the caller ID, and a moment later she turns off the ringer and heads outside to the hammock.