Only three tables were occupied in the small, cozy Italian restaurant where Sonny had taken Amanda, surprising given the amazing cooking that defined the place. The first of these was taken by Amanda and Sonny, who sat in the small booth at the back of the room, just outside the kitchen. They sat on opposite sides with Jessie in her car seat on the bench next to her mother.
At the other side of the diner was a solitary old man with a newspaper, who was repetitively visited by an equally old man from the kitchen, presumably the owner. And just near the entrance, with a direct line of sight to Amanda, Sonny, and baby was an old couple. They smiled smiles that only wrinkled faces know how to.
Amanda, ignoring her own food, gently lifted her daughter, clad in a pink onesie, from her chair and took out her bottle.
"Amanda, you need to eat, let me feed her," Sonny said.
Shaking her head, Amanda responded, "No, I'm fine." Jessie turned her head away from the bottle and began to fuss. Amanda put the bottle down on the table and stood up, bouncing from her knees until Jessie calmed.
"I don't think she's hungry," Carisi said. "When's the last time you fed her?"
Amanda, returning to her seat, shrugged. "Two hours ago?" Jessie made one of those baby-noises, staring intently at Sonny.
"Yeah?" he said, leaning down to look her in the eyes. "Did Mommy already feed you? She did, didn't she? You're not hungry, are you? Are you?" he cooed. He extended his arms out to pick her up, and she came willingly.
Sonny made faces at her, and she smiled a toothless little smile, cooing and gurgling. Amanda felt her heart warm as a smile even more grand than her daughter's made its way across her face.
Amidst the warmth and happiness of the encounter, neither Amanda nor Sonny noticed that the old couple from across the diner had made their way over.
"Excuse us," the man said, his arm around his wife. She smiled at Amanda and then looked over to the baby who was wide-eyed and curious. "We just wanted to say that you are a beautiful family," he continued.
Amanda and Sonny exchanged looks. Before they got the chance to say anything, the wife began speaking.
"It's so nice to see young people so in love. And a father so invested in his child," she continued as Sonny turned red. Amanda felt a tear leak out of her eye, thinking about how Jessie would grow up without a father, and about Declan and how he had stayed in Serbia, thousands of miles away from his only child. She wiped her eyes quickly and none but the old woman noticed.
"Thank you," Sonny said, not wanting to burst their bubble.
"How old is she?" The woman asked, gesturing to the baby.
"About two months," Amanda replied instantaneously.
"She's absolutely beautiful. She's your first?"
"Yes," Amanda said, smiling at her baby.
"Well," said the old man, who had had his fill of the conversation, "We'll leave you to it."
"Goodbye, sir, ma'am," Sonny said as they headed for the door.
As the bell overhead chimed, and the glass door closed out the chill of winter, Amanda did not ask Sonny why he held up the mirage. Instead, she smiled, and held within her the thought that they were a beautiful family.