Page 60 of Marcello
Abel moaned. “Food would be amazing. I’m super hungry this morning for whatever reason.”
“Then I’d say that we have our plans set for the morning at least.” Luci looked at me with her bright blue eyes, and I smiled at her. “Good morning, little princess. We need to start introducing you to both languages. Yes we do,” I told her. She was two days old, so she just lay there and stared up at me. I wasn’t sure if she could actually see me yet or not. Most likely, I looked like a large, fuzzy being, but that didn’t matter to me. Our little girl was beautiful, and it was time for her breakfast.
Chapter 20
Abel
“Iknow it’s literally just downstairs, but why does it feel like I need to bring an entire diaper bag full of everything for them?”
Marcello took the diaper bag from me and placed it on the floor. He leaned down and kissed me gently. “Calm down,” Marcello told me. “It’s just a family meal. Downstairs, as you’ve already stated. The babies have already been fed and changed, and if we should need anything else for them, the room isn’t far away, and there will be two warlocks at this meal who can just magick anything we might need.”
I took a deep breath. He wasn’t wrong. Both Mazzi and Rio were going to be at this family dinner. I’d been to a few before, so why was I so worried about this one all of a sudden? I knew it was because we were taking Frankie and Luci with us. They were going to formally be introduced to the coven and family. Mazzi had met them, obviously, as had Rio. Master Vincent had been by the room very briefly to congratulate us, but the babies were both sleeping, and I’d been asleep when he’d stopped by. Although I’d woken up, he’d apologized and said he’d come back another time. He never had.
The twins were two weeks old now, and it was time to start leaving the room. Marcello had left many times, but I’d become a hermit, and I knew it wasn’t healthy for me to get back into old habits. I had actually thought about reaching out to Dr. Braun to see if I could talk about things over the phone, but I’d held off. I knew it would do me well, but I wasn’t part of the council any longer.
“Okay. I’m ready,” I said after taking several deep breaths. I picked up Luci’s baby wrap and started to put it on so I could secure her to my chest, but Marcello stopped me.
“Mio angelo, that won’t be necessary. Our twins can lay in the portable crib with Tulio.”
Oh. Yeah. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Because I was incredibly nervous.
“Okay. Well then, I’ll take Luci, and you take Frankie? Unless you want Luci?”
“It does not matter to me which baby I carry down to meet the others. Everyone is going to coo at both babies, just as they do Tulio.”
I nodded and picked up Luci. She was lighter and less squirmy. I kissed her forehead before I snuggled her close to my chest. Marcello had Frankie, and after he opened the door for us, I took another deep breath before I stepped out into the hallway.
I knew the way. I’d been in the dining room many times. And it had always been a happy occasion when we had family dinners. Everyone here had been nothing but amazing to me. So why was I so nervous about this meal? They knew who I was.
“I can feel your nerves through our bond. Are you not ready to be out and rejoin the family?”
I looked up at Marcello as he helped escort me down the stairs. “I’m okay. I am nervous. It’s been a while since I’ve seen anyone other than you, the twins, Rio, and Mazzi. I knowI haven’t really changed, and neither has anyone else. I just…I don’t know. It just feels different.”
We reached the bottom of the stairs, and Marcello loosely wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
“We’re late, aren’t we?” I asked as we approached the dining room. I could hear everyone else in the room, and that meant we were late.
“We are only a few minutes past eight. You know we usually don’t start the meal until half past.”
That was true. I took a deep breath as we went through the doorway, and all talking suddenly stopped. I fell back a step, moving closer to Marcello at the sudden silence.
“Way to make us feel unwelcome,” Marcello said. He pulled me a bit closer to his side—something I was so thankful for.
Master Vincent was the one who stood first. “Nothing is further from the truth. Come in and join us,” he said. He gestured us over to our seats, which happened to be right next to him. As the second in the coven, Marcello sat next to Master Vincent on the right. Everyone had been shifted, and I was now directly to Marcello’s right. “Welcome back to family dinners, Abel.”
“Thank you. Please don’t be offended if I yawn,” I told him but looked out at the others. “It’s honestly nothing personal against anyone. You are not boring. I’m just not getting a lot of sleep yet.”
“Understandable,” several said.
I wanted to apologize early, though, because I was now used to going to sleep in about an hour, and I already knew we were still going to be here at our meal.
“I would ask which is which,” Master Vincent said, “but I think it’s safe to say that Lucianna is the one in the pink sleeper.”
I smiled at our coven master. “Yes. Would you like to hold her?” I asked. “Err…wait. You’re supposed to hold Frankie first. He’s the vampire.”
Master Vincent shook his head. “They are both members of my coven, and I would very much like to hold the onlyprincipessain it.”
My mouth opened for a moment, but I quickly shut it and carefully passed Luci over to Master Vincent. Marcello smiled at me and shook his head.
