Perhaps One Day

no matter what

~ Alvize Romano ~
📍Romano Home
July 18th, 2012
1:00 P.M.

Alvizie Romano had never felt this nervous. Never this overwhelming notion that something he thought was set in his life was about to change.

His sister, his twin was coming home. Someone he gave up hope of ever being able to see again, someone he believed to be dead for over a decade, someone who means the world to him... was coming home.

He refused to believe it until he saw her alive with his own eyes. They had been deceived before, made to feel hope about her return only to have the carpet ripped out from under them just when they started to feel hopeful. Those people ended up dead. But their deaths never repaired the trauma they caused.

When his mother threw open the front door and a young woman his age was visible, he heard his elder brothers release a breath they had all been holding since they all took their spots near the entryway to the dining room.

"Giada?" their mother croaked out through her tears. The girl, Giada, could only nod before she was wrapped in their mother's arms. Giada tensed but after a moment she visibly relaxed into the embrace and wrapped her free arm around his mother.

That was when he noticed the child in his twin's arms. The little girl that appeared to be sleeping with her face nestled in her mother's neck and her arms nestled between the two.

His twin had a daughter... so he had a niece. Gods, he had a niece. That wasn't something he thought he would be able to say since none of his brothers had ever really been in a serious relationship before. But that's a story for another time.

He wanted to meet his sister after more than a decade.

~ 3rd Person ~

When Ambra felt an arm wrap around her and a body melt into her, her tears only increased. She was holding her daughter in her arms for the first time in nearly 14 years. 14 years she had gone without holding her, without breathing her in and knowing whether or not she was alright.

Both of their holds increased on the other while they stayed in the embrace a few moments before Giada loosened her hold, pulling back, unnerved by the several pairs of eyes on the pair. Ambra immediately released her, not wanting to push her daughter's boundaries too far and this quickly.

A clearing of a throat came from inside the entryway, followed by a male voice gently asking "Shall we go inside?".

Ambra's head turned around briefly to connect gazes with her husband who was clearly on the verge of tears, before turning around to face her daughter and the man standing beside her who she assumed was Mr. Jensen, the social worker.

"Shall we?" she said giving a little tug to the hand that was still holding her daughter's. The social worker looked at Giada for her response who gave a small and apprehensive smile as she nodded her head before following Ambra inside with Malik behind her.

——————

As Giada and Mr. Jensen sat down at the ends of the large dining table, Giada knew damn well that the eight other people sitting there were not the only people who lived in this ginormous house, not by far. If she was being logical, she could have just told herself that it was probably extended family that lived here as well, but if she was being honest, her mind was being more emotional than logical since the moment she was wrapped in her mother's arms for the first time.

And when her mind was running on emotion, she tended to make different observations than she would have running on logic. So when she took in the security along the front gates, the long and windy driveway with post outs just beyond the treeline, exterior cameras mounted within the shadows of the house semi-inconspicuously, and the way that her new-found brothers had practically perfect posture and masked facial expressions down to everything but their eyes had her wondering just what the fuck she had gotten her and her daughter into.