Finding Her - Saving Them

Chapter 13

The next few days are filled with joy for the entire Accardi family. When the DNA results came back positive, Francesco, Leonardo, and Giovanni planned a party and had 13 different cuisines (one per year Alexandra was missing), a six-layer cake (one for each year of Matthew's life), and a box of toys to represent Elijah. However, the toys included filled water balloons, water pistols, silly string, Nerf guns, foam swords, and more. The day was one to remember, especially since Antonio was angry at Giovanni for all of his movement despite his injury, and Xavier made promises to destroy Leonardo when he was least expecting it after getting hit in the throat with a foam sword when the game was over.

One morning, after breakfast, Antonio asks Alexandra into his office. Unsurprisingly, Alessandro is with her. They have been joined at the hip ever since they broke into her apartment. Alexandra looked a bit nervous. "What do you need, Annie?" Alessandro grabbed her hand. Antonio's eyes softened at this gesture. "No need to worry, tesoro. I wanted to update you." The twins' hands stayed together, but both of their shoulders relaxed. "See, we have Molly and David. You are safe. I will be the legal guardian of you, Matthew, and Elijah by the end of the day. You never have to worry that Molly and David will find you and take you back."

Alexandra slid off the chair and curled into a ball on the floor, sobbing. Alessandro immediately dropped to his knees beside her, whispering in her ear and rubbing her back. Antonio quickly walked over and kneeled next to her as well. "It's ok, tesoro. You are safe and you are ours." Alexandra sat up quickly and engulfed Antonio in a tight hug, while still crying, and thanked him over and over again. One of her arms stretched out to pull Alessandro in as well. The three sat there like that for several minutes. Once Alexandra calmed down, she sat back on her heels and chuckled. "I wish I had met you all sooner. I missed you. I didn't remember how it felt to have someone on your side...to not fight alone." Antonio kissed her forehead before saying, "You will never fight alone again." Then Alessandro pulled her into another hug. Antonio ruffled his head, "Besides, your twin won't give you the option ever again."

Alexandra looked at Alessandro with a soft look in her eyes. "I know." They looked at each other for a moment before Antonio helped them off the floor. "How do you want to tell the little guys?" Alexandra paused, "Well, it might be overwhelming, should it just be us three?" Alessandro was glad she automatically included him. "Anything you say, tesoro. Then we will have the other boys come in as an official introduction."

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Antonio carried Elijah and followed Alexandra and Alessandro into Matthew's room. "Momma! Look! Frannie got me a remote-controlled spider!" Alexandra laughed as he made the spider walk toward them. "I hope you said 'Thank you,' sweetie." Matthew looked up at her, "Yes, Momma! I even hugged him!" Antonio rocked Elijah by the door while Alexandra and Alessandro sat with Matthew. Alessandro casually grabbed a few cars by him and rolled them around.

"Sweetie, you know we lived with Molly and Daniel for a long time, right?" Matthew's face got serious, and he stopped playing. "Did they come for us? Do we have to go back?" His seriousness turned into fear, which turned into sadness. He jumped into Alexandra's arms and started crying. As Alexandra rubbed his back and rocked him, she continued. "No, my sweet boy, actually, we never have to go back!" Matthew jerked back and gave a teary giggle, "Really?" Alexandra wiped the tears off his face and nodded, which resulted in another jump into her arms, this time with completely different emotions.

"I have one more thing to tell you, sweetie. You know how Elijah is your brother?" Seeing his cautious nod, "Well, it turns out these guys, "she gestured to Alessandro and Antonio, "Are also your brothers, mine too, and Elijah's." Alexandra paused for a moment and saw Matthew processing everything. Suddenly, Matthew grinned and jumped into Alessandro's arms, "Yessss! I am so excited! What about the others? Are they my brothers, too?" Alexandra smiled, "Yes! All of us are siblings!" Before Alexandra could say anything else or make plans to talk to the others, Matthew jumped up, gave a quick hug to Alessandro and Antonio, and ran out of his room. 

The three looked at each other before Antonio said, "Well, I guess we don't have to worry about talking things through with everyone. He is probably going to tell them now." Alexandra bit her lip and glanced up at him. Alessandro immediately noticed and grabbed her hand. "Will they be annoyed? Will they be upset? Shouldn't we see how they are doing with the change?" Antonio squatted down in front of her and put the hand that wasn't holding Elijah on her shoulder. "Alexandra, those boys fell in love with you the moment you were born, and then fell even deeper in love with you when we found you. With the boys, we don't care about blood; their love for Matthew and Elijah is obvious, and I can only speak for myself, but I have a feeling they have also accepted having two new brothers with as much love as they have for you." Alexandra tightened her grasp on Alessandro's hand and squeezed Antonio's hand that was on her shoulder. As tears came to her eyes, she chuckled, "I don't think I have ever cried so much." Alessandro pulled her into a hug, "Thank you for sharing your tears. It means so much that you trust us with them." With this, Antonio stood up, "I love you both," smiled, and left the twins to help each other.

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The next day, Antonio called a family meeting in the living room. He held up a picture of the family and introduced them to Alexandra and Matthew. "This is our uncle Fredrico. He is a tall, gruff-looking man who loves his family. He has three sons: Nico, Adriano, and Elio." Antonio points to each person as he says their name. "They are all older, but they still hang out with everyone." Noticing Matthew is getting distracted, he turns the photo toward Alexandra. This is Marco and Andrea. They have Dario, Alessio, Lorenzo, and Giuseppe. Giuseppe and Leonardo are really close. Francesco, Dario, and Adriano are always off doing 'The Three Musketeers' stuff. Everyone else hangs out more generally." Alexandra squeezed Alessandro's hand as Antonio pointed out the family. "Will they be ok with us three?" Antonio set the photo down and stared at Alexandra. "They already love you all. I had to push to keep them away while Giovanni healed and you all settled. They, and we normally, live in Italy, so they will be coming in a week, as long as that is ok with you. NO pressure."

When Antonio saw Alexandra's nod, he offered a small smile. "If you need girl time, I am sure Aunt Andrea would love a video chat sometime." Alexandra's face lit up at this. "Yes! I would love that!" She sheepishly looked around, "Not that I don't love you all. It's just...lots of men sometimes." Xavier was the first to respond, "And some of them don't wear deodorant." He stared daggers at Leonardo, who sniffed his armpits. "Eh, we are at home. You get what you get." Alexandra began laughing as they began wrestling until Matthew joined, and the meeting was adjourned.