The Maestri Amour (Wattys 2015) - ON HIATUS

TMA || 3

I stood in the dressing room, trying on the white Dolce and Gabbana dress that they'd given me. I had already shown them what the other outfits looked like and they loved them. This dress was my favourite though. It was white with multicoloured flowers. It fit me like a second skin and I'll admit that I looked gorgeous. It's the kind of dress I'd dreamt of buying when I was a little girl, but would never afford it.

I stepped out of the dressing room and the ten eyes that snapped up to look at me, all widened. I was beginning to feel a little self conscious when no-one was saying anything, until I recognized a common emotion in the girls' eyes. They looked at me with admiration and something else.

Something that made my heart skip a beat as their golden orbs began to shimmer with tears.

"That dress was made for you Rita. You look gorgeous in it," Luigi was the first to speak.

"Really?" I asked unsurely.

"Yes, really," the girls responded.

"Try it with the nude heels," Luigi suggested. The girls and I raised our eyebrows at him.

"What?" he asked confusedly.

"Nude?" Camilla giggled.

"Isn't that what they're called?" he scowled.

"We're wondering why you know that Lui," Calinda informed him as we laughed. He blushed crimson.

"My sister's a designer," he mumbled.

"Well, you pay excellent attention," I praised him as I put on the shoes.

"You look really beautiful!" Calinda smiled at me.

"Thank you my angel," I blushed.

"You're not allowed to change!" Caprice and Caterina suddenly said.

"What? No! I can't walk out of the store like this," I shook my head.

"Why not? We'll pay for the dress, the shoes and these other clothes. We love you like this!" Camilla argued.

"I can't let you spend your father's money on me like this!" I admonished.

"You're really not going to win," Luigi chuckled before Caprice, Camilla and Caterina ran off to the cashier with the other clothes that I'd tried on.

"Stop them!" I turned to Luigi.

"I quite like their idea. I don't know your story Rita, but I know that you're pretty special. You're the first ever woman that the girls haven't tried to ruin. They actually like you," Luigi smiled.

"We do," Calinda added with a nod.

"But buying me expensive clothes is a bit overboard don't you think? You guys don't even know me," I pointed out.

"True! We'll get to know you AFTER we pay for your clothes," Luigi winked before going to pay when the three girls called him over.

"We really do like you Rita. You remind us of the mummy we never had," Calinda said softly before joining her sisters and Luigi.

I stood there dumbfounded. Calinda had said the one thing that was itching at the back of my head. I had an inkling that the girls had perhaps attached themselves to me on a maternal level than a nanny level, and the thought honestly freaked me out.

I couldn't be their mother.

Despite the fact that I had already attached myself to them, there were just too many factors that prevented this 'dream' from coming true. Firstly, I don't know their father, neither do I see a future relationship with him. Secondly, I would be looked down upon. I'm only twenty three, and of course there are people out there who would be disgusted that I would've had to have been pregnant with the girls at age fifteen, without knowing the true identity of their mother. Thirdly, the whole idea was just too farfetched for me to even consider.