Danielle POV
"Mom?"
I looked up from from doing my makeup and through the bathroom mirror saw Amalia hovering in the doorway.
"Come in sweetie," I smiled, picking up my mascara.
She perched on the edge of the bath and began playing with her fingers.
"What's up buttercup?" I asked gently.
"I'm sorry it's nothing," she said, standing back up and starting to leave.
I put my makeup down and spun around.
"Ahhh ahhh no you don't ," I said, taking hold of her arm and carefully pulling her back.
I sat her back on the edge of the bath and crouched in front of her.
"Tell me," I whispered softly as I took her hands in mine.
"What if they don't like me?" She said quietly.
"Stefania's family?" I confirmed.
She nodded, a tear trickling down her cheek.
I reached up to wipe it away.
"Mali my sweet sweet girl," I sighed, getting her to look at me.
"They are going to adore you. They will fall in love with you just like your mama and I did," I assured her.
"Mom?"
"Yes baby,"
"I never asked you. Are you okay with me calling Stefania mama?" She asked nervously, chewing down on her lip.
I smiled and squeezed her hands.
"Sunshine when you starting calling me mom, I didn't think I could ever feel happier. That was until I heard you call Stefania mama," I admitted to her.
"Are you sure?"
"Amalia I promise you, it's okay," I said genuinely.
She nodded and wiped a few more stray tears.
"Go start to get yourself ready sweetheart, I'll be there in five minutes," I told her before kissing her forehead and standing back up straight.
She nodded and did as I said, leaving me to finish my hair and makeup.
"Need some help bellina?" Stefania asked, walking into the bedroom while I was stepping into my dress.
"Please," I blushed, seeing her eyes scan my entire body.
She slowly walked over, stood behind me and smoothly pulled up the zip at the back of the dress.
"I wish I was pulling it down," she whispered, her breath catching my neck.
"Later my love," I replied, feeling her arms snake around my waist.
"Hmm," she moaned lightly as she left gentle kisses behind my ear.
"Stop, we can't be late," I laughed lightly, regrettably pushing her away.
"Someone sounds nervous?" She smirked, raising her eyebrow at me.
"Shut up, you were that nervous for meeting my family that you tried on your entire wardrobe," I teased.
"Bellina it's okay," she said, now much more serious.
"Oh yeah? How do you know?" I laughed, rummaging in my suitcase for my black heels.
"Because they already know about us," she said all nonchalant.
"What?!"
I stood up and spun around to look at her.
"Si bella, of course they know," she shrugged.
"How come you never told me?" I said, feeling a little caught off guard.
"Because I didn't want to make a big deal out of it," she said.
"So our relationship isn't a big deal to you?" I asked.
"Don't twist this bellina. Of course our relationship is a big deal, it's the most important thing in my life besides the bambina. But I knew that my family would be okay with it and if they weren't, it still wouldn't have changed anything between us," she explained.
I didn't know what to say to her.
"Bellina sit please," she said, guiding me to the bed.
She sat beside me and took my hands.
"Italy was horrifically affected by Covid. Every time I spoke to my family it was one negative story after another. Talking to them about you, particularly my sister just gave us some light. It let us forget about the pandemic," she continued explaining.
"I'm not mad you told them, I just would've liked to know," I said, looking down at our interlaced hands.
"And for that I am sorry bella," she said softly, tucking my hair back.
"Plus, when we Skyped I had to explain why I wasn't at my house during a lockdown," she smirked.
"Okay I'll give you that one," I laughed, feeling tonnes better.
"I'm still nervous to meet them. I want to make a good impression," I admitted.
"You already have bellina," she whispered, melting her lips against mine.
Amalia POV
"Ready bambina?" Stefania asked me as we stepped out of the taxi at the venue.
"What party is this mama?" I asked, looking around at how extravagant it looked.
"It's a charity event bella but the majority of my close family will be here," she said, keeping hold of my hand as we walked up to the entrance.
Watching the reunion with Stefania and her family was something incredibly special. She released my hand to run to them, her being enveloped by pair after pair of arms.
Danielle stood next to me and took some pictures for Stef, knowing she'd want this moment captured.
A few minutes later when everyone had calmed down, Stefania gestured for Danielle and I to join the group.
I kept tight hold of Danielle's hand, feeling my heart rate start to increase.
"Everyone this is Danielle and Amalia, my loves this is..." she began.
"Well everyone," she laughed.
She quickly introduced everyone but it was hard to remember all the names.
They all happily smiled and greeted us with friendly hugs, just as Danielle's family had.
"Bambina this is my sister Daniela," Stefania introduced more intimately now that the crowd had dispersed a little.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you," I smiled shyly.
"So you're the famous Amalia?" She grinned, wrapping her arms around me in a hug.
"Yeah," I giggled, catching Stefania's eye as she looked at me proudly.
"And this is Danielle, you'll have to go by Dani I'm afraid because my bellina will always be Danielle," Stefania winked.
"That's fine, you've never really called me Daniela anyway," her sister laughed.
"Ahh Vittoria vieni qui," Stefania's sister called to a tall brunette.
She joined us and wrapped her arm around Stefania, leaning her head down on Stef's shoulder.
"This is my daughter, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to keep you company tonight. She's brought some of her friends but they're not too much older than you bella," Daniela explained.
"Si of course, come join our table," Vittoria smiled, letting go of Stefania.
I looked nervously between Danielle and Stefania.
"It's okay bambina, we'll be right here," Stefania said encouragingly.
"Mom?" I said, turning to Danielle.
"Do this for your mama baby. You're alright," she said quietly.
I nodded and let go of her hand.
"Mama's so proud of you bella," Stefania said, quickly hugging me as I followed Vittoria.
We sat around a table, her friends eyeing my suspiciously.
"So you call Stefania mama?" Vittoria asked.
I turned and looked at Danielle and Stefania who were back in deep conversation with Daniela before turning back to Stefania's niece.
"She is my mama now I guess," I shrugged anxiously.
Vittoria scoffed and took a big sip of her drink.
"I'm going to need another to get through this party," she laughed with her friends, pointing to her empty glass.
One of the boys looked around before taking a flask from the inside of his jacket.
He poured whatever the contents was into Vittoria's glass.
"You're going to need one too if you're going to convince me you're good enough for Stefania," Vittoria said seriously, gesturing for the teenager to fill the empty glass in front of me.
"I can't," I said, knowing what it could do to me.
Vittoria silently looked over at Stefania, I followed her gaze and looked at how happy she was.
I turned back to the glass and lifted it.
Vodka.
Authors note
So you asked for some drama.
It's on the way.
Predictions?????