The Birthday Blues
V A L E R I U S ' P O V :
A smile lightens up my face. I stare at my little girl who is continuing to grow everyday. I'm scared the days are passing too quickly.
I'm scared I'll blink and she'll be sixteen, completely embarrassed just by the presence of her papà.
Her bedsheets are twisted, her mouth is open, drool collecting on her pillow. Ellie's stuffed elephant is clutched in her hands loosely. I sit down gently next to her, the bed divots down.
My hands rub the back of her curly head gently. Ellie whines, a little more than a tired whine. Concern picks through me. I sit up straighter. Ellie lets a cry out. My hand pushes her hair out of the way to touch her forehead. She's burning up. Damnit.
"Ellie?" The back of my hand still rests on her forehead, feeling the heat radiating off of her. "Are you feeling okay?"
Her tired eyes open hazily and tears bellow in the bottom of her eyes, daring to shed. Her forehead crinkles in discomfort.
Ellie shakes her head no.
I click on her lamp and take in her pale complexion. She doesn't look very good. It's making me nervous.
Should we go to the hospital? How bad is it?
Okay. She's sick. Just sick. Nothing too serious. Don't freak out. You can handle sick. Just stay calm and help your daughter.
"Do you think you can sit up?"
Slowly, Ellie sits up. Her eyes flutter shut and her face contorts in discomfort. Oh no. Oh no. Shit!
"Ellie—"
Vomit. Vomit is on my shirt.. and my socks, and her bed and a little on her carpet.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Fuck.
Okay. Okay, not panicking. Not going to panic.
I slowly peel my shirt from my body.
Ellie picks her head up, it sways dizzily. I pull her hair back with her ponytail that's always on my wrist. I lay my hand over her forehead and I feel her struggling to breath through her tears.
"Cazzo!" I hiss under my breath.
I look around but I don't find anything in time before Ellie throws up again. Ellie looks up to me with droopy eyes, tears fall down from her cheeks.
I'm sure she feels like complete shit right now.
I brush her baby hairs from her sweaty forehead and smile sadly at her.
"So much for a happy birthday then, huh baby?"
• • •
"Really, Val. It's just a stomach bug." Carlo hangs his stethoscope around his neck.
"I can't just go home with her like this! She's thrown up everything in her stomach! Isn't there something you can give her?"
Dumb fuck. Who gave this man the license to be a doctor? Clearly he's still a work in progress.
I rub Ellie's head gently. She lays herself on my chest, her face squeezing in pain every so often. My heart hurts for my girl. I feel helpless. I just want to fix it so she feels better.
She hasn't eaten anything today. She couldn't even keep down her favorite chocolate cereal.
"Rest. Lots of it. Try soups, lots of water. It's likely she'll be better by tomorrow."
I'd like to bang his head against the wall.
"I thought you were a fucking doctor." I grumble at him, completely pissed off.
"Yeah and I have eight years of medical school to prove it." Carlo pulls out a few lollipops from his desks and hands them to Ellie. "I know you don't feel so good now but when you're all better you can have them." He smiles at her. "Happy birthday, miss Ellie. I hope you get to celebrate soon."
Ellie goes to talk but she stops and shoves her face into my chest. She sniffles and soon she starts sniffling into my chest. I know the discomfort is hard to put up with. I'm just happy she hasn't thrown up again yet.
"Okay, let's go home baby."
• • •
"Ellieeee! Hi!" Mar smiles at her through the phone screen. We had a surprise party planned out for her but now we'll have to settle for a FaceTime call instead.
Ellie peaks her eye open, her other half of her face smushes into her pillow. She waves a little and a little smile comes to her face which brightens my mood. She hasn't smiled at all today.
"My beautiful! You look so— so pretty." Savino comments with a happy smile.
I rub Ellie's head gently while she looks to the camera. My phone is propped up on one of her pillows so she's in the frame.
"My cipollina. I can't believe this happened! This is so crazy!" Fabio tells Ellie dramatically. "You're going to get all better and then you'll have the biggest piece of cake you've ever seen. I promise."
"Give me that."
"No! I'm not done—"
"Fabio!"
"Ugh! No—"
"Hi, arachide." Enzo says to Ellie after snatching the phone from Fabio. "Is your papà taking care of you? If not I'll come down there and knock some sense into him, sì?"
Ellie lets out a huff of a laugh and a sneaky smile she tries to hide from me.
This little devil.
"You laugh at the thought of your zio beating up your papà?" I tease her further. Ellie covers her little laughs by shoving her face into her silk pillow.
I chuckle, brushing her hair back.
I bring out her palm and start to rub circling on it, hoping it will soothe her.
My papà takes the phone. "We're coming to see you as soon as you get better. Sì, principessa?" Ellie sneaks in a little thumbs up and she smiles.
Bisnonna and nonna went on talking to Ellie next. All of them pass the phone around to each other.
It was bliss to watch my baby smile after the day she's had. It lifted both of our moods. Ellie stayed on the phone until she passed out, asleep. Which, in the end, didn't take long. I said goodbye to my family and promised to let them know as soon as Ellie gets better.
I listen to the soft breathing that comes from my sleeping Ellie. I stay next to her the entire time she sleeps. I don't want her to wake up alone.
• • •
Ellie wakes up when the sun starts to set.
"How do you feel, baby?" I ask quietly. Ellie's blue eyes peer up to me. She doesn't say anything. "Better?" Her head nods and that makes me smile softly. "Good."
After Ellie's stomach settles down, I get her up and carry her like a baby to the couch. I lay her head down onto the pillow and tell her I'll be right back.
I take out the chocolate ice-cream from the freezer and scoop three balls into a bowl. If Ellie was feeling any better I would load it full with toppings and give her some of the chocolate cake in the fridge but it's best to start small for now. I take a small sparkly pink candle and walk back to Ellie who peers over to me curiously.
Her eyes brighten when she realizes what I have. I chuckle with a little smile. Ellie immediately crawls over to me and sits in my lap.
So much for an upset stomach.
"You crazy girl." I mutter in Italian, under my breath.
I swear this girl would do anything for chocolate.
I put the sparkly candle into the ice-cream and dig for the lighter in my pocket. The flame lights up the wick. Ellie flinches back slightly so I put a hand around her stomach to keep her safe.
"Since today didn't really go as planned..," Ellie looks up to me and I look back. "I think you should make your wish now.. even if it's not a princess cake."
"How many wishes?" Ellie whispers and stares intently at the candle.
I lean my head down by her ear and pulled her closer to me. "Just one." I whisper and lay a gentle kiss on her cheek.
Ellie nods like I've just given her the greatest task of her entire life.
The wax starts coating the ice cream. The ice cream starts melting.
"You want to blow it out now?" I ask humorously.
"Oh." Ellie mumbles.
Ellie closes her eyes really tight and holds her breath. She actually looks a bit constipated. When she does open her eyes, she blows out the candle. A smile graces her face.
"Will it come true papà?" Ellie whispers as I take off her candle and the hardened wax.
"Do you think it will?"
Ellie smiles softly. "Yes."
"Then yes." I hand her the spoon. "I absolutely think that it will absolutely come true."
Ellie nods contently and eats a scoop of her ice cream. She plays with it until it looks like soup and continues to eat it with a wide smile. When she's done, I pick up a pink bag with sparkly tissue in it.
"Do you want to open one of your gifts?" Ellie nods. "We'll save the big ones for tomorrow." I hand her the bag.
Ellie unwraps her gift and tissue goes all on the floor. She pulls out a small black box. I help her open it.
Inside is a necklace and earrings. A topaz gem in each piece of jewelry that match her eyes almost perfectly. The jewelry is pure gold and the gems are real. Five thousand dollars for it all. The piece is custom made with the necklace adjustable so it grows with her.
Ellie jumps up and turns to throw her arms around my neck. "Thank you papà!" She hushes in my ear and kisses my face twice.
"You're welcome." I chuckle at her antics. "But you still have more to open, my love." Her eyes light up.
This is the first time she's ever opened a present before. I knew it needed to be special so I might have gone a little overboard. Though, I can't really go overboard on my baby. There really is no limit of my love for her.. or my money.
"Really?" Her cheesy smile melts my heart.
"Of course." I smile at her reaction. "Can I put them on you?" She nods excitedly.
I brush her hair back and place the necklace gently against her skin. I clip it so the jewel hangs at the right spot on her chest. I let her hair fall back into place.
I notice how Ellie draws her finger on the earrings curiously.
"When you're older and have your ears pierced, you can wear these too." Ellie nods slowly. "Come on.. let's open your other gifts."
• • •
A heavy weight sits on my chest. I force my eyes open to see Ellie sitting on my stomach with her hands on my chest, giggling loudly without a care in the world.
She jumps on my stomach and I cringe, huffing for air. Ouch.
"Cazzo!" I huff. "I guess you're feeling better then?
"Sì!" Ellie nods repeatedly with a toothy little smile.
"Are you hungry for breakfast?"
"Yes I am!" Ellie throws her body off of me and rolls over on the other side of the bed.
"And what do you want to have?"
I already know the answer, I find humor in asking.
A malicious smirk peers on her face.
"Chocolate!"
Her arms are thrown in the air.
"Oh! How did I know?" I smile, scooping Ellie into my arms and peppering her face with kisses. She screeches with giggles. I shake her around, tickling her, just to make her laugh.
The whole way to the kitchen, I carry Ellie on my shoulders and she laughs the whole way.
I pour a bowl of chocolate cereal and chocolate milk because it's her favorite. I give her a bowl of strawberries to balance it out of whatever. I think that's how that works anyways.
Ellie fills her mouth full of chocolate while I'm busy texting my brothers.
She takes her time and when she's finally finished I take her upstairs to get dressed.
I let Ellie choose her clothes. She picks a long-sleeved pink dress and put on some cream colored leggings to cover up from the cold. Her necklace hangs around her neck. Her hair is braided back with little gems intertwined.
A perfect birthday look for my princess.
Ellie smiles wide for my camera when I take her photo and I put it as my new lock screen. My old one being of her from her halloween. So she's always with me.
"Come outside with me?"
Ellie slips her hand into mine and we walk downstairs and outside to the back.
Ellie gasps as soon as we reach the living room and our family is there shouting, "Surprise!" Ellie jumps up and down and I chuckle at her.
She runs straight into Enzo's arms then she gets passed through the rest of our family.
Balloons are hung on strings, tied to little weights. Streamers and some other little decor is placed throughout. My family helped this morning by doing most of the work. There's a table full with presents and little party gifts for her friends that are coming here later.
"Thank you, papà!" Ellie cheers.
"It wasn't just me, piccolina. It was everyone."
"Thank you everyone!" Ellie fixes and we all find it a little funny.
Ellie squeezes out of Enzo's arms to run to me and with tears in her eyes— she hugs me. I hold the back of her head and she wraps her legs around my waist. I kiss her head.
"Happy birthday, baby."
• • •