The closer and closer we get to Stefano’s parents, the harder and faster my heart beats. The more my hand starts to sweat, the more my knees start to shake. “Here we go,” I think I hear him say, but the buzzing in my ears takes over.
“There they are.” I look up toward where the man’s voice is coming from and my feet literally feel like they weigh six thousand pounds. He looks over at us and he smiles a great big smile, and you know it’s genuine because his eyes light up. It’s Stefano’s dad, Markos, as he was introduced to me at the wedding. I didn’t know back then he was my daughter’s grandfather, which made it so much less awkward than it is now. He lets go of the woman’s hand, who I know is Vivienne, because she came to me at the wedding to let me know that she wasn’t drunk and asked if I could get her some sweet tea. She said all of this in French until Zara came along to fill me in.
“Oh mon dieu,” she says in French, and I start to panic, not knowing what she said. What if they hate me? My head screams at me so loud I about have a panic attack in the middle of Main Street.
“Hello,” Markos says when we get close enough. The buzzing in my ears just get louder and louder, and my stomach lurches to my throat.
“Hi,” I say softly as Avery lets go of my hand, no doubt because I was squeezing it too tight.
“Bonjour,” Vivienne says to me. Her blue eyes are almost crystal blue. She comes over to me. “It’s nice to see you again, Addison,” she says and hugs me, making me stop breathing altogether. “Thank you for meeting us,” she whispers in my ear and the tears now sting my eyes to come down. She lets me go and then squeezes my hand, blinking away her own tears before she turns away and looks down at Avery. “Hello, ma puce.” She smiles at Avery, who just looks at her with her eyebrows pushed together. “That means beauty,” she tells her and Avery now smiles big. “I heard that someone is a princess.”
The word is like music to Avery’s ears. “It’s me.” She jumps up. “I’m the princess.” She points at herself.
“Well, a princess has to have a tiara,” Vivienne declares, turning to hold out her hand to Markos, who hands her the blue bag.
It has engraving on the side but I can’t read what it says. I think it’s some sort of fancy writing. “What is going on?” I look over at Stefano, who smiles at me, but his smile is sort of broken when he sees her move the white tissue paper aside to take out whatever is in the box.
“My mother is… how do I put it.” He thinks for two seconds before adding in, “Extreme.”
I look back over at Vivienne, who pulls a blue box out of the bag, with the emblem also stamped on top of the box. “This tiara,” she says, turning the square box in her hand, “is from Buckingham Palace.” She opens it before she turns it around so Avery can see and so can I.
In the middle of the box, a fucking tiara sits on a white satin pillow. My mouth hangs open as I look down at a diamond fucking tiara. “Is that?” I don’t even know what I’m asking because nothing else comes out. The tiara has diamonds all around it as it works in a pattern, and even little diamond flower shapes are scattered around it.
“Yup,” is the only thing Stefano says, nodding his head.
“Oh my,” is the only thing I can say when she takes it out and places it on Avery’s head. The diamonds shine in the sunlight, and in the middle of the peak of the tiara is a diamond hanging and swinging side to side while Avery looks at me.
“Momma.” She gasps, trying to whisper but failing miserably. “I’m a real princess.” She points at her head. “Look at my tiara.”
I look at her and again the only thing I can say is, “Oh my.”
“Can I wear it to school?” she asks me, and I look at Vivienne, who looks at Avery as if she hangs the moon and the stars. She takes her in as she blinks away the tears in her eyes. It’s a look I wish my own mother had for my child, but somehow this might be even better.
“I think it should be worn on special occasions.” And by that, I say in my head, I mean never out of the house. I can’t even begin to think of how much that cost them. A tiara from Buckingham Palace, my head feels like it will explode.
“Is today a special day?” she asks me, then looks over at Stefano when he answers.
“Yes, today is a very special day.” He squats down beside her. “This is my mom and dad,” he explains, looking at his parents at the same time Avery looks at them. “That is my dad, Markos, and this is my mom, Vivienne.” He smiles at Avery. “You get to meet your grandma and grandpa.”
“Umm, excuse me,” Vivienne says, holding up her hand. “I will not be a grandmother.” My stomach sinks so fast, but only until a smile fills her face. “I’ll be Glammy like a glamorous grandmother,” she says to Avery. “If you want, you can call me Glammy Vivienne or just Vivienne. It’s as you wish, ma puce.” She then turns to look at Markos.
“And he can be GILF.”
My eyes go huge and I think I’m going to choke on my saliva. “Oh my God.” It’s as if there are no words in my vocabulary except for those three.
“What is a GILF?” Avery asks me, and I don’t even know what to say.
“We are not calling him GILF,” Stefano scolds between clenched teeth, then looks at Avery. “It’s a French word,” he says to her and then looks at me, asking for help, but sadly I’m of no help right now. All I can do is look at the tiara that sparkles in the sun.
Vivienne gets up and walks over to Markos, putting her hand on his chest and looking up at him. You can see the love in her eyes. “I’ll call you GILF,” she whispers to him before she leans in and kisses his lips.
“Can we not right now?” Stefano hisses as he gets up and puts his hands on his hips.
“Shall we go inside, then?” Markos suggests to us.
“Yes, let’s do that,” Stefano says.
“Avery.” Vivienne holds out her hand to Avery, who goes to her without question and slips her hand in Vivienne’s. “Do you want to go shopping with me? We can go and buy princess dresses to match the tiara.”
“My dad bought me plastic princess shoes,” Avery shares, “and dresses.”
Vivienne laughs at her and then silently glares at Stefano. “Isn’t that nice?” she says sarcastically. “But how about we get you some sparkly shoes to match the tiara?”
I watch them walk into the restaurant but don’t follow. Instead, I stand here with my eyes closed. “Are you okay?” Stefano asks me, and my eyes open to look at him.
“I should be,” I mumble to him, “but I am not. I am one thousand percent not okay.” I shake my head. “She bought her a tiara.” I put my hand on my head to stop it from exploding. “That might be the most expensive thing in my house.”
He puts his hands in his pockets, and I see him bite down, the vein in his head looks like it will pop just a bit. “We need to talk about that also,” he says, his tone is tight. I tilt my head to the side, waiting for him to say something else. “I found a house and would like you and Avery to come and look at it with me.”
This is too much. I thought yesterday was too much. I was wrong. I was so, so wrong.
“You bought a house?” I don’t know if I’m asking him or if I’m telling myself this.
“I did.” He nods at me.
“It’s been two days.” My hand falls from my head to my side. In two days, he’s learned he’s become a father. Bought princess clothes for our daughter, informed his parents—who flew in right away, so their airline tickets must have been super expensive—and now he’s bought a house. It takes me more than one day to decide on a pair of shoes, and this man has bought a house in two.
“When you know, you know.” He takes a step toward me. His hand comes out of his pocket and he slips it in mine. The heat of his hand runs through my veins, all the way to my stomach. I’m in shock or I would have moved my hand out of the way. Imagine if his girlfriend saw us standing in the middle of the street holding hands. “Let’s go sit down before my mother does or says something that we will have to awkwardly explain to Avery after.”
I don’t say anything because he pulls me slowly with him into the restaurant. I walk in, my hand is still in his, and the first people I see are Sofia and Matty, standing next to the table filled with people. My eyes go to Avery, sitting in the middle of the table talking to everyone, the tiara still on her head as if it was made for her.
I take a few steps into the restaurant, and Sofia notices me. She comes over to us, her eyes going from me to my hand still in Stefano’s and then to Stefano. “I’ll save you a seat,” he says before Sofia gets close enough, his hand slips out of mine, and a cold draft runs through my fingers.
I watch him pass Sofia as she glares and then looks at me. I don’t know why, but I could cheer out loud that she is here. My body sighs in relief when she stands in front of me. “You didn’t think I’d let you go into the lion’s den without backup, did you?” She laughs at me. “Also, you look like you are going to pass out,” she says with a smile, but I can see the panic in her eyes as she looks around, probably for a chair for me to collapse into.
“Ummmm,” I say, my tongue feeling like it’s swelling in my mouth.
“Momma,” Avery calls my name, and I look toward her. She is in Markos’s arms as he holds her. The look on his face is utter and complete love. I know she will be able to do anything with him and he will let her. “Look, this is how you wave as a princess,” she tells me as she holds up her hand and slowly waves side to side.
“Is that a diamond tiara?” Sofia leans in and asks me in a whisper.
I nod my head. “It is.” I look at her. “It’s from Buckingham Palace,” I say, my mouth going a million miles a minute. “Came in a blue embossed bag with matching box, sitting on a white satin pillow.” I blink now, and if this was anyone else, I think I would be doubled over laughing hysterically. “From Buckingham Palace, how does one even get that?”
Sofia rolls her lips. “Is this a Code Purple?” She looks around.
I hear the hollering, laughter, and claps when I look over at the table and see Avery standing on her chair, looking over at everyone in the restaurant as she practices the wave. “What is higher than Code Purple?”
