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"Mommy?" Mateo whispered.
"Ma-tato."
"When's Matilde's birthday?" He asked, looking at his brand new baby sister, who he was holding in his arms for the first time.
"Oh, about less than two weeks ago, the 10th of May."
"But," he looked up from her to his mum, frowning, "we missed it."
"We did," Maya agreed, stroking Matilde's cheek, "but her, she, she was in the hospital and we didn't quite know about her yet."
"Mamma said her, uh, her-"
"Mommy."
"But, but you're her Mommy," Mateo said looking panicked between Maya and Matilde, "you're our Mommy, right?"
"I am, I mean the Mommy that grew her in her tummy."
"I don't want to call her that."
"Okay, well she was called Norah, do you want to call her that?"
Mateo nodded, "Mamma said Norah died."
"She did, unfortunately, a few days after Tee's birthday."
"Its sad," Mateo contemplated, "but uh, it's meant that we get Matilde."
"Exactly."
"Mommy?"
"Sweet boy?"
"How can we say thank you to Norah?"
"We," Maya sighed, stroking Matilde's hair, "we can love baby sister so much. We can give her a good life and make sure she is so happy and so loved. And we can remember what an amazing gift she left us. Yeah?" She thumbed Mateo's cheek.
"Okay," Mateo nodded, "we're doing a good job at that."
"We are," Maya nodded with a small chuckle, "so, what do you think of her bub?"
"I love her," he looked up at Maya, their eyes meeting. She was surprised to see tears in his eyes, "she's perfetto."
"She is," Maya said, catching his tears before they fell, wiping her own afterwards, "happy tears?"
Mateo nodded and leaned forward kissing Maya's cheek and then Matilde's head, the soft hair tickling his nose.
"She was meant to be ours."
"She was." Maya pressed a kiss to each of her children's heads.
"Thank you Norah," Mateo whispered, shifting so he could pull Matilde closer.
"Thank you Norah," Maya reiterated.
Matilde, in her infancy, decided this quiet moment was the time to start crying. "Mommy."
"Its okay," Maya took her daughter out of her son's arms and started moving from foot to foot, "she can't talk, so," Maya held her hand out to him, "she cries and we have to guess what it means."
"Should I get Mamma?"
"Oh no, Mamma's had a long day. She got of shift and then we went pick Matilde up, so she's having a nap. We can help her though, Mattie drinks baby milk which we make with a powder," Maya showed the tub of formula to Mateo, "and some water."
"Did I drink this?" He asked, watching Maya scoop the formula into the pre-poured water, still bouncing his brand new sister.
"Not really, you mostly had Mamma's milk."
"Okay," Mateo said, "I'm gonna go and play."
"Okay, hey," Maya caught his arm before he went, "I love you, you're going to be the best big brother and I can tell Matilde loves you very much already," Maya kissed the top of his head, "okay?"
"Sì, I love you and I love Matilde."
"She loves you too, bye bubs."
Maya swirled Matilde's bottle and then checked the temperature against her wrist before offering it to the baby who took it. Maya smiled down at her, not believing this was her baby girl. That they'd only found out about her the night before. For them both, she had been a surprise but now she was here, with them, Maya knew she was destined for them. She was the missing piece required to complete their, in her opinion, perfect family.
"Its been a whirlwind, for sure, baby girl," Maya said, sitting down on the couch with her. There was a lot to do still but for now she was happy for her, Carina and Mateo to be in a surprise baby bubble. She was impressed how well Matilde was settling in. She could remember Mateo at this age, so clingy only wanting to be held by his mums. This made Maya's heart hurt, as she considered it, realising it meant that Matilde had probably not had the opportunity to bond in her short little time. "I know, we're strangers" Maya stroked down her nose, "but I love you and Mamma, she's the Italian one who gave you your bottle before, loves you and Mateo, he's your bouncy brother, loves you and we want you to stick around."
Matilde looked up at Maya with dark blue eyes and smiled around her bottle. Maya smiled back at her and wiped the remnants of tears away from her little chubby cheeks. She sat contently with her daughter, cooing at every small sound she made, proceeding to burp her after feeding. "Was that good, baby girl? Mamma bought you the best one, almost $20 but that's because she loves you and," Maya nuzzled her nose against Matilde's "she was worried about your tummy. We don't want any nasties going into your tum-tum."
Matilde was frowning up at her now, "oh no, what's that face," Maya knew the baby in front of her was either going to break into a grin or burst into tears. She lightly strokes her cheek but knew it was to be the latter, as Matilde's lip wobbled. "Its okay, sweet pea, I've got you," she whispered as she laid her against her shoulder. It was less than two seconds before there was a shrill cry in her ears.
Maya sprung into action, rocking her, as she grabbed a nappy and wipes, wondering if she needed changing. Fresh and clean, Maya scooped her back up and started swaying with her just how Mateo had liked it when he was little. It had been five years but everything had come back to her with ease. She could remember all of the little tricks and knew as they settled into their new life more would come. Unfortunately, your first day with a new baby who was unhappy made it much more difficult to identify what was wrong, and what needed fixing. She burped her again and massaged her tummy, took the cardigan off, thinking she was too hot, before putting it and a hat on wondering if she was cold. She sang, to no avail and ended up just pacing trying to figure out what was wrong.
"Is she okay?" Carina asked, stretching as she walked in, looking a little dishevelled from sleep.
"Something's upsetting her but I can't figure it out," Maya explained, holding her away from her body, offering her to Carina.
"Hi, Bella," Carina cooed, tucking very daughter into the crook of her arm, replacing the dummy that she had spat out. "oh caro, povero bambina, cosa c'è che non va, hmm, di' alla mamma cosa c'è che non va e lei renderà tutto migliore, tutto migliore." [oh dear, poor baby, what's wrong, hmm, tell Mamma what's wrong and she'll make it all better, all better.]
"I've tried everything."
"Deep breath," Carina reached her hand out and squeezed Maya's shoulder, "babies cry, that's okay. Do you want to step away and check on Mateo?"
"I'm here!"
"Oh my goodness," Maya jumped a little, having not heard Mateo over the baby crying.
"Mattie's loud."
"She is, do you want to go upstairs?" Maya asked, not wanting Mateo to develop a disdain for her.
"I think she just misses Norah." Mateo contemplated, climbing on the coffee table so he could see Matilde properly. "Does Matilde speak Italian?"
"She only speaks baby right now-"
"You can talk to her in Italiano potatino." Carina interrupted Maya, "she's smart, she'll understand."
"Posso tenerla?" [Can I hold her]
"Anche se sta piangendo?" Carina asked, Matilde crying just as loudly as she had been when she was in Maya's arms. [even though she's crying?]
"Sì." He sat down and pulled the pillow Maya had put on his lap earlier. Holding his arms out. "Please?"
"Va bene," she placed Matilde in his lap and he pulled her hat off and rubbed her head. "Va bene Matilde, va tutto bene, ti amiamo, sei al sicuro. Potrai restare con noi per sempre. Non devi aver paura, amore mio. So che provi grandi sentimenti, ma a volte succede e devi fare respiri profondi. Vedi, stai bene, sorellina." [it's okay, we love you, you're safe. You get to stay with us forever. You don't need to be scared, my love. I know you have big feelings but sometimes that happens and you have to do deep breaths. See, you're okay, baby sister.]
He looked up at his mom's as Matilde started to settle and look up at him, waving her arms about. "Wow, Tatey, well done."
He shrugged and continued to rub her tummy, with his other hand on her head. "You reassured her, and she listened," Carina praised, "that means she loves you and she feels safe with her fratello maggiore."
"Okay," he shrugged, "you can take her."
Carina picked her back up, "il fratello maggiore ha migliorato le cose? Sì?" [did big brother make things better? Yes?]
"You can call me if she cried again," he called behind him as he walked away.
"He is entirely your son," Carina laughed as Maya's jaw dropped, "you built that confidence into him."
"Alright," Maya laughed, sitting next to Carina, who was now holding a dozing baby, "when I look at her, I just think she was meant to be ours. Like she got lost on the way but the universe knew she was ours."
"D'accordo. She was always meant to be ours. Our beautiful, loud," Carina chuckled, "bambina Matilde Norah Lucia DeLuca-Bishop."
"For whom the universe always had a