Chapter Text
Maria was in the kitchen making a snack ready for when her children got home from school. She buttered the bread and made sandwiches. Glancing up at the clock she smiled, Rosa and Michael would be home any minute now. Little Tony was already home from Kindergarten and he was having a nap right now. Maria loved this time of day, just her and her kids in the kitchen. It was their time together, before her brother Ray, or her sister Francesca came home from work and her Ma usually stayed out of her way at this time of the afternoon too. Maria loved that they all lived with her Ma in the old family home and despite the regular Vecchio family arguments with her siblings, she wouldn’t dream of living anywhere else.
Just as she was putting the sandwiches on plates, Rosa and Michael came in chattering away and laughing. Maria was looking forward to all the stories of what had happened that day at school. Michael was telling his sister a joke that he had heard on the bus coming home.
“It’s not funny!” Rosa groaned.
“Yes it is, it’s because it’s so not funny that it’s funny,” replied Michael.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It’s a joke, it’s not meant to make sense.”
Maria rolled her eyes. She was probably going to hear an awful joke any minute now. Smiling at her children, she spoke. “Rosa, Michael, welcome home,” she glanced at Michael mischievously, “and what are you two laughing at?”
Taking off his backpack and hanging up his coat, Michael answered while still giggling, “Mama, you have to hear this joke. Why was the chicken so angry?”
Grinning at her son she replied, “I don’t know, why was the chicken so angry?”
Laughing harder he told her the punchline, “Because everyone keeps asking why he want to cross the road!”
Laughing out loud now, his mother patted him on the back, “That is very funny.”
“See? I told you!” Michael retorted to Rosa.
“She has to laugh at your jokes,” Rosa said, laughing herself. “She’s your mother!”
Michael stuck his tongue out.
“Stop that,” Maria said sternly, hoping she wouldn’t laugh again. If she did there’d never be an end to Michael’s mischief. “So you two, did you have a good day at school?”
Having washed their hands they sat down for their snack and it was Rosa who answered her mother. “Oh yes. Mama, I had a great day. Brianne was back at school today, she’s over her ear infection.”
“Oh how is her family getting on?” enquired Maria. Brianne’s family had been homeless and living in a shelter up until a few months ago. Rosa met Brianne while buying her lunch for school and her heart went out to the other girl because she didn't have any money to buy food, so Rosa, being Rosa, used her pocket money to buy her meals so she would have something to eat. She’d told her art teacher, Mr Archer, about Brianne’s family one day and he’d helped Rosa to find them a permanent home and even found Brianne’s father a job working as a caretaker.
“They’re doing fine Mama,” smiled Rosa. “Brianne’s Ma is due to have her baby any day now, she’s so excited!”
Maria was so proud of her daughter for what she’d done for that family. Maybe spending all that time around her ‘uncle’ Benton had rubbed off on her, the Mountie had that effect on people. “Well tell her if she needs any baby clothes I have a huge pile she’s welcome to,” smiled Maria.
“I will,” nodded Rosa. “Oh do you remember Jenny from the animal sanctuary?”
Maria nodded. She liked Jenny, but she hoped she hadn’t got Rosa roped into another fundraising activity. It was good for Rosa to volunteer up there she liked playing with the animals, but if Maria had to bake another thousand cookies for charity she might scream.
“Well, the school are letting her come to do a talk about the sanctuary and I’ll get to help her with the presentation about the dogs.” Rosa paused for a moment with her sandwich halfway between the plate and her mouth. “Oh, I know! Do we still have those photos from Christmas? You remember, when all those poor puppies came in on Boxing Day because nobody wanted their Christmas present?”
“Yes, Rosa.” Maria smiled warmly at her daughter. Sometimes it got tiring keeping up with her enthusiasms, but she was very proud of her little girl for caring so much.
“Thanks Mama.” Rosa took a big bite out of her sandwich.
Maria looked then at Michael, already helping himself to seconds. “Sounds like Rosa had a fun day. What about you Michael?”
Chewing on his sandwich Michael spoke after swallowing, “We got to pick a sport today. I want to do hockey, but I need you to sign the permission slips first.” He looked at her pleadingly, then looked away. They’d had the ‘Hockey Conversation’ before. “Um, if not then I guess I’ll do soccer, or something.”
Maria sighed. He was getting to be a big boy, and she couldn’t baby him forever and besides, he really did love hockey. “OK,” she answered. “We can talk to your Dad about it. If it’s OK with him, it’s OK with me, if it’s something you really want to do.”
Michael's face lit up and he spoke in a cheerful voice, “Really Mama? Thank you. I’ll need some hockey skates.”
What had she let herself in for? Maria shook her head. Well, at least Michael was happy.
Rosa then interrupted her thoughts, remembering something she needed to ask. “Oh Mama, I got an invitation to Caoimhe's sleepover birthday party on Friday. Can I go?” She put her hands together and looked prettily at her mother. “Please?”
Maria frowned. She might agree to ice hockey with teachers supervising, but she wasn’t so sure about her thirteen year old daughter sleeping over at someone else’s house. Rosa had been on sleepovers before, of course, but only with people Maria knew well. She didn’t know the Murphys very well, they only lived across the street from the Vecchio house, but they hadn’t been in the neighbourhood long and she’d already decided that she didn’t like Mrs Murphy. The woman walked around with her nose up in the air, like she thought she was better than everyone else. Just off the boat Irish, as Maria’s Ma called her and it was obvious she didn’t like Italians.
“Please, Mama?” Rosa started to look anxious. “Caoimhe’s my best friend, and I have her parents’ number on the invitation if you want to check it out first.” Rosa held out the piece of paper.
Well, Caoimhe was a lovely girl, even if her mother was a dragon. It would be a shame to disappoint Rosa. Taking the invitation from her daughter, Maria answered, “I’ll have to think about it. I’ll call Mrs Murphy tonight, OK? Then we’ll see what’s what.”
Clearing the table Rosa gave her Mama a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you,” she said, as though Maria had already agreed, “and thank you for the snack. I’ll just go and do my homework. Come on Mickey and I’ll help you with yours.”
“Do we have to?” Michael groaned.
“If we get it out of the way now we don’t have to do it later,” Rosa pointed out. Well, it was obvious which one of her children was the sensible one, Maria thought to herself.
Maria watched as Rosa and Michael went to do their homework. Little Tony had woken from his nap, and was playing happily with his toy cars. He picked up the Riv that her brother had bought him and crashed against a toy truck. Maria laughed. Ray’s bad luck with his cars was so famous that even little Tony knew about it. She smiled at her youngest, who started singing to himself, a happy little tune that only he knew the words to. She felt like the luckiest mother in the world.
xXx
That evening, after Tony got home, Maria phoned Mrs Murphy. "You will be supervising this party, won’t you?"
Mrs Murphy sounded instantly defensive. “Of course!" she snapped.
"OK, OK!" Maria tried to keep the irritation from her voice…and failed. "I just had to ask."
"I know." Mrs Murphy replied, huffily. "Don't worry, I’m a mother myself. I do know what I’m doing.”
“I didn’t say you didn’t.”
“The kids will be safe," Mrs Murphy interrupted in chilly tones.
Of course they would, Maria told herself. Mrs Murphy was a sensible woman. She had a chip on her shoulder the size of her ego, but she was sensible and she wouldn’t do anything to put her own daughter at risk after all. Maria realised she was worrying about nothing.
“OK, I’m sorry. You’d have asked the same thing in my position.”
Mrs Murphy made a snorting noise on the other side of the phone, and Maria had a happy fantasy of slamming the phone down. No, that wouldn’t be fair on Rosa, or her little friend.
“That woman,” she said, after she’d finally hung up on Mrs Murphy. “I can’t believe the way she speaks to people.”
Tony looked at her cautiously. “You were a little bit... um...”
“What?”
“I love you, babe,” Tony said, courageously, “but you were a bit rude to the woman.”
She glared at him, then admitted that he was right…probably. “Well, she annoys me.”
“I can tell that,” Tony grinned sheepishly.
“Never mind,” sighed Maria. “Rosa’s going to the party anyway. It wouldn’t be fair on her, or the Murphy girl, if I’d said no, she seems nice enough, unlike her mother. I’ll get Ray to take her though, you’ll be at work and I don’t want to go anywhere near their house.”
“Well,” Tony patted the cushion of the couch, inviting her to snuggle next to him, “all the kids are happy then. Michael’s starting hockey…hey, don’t look like that. You said he could too.”
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” Maria sighed.
“You were thinking, ‘I’m a good woman, and I want to make my son happy and his Poppa Proud’,” replied Tony.
“Oh. That’s right, I remember that now.” Maria rolled her eyes as she spoke.
“And Rosa’s going to a party. So we’re all happy.”
Maria grinned slyly. “Well, since I’m such a good woman, maybe I deserve a reward. What are you going to do to make me happy too?”
Tony grinned back. “I had an idea about that...”
By the time everyone was tucked up in their beds, Maria was very happy indeed. Even so, as she drifted off to sleep, she had a moment’s anxiety. She didn’t know why, but she really was worried about Caoimhe’s party.