In The Shadows ✔

[120] Hide and Seek

They arrive at the airport and explain to Leo that they are there to pick up nonna and Matteo. The little boy gets excited right away. Mamma and Matteo arrive even sooner than expected and as soon as Matteo sees Leo, he comes running. Leo waves wildly with his arms and Logan laughs, handing Leo to Matteo, who gives him a lot of kisses.

Scorpia runs to mamma to give her a breathtaking hug. Mamma is a little emotional, "Oh Scorpia, I missed you so much, my girl. And Leo was so sad without you. I'm so glad we're all together again."

They make their way over to the men and momma takes Leo in her arms for an old-fashioned nonna hug. Matteo hugs Logan and then comes to Scorpia for one, who hugs him warmly and kisses his cheek. "Matteo! Did you grow even more! Insane!" 

Matteo chuckles and nods.

They walk to the car and get in. Logan explains that he will drop off mamma and Scorpia first, to make sure Lexy doesn't explode. The women exchange a look and Logan chuckles. Leo is babbling away at Matteo, half of his words are made up but Matteo is beaming.

Logan parks in front of the bridal shop and Scorpia takes a deep breath. Logan kisses her and sees in her eyes that she's worried about Leo. "Be as casual as possible, Bonnie. Get out of the car with mamma and walk away."

She gets out, "Bye sweet boys! See you later! Have fun!" She hooks her arm through mamma's and walks into the store without looking back. Logan breathes out slowly but catches a glimpse of Leo's quivering lip.

Matteo bends over to him, "Don't cry, Leo. We're going to have fun with all the men. Ciro will be there. And Flavio. And we'll eat cheese cookies because I snuck them into my suitcase." Matteo crosses his eyes and sticks his tongue out, making Leo giggle and forget about the fact that his mom is gone.

Logan drives to the shop where all the men are gathered. Matteo gets out and pulls a tin from his suitcase. Logan lifts Leo from the seat and his lip trembles again. Matteo opens the tin quickly and hands Leo a cheese cookie.

Leo gasps and takes the cookie from Matteo with a wide, toothless grin on his face. He starts to suck on the savory treat and Logan thanks Matteo, who nods and follows them into the store. It's busy and loud in there and the three guys need a minute to adjust.

Lachlan walks up to Logan, staring at Leo. Logan wears a proud smile, "Dad, this is Leo." Leo looks at the man with the same color eyes as his dad and pulls the cookie from his mouth to smile.

Lachlan smiles at his grandson, "Hello, sweet Leo. It's great to finally see you in person!"

Leo frowns for a second, quickly yelling out: "Gampa!"

Lachlan smirks and kisses the little boy on his cheek. Leo sticks his hand out to touch the grey beard in front of him. "Ohh. Pet."

Logan chuckles and Lachlan moves closer, giving Leo all the time he needs to touch his beard.

A nervous-looking lady walks up to them. "If all men getting fitted for a kilt would be so kind to follow me?" Lachlan, Logan, Lucas, and Leo follow her into a different room and as soon as the door closes behind them, the silence is overwhelming. The woman breathes out slowly. "There were too many men in one room and on top of that too many non-Scots."

Lachlan's laughter thunders through the room and that sparks a giggle from Leo, followed by chuckles from Logan and Lucas as the lady mumbles an apology.

Logan asks her if they have something for Leo too and the woman's demeanor changes as she looks at the little boy. "Most definitely, sir. We'll make sure he looks just as handsome as you do. I've received all of your sizes but we need to see what is best for the little mister."