My Love // Theo Nott

fifty three

When my dad picked Elio and I up from the train station he drove as fast as he could back to our house. It took us more than an hour with the traffic and weather conditions, and it was expected, but the whole way my dad was silently cursing at himself.

"What's the big hurry?" Elio asked. He was sitting in the front seat.

"I've left your mum alone for a couple hours now."

"Okay?" Elio stated in confusion.

"Two babies are a lot of work, Elio."

I took my chance at an argument. Probably not the best choice, but it was too late to take back the words that fell from my mouth. "What do you know about raising two kids?"

Elio made a sound in the back of his throat while my dad glanced at me through the rear view mirror of the car. "Do you remember how old you were when I left?"

"Of course I do." I could tell from the corner of my eye that he was looking at me pretty frequently. I had my gaze trained on the side window.

"Well then you'd know that I've already raised two whole babies. It's just the teenage years I missed out on." It was a little more than just the teenage years. I decided not to keep the conversation going so I stayed quiet.

When we got home there were two suitcases and two backpacks by the front door. I questioned it and dad reminded me that we were leaving the country for the holidays. "We're going to Italy," he said.

"You said the U.S." Elio and I both said at the same time.

"That was the plan, but last minute the family we were going to visit said that we were all celebrating with my brother in Italy."

"Family?" I asked.

"Yeah. You have a lot more than you think." dad said, amused.

"Do they know that you weren't dead?" I asked. Genuinely curious, I wasn't being a smartass this time.

It took him a minute to answer. "They were just as surprised and hurt as you guys."

"Who told them you were dead?"

He was starting to get visibly frustrated. "Just let it go, Aurora." Elio said. Grabbing my arm and trying to take me to the stairs to go to our rooms. I knew the answer to my question already and I wouldn't blame my dad's family if they hated my mum.

I went with Elio to our rooms to drop off our bags and went with him to the living room where I had heard our mum in.

"Do you want to hold one of them?" my mum asked me when she saw us walk into the room.

"First I need to be able to tell the difference between the both of them." I said

After dinner my mum told us that we had to go pack because our flight to Italy was leaving in the morning. "Already?" Elio asked as he ran upstairs to start packing.

"Where in Italy are we going?" I asked. We've always been tight with money so I've never actually been out of the country. I was trying very hard not to show too much of my excitement and I think I was doing a pretty good job.

"Crema. It's a little ways outside of Milan." Mum answered.

"We're staying at a hotel?" I asked.

"No. My brother's house." Dad answered. I nodded my head in understanding and went to start packing after I was told how the weather was going to be and that I would be sharing a large suitcase with Elio.

I finished packing pretty quickly and went to take the suitcase to Elio. "Are you done choosing everything?" I asked in the doorway of his room.

"Which shoes should I take?" he asked, looking around at all the shoes splayed out around him on the ground.