Aella

XXXII

For the past few hours, Aella showed me around the rest of the house and introduced me to members of the house. Now, we sit on the back patio of the house, which looks over a huge vineyard. Workers tend to the grapes, picking the fruit and cutting vines.

Our chef made the most delicious flatbread pizza I've ever tried; with olives, basil, and Fontina cheese. Aella and I sit at a small metal garden table, the sun gleaming down on us at just past high noon.

"Aella", I start, swallowing a bite of my food. "Can you tell me about your life? I know nothing about your life before you joined our family."

"There's not too much to tell", Aella responds, putting down her piece of pizza.

"Oh, come on", I pry. "You and I are partners now. Why won't you tell me?"

"You sure do have me wrapped around your leg."

Her knowledge of English sometimes makes me giggle. "It's finger, Aella. I have you wrapped around my finger."

She looks me dead in the eye, and goes: "You're right. It's your legs I have wrapped around me."

I blush. "Tell me about your life, sexy woman."

Aella chuckles. "I was born not far from here, more north of Rome than here. I have seven older siblings. Though I was the baby of the family, my parents were much more focused on the older ones to care for me like a child. My oldest sibling, Georgia, usually took care of me, until I went off to University. And then of course, you know how the family found me."

"But what kind of kid were you like?" I continue to try. "I dressed up like Disney princesses and wanted to kiss frogs to find my true love when I got to this age."

"I threw dirt at my older sisters and played in the garden mud." Aella almost contested. "We were not the same."

I nod to her, then to myself. "Do we look like the same person?"

"No", she laughs. "You are clearly way sexier than me."

I stop, and I stare almost blankly at her. "Are you kidding me?" Aella stares back at me. "You're literally a fucking goddess."

Aella groans. "This isn't a competition. You-"

"Exactly. Because you'd win by a long shot. Ha!" Aella stays silent. I take a bite of my pizza. She wipes her face with her napkin and sits back in her chair, staring out over the countryside.

"I will say", Aella starts peacefully. "I am very glad this is where your father placed us. It's perfect here."

I wipe my own face and stare out. It is almost perfect. Rome is far off in the distance behind the house, only fields between us and it.

"What did you see your life like before me?" Aella breaks the silence.

I look over at her, but she still just stares out at the hills. "I was going to marry Ace." She nods as she already knew that. "But we would have married, I would have ended up having a few kids, sit around our house when Papa appointed him Head of House somewhere."

"Did you really want that, Topolina?"

I think for a second. That's kind of a tough question. "I don't know." I answer truthfully. "I think I always just knew that was how I was going to end up, just like Mama, and just like Mari."

"So, if you didn't want that, what do you want?"

"I think what I currently have is perfect." I once again answer honestly. "No one is rushing me to get married, or to just be a stay-at-home wife. My parents are letting me live my own life."

"Well, my love", Aella leans her elbows on the table and picks up her water glass, holding it out to me. "Here's to the life you want to live."

I reach over and pick up my own glass, clinking it against hers. "Here's to the life I want to live along side you."

~~~

I sit at my new vanity in my new bathroom, staring at myself as Mari curls every last hair on my head perfectly. "Can I please see the dress?"

"No", Mari sighs. "You can see it when you put it on in just a few minutes. This is the most special dress you will ever put on, besides your wedding dress. This is the dress everyone will see you in during their first impression of their new queen, so to speak. Besides the fact that Aella is the first ever female Head of House, you and her are on the highest pedestal, Little Sister."

I don't understand how I didn't realize it before. Maybe because I haven't slept more than an hour in over two days now. I'm just exhausted. She is the first female, but we're also the first gay couple to be Heads. Will there be other heads that don't approve of her being in power at such a young age, and as a female? Will there be heads of house who don't agree her and I should be together? What if someone comes up to one of us tonight to tell us so? I would tell Papa and he would probably have them killed.

I take a deep breath as I snap myself out of my daydream. "You're done." Mari sprays an overall layer of hairspray over my head one last time, then steps away. "Now are you ready for your dress?"

I turn quickly in my chair. "Uh, duh."

"Okay, first, you get to help me put on mine."

I groan. "Are you kidding me. You tease me!"

Mari giggles and walks back into my room. Her dress hangs off of the canopy above my bed. That bed looks so good right about now. It's a navy blue, with silver trimmings. She drops her robe onto the bed, leaving her only in a thong. She's my sister, what haven't I seen before, right? Mari and I carefully take the dress off the hanger and I hold it open for her to step into.

Her four-month pregnant belly is hidden pretty well by how dark the dress is, but you can still see it from the side. I zip up her dress in the back and help her adjust it so it feels correct. Then, she slides from silver flats onto her feet.

"You look gorgeous", I gleam, looking at my beautiful older sister.

She turns to me. "Penelope, please. Just wait until you see your dress. I look like a peasant compared to what you're about to look like."

Mari walks over to my closet and pushes open the door. Right in the doorway, on a hanger, is a gleaming dress. It needs no light to shine. The mermaid gown is gold fabric, with gold embellishments covering most of it. The neckline plunges all the way down to my stomach. Gold shoes that match perfectly sit under it.

"Holy shit, Mari".

"I told you." She smirks. "You are the star of the show, tonight, Little Sister."

I walk over to it slowly. I caress the gold inlays on it, trying to take the whole dress in.

"Come on, people are waiting for you." She walks up to me and the dress. "Shoes first, make it easier."

I can't strap the shoes onto my feet fast enough, I just want to be in the dress already.

Once I get my shoes on, I strip myself of the robe I was wearing, and Mari holds the dress out for me to put on. It's skin tight, but it hits everything more than perfectly. I look at myself in the full length mirror next to my closet. This is the most stunning dress I have ever seen. I think it's so beautiful not even I would have picked it out.

"It's time." Mari looks at her phone, dropping it into a pocket in her dress. "I'll send Aella up."