Saved

Chapter 23: Meeting the Family

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need it." -Jane Howard

Isabella POV

"Mamma, you're here early, where's dad? Kids come down your grandmother is here!" Dad's voice echoed through the house. Alessandro reached out his hand, helping me up from the couch. 

"Your father is to wait until he counts to 250 before he enters the house. That man was getting on my nerves, he was acting like we had all the time in the world to get here. He was driving like a grandpa on the road so I had to take over driving!" I heard a woman's voice say with clear agitation in her voice.

"It's time for you to meet Nonna, be warned she can be a little-shall we say-extra at times, but she does mean well." Alessandro whispered into my ear as we walked towards the front door where my brothers and other unknown voices became louder. Walking into the entryway there was already a big group of new people being greeted by my dad and my brothers.

Our entrance was immediately noticed and the room went silent as all eyes became completely focused on me. All their gazes making me squirm a little and look towards the ground. "Everyone, at long last, meet Isabella Romano. La principessa della nostra famiglia." Alessandro announced, which seemed to knock everyone out of their trance. (the princess of our family)

An elderly woman was the first to move towards me and Alessandro. She's rather short my best guess being 5'3 or maybe 5'4. Her silver hair reaching just below her shoulders and her hazel eyes glazed over with tears. She quickly wrapped her arms around me pulling me into a comforting hug, hearing her whisper 'you're here, you're really here.'  

"You look just your mother." She said as she pulled me into another hug that ended sooner than the last. As she pulled away I noticed a tear leak from her eye which she quickly wiped away. "Nice to meet you Isabella, I'm your grandmother. My name is Gabriella but feel free to call me Nonna or grandma." She-well I guess-Nonna beamed, her eyes shining with joy as she looked me over. 

But her eyebrows quickly wrinkled in confusion before a look of worry and anger washed over her face. Nonna quickly turned around looking around the crowd before her eyes landed on, a confused, dad.

"ANTONIO FRANCESCO ROMANO! Have you been feeding my grandbaby? Look at her she probably weighs the same amount as a 2 year old!" Grandma turned back around to look at me once again, the anger leaving her features, "Don't worry sweetheart I'll be making dinner tonight, Nonna will make sure that you eat well." Nonna started walking out the entryway, in the direction of the dining room (that will lead her to the kitchen) but stopped in the doorway looking at dad once more with a glare. "We'll be talking more about this later, young man." 

Dad visibly gulped as she walked away, giving a sigh of relief when she was out of view. Although, he quickly regained composure, clearing his throat. "Isabella this is the rest of your family. Do you want to do introductions now or at dinner?" Dad asked looking towards me. 

"Um, we can do them now." 

"Alright everyone let's go to the living room then we can start with introductions, yes?" 

Everyone nodded their heads and moved into the living room. As everyone quickly formed a crowd in our living room a man stepped forward with power practically radiating around him. He easily stood at over 6'5 and his muscles are even bigger than dads (which quite honestly I didn't think was possible). His brown hair with hints of gray. Though I've become quite used to faces showing no emotion due to some of my brothers, this man was completely unreadable not even a hint of any emotion in his dark brown eyes.

Our eyes met, and almost instantly a big, warm smile crossed over his face causing his wrinkles to become more prominent on his features. The man stuck out his hand for me to shake, "Hello, Isabella, I'm your Nonno. I believe you've already met my wife, you're Nonna." Without even thinking it entirely through, I did something that even surprised myself. 

I gave him a hug.

After the initial shock my Nonno wrapped his arms gently around me. Not squeezing me as tight as Nonna did. As if he was scared to do so. I gently pulled back, letting Nonno stand beside me, ready for the next person in my family to introduce themself. The rest of my family looked at my grandfather with jealousy clear on their faces but it quickly disappeared as a couple stepped forward. 

The woman has wavy blonde hair that reaches to her mid back and honey brown colored eyes that have a delicate look to them. Her skin is as white as snow and looks as if she has never seen the sun before. She is holding hands with a man that looks like a male version of Nonna, just her long silver hair has been replaced with short black hair. 

"Isabella, you've grown quite a lot since we last saw you. I'm your aunt Alessia, I married your uncle Enzo." Aunt Alessia made a gesture towards the man she is holding hands with, "He's your father's older brother. We're the parents of the triplets Abel, Alvaro, and Apollo." she stated as three identical boys raised their hands and waved at me. 

"It's nice to meet you Isabella but I'm gonna go help your grandmother in the kitchen. Boys don't do anything I wouldn't do." Aunt Alessia bossed, giving her husband, uncle Enzo, a quick kiss on the cheek before speeding out of the room. 

...

After all introductions were finished my brain hurt as I keep going over everyone in my head. Trying to keep everyone in order as to their names, who they're married to, or who their parents are. If I remember correctly then it should be like this:

Nonno and Nonna had 4 kids uncle Enzo, Dad, uncle Marco, and uncle Tommaso.

Uncle Enzo married Aunt Alessia which resulted in the triplets Abel, Alvaro, and Apollo. The triplets are all 17.

Uncle Marco is married to Aunt Andrea and they have a total of 5 kids Gabriel, Sergio, Vincenzo, Luca, and Aldo.

Uncle Tommaso and Aunt Caterina are both married and have 2 kids Romeo and Pavel.

Now that means that I have a total of 10 cousins which, unfortunately, are all boys. That according to aunt Andrea is because apparently I am the first girl born into my family for the last 4 generations of the Romano bloodline. I know it's completely crazy.

"Bella we have to go to the dining room Nonna and Aunt Alessia finished dinner. So we know it's going to be good therefore we have to eat." My cousin Aldo announced, practically jumping out of excitement.