The Thistles of Rose

29 • Calm

♚ Luca ♚

"Please don't do a shit. Just hold it in until your mom comes back," I tell the baby as if she can understand what I'm saying.

I'll do anything but change her smelly diaper.

I'm mesmerised by the charms of her stone, emerald eyes. The only pair of eyes I thought I'd fold for was Rosa's but it looks like I've acquired more emeralds to bedazzle.

She'll definitely have her mother's eyes but with a stroke of the devil's grey brush.

Aurelia lies on her tummy, peering up at me. Her attention span is lost when she tries to touch Ricky's fluffy tail, babbling loudly. She's supposed to be reaching for her favourite lion toy. Whenever her fingers would touch it, I'd move it a little further to get her to reach a little more.

But, I don't know where that's gone.

I call Mancini and place it on speaker as I look around the floor of the living room for where she could've thrown it.

"Hello," he answers. Aurelia replies for me with her excited, gibberish chatter. "You're looking after her?"

"Yeah, Rosa had a doctor's appointment," I say. I spot the orange ear of the lion poking out from under her belly.

Cheeky girl. She hid it.

I roll her small body over and she giggles when she rocks on her back. My heart smiles at the hue of purity surrounding it and my lips twitch a little. She laughs just like my Rosa; she makes me smile.

Ricky gets up and lays down next to Aurelia instead of in front of her. He rests his head next to her hips and she rolls to her side so her baby hands can touch his soft fur.

"What about your meeting with Madden?" Mancini asks.

Leaning down to my daughter, I place my face in the crook of her neck, inhaling her precious scent.

"That's happening here. She should be back by then, but it's not a big deal if Aurelia sits in for a while," I press a kiss on her cheek, making her laugh more, and continue, "make sure no one else disturbs me."

"Okay," he responds and I hang up the phone.

Aurelia laughs hysterically as I tickle her in her neck. It's delicate and so celestial that I could listen to it all day if I can. From now on, I'll always do whatever I need to make her laugh like this.

As much as I love Rosa, Aurelia heals the parts of me that not even the love of my life is able to fix.

To give her time to catch her breath, I pull away and admire her baby features and actions. Her cheeks are chubby and silky smooth. Every breath of her pants is heavy and adorable. Her eyes are very aware of her surroundings as she roams them around the ceiling.

While resting her baby hands on my face, she decides to have a conversation with me in her baby language. It's a mixture of babbles and sounds that add up to the most adorable thing.

She's absolutely perfect.

Suddenly, she starts to cry. Whenever she does, I feel both sympathy and anger for the poor girl. She can't talk so it's the only way she can communicate.

But I'm angry at the fact she's crying which means I'm not looking after her properly. I'm doing something wrong.

Ricky sits up, instantly on guard. I sit up too and pick Aurelia up, placing her in my lap.

I rub her back, soothingly, and gently ask, "you miss your Mama?"

Her cries die down into sniffles and I take that as my answer. I uncap the dummy attached to her dress and put it in her mouth to help her calm down. Aurelia sucks on it and she places her head on my chest.