Butterfly Effect

41: Looking down at the clouds

Hailee's Pov

"Are you sure that it's safe? Is not going to fall down, right?" I asked for the seventh time as we sat down at the gate of the airport.
"Yes Lia, it is safe to travel by plane. Don't worry, nothing bad is going to happen" Carina answered, gently taking my hand in hers and starting to draw a relaxing pattern on the back.
"Were you scared the first time that you took a plane?" I said, starting to calm down a little with the delicate touch of her fingertips on my skin.
"I was excited to go and see my mother and my brother in the States, but I was in my twenties at the time and I really wanted to go away from my father, so I wasn't really thinking about my fears" she stated with honesty.
"Was it when you got pregnant with me, wasn't it?" I asked again in a low voice, already knowing the answer to my question.
"Yeah... It was my first time outside of Italy" she clarified, and at that moment Maya came back to us with a fussy Rowan in her arms.
After a couple more minutes, we boarded on the plane and Maya swapped her window seat with mine, saying that she wanted to be next to Carina if she needed help with Rowan. In reality, I was sure that she was doing it for me...
"If you are nervous, look down at the clouds..." she whispered in my ear "That's what I used to do...".
The first flight, the one from Seattle to New York, was spent with music blasting in my ears, movies and the relaxing company of those beautiful fluffy clouds.
After that, we had to wait a couple of hours at JFK airport for the next plane headed to Milano. It was the longest flight, and most of it was shaken by turbulence.
When we landed in Italy, we had to go through passport control, and that was the first thing to go wrong during our trip to Sicily...

Carina's Pov

"Mi scusi (Excuse me)" I asked to one of the police officers "Io e i miei figli abbiamo il passaporto italiano, ma mia moglie ha solo quello americano. Potete controllare il suo con i nostri o dobbiamo andare tutti e quattro nel controllo passaporti internazionali? (My children and I have the Italian passport, but my wife only has the American one. Can you check hers with ours or all of us have to go to the international passport control?)".
He looked at me like I'd just said something absurd, and then he glanced at my wife that had an asleep Rowan in her arms.
"Lei può passare di qua con i suoi figli. La signora dovrà passare dall'altro lato (You can pass from here with your children. She will have to pass from the international control side)" he said coldly, pointing at Maya and my wife stared at me, asking for a translation with her eyes.
"Ho bisogno del suo aiuto. Mio figlio ha poco più di un mese. So che fanno delle eccezioni per le famiglie (I need her help. My son is just one month old. I know that you can make exceptions for families)" I replied, starting to get frustrated.
"But you are not a family..." he simply said, and I could feel my blood boil into my veins.
I wanted to scream out of frustration. Frustration against this guy that was judging me and my wife. Against the country that I loved so much but that still had a lot of problems. Frustration against the Italian government that didn't recognize as true the love between me and Maya...
I didn't scream though, even if I wanted to. I simply turned around and I walked away with my family, going in line for the international passport check.
After two hours stuck in passport control, we had to rush to the gate and we barely made it on time to the plane before it took off.
Hailee read her book the whole flight and Rowan slept peacefully in my arms, giving me a chance to calm myself down with the comforting presence of my wife.
After all, Maya has always been my safe space...
"Are you okay?" Maya asked softly, giving me a tender kiss on the forehead. I instantly relaxed at that small gesture...
"This was not how I imagined our trip to Italy" I admitted "But I know how this country views people like us... So now I'm afraid that this won't be the last time someone says something like that to us".
"So? Let them talk..." Maya answered "It's not important what they think about our love, because we both know how strong it is and that we are a family. The rest doesn't matter".
She was right, they didn't know about how real it was the strong connection that was between us.
"I won't let anyone else ruin my vacation here. I'm finally taking my family to my home country. That's what I'm going to focus on" I replied, enjoying the rest of my flight, loving Lia's reaction to the view of Mount Etna and the city of Catania next to it.
The moment we stepped out of the plane, the golden summer sun touched my face, and I felt all of the emotions that I was leaving buried inside my soul.
Maya walked next to me the whole time, and at the exact moment we got out of the airport, she looked at me with a huge smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes.
"Welcome back home, my love" she said and I finally realized that I'd finally taken my family, the most important people in my life, to the place where I grew up.
We decided in common agreement to go back to the hotel and just relax for the evening, since we were all tired after the long trip and because of the jet lag.
We took a cab to the hotel, and as soon as we entered the room, Hailee jumped on the mattress of her bed. I loved seeing her like that, being a kid, being carefree after everything that had happened to her in life.

Maya's Pov

Seeing my wife's expression was enough to make every day a bit brighter. Since we've landed in Italy, except for the discussion with the officer in Milano, she's been nothing but extremely happy.
She looked like she had never left...
When Lia fell asleep, I walked to the small balcony with a wonderful view of the sea where Carina was feeding Rowan before putting him to bed.
"She's fast asleep in her bed..." I announced, sitting on a chair next to her.
"He's almost finished too" she replied to me, but her gaze was stuck on the view of the Mediterranean sea in front of us.
"Do you ever miss it?" I asked in a whisper, slightly scared of the words that were about to come out of her mouth.
"Miss what?".
"Living here" I clarified myself "Do you ever wish you could live in your own country? Do you ever feel like you are stuck in the United States because of me?".
The last question was one of my biggest fears. I was terrified of being in her way, of keeping her blocked in a country that wasn't her own...
"I do miss Italy sometimes..." she started "I miss the calm, hearing and thinking in Italian, the sea... I miss the good coffee in a cafè and hearing Italian music on the radio... But Maya, I want you to understand that I'd left this country for a reason, and I would never change my choice, especially now that my life, our life, is in the United States".
"I just don't want you to feel so far away from your home... I promise, I'm trying to learn Italian for you, Lia and Roo... But it's taking a lot of time for me" I said softly and she looked at me.
"I told you the day that we got engaged that you are my home, Bella, and I was not kidding" she answered "I love how much you care about my culture, but I've never expected you to learn my language. I appreciate that you are trying, but I don't want you to think that I would ever want to escape from our life in Seattle to come back here...".
"It would be nice to come and visit here more often, thought" I whispered, looking down at our son fast asleep in his mamma's arms.
"That would be perfect, Bella..." she confirmed, letting our conversation disappear into the dark shades of the sea.