I glance over my shoulder, my hand still kneading the dough. I watch the kids hovering over Don and hounding him and his companions with questions. Watching them interact brought butterflies to my stomach. 

The hours bled rapidly for us working bees. We barely noticed the sky darkening with all the lights the kids opened. Dae found himself, at some point, in the arms of D, who played with the toddler earnestly. When it was time to set the table, Don was the one who took the job - a job that he would always drag his feet to do in the past when Clover asked - and incited the kids to help, by claiming that the ones who finished their task would be crown King. And everyone knows that kings get the biggest portions when food is concerned. The Monello trio ran to the back of the house, more than delighted, to show them the way to our reception hall and dead-set to be crowned first.

I watch my friends and family helping each other place the food on the gigantic table we never used. Meanwhile, I kneeled before the marble fireplace. Its sepia colour breaks the redundant colour of the bricks. Made by artisans who mastered their craft, that is what the seller said before adding that he had retrieved it from an old mansion. Aside, there was a pile of logs. I seized those and stacked them in the nascent fire. All the windows were nice, but during wintertime, they let air in easily.

 Everyone looked happy, smiling at one another, and exchanging jokes; it looked like a scene from a Christmas movie. For me, it is better than any holiday festivities. It’s the start of our community and the evolution of our family. From now on, it will be different, even better than before. 

The food covers one-third of the Victorian table, but don’t let that fool you. There is enough to feed an army. It’s the table that has excessive proportions, hence why we never used it.

My peers assemble at the table and are already serving themselves. My children look avidly at the meal, elated. Fried food and meat are things we eat in moderation. The former is for health reasons. The latter is because we are very respectful of the animals we raise; thus, we limit our consumption. Most of the meat we eat is from hunt parties.

Don sits on my right at the head of the table. A seat that is usually reserved for me. The chair on his left is unoccupied. Our eyes meet and his amber gaze commands me to take the seat. I execute myself promptly. His stare lingers, sending a tingling sensation in my belly and shivers up my spine. 

I look at the chairs next to me as soon as my butt touches the mahogany-coloured cushion of the chair. Going down the table, I see Dae right next to me, then Sajan, Kelly, Akira, Amy and Mira. In front of me, the twins shared their customized chair talking passionately, with Annie beside them. Then Clover was in the next seat, Marlaine, Caspian, Milo and Percy last.

Dae suddenly waves his hand in my face. He is perched in his chair, pouting furiously. 

“Mommy! Look me! Mommy not listening,” I want to pinch his puff cheeks, only that would anger the little sprout more. 

“Sorry baby,” as I provided my attention to the toddler. “What was Dae saying?”

“Missed Mama… missed Mama what? What do Dae say?” Dae is looking at his siblings across the tables for help. Don is biting his guffaw and doing a poor job at it. I glower at him in challenge. He smirks as I sign him to keep his mouth shut. 

“Cooking!” Annie whispers-shouts in her glass while she takes a sip of water. 

I look at my baby, imitating his pouting face. “You only missed Mommy’s cooking?” Dae thinks for a second, glancing at Annie. I can see her nodding from the corner of my eye. Dae does the same. “What about Mommy? Did you miss him?” He shakes his head, still following the lead of his sister. “Baby Dae is making Mama sad,” faking a sob, I hide my face in my hands. 

“No! Mama, no sad!” Dae is distraught. In between my fingers, I can see him panic. Clearly, his stunt doesn’t have the result he was told it would have. Small hands are prying mine away and a worried Dae looks into my eyes and says: “Dae missed Mommy more! Dae loves Mommy.” 

“Mama missed you too. And I love Dae too,” as a reward for my honest boy, I place a kiss on his cheek. I then blow raspberries, sending the boy into a fit of laughter.

Happy that his Mama is no longer sad, he points out what foods he wants. I focus on his plate before mine, since Dae can be impatient when hungry. He babbles about which food he likes the most and constantly changes his opinion when I ask if he also likes this or that. Finally, when the little man’s wishes are fulfilled and his food is cut; I think of the things I want to eat, and that is when Clover recites the dinner prayer before I can decide for myself. I close my eyes and recite along with my family. The others do not have a clue about what to say and simply follow our tradition. We end the prayer with a unanimous ‘Amen’.

My eyes fall on a fully garnished plate when I open them. A hand crawls up my thigh and soon after caresses it. My eyes immediately find D’s, ‘Eat’ me mouth to me. I give him a thankful smile that he mirrors.

During the meal, the kids couldn’t stop talking about their exploits, be it their adventures with the cattle or in the fields, the annual vacation outside the estate or even Christmas celebrations. 

When ten o’clock rang, the youngest was falling asleep. It was an hour past their bedtime. The oldest took it upon themselves to bring their siblings to bed, letting me rest for a bit. Akira and Casper went along with them, both exhausted. They thanked us professedly for the food and then retired for the night.

“Can we all acknowledge that Rory used a masculine pronoun earlier?” With the kids gone, Percy jumped at the opportunity to investigate.

“Were you really hung on that for three hours?” Mira asks not knowing whether it is amazing or scary.

“Yes!” He cries with passion as if it was a natural thing to do. 

“You obsessing over everything can’t be healthy,” Amy lifts her leg, and for a moment she winces, resting it on the chair next to her. 

“And ya trust issues can’t be healthy, but I guess we chose our battle, don’t we?” 

Clover clears her throat. Quickly, alleviating the atmosphere, she addresses the question. “What did Don tell you?” She gives the man a reprimanding squint. She knows her son. He can be incredibly bright or incredibly dumb. The mother is prepared to whoop his grown ass.  

“That he had a stepsister.” Percy is on the edge of his seat, waiting for someone to lift the curtain on the mystery. “So are ya like trans?’

“Figlio stupido. Perché mentire ai tuoi amici? Ti vergogni di Rory? [Stupid son. Why would you lie to your friends? Are you ashamed of Rory?]

“Cosa intendi con bugia? Sei tu che mi hai detto che Rory non si è identificato come maschio! [What do you mean by lie? You’re the one who told me Rory didn’t identify as male!]” Don’s group is gawking at the two Italians shouting in their mother tongue, trying to follow the conversation. Marlaine is sipping her nightly tea with disinterest. Her husband was Italian, and she was used to it. “Non mi vergogno di lei! [I am not ashamed of her!]

“Non è quello che ho detto! Ho detto che stava mettendo in discussione il suo genere![That’s not what I said! I said that he was questioning his gender!]” Both are gesticulating and have red faces. I can say; I am not enjoying the scene, but that would be a flagrant lie.

“E quando mi hai detto che gli hai comprato vestiti e roba da femminucce? [What about the time you told me you bought him dresses and girly stuff?]” 

The sight Clover let out has me worried about her soul leaving her body with it. Her son’s attitude peeves her, that much is obvious. She gets up from her chair, takes off one slipper and smacks Don with it. “Comprare bei vestiti non determina il sesso di qualcuno! [Buying pretty clothes doesn’t determine someone’s gender!]” D was protecting his face the best he could, but the woman was a force to be reckoned with.

“A me sembra che si stia contraddicendo! [It just sounds to me like you’re contradicting yourself!]”

“What were they saying? I didn’t catch it?” Percy asks.

“I have male genitals and I’m gender fluid.”

︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶

After an eventful night, I talked with Marlaine about Amy’s injury. She agreed to look at it tomorrow. We all went our separate ways. Clover and Marlaine went to the East wing while I showed the guest room to the newbies, and after, I made my way with Don to my room. Both Don and I took a shower. I got out first to check on Dae sleeping in the next room, in the nursery. Appeased to see him asleep, I turned on my heels, left the door ajar, and crawled under the beige covers of my bed. A book I had been reading before my departure rested on my nightstand. I picked it up and continued my lecture.

“Man! Mom didn’t lose her swing.” 

 With only two paragraphs remaining, I speed up my reading, so that I can humour Don. The right side of the bed dips below his weight. A warm body joins me under the blankets and hovers over my shoulder. I pause for an instant, acknowledging the hot breaths fanning my neck. Don neither moves nor talks, so I continue where I left off. “How can you read this...” I interrupt him by lifting my hand. I read the last word before closing the book.

“I have a special brain for this type of book,” setting it back on the nightstand, I close the lamp and tuck myself in; Don does the same.

“You understand what it is saying? What does eating someone’s tofu even mean?” He is lying on his side looking at me. The moonlight offers some light for us to see our features.

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to know. Since you won’t be eating anyone’s tofu for a while.” The volume of my voice lowers as I speak. My body is ready to shut down at any moment. Last night, scant hours of sleep, seemed far away.

“What kind of book is this?” 

“It’s a MTL.

“What’s a MTL?”

“It’s an acronym for machine-translated literature.”

“The Hell it is! It’s barely comprehensible, badly written porn.”

“It is comprehensible…” The doubtful look he shoots me makes me add. “If you read in between the lines.”

“Why do you read that shit?”

“It’s fun. They often have a great plot, under all the grammatical errors. If you can see the gold amongst the dirt, that is. And it passes time”

“Why would you need this book now that I’m here? I can entertain you!” His cockiness makes it hard not to tease him.

“Well, you can be boring sometimes.” 

“Boring? I’m not boring! Drop those panties, Baby, I’ll show you how not boring I am!”

The wooden slats of the floor crack softly, and feet pad the floor in quick succession, almost too fast for me to discern them. Just as I hear, originating from the nursery, the sounds. Dae appears at the base of the steps leading to the bed. Don turns around owing to my staring, at the same time; Dae climbs the first step, then the second one and walks to Don’s side sleepily.

“Hey, Buddy!” He whispers, placing his hands under the boy’s armpits. “Nightmare?” He settles the toddler between us. Dae shakes his head.

“Mmm. No, tired. Sleepy. Goodnight.” he went back to sleep without a fuss.

We followed the boy’s example, joining him in the land of dreams, and hugging him in our slumber.