Mrs. Family

                                    

                                          
•Arabella DiStefano•
                          
I changed into one of his joggers and shirts; they smell like rum and cologne which makes me less miserable. On my way out of the bedroom, I grabbed the urn to take it to the kitchen with me. When I walked into the room, Mariano was cutting three sandwiches in triangles.
                          
"Hi," I said, caressing the cold metal of the urn.
                          
He gazed up at me and it seemed like his cue to put on his shirt which isn't necessary "Hi, Belli, feel any better?"
                          
I nodded with my eyes on the urn "Having him close makes me feel safe and tranquil."
                          
"I'm glad," Mariano handed me a big plate with two sandwiches on it. "Here, one for the baby and one for you."
                          
I sat on a high chair opposite to him "How's Allegra? They have all been playing strong."
                          
He sighed, rubbing his right eye "She cries all the time, she doesn't want to accept Apollo is gone."
                          
I frowned, looking at the food in front of me "None of us want to...when my mom died I used to sneak out of my room to go sit by the fireplace where she read and drank her tea, I did it for months, hoping one day she'll walk into the room and tell me it had all been a bad dream."
                          
"What made you stop?" he asked before taking a bite of his sandwich.
                          
I gazed up at him "Besides my father's yelling, um, Viola confessed not being able to sleep so I would always go get her at 2 am when nobody noticed and took her to my bed...she needed me more than that empty room."
                          
He showed me a weak smile "Have you always been this strong?"
                          
I chuckled quietly "I think the life I've lived has given me thick skin or at least the ability to hide my feelings so I can take care of my loved ones," I took a bite of one of the sandwiches.
                          
"Apollo told me about what they made you do; that's no life for anyone," he said, pouring water into two glasses.
                          
I shrugged "As I told him: I didn't know any other way of life."
                          
"He changed that," Mariano said, looking into my eyes.
                          
"He changed everything," I stated.
                          
Mariano walked around the kitchen island and picked me up bridal style "I want to show you something."
                          
I rested my head on his shoulder and took in his scent, the cologne is similar to Apollo's but the rum is missing "Where are we going?"
                          
"Apollo never talked about it but he loved the stars. When we were little he wanted to be an astronaut so every night I stayed over at his house, he would make me sleep in the backyard; no tent just our pillows and tons of blankets on the grass," I smiled at the tale. "He stayed up until the last star disappeared," we were outside and I've never seen such a starry sky in my entire life. "When we were 8 years old my parents decided we were moving to Italy for 5 years so the day I said goodbye to Apollo," he put me down and the feeling of wet grass tickling my feet made me happy "he told me: 'If you ever need me, look up to the stars and I'll be there for you, you can tell me anything you need to' so if you need to tell him something, there he is," Mariano gazed up at the sky with tears running down his cheeks.