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River followed Alessia into the kitchen. Lilith was on a high chair in front of the stove. She looked over at the two women and asked immediately, "What happened?"

"Nothing... grandma?" Alessia tested the name, asking her if she could call her that.

"Call me Nanna. That's what River calls me." Lilith laughed as she took the chopped vegetables that the help handed her.

"Nanna." Alessia smiled.

Lilith looked between the two women again. She could tell that something was clearly wrong but she decided to not press the matter. She had resigned to the fact that she was old now and even if she did know what the matter was, there was little she could do to help.

"Alright then. I want the both of you to leave the kitchen though." She said. "I need to be alone and focused to make the best food in the whole wide world."

River chuckled while Alessia nodded. She moved to the refrigerator to get a few cans of beer before she walked out.

River smiled at her grandmother and waved before she left the room, following her friend up the stairs and to her room.

"Who is he?" River asked as she closed the door and turned around to see Alessia plopping down on the bed, opening the first can of chilled beer.

"Husband." She sighed.

I turned to her. "I didn't know you were married!"

"I wish I wasn't."

"You guys are separated?" Of course, they were. River cursed herself for the most obvious and stupid question. Alessia looked like she wanted to shoot him dead right there.

Alessia looked up at her and chuckled, shaking her head. "I left a few years ago but we are still legally married." She sighed as she took another swig of her beer. "Mafia law – marriage is a sacred rite to be realized until death does its part."

River didn't know what to say. Because she had never been in such a situation before. She had no idea what Alessia was going through nor did she know what had happened between her and her husband. She guessed it was pretty bad from the way Alessia, Mateo and Adam reacted to his visit. But River couldn't bring herself to ask the woman about what had happened because one, she didn't want to reopen her wounds and two, she didn't think it was her place to ask.

There was a knock on the door followed by "Mommy!" and "Zia!"

Zia was Aunt in Italian and Alessia had insisted that her niece and nephew call her just that. So now she was Zia Sia to the twins.

"Yes, coming!" River called out as she looked over at the door. Alessia quickly sat up and chucked the unopened cans of beer in the drawer of the nightstand and placed the opened can under the bed.

She rubbed her face with her palms and then gave River a nod telling her that she could open the door now.

River gave her a small smile and walked over to the door, opening it. A smile immediately made its way to her face as soon as she looked down and saw her two little munchkins waiting patiently at the door with their hands tied to their backs – they did that to stop their urge to knock again. Susan Johnson had taught them that to stop them from doing it when they were in her Law Firm and wanted to go into her room while she was in the middle of meetings.

Lilith and Susan Johnson had played a great role in raising the two darlings to be such disciplined and lovable children.

"Yes, my darlings?" River crouched down in front of her twins.

"GG says the food is ready and everyone should go to the kitchen to get it." Lucas said.

"Also, Uncle Adam and Papa are missing." Kiara pouted. "They are nowhere in the house."

River looked over at Alessia who walked over to her little niece and nephew and picked them up, placing them on her hips. "Uncle Adam and Papa got some work. They will come to eat once they are done with it." She placed a kiss on each of their cheek as she said it. "Now, we all should go get some food so that we can quickly take a nap and go back to the beach."

The children cheered as soon as they heard the word 'beach'. They loved beaches ever since they could remember. And while beaches in New York were almost always crowded, they had the whole beach to themselves in Amalfi which made it all the more appealing.

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"Hello, my little babies!!!" Sebastian came forward with Mia in his arms and kissed the twins on their cheeks.

"Uncle Sebby!" They grinned and gave him a hug.

"Come on, let's eat cookies." The smile on River's face flattered. The last incident had definitely ruined lemon cookies for her. Lilith Johnson's lemon cookies were a very important part of her childhood and it was also a family thing – every single member of the family knew how to make it. It was the best recipe her grandmother had ever come up with and that was saying something because Lilith was a fantastic cook. But now, River just couldn't look at the cookies the same way again.

"I am so tired!" River exclaimed as she helped Alessia place the kids on the kitchen stools and took a seat herself.

"Rosemary Chicken and Bacon Avocado Salad for my favorite person on earth!" Lilith exclaimed as she wheeled over and placed the dish in front of her granddaughter. On cue, River's stomach growled making the room erupt in laughter.

"Oooh, can I get one of these?" Alessia gushed as she took a seat next to River, her excitement not reaching her eyes.

Whoever that man was, he had hurt her bad.

"Of course, I made for all of us!" The darling old lady laughed as she got all of them their plates of her amazing dish.

Alessia fit right into the conversation as always. They sat there and ate their lunch, cracking jokes and reminiscing old times and sharing stories of the many kitchen accidents, most of which were from the great Sebastian Shane and his incomparable cockiness when it came to flambéing food and how it almost always ended with foam all over the pan and a burnt dishcloth.

"Nonna is not the loving grandmother than all others have." Alessia lowered her voice as she spoke. "She sees everyone as some kind of commodity she can make profit out of."

"Why does she want to see me then?" River took a forkful of the delicious food.

"River, pass me the pepper!" She turned to where Sebastian was and got off the stool, taking the pepper container with her as she walked over to him.

"Thanks munchkin." He pulled at her cheek as she handed it over to him.

"Die." River hissed, pushing his hand away as he guffawed like the chimp he is. No offense chimps.

River got back to the seat and turned to Alessia.

She bit her lips. "Probably to test you."

"Great..." River groaned and turned to her food. Suddenly, she wasn't hungry anymore.

"Don't worry about it." She laughed, nudging her. "They accepted my mother who was not the least cut out for the Mafia life. At least you can shoot." She consoled.

River nodded and gave her a smile which she returned, both of them cracking up at how ridiculous they looked smiling when they didn't even want to.

"Ooooh food!" The occupants of the kitchen turned to the door to see Adam and Mateo coming in. Adam looked his happy self while Mateo looked his.. well.. stick up his ass self.

"Grab your plates, boys." Lilith pointed at their plates of food which she had kept covered for them.

"Thanks Mrs. Johnson." Mateo murmured as he took his.

Alessia got up from her seat and took her plate, moving to sit next to Adam while Mateo took her previous spot. The two gave each other awkward smiles and turned to their food.

Lucas tapped his mother's arm. She turned to see both their children's eyes on her. She looked over at Mateo for a second before turning to them, leaning in so that they could whisper.

"Is Papa mad at us?" Kiara whispered.

"He does look mad, but I don't think he is mad at his darlings." River whispered back, mirroring their sad pouts.

"Mommy, fix him." Lucas whispered.

She raised her brows. "Me?"

"Yeah, you are supermom." Kiara said.

River gave it a thought. "You know maybe what your Papa need is a hug from each of you."

They gave her their cute confused looks.

"But aren't big people problems hard to solve?"

"Yeah, but your hugs help us think clearly." She pointed out. "Mommy always need your hugs when she is stressed right?" The twins nodded. "Just like that, Papa might feel better too if you guys hugged him."

They thought for a few moments, doing their twin telepathy and then turned back to face her, nodding, their sweet innocent smiles gracing their faces.

"Now finish your lunch." River ordered and turned back in her seat. She turned to look at Mateo to see him staring back at her, his food untouched. He quirked a brow and cocked his head in the twin's direction.

"Mommy-babies talk. Papa got no business in there." She shrugged and picked up her fork before gesturing to his plate. "Nanna makes some sick salads. Eat it."

Mateo gave her an irritated look but then nodded and turned to his food.

"So what happened with that dude?" River asked as she dug into her lunch.

"Antonio de Pedis." He stated. "And he left soon after you guys came inside."

"Uh huh." River rolled her eyes. "That must be why you took about an hour to come in."

"I was on the phone." He said. He looked like he was controlling his temper. He really wanted to lash out at River and ask her to shut up but he was trying to keep his cool for the children's sake. But River wasn't backing down either, though she knew the dude was at his wit's end. She just enjoyed testing people's limits.

Especially your own.

'Fuck it, I thought you left.'

In your dreams.

"Your bruised knuckles say otherwise." She pointed her fork at his bloody knuckles. He quickly dropped the fork and put his hand in his pants-pocket. "Unless you were punching a wall while making that call."

"Shut up River." He said in a dangerously low and emotionless voice. That was her cue.

"Just shake off all the negativity and try to sort shit out before the kids start pestering you to take them to the beach." River lowered her voice as well. He let out a long-frustrated breath.

"I will." He said finally. River nodded, staring at her plate.

"You not done yet?" Jacqueline grabbed her best friend by the arm, making her turn in her seat, her knees bumping with Mateo. He looked up and glared at her.

Jacqueline gave him a confused look while River said, "Don't go anywhere near my- our kids with that face."

"Gimme a sec." River told her best friend and started to shovel the greens into her mouth.

"Don't forget to breathe and chew." Jacqueline chuckled, nudging her on her shoulder.

"Mmmm.." River hummed in reply chewing on the heavenly meal she really wanted to enjoy. But it is some people's fate to not be able to enjoy good food properly.

"Let's go!" River exclaimed as she picked up the plate and got off the stool, going over to the dishwasher to put away the plate and fork before taking her hand.

"Wait, where are you going?" Sebastian asked, rocking a sleepy Mia in his arms.

"Girl things Shane, nothing that concerns you." River rolled her eyes.

"But I was supposed to talk to you first." He whined, stamping on the floor like a spoilt little brat.

"Uncle Sebby, stop whining." Lucas gave him a look for disapproval that had the room laughing out loud.

"Yeah, take Aunt Ally on a date while we kids nap." Kiara said.

River raised a brow, a grin forming on her face. Her kids were so awesome. Though she wondered where they got that from.

"Why don't you say that to your parents?" Alessia asked, giving River a stupid look which made her drop her grin. What the hell woman?

The kids looked between Mateo and River.

"They are smart." Lucas shrugged.

"They don't need to be told anything." Kiara added, nodding to herself.

River's grin was back in its place as she shrugged at Alessia who was laughing, shaking her head. Even stick-up-his-ass Mateo had a small smile on his face as he looked proudly at their little darlings.

River turned to Jacqueline and cocked her head. She nodded laughing and guided her to the room she was staying in.

"So, what did I miss?" River asked as she plopped down on the bed, curling up in the fluffy heaven.

"First off." She said, pointing up her index finger. "Guess who called me last week?"

River scrunched up her face. "Who?"

"Cole Harris." She said, chuckling as she sat down on the bed, crossing her legs and grabbing a pillow to hug.

It reminded her of their old college days when they used to sit on the bed and gossip all night; except the most stressful thing back in the days were uni exams.

Yeah, we have life threatening stress at the back of our minds these days.

'Shut up!'

"Who?" River asked again. Jacqueline gave her a bewildered look then rolled her eyes.

"My ex? My first everything? The guy I broke up with around the time the twins were born?" She listed out.

"The imbecile who brought a stripper to my baby shower?" River asked, hand on my mouth as she remembered the idiot. How could she forget him?

"Who would even forget someone like that?" Jacqueline gave her a look.

"Oh god." River laughed. "I just remembered about the videos I made of the kids from the time I found out I was pregnant. Mateo is gonna be very pissed when he sees the Baby Shower videos."

"Uh oh." She laughed along. "Listen, is he really a cold-hearted scary dude? Coz I see none of that. Though he did look pretty pissed just now."

"Not with us, he isn't. I have never seen him in action though." River shrugged and then shook her by the thigh.

"Continue, why did he call after four-five long years?"

"He wants to get back together."

"Hell no." River narrowed her eyes. The audacity of that man!

"My exact words. I didn't even try to be polite." She laughed. "No way in hell am I ever getting back with that piece of shit!"

River nodded.

"We need wine or beer." She commented. This is the kind of conversation girls have over drinks.

"Or at least pizza." Jacqueline sighed.

"Right?" River turned to her. "So that's it? And you hung up?"

"Yeah I did." She lay down facing her bestie. "But guess who called me the next day to talk for him?"

River narrowed her eyes. "No he didn't."

"Yes he did!"

"He is dead!" River pulled out her phone, going into contacts.

"Wait, you have his number?" She sat up. "I thought you hated that guy!"

"No, he helped me find my kids." River shrugged as she searched for his name, and then stopped. She realized she didn't have his number in this phone.

She dropped the phone and sighed. "Stupid encrypted phone!"

"Ohhhh..." Jacqueline nodded in understanding. "They took our phone too."

"Of course they did." River grumbled. "So does Cole work for Eric now?"

She nodded in affirmative.

"And.." She hummed, enjoying her best friend's expression change out of curiosity.

"Guess who is getting married?"

"Who?" Now this was news!

"Someone whose name rhymes with Wanka." She used River's own words.

Her eyes widened, yet again. "Bianca?"

She laughed, nodding.

"And guess who she is marrying?"

"I don't know... some brain-dead creature?" River shrugged.

Jacqueline doubled over laughing as she said that. River too started laughing. She was wheezing but she still managed to say it, "No, Thomas Kyler!"

River stopped laughing. At once.

"The ultra hottie who came to the hospital around the time I left?"

She nodded.

"It's been what? A month?"

She nodded again, her smile back in its place, ready to blow up into another fit of giggles.

"Wow!" River exclaimed.

"I know right."

Wow.

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