The Conspiracy of Baby-Switching novel Chapter 65

“You will never be coming in my back door,” I mutter dryly.

“Famous last words.” He peers into the oven to see what I’m cooking.

“Listen, don’t talk to me,” I whisper as I look around to see if I can talk without anyone hearing. “You are in the doghouse.”

“Excellent.”

“How is that excellent?”

“Doggy style is when I’m at my best.” What?

“Mom.” Lucia walks in, interrupting us. “We’re playing Uno and having a fire outside.”

“Great,” I say over enthusiastically. “Oh joy. This is the best night of my life.”

Lucia turns her back and I cross my eyes and stick my finger down my throat. Gabriel’s eyes dance with mischief. He puts a shopping bag on the kitchen counter. “And look…I bought snacks.”

“Funny you say that, I was just about to cook you up something extra special.”

“Please don’t.”

“Ha-ha, you’re so funny,” I mutter as I turn back to check on the brownies.

Kill me now.

This is a nightmare, but the kids are so excited, I can’t ruin this for them.

And he knows it.

The master manipulator. Infuriating.

Half an hour later, we are sitting around the little card table on the lake’s edge and Gabriel is reading the instructions to Uno out loud while the children listen intently.

For fuck’s sake, this isn’t rocket science. Just deal the cards already, I don’t have time for this shit.

“Each player gets seven cards,” he reads.

“We know.” I sigh.

He glances up. “You know?” He looks around, disappointed. “You’ve all played this game before?”

“Not this exact one,” Dominic lies. “This is a different sort.”

Huh?

“Oh, good.” Gabriel smiles in relief.

Why did Dom say that? We have played this game ten million times before.

Lucia smiles over at me. “This is so fun, isn’t it, Mom?”

“Best night of my life.” I sip my wine, unimpressed. I’m sure gardening with Jack would be more fun than this.

Gabriel deals out the cards and we all pick them up and begin to organize them in our hand. I glance over to the kids, who are smiling goofily, they’re so happy.

I have a momentary out-of-body experience as I remember dreaming of a night just like this for them.

(“This is the best thing I ever tasted.”) Gabriel smiles.

“Lo mangeremo quando andremo in Italia, non è vero, Mamma?” (“When we move to Italy we will eat this, won’t we, Mom?”)

“Speak English, Dom, I don’t understand,” I tell him.

“When we move to Italy we will eat this, won’t we, Mom?” he repeats himself.

“We will.” I smile.

Gabriel’s face falls as he stares at Dominic. “You want to live in Italy?”

Dominic nods. “Lo stesso vale per Lucia.”” (“Lucia does too.”) “Mamma ha detto che non appena compiremo sedici anni ci trasferiremo lì per un paio di anni per imparare la lingua e le tradizioni.” (“Mom said when we are

sixteen, we are moving there for two years to learn the culture.”) Gabriel’s eyes search mine.

“I want them to know who they truly are.” I smile sadly.

His eyes well with tears as he stares at me across the table.

This is one of those moments where the planets align and you know that all the decisions and hard work that you put in years ago have paid off.

“I wanted to prepare them for your world as best as I could.”

“Our world, Vee,” he whispers. “It’s our world.”

Oh…