HIS SALVATION

NINE

~CLAIR~

Taylor dragged me to where the women we standing. "Welcome darling", mom says warmly and all my hatred for her vanished. I smile at her and she smiles back. "Hi, I'm Arianna but you can call me Ari. I'm Matteo's older sister", a beautiful thick blackish brown haired woman says. 

Her beauty was so exotic and I knew that she got it from their mom. She had wavy blackish brown hair, beautiful brown eyes and hot pink lips. "It's nice to meet you", I say. "I'm Briana, Matteo's younger sister and the baby of the house", a younger version of Arianna says. She had more resemblance with Matteo. 

Gray eyes, a nicely pointed nose, black hair that reached her elbows (and I thought it was only Sam and I that had that length) and full plum lips. She looked absolutely beautiful.

I got introduced to Matteo's mother; she's one of the most wholehearted people I've ever met. "Okay everyone, time for dinner", she calls out and everybody went to their seats.

I sat beside Matteo, next to me was Aiden and his wife, Hannah. In front of me was mom and dad, on dad's left was Briana next to the children. On mom's right was Matteo's parents and so on. 

"So how's your marriage?", Mr. Rossi asks. "We're doing perfectly fine", Matteo answers. "I heard that the company is growing widely", Aiden says saves us from more questions. "Yeah, we're checking out the new sites next week", Matteo's older brother, Dominick says. 

"That's wonderful son", Mr. Rossi says. "I was planning on tell you this evening", Matteo glares at Dominick who grins back. I smile at their childishness. 

"So Clair?", Mr. Rossi calls. "Yes sir?", I say. "Tell us what you do for a living", he says. Now that I look at it, Matteo has his features shared between his mom and dad. He has his father's hair color and pointed nose while he has his mother's lips and eye color.

"I work at hospital as a full time doctor", I say and he grins. "Well that's wonderful and surprising too. I expected that you would be an account or banker", he says. I shake my head. "No, business doesn't interest me", I say and everyone chuckles.

"Back in high school, she hated anything calculation. She cried the day she was given calculus weekend assignment", Taylor says and everyone laughs. 

"She begged for dad to take her away", Aiden adds. "I'll never forget how she rolled on the floor", dad says and my face reddens. "That was in middle school", I grumble embarrassed. "And you were so adorable", Aiden coos pinching my cheeks and I swat his hands away.

"Oh shut it", I glare at him and he chuckles. I sneak a glance at Matteo who was smiling. Then there was a little sneeze that made everywhere quiet. A little girl with her hair pulled in large pigtails. "Sorry", she apologizes embarrassed. 

"It's okay sweetie, just drink some water", Arianna says an the girl nods. Dinner ended on a good note and everyone was happy. 

"Mommy, my nose hurts", I hear a cute tiny voice says. "Don't worry Mia, just drink a little water and you'll be fine", I hear another voice says. I enter the kitchen and see Arianna standing in front of a little girl.

"Arianna, what's the problem?", I ask as I walk into the kitchen. She turns to meet me with a sad smile. "Oh Clair, sorry to disturb you", she smiles. 

"What's wrong?", I ask approaching them. "Mia just has a little allergy", she says. I nod and look at Mia whose face was already red. I place my palm on her head and find her temperature hot. "She has fever", I say.

"If she has fever she won't be able to stay at someone's house", she says. "Why?", I ask. "I need someone to look after the kids while I travel to Italy for a conference and look after my grandparents for a month", she says. 

"You can keep them with me, I'll look after them", I offer. "But you will be busy", she says. "I'm not always busy so I have will definitely have time for them", I say. She turns to Mia. "Baby, will you stay with aunt Clair's for some time?", she asks.

"Aunt Clair is nice, yes mommy", Mia says and I smile. "Okay then, I'll ask Alex and Nikki", she says and I nod. I walk out of the kitchen to the living room.

Dominick walks up to me with a blonde woman who was holding a young boy in her hands. "Clair, this is Lisa my wife. Lisa, this Matteo's wife Clair", he says and his wife and I exchange pleasantries.

"Hey little guy, what's your name?", I ask the boy in her hands. "I'm Marco, I'm four years old", he grins and I find myself grinning back. "He's cute", I comment and Lisa giggles.

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"It was nice having dinner with you", I say as we say our goodbyes. "I'll bring the kids over tomorrow by five in the afternoon", Arianna says and I nod. "Okay then", Matteo says. "Bye kids", I wave at the little children. "Bye aunt Clair, bye Matteo!", they squeal and I laugh. 

I watch as Alex runs to Matteo and he catches him. He tickles Alex. "Be a good boy okay?", he says and Alex nods. "I'll see you tomorrow", Matteo says. "Okay", Alex hugs him.