ARROW - 137. Chapter 137

Nonna arrived and the children from the village welcomed her in English. She was surprised, and when we drove her to our home, she was really surprised. The boys took over and showed her the house and her bedroom. I knew she would be tired, so we had an early dinner, and she turned in for the night.

“What do you think we will have for breakfast?”

“I don’t know but I expect Nonna will be in the kitchen.”

I wasn’t sleepy so I worked a little more on Arnaud son’s portrait. I wanted to get it finished by Christmas.

I was deep into painting when Colin came in and startled me. “Time for bed. You’ll have time to finish that before Christmas.”

Looking into those smiling eyes, how could I say no. I cleaned my brushes, put my paints away and followed Colin to bed.

Totally relaxed, sleep came easily. GG rocked me into a deep sleep. I remember as a child if I had any trouble falling a sleep, GG would come and sitting in her rocking chair would rock, back and forth, until I fell asleep.

Morning came, I smelled coffee. I reached for Colin, his side of the bed was empty. I got up showered, shaved and got dressed for the day. Walking into the kitchen, Peter had the coffee but Carmella was making the omelets. As if a buzzer went off, the boys, Marie and Alessia all entered the kitchen. I took my cup of coffee and headed for the dining room. The kitchen became over cramped quickly. I must have started something, as our boys followed me with their coffee, then Colin, Marie and soon we all were in the dining room except Peter and Nonna. Marie took one look, got up, taking her cupped headed to the kitchen followed by our boys. I sat there wondering what was happening, when Tommy brought in an omelet for Pop followed by Ivan with an omelet for me. I don’t know how Peter and Nonna did it, but the boys kept bringing omelets in setting an omelet in front of their friends. The last omelets the boys had, were placed at Nonna and Peter’s seat.

I saw a few smiles as everyone began to eat their breakfast.

“Colin, I have a job for Charles. That house next to the gallery I would like it renovated for my mom and dad.”

“We should of thought about that earlier. He could have done it when we were wrapping up Barcelona. I didn’t think it needs much. Probably painting and maybe new fixtures and bathrooms. I’ll call him this afternoon. Who has the keys?”

“I think they are with the other keys in the gallery office.”

Colin left for work, Nonna and Marie wanted to go to the Home, so I drove them there. Returning, I continued working on the portrait. Our boys were in school, the village group stayed at home working in their Italian to English books. Every once in a while, they would ask me what a word meant. I thought they were doing very well. Pronouncing English words with a foreign background, one needs to listen carefully. Their pronunciation brought many smiles to my face that afternoon.

The the boys came home from school. After dropping off their books, James took them and their friends to the club for a snack.

Colin would stop at the club at 4 as usual, and once someone from the board was there to relieve him, he would bring the boys home for dinner or I would drive over and have dinner at the club. I was slowly making progress on the painting. I was hoping to have it finished by Christmas.

Sunday lunches resumed with our piano player. Tony and Marie came and It was nice to see them. Bobby had his old job back. He and the boys hit it off, he had finished high school and was now attending Gateway Community College. I told him he could work Friday and Saturday nights as long as his school work didn’t suffer,

Colin and I told Tony and Marie about our staying at the Hostel and how comfortable it was. The boys had lunch in the kitchen and when they were finished, they came for a Jimmy Special. Marie recognized a few of them and now they joined our conversation.

I listened as the boys told them about flying here and they were staying until Nonna was going home. Marie wanted to know where Carmella was. “Ronnie, go and tell Nonna that her friend is here.”

Ronnie went in one door and Nonna came out of the other door. It seemed they saw each other at the same time. I swear the noise level went up a few notches. Old friends had a lot to talk about. I wondered where our Marie, was when I heard her voice as I entered the kitchen. For me, we were home. Sunday at the club, old acquaintances renewed. There is something about normality in life. I knew things will change but the club on Sunday will always be the same. I think we need an anchor once in a while at a port that is home. Although our house is great, but I miss our apartment and the roof garden of the club.

“Colin, I think we should keep the second floor apartment. I like to spend time here on occasion. We have a lot of memories.”

“We had some great times here. We can keep the apartment and maybe we can spend week-ends here.” He got a special kiss for that.

With Nonna here, Marcel decided to focus on Peter’s training. He will be our private chef in charge of breakfast. Dinners will be at the club except for Tuesday and Wednesday when the club is closed. James said he would come over and cook dinner.

James continued to make the boys their school lunch as well as the children from the Home. I noticed Billy made the trips with James and I suspect Billy helps him making the lunches.

Normality was fast approaching. Even with the boys from the Village here, I learned that the extra children wasn’t a problem. I thank our boys for that. One surprise, Nonna held cooking classes for the boys and their friends.