“Bonjour,” Vivienne says to me. Her blue eyes are almost crystal blue. She comes over to me.
“It’s nice to see you again, Addison,” she says and hugs me, making me stop breathing altogether.
“Thank you for meeting us,” she whispers in my ear and the tears now sting my eyes to come down.
She lets me go and then squeezes my hand, blinking away her own tears before she turns away and looks down at Avery. “Hello, ma puce.” She smiles at Avery, who just looks at her with her eyebrows pushed together. “That means beauty,” she tells her and Avery now smiles big. “I heard that someone is a princess.”
The word is like music to Avery’s ears. “It’s me.” She jumps up. “I’m the princess.” She points at herself.
“Well, a princess has to have a tiara,” Vivienne declares, turning to hold out her hand to Markos, who hands her the blue bag.
It has engraving on the side but I can’t read what it says. I think it’s some sort of fancy writing.
“What is going on?” I look over at Stefano, who smiles at me, but his smile is sort of broken when he sees her move the white tissue paper aside to take out whatever is in the box.
“My mother is… how do I put it.” He thinks for two seconds before adding in, “Extreme.”
I look back over at Vivienne, who pulls a blue box out of the bag, with the emblem also stamped on top of the box. “This tiara,” she says, turning the square box in her hand, “is from Buckingham Palace.” She opens it before she turns it around so Avery can see and so can I.
In the middle of the box, a fucking tiara sits on a white satin pillow. My mouth hangs open as I look down at a diamond fucking tiara. “Is that?” I don’t even know what I’m asking because nothing else comes out. The tiara has diamonds all around it as it works in a pattern, and even little diamond flower shapes are scattered around it.
“Yup,” is the only thing Stefano says, nodding his head.
“Oh my,” is the only thing I can say when she takes it out and places it on Avery’s head. The diamonds shine in the sunlight, and in the middle of the peak of the tiara is a diamond hanging and swinging side to side while Avery looks at me.
“Momma.” She gasps, trying to whisper but failing miserably. “I’m a real princess.” She points at her head. “Look at my tiara.”
I look at her and again the only thing I can say is, “Oh my.”
“Can I wear it to school?” she asks me, and I look at Vivienne, who looks at Avery as if she hangs the moon and the stars. She takes her in as she blinks away the tears in her eyes. It’s a look I wish my own mother had for my child, but somehow this might be even better.
“I think it should be worn on special occasions.” And by that, I say in my head, I mean never out of the house. I can’t even begin to think of how much that cost them. A tiara from Buckingham Palace, my head feels like it will explode.
“Is today a special day?” she asks me, then looks over at Stefano when he answers.
“Yes, today is a very special day.” He squats down beside her. “This is my mom and dad,” he explains, looking at his parents at the same time Avery looks at them. “That is my dad, Markos, and this is my mom, Vivienne.” He smiles at Avery. “You get to meet your grandma and grandpa.”
“Umm, excuse me,” Vivienne says, holding up her hand. “I will not be a grandmother.” My stomach sinks so fast, but only until a smile fills her face. “I’ll be Glammy like a glamorous grandmother,” she says to Avery. “If you want, you can call me Glammy Vivienne or just Vivienne. It’s as you wish, ma puce.” She then turns to look at Markos.
“And he can be GILF.”
My eyes go huge and I think I’m going to choke on my saliva. “Oh my God.” It’s as if there are no words in my vocabulary except for those three.
“What is a GILF?” Avery asks me, and I don’t even know what to say.
“We are not calling him GILF,” Stefano scolds between clenched teeth, then looks at Avery. “It’s a French word,” he says to her and then looks at me, asking for help, but sadly I’m of no help right now.
All I can do is look at the tiara that sparkles in the sun.
Vivienne gets up and walks over to Markos, putting her hand on his chest and looking up at him.
You can see the love in her eyes. “I’ll call you GILF,” she whispers to him before she leans in and kisses his lips.