Archive of Our Own ^beta

Syd was multitasking like a champ, working on her classic homemade cherry jam in a saucepan and on a gourmet grilled cheese with tangy goat cheese, nutty, oozing Gruyere, sweet caramelized onions, spicy pickled beets, and peppery arugula encased in buttery, golden, crispy, sourdough bread (Uma´s favorite) in another pan that was red hot and steamy. It seemed like she was making magic potions while the sound waves of Mango by Kamauu featuring Adi Oasis flooded the kitchen, and Carmy and Uma were coloring in the living room, not completely oblivious to the magic Sydney was working in the kitchen because they could smell it from the sofa and they were loving every minute of it. Uma was already super excited because she knew her momma was prepping her lunch for her first day at school, that was only hours away. She was on the countdown and couldn´t wait to start this new school year there. She had heard wonderful things about their art and science programs, and she was looking forward to getting to know as many new kids as possible because she had made no friends her age yet. Just her neighbor, Rachel, who was like 10 years old, sometimes played with her, but only because Uma was willing to be her make-up guinea pig, which was fun only the first 124 times, but was starting to get old, in Uma´s opinion.

Everything was new to little Uma. Her parents and she had moved to Philly from Chicago during the summer, and now it was time for her to start the second grade at this new local school, Abbot Elementary. They lived at a walking distance, but Uma loved nothing more than riding her Dynacraft Sweetheart 18-inch bike, which included an adorable handlebar bag, shimmery streamers, and a comfortable, padded pink seat, as well as adjustable and removable training wheels, which she was determined to ditch soon. And for that, she needed to practice, so Uma basically didn´t walk at all on the sidewalk; she only rode. She was on a mission, and very much like her parents, she was not giving up; she just kept going till she got what she wanted. Every second counted. However, for Momma Syd, safety was first, so she made sure that her little daredevil of a daughter knew exactly how to operate the front and rear caliper brakes and that her little sweetheart wore a helmet at all times for her own peace of mind. It was a cute unicorn helmet with bendable 3D rubber ears, snout, and a beautiful silver horn that reminded her of the stickers she loved to decorate her scrapbook with.

The next morning, the Berzatto-Adamus headed to Abbott Elementary School, and Syd was wearing her heart on her sleeve, fighting away the tears as soon as she saw Uma standing by the door with her red Ladybug backpack that looked bigger than her whole back, full of toys, crayons, books, and snacks, and, of course, her lunchbox her momma made sure contained her beloved daughter´s favorite grilled cheese sandwich and apple juice. Carmy had hand-picked those Ambrosia apples himself on Sunday morning, at the local farmer´s market, for his girl because he knew she really loved their floral aroma and sweetness.

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So there they were, all three of them starting this new chapter of their life as an interracial family in the suburbs of Philadelphia, away from the Windy City, but very much still home, because home was where the heart was, and theirs was right there, wherever they were together and happy and always having each other´s backs to make their dreams come true. It sounded corny, but it was hard. Very. It was a huge challenge every day. Especially for Syd, who was a working mom. Carmy was a stay-at-home dad who painted in his spare time, and due to hitting the jackpot of selling some of his art back in Chicago at 5 figures, he could now lie back and focus only part-time on his paintings now and then to continue contributing to the household economy with every sporadic sale his agent closed, while Syd changed the world, one chef wanna-be at the time, in the JNA Institute of Culinary Arts.

Carmy was doing a great job parenting little Uma, mostly because he had his mother as the anti-role model not to follow, and by sticking to that golden rule of never doing what Donna did and making sure Uma felt loved, heard, seen and understood, all the things he grew up without, he was excelling at it, but the real magic happened when Syd came back home every afternoon carrying a bag full of ingredients so they could all cook dinner together and asked Uma about her day. The three of them worked like an oiled mechanism of synergy and harmony, transforming powders into pasta, veggies into soups, and proteins into out-of-this-world experiences that smelled like a million bucks. But the most beautiful thing was how the kid lit up. She would start talking at 200 m/h, even with her hands, like every good Italian girl, and she ran around the house to grab all the drawings her dad and she had worked on to proudly show her mom what she was capable of. She left no story untold, she walked Syd through every single thing Carmy and she did during the day, how she helped him clean up by turning on the Roomba, or how she had to take a shower after making a mess in the balcony when Carmy and her tried to do some gardening to harvest their herbs. It was Syd´s highlight of her day, every day, hearing Uma fill her in about her routine and her adventures with Carmy. Sometimes, Uma wasn´t happy about how Carmy hovered all the Sharpies and complained about that long and hard to her mom, to which Syd responded by reprimanding her husband in front of the kiddo. Carmy smiled and took the blame, saying he was sorry, rubbing his chest and all. Next day, same old same old. Both Uma and Syd were used to it by now. That was their daily domestic bliss. They could ask for nothing more, it was more than what they ever dreamed of because they had always dreamed of other stuff that had nothing to do with that unique tapestry of happiness they tied and knitted together, and that now was expanding to new horizons in this new place, where the Act of Independence was signed and where America´s favorite working class Italian-American hero from the slums of Philly started out as a club fighter and "enforcer" for a local Philly Mafia loan shark and ended up losing a fight by a split decision, accepting the loss gracefully and receiving a standing ovation.

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When they got to school, Carmy took Syd´s hand and didn´t let go. He tightened his grip when Uma waved bye-bye after the mandatory group-hug session and lost herself in the crowd, yelling, “See you, inside! Don´t miss me!”

Syd and Carmy smiled back at Uma, and as soon as the girl turned their back on them to focus on her first day at school, and all the new friends she wanted to make, Syd burst into tears. Carmy was quick to let go of the bike he was holding and wrapped his arms around his wife, holding her tight and whispering in her ear that it was going to be okay.

This always happened. The first day of school was all about excitement for the kid and waterworks for the mom. Carmy was the rock. It was a dance they had already danced before, every new school year. Syd was the kind of mom who was not going to let her daughter see her cry in a million years, but she let it all out on Carmy´s shoulder, burying her face in the small of his neck.

Either way, a few minutes later, they were going to see Uma again because, being a new student, she needed to be introduced by the teacher to the rest of the class, and they wanted to be there when she did. This special permission had been granted by the Principal herself when Carmy asked. Mrs. Coleman´s exact words were “Yes, chef!” and it didn´t go unnoticed to Syd how shamelessly she seemed to be flirting with her husband as she said that. Of course, Syd also noticed how completely unaware of such flirting Carmy was, as usual, so she knew she had absolutely nothing to worry about. Syd found it laughable, she had other things to worry about now, like the best part of her running around that new school too fast for her liking.

“Careful, Uma, slow down!”

“Do, as your mom says, or no more bike for you, missy!”

Problem solved.

They made a great team in and out of the kitchen.

Shortly after that little exchange that took place in the hallway right outside Uma´s classroom, Syd and Carmy had a quick introductory chat with Miss Janine, Uma´s new teacher. They immediately hit it off. Janine was sweet and cheerful and fell in love with Uma´s effervescent nature on the spot.

“Oh, she seems to be such a happy kid! We’re gonna have so much fun here, don´t you worry!”

With that, they closed the impromptu parent-teacher conference, and off they went. Syd and Carmy couldn´t stop waving for a whole minute, and Uma was quite frankly tired of waving and smiling back at her parents, who seemed to be leaving the premises in slow-mo.

The first school day was a total hit, according to little Uma, she had made 2 new friends, and got to write her name on the board and tell the class about her hometown.

Janine gave her a hand after the little girl with eyes as blue as the sky wrapped her Ted Talk about Chicago, and Uma´s classmates did the same. She was more than happy to be in the spotlight, talking about her old town. She didn´t miss it, but she loved talking about Chicago because it brought her memories of her cousins, aunt Nat, aunt Tina, uncle Richie, uncle Marcus, and her nanna, DD, whom she FaceTimed with every weekend.

As soon as Uma left the school that day, she ran into her momma´s arms and told her every single thing she did that day, she even showed her an awesome drawing she had made of her new favest teacher: Miss J.

Then little Uma turned to Carmy with a bright smile and announced, “Look, Dad! I brought Sharpies for you- and me!” She proceeded to giggle and produce about 4 Sharpies of different colors from her pocket.

“Oh my God, Uma! You stole those?!” Syd asked in disbelief.

Carmy grabbed those Sharpies in a heartbeat and put them in his pocket, hiding the evidence of his girl´s felony and smiling on the inside. That was ´such a Mikey move!,´ he thought to himself.

“Thanks, Ummie. I´ll hold on to them, but it´s wrong to steal, remember that. Don´t do that again, OK?”

“OK, Dad. D´you want me to return them tomorrow?”

“Nope.”

“CARMY!!!”