Nine years...
Nine years since that fateful trial... When I was accused of murdering Pal Meraktis, the doctor that failed in removing the bullet that nearly killed me...
... And since the woman I was supposed to marry... The woman I thought that loved me... Betrayed me...
... Alita Tiala, the nurse present at the time of the operation. I was madly in love with her, willing to do anything her heart desired... But it was all for nothing.
She wanted nothing more than to wait for my death and put her icy cold claws on my family's fortune.
... And thanks to Apollo Justice, the lawyer that was defending me, revealed her as the one who killed that pathetic doctor, and was sentenced to life in prison.
I... I was in complete and utter denial by the end of the trial... I couldn't beleive my Alita, my Fallen Angel, had done me wrong. I thought she loved me, as I loved her...
... But it all ended up being one big lie.
I went into a deep, spiraling depression after that day. I thought I would never find a woman that would truly love me for who I was, not just for my material possessions...
... Until I met her.
Pearl Fey, a girl from Kurain Village, had entered my life a year after the trial, while I was working at the shop. Honestly, we didn't hit it off at first, since she was unsure of me, and to be honest, I was a little unsure of her...
... But after we got to know each other, we ended up becoming best friends, and eventually soulmates.
Pearl and I spent a lot of time together, just about every day, and I loved every minute of it.
... However, about September of that year, she had to go back home. I was devistated, and I thought I was never gonna see her again.
But eight months later, she came back to me. She said she couldn't stand to be without me in that village, so she decided to sneak out and chose me over her spirit medium duties.
And from that moment on, I knew that this was the right woman for me. She's as pure and innocent as they come... Well, much more so than Alita, anyway.
So on that very day, I proposed to her, and she said yes, and we were married that November.
A year later, not to long after our first aniversary, Pearl and I found out that we were expecting our first child. I was of course extremely nervous at first, since I had no idea what to expect.
I thought we were going to have a son, but when the baby was born, I was proven wrong. We ended up having a daughter, who we named Rosa.
She's five now, and she's a very sweet little girl. Smart too, just like her mother. She's getting ready to start kindergarten this year, so I hope she'll do well.
Rosa's pretty excited about it though, since she found out her little friend Gloria's gonna be in her class. She's my friend Dino's niece, and she and Rosa are only a few months apart.
Speaking of Dino, he's been doing well. He and Natsumi got married about four years ago and they had a little boy named Takeo. He's three now, I beleive, and he's just like his dad, with him being clumsy and stuff.
Also around that time, Pearl was pregnant again, and once again I was nervous. We had a boy this time, and we called him William, or just Willy for short.
He's only two, but he sure likes to get around and cause mischeif. Mom says I was just like him at that age. Like father, like son, I guess.
Rosa loves to play with him, and Willy likes to play with her too. He calls her 'Sis'. Cute, ain't it?
As for me, I've been doing pretty well. I'm the fifth head of the family now, wouldn't you beleive it? Didn't think Pops would give his seat up so soon, but I guess he's getting tired of it. He's gonna be sixty-five this year, so I guess he thought it was time to retire.
I'm also the manager of the shop now. Y'know, that little pastry shop Pops opened up so he could make 'clean' money? It's not that bad, I guess, and bossin' them kids around is kinda fun.
Plus I let Rosa and Willy come in there with me so they can watch us work. And they get free samples too.
Mom's doing alright, too. She's pretty much the same as always, cookin' and cleanin' and lookin' after the kids when Pearl and I go out. We need a break sometimes, y'know?
Last I heard from my friend Al was that he and Yoshiko were gonna elope, since her parents didn't approve of him at all. I'm not sure if they went through with it or not, though...
Rick broke off his engagement with Masami, sad to say. Apparently he saw her with another guy and completely broke his heart. Guess he wasn't good enough for her.
My aunt and uncle Guiseppe and Catarina are loving the kids. They come over almost every day just to see them, and they've offered to babysit them a few times. Guess they're suffering from 'Empty Nest Syndrome' or somethin'.
Phillipe, their oldest son and one of my cousins, moved out of the house on his twenty-first birthday, since he thought he was ready to live on his own. Aunt Cat was devistated, but Uncle Seppe helped her cope though. It's been four years since then, and he's actually been doin' pretty well.
Franco, his little brother, turned twenty-one himself this year, but he decided to stay with his parents, since he's a big mama's boy and all.
Vinny, one of my other cousins, finally married his girlfriend he's been with forever, Alice, last year. They haven't said anythin' about havin' kids yet, but I'm sure they will eventually. Vinny's gonna be thirty-three this year, so he'd better hurry up before he's too old to do it!
Remember Rocco, my cousin that dated Shorty- er, uh- Trucy for a while? Well, after he broke up with her during the time before Rosa was born, he gave up on datin' all together, since the girl he was with after her- I forget her name- broke up with him, basically. I feel sorry for him, man. Such an unlucky guy...
Vitalia finally settled her divorce with her ex-husband a few years ago and has full custody of her son, my little cousin Donnie, who's gonna be fifteen this year. Last time I heard he's quite a hit with the ladies, but he says his 'true love' is Kumiko, one of the girls from Pearl's village. Heh.
Pearl and I still get along of course. Our seventh wedding anniversary is coming up this year, which is hard to beleive since I feel like I've been with her forever. I didn't think she'd want to put up with me for this long, or even at all, but she loves me, and that's what people do when they love each other, right?
Pearl's family's been doing good too, from what she told me.
Her mom, Morgan Fey, is still in prison. Pearl still writes to her though and she writes back. Man, she almost ripped my head off when she first met me. I had no idea her mom was gonna be such a bitch. Thank god she wasn't that way with the kids. She actually adores Rosa, which I find surprising. She said that she reminds her of Pearl when she was younger. As for Willy, she's indifferent towards him. Pearl told me that the men in her family are basically cast aside.
Her cousin Maya is still the Master of Kurain. I can't beleive she's thirty-six years old and she still hasn't gotten married yet. I always thought her and Nick had a thing for each other, even though they deny it. You never know...
Speaking of Nick... That old fart still hasn't retaken the bar exam, according to Trucy. Guess he doesn't wanna be an attorney anymore. She told me that he thought what he did was enough and that he wasn't really willing to go back to it. Who knows, he might change his mind...
Trucy... She's grown up a lot since I first met her. She's twenty-four now. I know, I can't beleive it, either. She finally formed the magic troupe that she wanted and she's currently traveling with them. Man, when Trucy comes over, Rosa goes nuts. "Auntie Trucy, will you show me Mr. Hat again?" She would say to her, "Oh, I wanna see you pull Foxie-Chan out of your hat, too!"
Apollo. Man, he's pretty much my bro, you know what I'm saying? I still see him sometimes, but he's been so busy lately with cases that he hasn't had time to stop by. From what I heard he has his own law office now: 'Justice & Co. Law Offices.' Heh, has a nice ring to it. Trucy I think also told me that he's dating Vera Misham, a girl that I was interested in before I met Pearl, but it didn't work out between us. Glad she found the right guy for her, though.
Hmm... Who else, who else... Well, I guess Eldoon is still around sellin' his noodles, that old fart. Still salty as always. The face Rosa made when she first tried them was funny, but she wasn't laughing, though.
I still haven't met Pearl's older sister Iris. She writes letters to us, and from what I've read from her she sounds alright. Pearl says she wants to go up to... Uh... 'Hozukuren Temple' to visit her soon. I asked her why we haven't visited her before, and she just said, "It's because I wasn't ready to show you to her yet." Right...
Now, if you're wondering if the Rivales are still messin' with us... Well... Not really. Honestly, I haven't seen them in years. Ever since Pops quit the 'business', I guess they gave up on us and moved on to rival with another family. Last thing I heard about them was that the boss' son, who is the same age as me, became the new boss in his place, since he too retired. Coincidence, much?
… And I bet you're wondering if I know what's happened to Alita, right? Well, she's been rotting in prison for nine years, that's all I know. The last time I saw her there was when Pearl and I visited her mother before we got married. That was a long time ago, so I have no idea what she's doing now. I assume she's just mooching off some guy just like she did to me. I wouldn't be surprised if she's hitting on the security guards. Feh.
Well, actually, if it wasn't for Alita, I wouldn't have met Pearl, and I wouldn't have opened my eyes and realized that the way I acted back then was stupid.
I can't believe how immature and naïve I was during that trial. My views on the whole situation was just so screwed up. But hey, I was only a kid, brainwashed by the gangster lifestyle that I was living. It made me think that I actually was one, even though I wasn't. Yes, I am able to admit it now: I was an idiot.
But I'm not like that anymore. I've grown up, and I'm gonna make sure Willy doesn't end up like I did. Same with Rosa, too, I guess... But she's a girl, so it's a little different.
I definitely lea-
“Papa!”
Wocky had stopped writing in his notebook as he heard a tiny voice outside the door to his office.
He looked up and said, “Who is it?”
“Your Little Princess”, The voice said cutely.
He laughed as he got up to open the door.
“Alright, I'm comin'”, He said as he let a small girl into the office, who was wearing a little pink dress and white shoes, carrying a fox plush toy with her.
Wocky bent down to her level and said, “What's up, Rosa? You need somethin'?”
Rosa shook her said and said, “Uh uh, I jus' was gonna say that Mama said lunch is almost ready.”
“Lunch?” Wocky asked, “What're we having?”
“Sandwiches”, Rosa answered as she teetered back in forth cheerfully, “Any kind we want!”
“Oh, I see.”
Rosa then took her father's hand and said, “C'mon, Papa, let's go! Mama an' Willy an' Gramma and Grampops are waitin' for us!”
“Hang on, Rosie”, He said, “I'll be there in a second.”
“OK, Papa”, She said sweetly as she skipped out of the room.
Wocky put his notebook back in the drawer of his desk and thought, “That Rosa sure is somethin'.”
He then walked out of the room and headed to the kitchen.
**
In the kitchen, Rosa and Winfred were already sitting at the table, while Pearl was putting William in his highchair.
“You're just in time”, Pearl said to Wocky as she went up to him, “Mother's almost done making the sandwiches.”
“Good”, He said as he sat down, “'Cause I'm starvin'!”
“Me too!” Rosa said, “I want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Mama!”
“Alright, alright”, Pearl said with a laugh, “They're almost here, don't worry.”
And at that moment, Plum walked in with a plate of various different types of sandwiches.
“Here you are”, She said as she passed them along, “Hope you like them!”
Rosa had her peanut butter and jelly while William had the same, except it was cut small enough for him to eat.
“Jelly!” He said happily as he licked the jelly off the bread.
“You don't eat it like that, Willy”, Rosa said, “You have to keep it together.”
She then ate the sandwich the 'right' way and said, “Like this, see?”
The adults chuckled as Plum said, “He's only two years old, sweetie, he doesn't know any better!”
“Oh”, Rosa said, “Well... Eat it however you want then!”
Everyone then continued to eat until Wocky asked, “So are you ready for school next week, Rosa?”
“Uh huh”, She answered, “I can't wait to go! Gloria's gonna be there!”
Her father chuckled as he said, “That's right; You guys can help each other out while you're there.”
His daughter nodded vigorously as she said, “Yeah!”
“Sis go bye bye?” William asked.
“Yeah”, Wocky said to him, “But she won't be gone for long; She'll be there every day for six hours.”
“Six hours?!” Rosa said, “That's a really long time!”
“I know, Rosie, but when you're at school, you have to do all kinds of subjects!”
“Like what, Papa?”
“Well, there's Language Arts, where you learn your alphabet and the teacher reads you stories.”
Rosa looked at him in interest as she said, “Like when Mama reads me and Willy a bedtime story?”
“Uh huh”, Wocky answered, “And you learn how to write and read too.”
“I wanna learn how to read, because I wanna read stories by myself!”
“That's good”, Pearl said, “And when you learn how to write you can make your own stories for other people to read.”
“Really?! I can do that?!”
“Yeah!”
“Oh, goody! I can't wait to learn how to read and write now! What else is at school, Papa?”
Wocky thought for a moment, and then said, “There's also Math, where you learn how to count.”
“I know how to do that! One... Two... Um... What's after two?”
“Three.”
“Oh... I forgot about that.”
Wocky laughed again as he said, “Don't worry, you'll get better.... There's also Music, where you learn about singing and songs.”
“I can do that too!”
She then started to sing the 'Steel Samurai' theme song.
Pearl laughed and said, “That's very good! You'll do great in music class.”
“Thanks, Mama, I hope so!”
“There's Science, too, where you learn about how your body works and stuff like nature and the weather.”
Rosa looked outside the window and said, “Well, I know that it's... Um... 'Crowdy' outside.”
Winfred chuckled and said, “You mean 'cloudy', Rosa?”
“Uh huh! Crowdy!”
She then looked back at her father and asked, “Is there anything else, Papa?”
“Hmm... There's Social Studies.”
“What's that?”
“That's when you learn about money and reading maps and stuff like that.”
“Oh... Sounds boring... I wanna hear some more fun 'subjects'!”
“OK... Maybe you'd like Art class.”
Pearl cringed a little bit as she heard that.
“I was never good at art”, She said, “I remember when I broke Mystic Ami's vase... I wasn't too much older than you, Rosa.”
Rosa looked at her in interest and said, “Really, Mama? You mean that pot that has 'AMI' written on it and looks cracked?”
“Yes”, Her mother answered, “I had such a hard time putting it back together... I actually misspelled her name as 'IAM'.”
“I am?”
“Yes. I wasn't good at spelling, either...”
“It's OK, Mama”, Rosa said with the same 'eyes closed' smile as Wocky's, “You spell good now!”
Wocky laughed and said, “Oh, Rosie.”
“School sounds fun”, Rosa said again, “I can't wait to go!”
“That's my girl”, Wocky said as he patted his daughter on the head, “You're definitely more into this than I was... I hated school.”
She tilted her head and said, “You did?”
“Yeah”, He answered, “I wasn't good at it... High school was really tough, y'know? I almost didn't graduate.”
“'Grajitate'? What's that, Papa?”
“It's when you finish all the grades in school. Right now you're going to kindergarten, which is pretty much the first year for you, then in fifth grade you leave elementary school and go to junior high.”
“Junior... High?”
“Yeah. It's a lil' different there; You do harder classes and stuff...And there's no recess and nap time.”
“No recess?!”
“Nope... Unless you count P.E.”
“Oh... How long are you at junior high?”
“From sixth grade until eight grade... And then in ninth grade you go to high school, and when you get to twelfth grade you graduate.”
“Wow”, Rosa said, “I'm gonna be in school for a long time!”
“Yeah... Thirteen years.”
“That's a big number, Papa.”
“Yeah, it is, and in thirteen years you'll be eighteen... You'll be all grown up.”
Wocky tried to imagine her at that age, but he couldn't do it.
“It kinda scares me that she ain't gonna be this lil' forever”, He thought, “It won't be long till she wants to go off and do her own thing.”
“What 'bout Willy, Papa? Will he go to school too?”
“Yep”, He said, “Though he has three more years until he starts school.”
“School!” Willy shouted cutely at his father.
“I hope when I'm... Um... 'Ate-Teen'”, Rosa said, “I'm pretty like Mama.”
“Aww”, Pearl said as her face went slightly red, “Thank you, sweetie.”
“But you got a long time till then, Rosie”, Wocky said.
“I know, Papa.”
Rosa then got down from her chair and went off to her room to play, “I'm gonna go play in my room.”
“Alright”, The adults said, “We'll come check on you later.”
**
Rosa walked up the stairs to her room, thinking about going to school for the first time.
“Wow”, She thought as she turned the corner of the hallway and walked into her room, “I have to go to school until I'm ate-teen? I'll be a grown up by then!”
She then started to look for a toy to play with, but she didn't feel like playing with Foxie-Chan or Mr. Bunnykins today, and she got bored of her dolls.
“I wonder where Mama's old ball is?”
Rosa then walked back out of her room and downstairs to her parents' room.
**
She walked into the room quietly to make sure she wouldn't get caught.
“The last place I saw it has here”, Rosa thought as she looked under the bed, “But... It's not here.”
She continued to look around the room for a few minutes for the ball, and then decided to check one more place before giving up.
“I'll look in Papa's drawer.”
Rosa went over to her father's dresser and looked in all the drawers, pulling out clothes carefully as she looked for the ball.
She had no luck in finding it, until suddenly she found what looked like a pendant in one of the drawers, buried under a pile of junk.
Rosa held it up and found that it was indeed a pendant with a gold chain, which was attached to a green jeweled four leafed clover.
“Wow”, Rosa said out loud, “This is so pretty...”
She put it on, and it sagged all the way down to her belly button, being that the chain was so long, and then took it off and put it in her pocket.
“I wonder why Papa had this in his drawer... Mama says she always puts her jewelry in her jewelry box.”
Rosa then walked out of the room and went to the living room to see if her family was there.
**
When she got there, she saw that everyone was sitting on the couch watching TV.
“Hello, Rosa”, Plum said, “Did you get bored playing by yourself?”
“Uh huh”, Rosa said as she nodded, “I tried to look for Mama's ball, but I couldn't find it...”
“Oh”, Pearl said, “Well, did you check under me and Papa's bed?”
“Yeah, but it won't there... I looked all over for it, but I didn't find it.”
“Did you put everything back in its place if you moved anything?” Wocky asked.
“Yes, Papa, I did.”
She then remembered the pendant she found and said, “Oh! While I was looking for the ball...”
She then took it out of her pocket and showed it to everyone.
“... I found this pretty necklace in one of Papa's drawers.”
Wocky, Winfred and Plum's eyes went wide.
“I think a leprechaun left it for you on 'Sand Patties Day', Papa!”
Wocky immediately stood up, walked towards Rosa and swiped the pendant from her.
“Don't go through my things without asking!” He yelled, “Didn't Mama and I tell ya that?!”
His daughter looked up at him with teary eyes and said nothing.
“As of right now, your play date with Gloria tomorrow is off! Now go to your room an-”
“That's enough, Wocky!” Winfred bellowed, which was something he rarely did, except when he had to discipline his son.
Rosa then ran over to her grandparents and mother and cried in Pearl's chest.
“Why are you acting this way?!” Pearl asked angrily, “Getting angry over Rosa finding a piece of jewelery you seemed to be hiding!”
“I won't hidin' it, Pearl!” Wocky shot back, “I didn't even know I had it!”
“Well, apparently you did know”, His wife responded, “Because you're practically being verbally abusive to our daughter over it!”
“Alright, please”, Plum said in a worried tone, “Why don't we take this outside, shall we? I would like to know why you still have that pendant yourself.”
Pearl looked at her mother-in-law and said, “You knew he had it?”
“Of course”, She answered.
Pearl then let Rosa down and said, “You stay here while Gramma, Grampops and I have a talk with Papa, OK?”
“Alright, Mama”, Rosa said as she sniffled and hiccuped a little as she laid on the couch and hugged the pillow.
“Papa's never yelled at me like that before”, She thought, “What was so bad about that necklace?”
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