"Happy mother's day, mama Marni!" Marni DiAngelo opened her eyes and sat up to find little Carmella sitting on her stomach and fourteen year old Paviche standing beside her bed with a card and a beautiful bouquet of roses. Even nineteen year old Luigi was there with an even nicer bouquet than the one Pavi was holding and even an expensive box of chocolates.

"I'm holding a grand tea party in your honour!" Carmella announced.

"Yeah? Well I'm borrowing pop's limo to take you out to a nice dinner tonight!" Luigi grinned, trying to one-up his six year old sister.

"Um…I made-a you a card…" Pavi said meekly, he had no money, papa wouldn't lend him any and he certain didn't have a tea set nor would papa lend him the entire dining room to throw a tea party if he did.

So the day began with Carmella's tea party. Marni was given the head of the table where Carmella normally sat. She was given the best food, had first dibs on tea so it was still hot and fresh and she was treated like a princess.

Through the whole thing, though, Marni couldn't help noticing Pavi looked like he was feeling depressed and inadequate. She wanted to ask why, but Luigi punched Pavi in the arm and whispered 'Don't ruin mother's day for Marni, you selfish little prick! Put on a happy face!'

Next Rotti took Marni on a picnic outside the city in a surprisingly beautiful sunny park. The two of them ate a nice lunch of food far too fancy to be usual picnic food, then when night fell they went home to the Largo manor.

When they returned, Pavi still looked despondent. Marni wondered why again, Rotti even asked Pavi why he looked so depressed. Pavi didn't answer, he just ran upstairs to his room. Marni went up to her room to get changed for her date with Luigi and noticed that her flowers from Luigi were in water and Pavi's roses were crushed on the ground. His card was ripped up and thrown in the corner. But when she reached for it to try and piece it back together, Luigi was standing there waiting for her.

After that, Luigi snuck out with Marni, taking her to a very fancy restaurant for dinner and then dancing. No one would question seeing Rotti's son with Rotti's girlfriend because it was mother's day, this was obviously, to them, just Luigi being a good stepson to his stepmother. Finally after hours, Luigi brought Marni home and the two of them kissed goodnight. Marni finally had a chance to go back to her room and piece Pavi's card back together. It took her about an hour to tape all the little pieces back together, but it was worth it because the card had a beautiful drawing of her on it and said 'Mama you're the world to me' in big bright messy letters.

Marni felt her heart warm when she read the card and saw the picture and she walked to Pavi's room and knocked on the door. Pavi walked over to the door and opened it. "Mama Marni?" He gasped.

"Pavi, did you rip up this card?" Marni asked.

"I-a…." Pavi began, but when he looked into Marni's eyes, he couldn't lie to her. "Yes-a…"

"And did you crush your roses?"

"Yes-a…"

"And did you put Luigi's flowers in a vase?"

"Yes-a…"

"Why?"

"Because-a my gifts weren't as good, I couldn't give-a you a tea party, or-a a picnic or-a a night on the town. All I could give-a you was a stupid card and some discount roses." He said softly, looking away, humiliated.

"Pavi, your card meant the most to me because you made it. You took time out of your day to draw me a beautiful picture and had enough love in your heart to write me such a sweet message and you spent the pocket money your father gave you on roses for me, knowing you get less pocket money than Luigi because you're too young to work and that Carmella is still young enough to get what she wants for free. I don't care if the roses were discounted and I don't care that the card cost you nothing, money doesn't measure the meaning or quality of a gift." Marni said, hugging Pavi tightly. "And guess what, Pavi?"

"What is-a it, mama Marni?" Pavi asked.

"You're the world to me too."