Free Turning the Tables: From Housewife to Inmate and Back Again by Teresa Giudice, K.C. Baker

from the get-go. She needs a lot of attention and I always give it to her. Anytime there’s yelling or drama going on in the house, Milania is almost always involved. She used to love walking around my bedroom in my bras and high heels. She always gave me agita , an Italian-American term for angst, when she slid down the banister in our foyer.
    What people don’t know about Milania is that she is always worried about everyone else. When she knows someone is sad or upset about something, she’s the first one to ask, “Are you OK?” Whenever I came down with a cold or a headache, Milania would come in and ask me how I was feeling, get me a glass of water and medicine, and lie down with me to keep me company, stroking my hair to make me feel better. If one of her sisters was upset because a playdate got canceled, she would offer to play with them so they wouldn’t feel lonely. Milania is like me. Whenever someone in my family or one of my friends is having a hard time, I am texting them or on the phone with them every day, asking what they need and checking up on them to make sure they are OK.
    Then of course, there’s my baby, Audriana, who is the sweetest, most precious little girl. All I want to do to her is hug and squeeze her so tight. When Audriana came to see me at Danbury, we would play tic-tac-toe and she always let me win. What little girl lets you win? She wanted me to be happy. Once, Milania fell off a ladder in the garage when she was trying to get our Halloween decorations down off a shelf, and Audriana rushed to her side to make sure her sister was OK. I love her for that.
    I told Audriana I had to go away to work on my book. Of course I am going to tell her the truth when she gets older and can understand what happened.
    Saying goodbye to my girls after they had visited me in prison ripped my heart out of my chest. Seeing them so upset? I know this may sound dramatic, but I would rather have had someone cut both my arms off instead.
    I have to say, while I was working on this book, I couldn’t help but cry when I wrote about my daughters. They are my everything. The ones who kept me going through one of the hardest times of my life. I will always be thankful to them for that and for growing up to be such lovely girls and young women. God bless you, my babies. I’m so proud of you and I love, love, love, love you so much.

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HOUSEWIVES—JERSEY STYLE
    B y 2007, life was good. More than good. We were really happy. Joe and I were redoing the Montville house, which we were excited about. I was busy taking care of Gia, Gabriella, and Milania, who were six, three, and almost two at the time.
    Joe and I kept busy with friends and family, inviting them over or going to their houses. In the summer, we went to our house on the Jersey shore as much as we could—just the five of us or with good friends and family, including our parents, Joe’s sister and brother and their families, Joey and Melissa, my cousin Kathy, her husband Richie and their kids. We loved taking everyone out on the boat we had at the time, spending the day out on the water. We were so lucky to have such carefree, amazing, fun summers.
    I had a big group of girlfriends I hung out with, including Dina Manzo, who I had been friends with for a long time. We had met years ago through our mutual friend, Jackie, and clicked. She felt like the sister I never had because she understood me so well. She could tell by the sound of my voice whether I was on cloud nine or frustrated beyond belief. We were always very close. I met Jacqueline Laurita through Dina, when I ran into the pair of them at a food market in 2002. Jacqueline is married to Dina’s brother, Chris Laurita. She had just moved to Jersey from Las Vegas and was pregnant with her first child with Chris, their son, CJ (she also has a daughter, Ashley Holmes, from her first marriage and later on, had another son, Nicholas, with Chris).
    I didn’t see Jacqueline again for a while, until I