Authors Note: My apologies for the delay in this chapter. My muse went walkabout and left me with no words to string into the web of this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thank you to everyone left comments or sent me feedback about previous chapters of this story. Thank you also to Margaret who proofread for me. ~ellie
Peri returned home with her family two days later. They left at the end of a long day where she and Rosanna had worked together to get as much information as they could about the closest members of the family into the online database. Rosanna seemed to understand the system Peri was attempting to set up and while it wasn't perfect yet she could see the tweaks CJ was making in the new versions he uploaded.
Peri left Rosanna with the task of slowly adding to the database and communicating with both herself and CJ through emails mostly about any updates. It wasn't a hard task just very time consuming, and Antonia did not wish anyone but the three women who had started the project together handling her precious journals that held all the current family information.
She'd spoken to Josh and Dante about her problem with Carmen. She listened to what Ang had told them and welcomed Rosanna warmly when she had approached her the following day. She didn't talk to her about Carmen though, not wanting her to feel like she was in the middle of a power struggle. Instead, she had accepted the vague apology Rosanna offered without any further questions and welcomed her to help with the first of her big projects.
It was during the quiet times that she thought about the problem and how she could diffuse the situation without having to exclude Carmen from any of the projects she was working on with the rest of the ladies. Peri had called Margarite, and she had been thrilled about the idea of a big family christening with them. Realising that Emily had not given them an answer before she left the farm, Lucia called her and explained that both of the other women had been enthusiastic, about the shared event. She had emphasised that it would be a shame if Timo were the only one not being christened on the day, especially as Bianca and Jules would be flying back for it. Emily had reluctantly agreed to be part of the event.
Peri knew the key to having this day be drama free and have everyone enjoy it fully was to deal with her issue with Carmen. She needed to know what promises she had made and to whom. She reasoned that there were two ways she could find out. She could ask Carmen directly, but she wasn't sure her sister-in-law would tell her the truth, even when confronted with the knowledge that Peri knew there was more to her antagonism. Or she could go through the table to Vincenzo, who would know or be able to find out if he didn't already know.
Neither alternative was fuss free and she wasn't sure how much authority she had with the current table to ask for a meeting with Vincenzo about this subject. She had his contact details, and she could call him herself rather than having Josh organise it for her, but she worried about navigating the family rules around this. In the end, she had decided that the worst that could happen if she called Vincenzo is that he would tell her that he couldn't help her, and she decided to call him once they were home and gotten settled again.
Having flown home late in the evening, she had gone to the nursery with the nannies to help the babies settle while Josh and Dante spoke to the household staff about going to the city apartment on the thirty-first to stay for a week until the epiphany meeting of the table. Peri was exhausted and went to shower after ensuring the triplets were fast asleep in their beds. She was glad to be home and in her own bed even if it was only for two days before they left again to go into the city.
She stood under the hot water considering how she could approach Vincenzo when she finally realised she had a third option. She could approach Zita, Vincenzo's wife. Surely she had access to all sorts of information. She knew now that the men of the Donati family relied on their wives far more than anyone ever realised. She would feel more comfortable having the conversation about Carmen with Zita and not getting the men involved at all if she could help it. She felt better about what she had to do by the time she turned off the steaming water.
She got out of the shower and put on a robe wrapping it tightly around her body. She looked longingly at the bed but decided to go and find Josh and Dante before finally crawling into it. She found them sitting in the living room talking quietly with the television on at a low volume. It was rare to see them with the television on unless it was sports related, so she stopped a few feet behind them and watched for a few minutes.
Her mild curiosity turned to horror as she watched the news report and she made a strangled sound as her chest and throat tightened in fear. Both men turned simultaneously to look at her, but she couldn't take her eyes from the screen or drown out the voice of the reporter:
"A dormitory fire claimed the lives of three prisoners early this evening. Two of the women killed' Celia Castillo, and Hannah McMillian were partners and criminal associates of known drug smugglers David and Michael Kirkman. Two other prisoners were injured in the fire. A senior police officer said that the fire had been set as a reaction to the escape of four other prisoners earlier today. That escape occurred at ten this morning when four women forced open a laundry door and scaled two fences. Two of the women were quickly apprehended by police officers near the prison grounds while two prisoners continue to evade capture and remain at large. It has been suggested that the third deceased woman, Veronica Maris, lit the fire in reaction to being left behind by those who had escaped. It is thought that she had been removed from laundry duty due to an altercation during breakfast. It is believed that all three died from asphyxiation."
"She's dead?" Peri asked unable to process the information on the television that showed emergency services still surrounding the prison.
"The commander called to let us know that he had confirmed that it was her," Josh said woodenly holding her in his arms.
"I never wanted her dead, Josh," she whispered feeling numb.
"I know," he said.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered and held him close.
*****
In the following two days, Lucia had stepped up and had taken over for Peri and her mother in working with her Aunts on a memorial service for Nik. The autopsy and inquest meant that there would be no physical body to bury for weeks yet, but it was agreed by Joseph and Antonia that it would be better for the family to put her to rest before the new year began.
Peri drove to the city on the morning of the thirty-first with mixed emotions. She was devastated for Josh at the loss of his twin, but her relief that she no longer felt so scared of Nik's return couldn't be denied. Josh had not taken the news well on that first night and had stayed up until dawn drinking with Dante and talking. He'd uncharacteristically slept half of the next day, and when he reappeared, he seemed to have compartmentalised his grief and continued with life as normal which worried Peri.
His phone rang constantly, and he spoke in sombre tones as people sympathised while giving him their condolences on the tragic death of his sister. As far as most people knew she died in an accident. Only the closest of relatives knew the truth about her crimes and subsequent death in the prison. Dante seemed unconcerned with the way Josh was handling his grief and Peri tried not to worry, but she knew he must be dying inside. No matter what Nik had become she was his twin, and they had lived a lifetime together.
She followed Josh's car into the parking lot and pulled up beside him in a reserved car space. The nannies and babies following them in the van pulled up moments later. It had seemed silly to take so many cars, but she had wanted her car for the week they would be in the city, so she could go and visit her friends and mother. They would all be busy with their plans now, and it seemed silly for one of the men to be constantly having to change their plans for her, or for her to have a driver when she just wanted to go home to see her mother sometimes. She'd argued about needing independence, and they had finally relented.
