Authors note: Hello everyone. This story is a spinoff of the Twelve Tables series I wrote a while ago. I hope you enjoy this series despite its differences to the original story. Thank you once again to Paul who continues to be my second set of eyes. ~ellie.
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Matteo was not naïve enough to think his fathers didn't already know he had spent the last three days in the company of Catriona Leone. He was grateful for the fact that Peri had asked her to upgrade her wardrobe to fit in with the social crowd at her family functions over the next few weeks. Those functions were the perfect excuse to be continually in each other's company and form a quick bond that would lead to the relationship he wanted his watchers to report back to his family. He didn't need media exposure for his fathers to believe he had fallen in love with the quirky artist. He just needed to be seen with her regularly and eventually start spending the night at the artist's loft where she was staying.
He'd lain awake contemplating what she had said about her failed relationship with Ricco and her obvious admiration for his father and decided that the conversation he had to have needed to be done face to face. Having made no plans he couldn't alter, he sent off emails and instructions, and by five the following morning he was airborne, and by seven thirty he was landing in Melbourne with a long list of things to accomplish before he had to make the return flight for his date with Cat.
Matteo smiled at his assistant, Hilary, who waited for him at the airport. She could pass for a woman half her age and had more energy and drive than most of the personal assistants he knew in the company. He relied on her for everything to do with his business and she had never let him down. He took the keys from her and drove back into the city as she reported back on all of the emails he had sent overnight and told him of the meetings she had set for him before his four O'clock flight back to Brisbane.
"It's going to be a busy day for you," she said at the end of her discourse.
"Right, call Martin back and tell him to meet me with Aimee and David at three in my office. Then get me the Dean of that University who has been advertising the bespoke courses, he's about to have a good day by bringing in a large philanthropist. Organise a conference call that you can sit in on and take notes. I'm going to be an hour or two with my parents, so anytime after eleven is fine. The rest we'll deal with after I've dealt with the family business."
Hilary said nothing as she picked up her phone and began doing as he asked. She was used to these flying visits and having to carry a mobile office with her as she followed him around for the day. She had everything she needed in the car with them and had, thankfully, pre-empted his request for a meeting that afternoon. The request about the University was new, however, so she went about making contacts with people she knew could get her the conference call she needed at several Universities who would create a bespoke course just for him if they could get him on board as a beneficiary for the engineering and related departments.
She remained in the car finishing off the phone call she was engaged in as Matteo stepped out and took the front stairs two at a time, eager to get on with the days business. He put off his meeting with Joshua Donati to come down here and smooth out the wrinkles in his plans, and he had limited time to do it in.
"I guess you know why I'm here?" Matteo greeted his fathers' with warm embraces.
"We have a fairly good idea, but why don't you enlighten us anyway," Roberto said.
"I met Cat Leone when we were accidentally given the same apartment to stay in by the Donatis. I got to know her over pizza and beer, and I like her, a lot. I'd like to date her, but for some reason when she found out that I was a Vitali she freaked out on me. I gathered there must be a background check by the way she freaked out, and, after reading her it, I spoke to her again. She feels that neither Ricco nor you," he looked pointedly at Roberto. "would approve of me asking her out on a proper date. I've spoken to Ricco, and now I am here to discover the truth of why she would be so worried of your opinion, knowing I have read her background check. What don't I know?" he took a deep breath and eyed his fathers.
"Smart girl," Stefano said.
"I've always liked her and have no problem with you dating her," Roberto shrugged easily. "I wouldn't want to see her hurt again, however, if you're not serious about dating her."
"So that's it then? No blood's thicker than water lecture, no dire warnings about dating outside of the tables, nothing?" Matteo narrowed his eyes.
"I told Ricco she would make a good addition to the family when he dated her. I still believe that. She is strong and capable of great love and acceptance. The question is, why this woman suddenly? Why, after all the years of spurning women and love, are you here asking for our blessing to date this one?" Robert sounded as if he was questioning a suspect on the witness stand.
"There's something special about her that makes me want to get to know her better," he admitted. "It seems every time I seem to be making headway with her the family name comes up and she shuts down and runs away, so explain it to me," he said in frustration.
"Our explanation is long but necessary at this time, so be patient and listen carefully," Stefano spoke softly. "Mia!" Stefano called to his eldest daughter, who came to sit beside Matteo. "It is important at this time that she hears this too. It's not a pleasant story to tell, and I doubt it will be a pleasant story to hear." He said and saw his son stiffen as he realised what was coming. "Please, Matteo, listen properly this time."
Matteo took a breath, this was not a story he wanted to hear, he had enough memories of his own and information gleaned from other family members and overheard conversations. He couldn't fathom what this had to do with his wanting to date Cat.
"Your mother, when I met her, was a Savoy Princess making her debut into Sydney's social set. She was simply the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She had been raised to take her place alongside the leader of one of the other tables, and most of the eligible younger sons were present at the event. She had wanted Joseph Donati's attention and flirted outrageously with him all night. I believe he may have already had his sights set on Antonia Farnese by then, but for whatever reason he dismissed her advances. It has always been assumed by most tables that it was the second son that would inherit, and most often this was the case. After failing to entice Joseph she began seeking out the other second son, Stefano among them," Roberto said easily.
"I always believed you were the second," Matteo tilted his head as Roberto held up three fingers.
"I was the third," he chuckled. "They started dating, and I was happy to just be part of fun Maria brought into our lives. Before Stefano proposed, our fathers brought us together, the three of us, and told us that Stefano was not destined to lead the Vitali family and that in all probability I was, and your mother was asked if she believed she could love us both," he went on with the story. "She understood how the tables worked and what was required of the mother of the family and agreed to marry me rather than Stefano, at least in name."
"She entranced everyone within the family and they all doted on her. Once the wedding was arranged, and she was sure of her role within our family and table, she changed ever so slightly. She was still lively and fun and so very charming and endearing to everyone in the family, but it seemed that she was no longer desperately in love with either of us. She cared for us and did her wifely duties, but there was no passion," Stefano carried on the story. "She played her role as the mother of the family to perfection. She was everyone's best friend and go to person; we couldn't fault her on that. She was truly a remarkable woman that way, and I loved her for better or worse."
"Her twin brother, Giovanni, visited regularly, they were very close, and she felt she needed him, because in the first five years of our marriage she had produced three beautiful children, Alessandro and yourselves. Her pregnancy with the twins, however, was traumatic, and her brother was visiting less often. She became manic, swinging from great highs to extreme lows, and we worried for her safety. We kept a closer watch on her, and when her brother did arrive to visit he brought his new bride with him, which enraged her, and she had some sort of episode that we put down to the terrible time she was having in her pregnancy."
"She seemed to settle back to being her normal self after the twins were born, and life went on as usual. Her brother's sporadic visits became somewhat regular again, if further spaced apart, and she seemed, for the most part, happy, and she fell pregnant with Vanessa," he smiled. "Once again it was a difficult pregnancy, and instead of her brother arriving for one of his visits, however, his wife made a rare appearance. She was a Farnese, and a lovely woman of strong integrity."
Matteo looked at his sister with a sinking feeling he could see where this was going. She, too, seemed on edge, as if waiting for a bomb to drop.
"Your mother had been telling her brother all of the family business, and they had been attempting to undercut us and take over certain marketplaces that crossed over the two home bases of our combined families. That, in addition to other deals, had been designed to undermine our family and our fortunes. They had planned for Giovanni to father the next table of Vitali," he paused in the story as Mia gasped.
"Your mother was not so stupid. She knew the effects of incest on pregnancy and children, which was why she had lost her mind during the difficult pregnancy with the twins, believing she had miscalculated her dates. When the woman suggested a paternity test for the children your mother flew into a rage, ranting and raving at what she called an insecure child who couldn't keep her husband happy," he said sadly.
"When we agreed that a paternity test would be no issue, as we had faith in your mother, she had agreed easily for the three of you but had argued that the twins were too young to undergo such an invasive test. She hadn't known how simple that sort of test could be, and even when it was explained to her she argued that the proof of the oldest children should be enough without making her babies endure it."
