Authors Note: Thank you to everyone left comments or sent me feedback about previous chapters of this story. Thank you again to Margaret who proofread for me. ~ellie
Peri found it hard to relax during the Christmas day breakfast and the Giving Tree ceremony where Joseph and Antonia showered all of the children with presents. She knew that being Josh’s wife would make her the mother of the table once he had taken the chair but she had thought it very much removed from the table itself. Her experience that morning had shocked and scared her. She desperately needed some time alone to think about what it all meant.
It wasn’t until midmorning once the wives had had a chance to talk to their husbands that Peri began getting strange looks, and she could see small groups forming to talk quietly as their children played. She could see it happening, but she had no idea what to do about it. She sat on the blanket nursing her beautiful babies while they were awake and talking to Andie, who had joined her as the men all ran around with the children. She could see Josh in the distance with BJ in his arms as they spoke seriously.
“I think that’s enough of the summer sun for these little ones,” Peri said quietly to the nannies. “I need to relieve the tightness as well.” She said placing a hand on her chest.
“I’ll come,” Andie said happily. “I still can’t believe I’m a granny,” she laughed getting to her feet.
“You certainly don’t look like a Granny. I think we will have to invent another name for you,” Peri laughed.
“Oh I don’t know Granny Anny sounds cute, doesn’t it?” Andie asked and grinned as she looked around to make sure Josh had seen them making a move toward the cottage.
They had walked half way back when Josh wrapped his arm around Peri’s waist and smiled as she jumped in surprise. “Have I told you how wonderful you look today?”
“At least twice,” Peri laughed.
“Well I’d say more but your mum’s watching us,” he chuckled.
“Don’t mind me,” Andie laughed. “I can give you two some time alone if you like.”
“I plan to abduct her for an hour or two once she has expressed what she needs so I can wait,” Josh said easily. “Did you enjoy the concert?” he asked making small talk as they entered the cottage.
“Oh, it was wonderful. You have such a beautiful voice, Josh,” Andie enthused. “I won’t stay, though. Come and find me when you return Peri, I love being able to spend the holidays with you.” She embraced her daughter and left the young couple alone.
“I know you,” Josh said pulling a wooden rocking chair over to where Peri sat in the recliner and taking her hand. “I know you have questions and will be looking to find a place where you can be alone with those questions and thoughts today.”
“Yes,” she nodded, “You do know me.” She smiled softly at him and looked over to where Bridgette, Heather, and Madeline changed the babies and patted them back to sleep. As if content to sit in silence for a moment Josh leaned back and closed his eyes.
“You can’t have time alone while we are here, but we may have come up with something we can all live with that will give you a little of what you need,” he said quietly.
“I knew that I would have to take on much of what Antonia did when you became the Donati Chair, but you should have warned me about this morning,” she just as softly.
“I didn’t know,” he replied defensively. “I realise that what I knew about the table and our family as a whole is barely a drop in the ocean. We accepted this weeks ago without understanding what it fully entailed. Not just D. and me but you accepted this.” He reminded her.
“It’s just that back then and even right up until I was in there sitting at that table, it was all about you; what I could do to help you grab hold of your dreams. You would be the Chair, and Dante would be your right-hand man, and I would just go on with my life, the babies, and the books at work. I don’t want the attention of this morning. I don’t know anything about what happens in there with you men and…” she took a deep breath and looked at him with a scowl as he tried to hide his smile.
“I love you,” he said helplessly unable to take her in his arms while she was expressing. “I love every single thing about you. Especially the way your crazy mind works.”
“I’d be upset by that, except I must have been crazy to marry you,” she continued to scowl, but it was softened by the look of love in her eyes.
“Hey, you proposed to me remember?” Josh said. “And you rushed me into a shotgun wedding if I remember it rightly,” he chuckled.
“Oh God, I did didn’t I? What on earth was I thinking?” she lamented but smiled as he continued to chuckle. She felt better already about this morning with this few minutes alone with him.
She spent barely five minutes of this precious time she had alone with Josh on each breast before stopping the pump. She knew there was an expectation on her now and while the other men’s positions may not be discussed in detail everyone would know by now that he was to be the new chair and she, as his wife, the mother of the next table. She knew she couldn’t run away to a safe place just to think about what had occurred today without Josh saying it, but it didn’t stop her wishing for it.
“Anyone home?” Dante’s voice called as she and Josh were in the bedroom. Peri had been trying to repair her small amount of makeup after sitting in the hot summer sun and tie her hair up while Josh stood behind her teasing her and suggesting a little more alone time wouldn’t hurt them.
“In here,” Josh called back grinning at Peri in the mirror. “You were right someone did come looking for us.”
“Soccer match,” Dante announced throwing some jerseys and shorts on the bed. He began removing his belt and loosening his jeans as he walked into the bedroom. “The new twelve versus the old men and the oldest of our nephews.
“Great,” Josh laughed as he too began to undress. Peri turned from the mirror to watch the two men that she loved with a smile. She remembered a time when she couldn’t believe that Josh would look at her twice, even turn down Andie’s advances in favour of spending an evening with her. Watching the handsome brothers now as they began excited about a family soccer match, she marvelled at how her life had changed in less than two years.
“What’s this?” Peri asked seeing a velvet box slip from the pocket of Dante’s jeans as he threw them on the bed. Dante looked at Josh. He had wanted to tell her the truth about the rings, but they weren’t sure how she would take the idea of being watched so closely.
“A gift for the three of us,” Dante said. “You can open it,” he encouraged.
“They’re beautiful,” she said. “Who is it from?”
“Papa, he gave them to us after the new table was formed this morning,” Dante said carefully, and she turned to look at him.
“Is there something wrong with them?” She frowned and watched as Dante looked at Josh again.
“They’re trackers,” Josh said. “I know it’s all been a little more than you’ve had time to take in, but we can’t have anything like what happened at the Battaglia happen again. No one is going to watch us day in and day out as we hang out at home, but if your car breaks down or the plane we’re on makes an emergency landing then they find us quicker.”
“That’s a good thing,” Peri said without flinching. “I’ll wear mine if you both wear yours.” She took the beautiful ring from the box and slipped it on her finger holding out the box to the two men who seemed stunned by her response. “What? You both drive like maniacs and Josh wants to learn to fly. I like the idea of someone keeping tabs on you two for me.”
“Well, that went better than I thought,” Dante chuckled and picked up a ring tried it on, then passed it to Josh. “How big are your fingers?” he questioned with a laugh.
“I’m big all over. Just ask Peri,” he smirked and grabbed his crotch.
“I’m not playing this game,” she laughed.
“Yeah we can play that game tonight,” Dante chuckled and pulled her into his arms kissing her deeply. “But first we men must battle on the soccer field,” he turned to Josh, “I guess you can come along too, Wah-wah.” He chuckled releasing Peri and pulling his jersey over his head.
They left the cottage still laughing together and headed to the now cleared space in front of the house. It seemed that most of the women had disappeared from the crowd, and Peri approached Rosanna who lectured her husband about not getting too competitive with his brothers this year as they were all on the same team.
“Wonderful your back!” Rosanna said happily as Peri walked toward her. “Let’s let the kids play. We have plans to make.” She linked arms with Peri and walked her back into the house.
“Plans?” Peri asked worriedly.
“Of course,” Rosanna laughed. “You don’t think you have to put together holidays like this by yourself do you? Josh has his team, and you have yours. We all help Antonia. You’ve had a busy year, so we haven’t made you get involved yet, but the other girls and I have been doing it for years.” The walked into the house together and found the ladies in the living room.
Peri sat amongst the other wives of both the older members of the table as well as the newly formed table and let them talk around and over her. She listened for almost an hour taking it all in and making notes on a notebook she had been given that matched those that the other women held. She had been overwhelmed at first and during each lull in the conversation, she could see them all looking at her as if judging her ability to take on the role that Antonia had held for so long.
“If I could interrupt all of your wonderful plans,” Peri said quietly making everyone turn to look at her. “It would seem very clear to me that Antonia and Joseph won’t be retiring their positions for some years yet and while we have the wealth of knowledge she and the other ladies possess at our fingertips I would think we should take advantage of it. I for one am in no hurry to change decades of tradition, and though in time we may make changes, we have time to adjust to the idea of their retirement and see what works for the new generation.”
“Dear Peri,” Carmen said patronisingly, “That’s very sweet of you, and I’m sure Antonia appreciates it, but perhaps you should let us handle things for you. You are very new to the family and our ways. We,” she indicated Emily and Rosanna, who sat either side of her, “Have all grown up knowing what needs to be done and are more than capable of taking over.”
“I would love to maintain the Christmas Eve concert here,” Rosanna admitted looking at Carmen and then at Antonia. “I’m inclined to agree that there is no need to change things that have become a tradition immediately.”
“I’m new to this family, and it’s traditions, so is Tina and Margarite when she joins us. I think taking some time to get to know each other better and find the best way forward is a good idea,” Finola said quietly. “This is such a great way to spend Christmas, especially for all of the children and I would be happy to work with Rosanna to keep it a tradition if Antonia and Peri would let us take on some of the responsibility.”
“Perhaps we should give the girl more than half a day before beginning to tell her what we think she should do, Carmen. I’m sure she already has commitments that she must continue to address regardless of what has happened this morning,” Manuel’s wife Concetta pursed her lips and gave Carmen a hard look.
“I guess the first thing on my agenda this year is a christening for the babies which could be combined with a housewarming party. It might be a good way to introduce some of the extended family to our home and the up and coming table members. I have already asked Lucia to help me begin planning for that,” she smiled at her sister-in-law.
“They will be six months old on Saint Joesph’s Day,” Lucia said tentatively. “That would give us three months to plan, or close enough.
“It might be nice if Emily and Bianca would like to share the day with us and we could christen all the babies who arrived last year together. Maybe even ask Margarite,” Peri asked hopefully. “It might be a nice show of solidarity for the leaders of this family to host the first family event together. Josh may have the chair, but each of your husbands sits on the table with him. No one leads such a big family alone.”
“Jules will have to leave after the New Year, but I wouldn’t mind staying while he sets up the house for us there. It won’t hurt to ask him at least. I was wondering how I would organise the christening before we left. Even if we had to come back for it, it would take a load off my plate if we could share the day,” Bianca said.
“It would save on having to attend three different ceremonies if we can all work together,” Emily said thoughtfully. “I would have to check with Ben, but I’m open to the idea.” Her expression though told a different story.
“Lucy do you want to co-ordinate that? I can call Margarite if you like but if we decide to do it together, then we’ll need someone to organise a meeting or two and bring everything each of us wants together,” Peri asked. “If it doesn’t work out that way you and I can get together and plan it for just my babies. I like the date you suggested so let’s aim for that.”
“Sounds good,” Lucia said with a smile. “Honestly, I’m happy to do anything at this point. I’m just glad that Dino is part of the table, and I don’t have to move to Canberra for good.”
“As far as the rest of my commitments go, there are a few things I’d like to say. I’ve listened to you all talk about your charity work, and I think that is wonderful, but I have preferences for the organisations I would like to support. I don’t want to intrude on any of your spaces, or stop you from any philanthropic pursuit. You are all amazing women individually. We don’t have to share everything nor do we have to do or like the same things all of the time. I believe you all have the family’s best interests at heart. I know I do, so I would appreciate it if you give me some time to take this all in before making any decisions.” Peri didn’t want to put anyone offside, but she also didn’t want to be pushed into anything else until she knew the full ramifications of it. She was dealing with enough already that she hadn’t fully wrapped her head around yet.
“I don’t think you…” Carmen began to speak, but Marisol cut her off.
“Well I for one appreciate not being written off yet,” Marisol said with a laugh. The seven younger women looked embarrassed as Antonia began to speak.
“It’s good to see such enthusiasm from you all. The next few years will be fun and much easier for us with the shared load. Peri is right to be cautious, too many changes too quickly can cause people to become unsettled, and that will make your husband’s jobs harder,” Antonia smiled adding to the younger women’s discomfort.
“I need to see to the lunch baskets,” Antonia said. “Peri you can come and help me and start taking in my wealth of knowledge,” she gave a short laugh. “Perhaps you ladies would like to take the time to find out just how clever your aunts are?”
They walked through the house side by side to the busy kitchen. “Everything under control here?” Antonia asked.
“Absolutely,” a smiling woman with rosy cheeks laughed. “The lunch baskets are ready to go and Christmas dinner is looking good for a seven thirty start. This basket is for you,” she indicated a large basket.
“That’s the first lesson, have the best people in key positions,” Antonia said, “I’d be lost without Alice.”
They continued through the kitchen and back around to where Antonia and Josephs private suite of rooms lay. Saying nothing she led Peri through to a side room and up a series of stairs to a small cosy room with wide French doors that led onto a small balcony. Alice had followed them with the basket and left it on the small table in the room before leaving discreetly and closing the door behind her.
“This is my little haven,” she smiled and opened the doors stepping out onto the balcony. The balcony was shielded from the front, and rear yards by trees and seemed particularly private.
“This is so lovely, I wish I had a space like this at home,” Peri whispered.
“Then you tell those men what you need, for you, not for them or the family. It’s too easy to get so caught up in everything the family needs and that you forget what you need. Especially when the children are young,” Antonia said.
“Joshua says the way you come to terms with things is by taking the time to think and ask questions. I have seen that you don’t act rashly or over dramatise situations, but you will have to address the issue with Carmen before it gets out of hand. She will continue to try and undermine you if you don’t confront her and put her in her place. Don’t let the men interfere on your behalf; this must come from you, and it needs to be soon. Tomorrow if not today.” Antonia advised.
Antonia said nothing else going back inside and beginning to unpack the basket laying it out on the small low table and pouring them both a glass of pale pink rose. Peri joined her, and the silence stretched out punctuated only by the sounds of eating and drinking until after some time Peri began to let all her anxiety bubble out as questions. They talked long into the afternoon with Antonia being impressed with how perceptive Peri was for a woman who had not grown up with their laws and traditions.
Peri realised that Antonia said very little to answer her questions letting her work through what she knew or felt she knew. She confirmed some points and corrected others when necessary but didn’t give her a great deal of information beyond that. Antonia knew from her time taking over the organisation of such a large family that Peri needed to find her own way and that she was intelligent and well equipped to lead if she could just believe in her abilities.
Peri knew what she needed to do before they all left after the boxing day celebrations tomorrow and she had a small idea growing about how she could achieve it. They had moved part of the way through the afternoon to the small living room in Antonia’s suite so that Peri could feed her babies as they continued to sit in the comfortable silence. She could ask the questions that sprung to mind as she worked through the changes that were occurring not just for her but for the whole family.
“Madeline, could you see if you can find Emily Donati and ask her if she and Timo would like to come and visit with us while the babies are so wide awake?” Peri asked. “Carmen is welcome as well if they are together.”
“I’ll go,” Antonia suggested seeing the wheels of Peri’s mind putting all her thoughts into action. “I need to stretch my old legs.
Peri was surprised when less than ten minutes later Emily and Carmen walked into the small living room. She smiled warmly.
“Look, Blaze, there’s your cousin Timo,” Peri said as the baby in her arms turned his head at the movement and noise of the women entering.
“I can’t believe you’re still feeding them all,” Emily shook her head. “I gave up after three months when I had the twins. This little guy needs all the antibodies he can get, though,” she jostled the gurgling Timo.
“My milk’s supplemented now,” Peri admitted. “I was turning into a zombie, and Josh pointed out that he was feeling neglected.”
“They’re just big babies too at heart,” Emily agreed. “Ben made me promise this was the last one.”
“Emily, I’m sorry if I put you on the spot this morning with the christening idea. It’s just that I always thought that you would be… ” she considered her words. “Well that you and Ben would be the next Mama and Papa, and I guess I could use your help.” Emily seemed surprised by Peri’s honesty. “I’m sorry.” She said again watching as both women looked at her not hiding their surprise.
“You shouldn’t feel that way. I think Ben is relieved to tell you the truth,” Emily said quietly. “Losing Nik and then Leo hit him hard, and he wished he had paid better attention. Now he will be able to with all of the resources the family has available. We believed Romey would be the next chair,” she said including Carmen in their conversation.
Peri continued to praise Emily for her poise and understanding as well as being the obvious choice for the mother of the family. She commiserated briefly with Carmen but concentrated her words on Emily. Every so often she added that she would need help if she were ever to be in the same league as her sister-in-law before finally getting to her point for this little private chat.
“Antonia tells me she and Maria work very closely together on all family matters,” Peri spoke of Vincenzo’s wife. “I respect you, and your place in the family and I would like for us to be able to work together as they have. You were both, prepared to become the Mother and yet here I am, whether we like it or not. I’d like for us to be closer and do this together,” she repeated. “I am not totally naïve or without skills, but I don’t have the history with the family you do.”
“We’re all here to help you,” Carmen said stiffly pushing her way into the conversation. “Rosanna and Emily and I would be more than happy to take over the responsibility for you.”
“Carmen, I am asking for friendship and assistance. I understand that you think I should just leave it all to those who know better than me,” she paused and saw Emily nod unsure who she agreed with.
“I don’t think she meant it quite that way,” Emily defended her sister in law. “It’s just that you are new to the family, and we have been helping Antonia for years.”
“Carmen came to see me last night. She told me that I was a nobody from nowhere and called my mother white trash. She said that I would never be part of this family. It seems not everyone thought that way.” She turned her gaze on Carmen, who looked a little ashamed. “The thing is, I can do this on my own, I don’t want to, believe me, that’s the last thing I want to do, but I will if that is what needs to happen. I would rather we could do this together as a team, even friends but I won’t be allowing anyone else who thinks I don’t belong here to take over any part of my role or think they can force my hand.” Peri was satisfied with the look of shock the women gave her at her assertiveness.
“Carmen wouldn’t do that, would you?” Emily asked the other woman with a frown.
“You are welcome to speak to Carlo. He overheard most of the conversation I believe. I wouldn’t have said anything to Josh myself. I would rather not have the drama that might ensue, and try to work this out amongst ourselves. Carlo thought differently, though,” she pressed her point home. Carmen could challenge the accounts of the nannies in her employ, but they couldn’t discount Carlo’s account of events.
“I don’t know what to say,” Emily said uncomfortably looking guiltily at Carmen.
“I was hoping that you might try to get to know me a little better before making judgements about my abilities. I will work with everyone because I must, but it will be so much nicer if we can do it together as friends,” she said handing her baby to Heather who had stood nearby rocking Cruze. “Still, it is good to have Lucia and Finola as part of our little group of planners isn’t it.”
Peri desperately needed Emily to be onboard with her. With Ben’s role as Watchman, she would be the first to gain all family information and pass it on. Without this relationship, she would always be fighting an uphill battle unless she forced Ben’s hand to annexe his wife from his role which would only breed further resentment.
“Peri I’m sorry, this morning must have been awful for you, with all of us telling you what we thought you should do rather than asking you,” Emily said. “We honestly thought you’d be relieved that we were willing to start the ball rolling for you.”
“I can accept that it was just enthusiasm from everyone,” Peri said. “It’s exciting for everyone to become part of something so amazing. I’m glad we had the chance to talk, and I hope we can become closer friends and work together.”
“I’d like that oo,” Emily said easily, but Carmen only nodded not saying anything.
“Will we rejoin the family?” Peri asked, and they stood walking back to the front garden together.
“We are the Champions!” Josh chuckled coming toward her ith wide open arms.
“Ew your all sweaty and stinky,” she held her hands before her. “Go and have a shower before trying to hug me.”
“How about I hug you in the shower,” Josh waggled his eyebrows and winked at Emily, who still stood with Peri.
“Too much information for me,” Emily said hurrying off to her family.
“A shower with you sounds exactly like what I need right now,” Josh and picked Peri up and threw her over his shoulder, jogging off toward their cottage.
“Did you get some time to think?” he asked quietly once they were out of earshot placing her on her feet.
“I did,” she said looking at him. “Did you know about that impromptu meeting?”
“I suggested to Mama that you would probably like some space to think in and maybe ask a few questions,” he said easily thinking she would be grateful.
“Perhaps a little head’s up about the meeting I was late for and…” she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now I handled it I think. We’ll find out tonight I guess.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about you realise,” he looked concerned as he opened the door and led her into the small living room. “But first the shower,” he grinned and picked her up again taking her to the bedroom.
“You know we’ll be interrupted soon,” he grinned placing her on her feet and unzipping the dress she wore. “I’ve missed you. It’s been almost a week since we had any time alone,” he grumbled leaning down to kiss her as he slid the dress off her shoulders.
“Shower,” she wrinkled her nose at him making him chuckle and drag her with him into the bathroom. Josh stripped and ran the water turning with a smile to see her fully naked. He pulled her into the shower with him to hold her close and kiss her deeply.
He stepped back and picked up the soap taking a moment to admire her body as he began to slide it over her shoulder and across her breast. He had always loved her voluptuousness and with her breasts even fuller and heavier now he loved her figure even more. The stretchmarks that still showed over her belly weren’t a turn off as she had feared. He loved every inch of her body the evidence of her carrying his children only made her more attractive to him. He knew that without this soft, beautiful, loving woman the success he was experiencing today might not have occurred.
He spent more time than was necessary soaping her breasts until she sighed in pleasure and took the soap from his hands. She began to follow the same path as his soapy hand remained on her breasts.
“I’m not the one who needs this shower,” she giggled, and he pulled her close smacking her wet ass. It echoed loudly in the large shower stall, and he smacked her again just to hear it as he kissed her deeply.
Josh took the soap and quickly soaped up most of his body as she watched admiring the glistening beads of water and bubbles of soap that dripped down his chest and stomach towards his cock which showed his arousal.
“Thank you,” she whispered closing the gap between them as he rinsed off the sweat and dirt from his soccer game. She kissed him tenderly, and his hands went around her still holding the soap to glide smoothly over her ass. He bent his head to nibble at her neck and as he felt her hand wrap around his cock he slid his hand between her legs.
Peri moaned softly as his fingers began to work into her rubbing the soapy slipperiness against her clit. The water splashed over them in the big shower as the each used their hands on the other building their arousal to a point of urgency.
Josh leaned back against the tiled wall picking up a leg to curl over his hip and bending his legs to enter her slowly and delicately treasuring the feeling of her hot wet cunt. The soap in his hand ran between the cheeks of her ass as they ground against each other until he was fully embedded.
“Make some room and I’ll help you with that if you like. You seem to be struggling there little brother,” Dante chuckled as he stepped into the wide shower lifting Peri’s other leg and stepping close to her taking some of the weight.
“You need the soap more than we do,” Peri said breathlessly after her initial surprise at hearing his voice behind her.
“You could be right about that, cheeky,” he smacked the open cheeks of her ass hard making her yelp into the echoing room. He took the soap from Josh’s hand and stepped under the water taking the spray away from Josh, who took a hard grip on her ass with both hands and began to move her up and down on his cock.
Minutes later Peri gasped as one again she felt the soap move between her ass cheeks again. Opening her eyes, she saw Josh smile tightly watching the mixture of emotions play across her face as Dante coerced the tight anal muscle open with his soapy fingers. She whimpered and gasped for breath and could feel Josh pull her cheeks wider as he embedded himself deeply into her.
Josh leaned forward and kissed her deeply feeling her arms tighten around his neck as she rocked with the moment of the fingers invading her ass. He loved the sounds she made and the look of simultaneous pain and pleasure on her face as Dante worked to open her up to him.
Peri felt a strange mix of sensation as she was held between the two men she loved and willingly submitted to but she wasn’t sure she was ready for what she knew was about to happen. She felt the fingers withdraw from her, and Dante step up behind her. She broke the kiss with Josh and lifted her head slightly bracing for what was to come as her eyes locked on Josh’s. She could see the heat and lust in his eyes as he studied her face and she could feel the hardness of Dante’s cock as he rubbed it against her ass, its slippery surface mixing with the soap that coated her now inside and out and she knew at that moment she wanted it.
Dante pressed up against her finding the right position and moving his hands between her body and Josh’s to grip her breasts as he began to push his way slowly into her ass. It was unbelievably tight, and he groaned as the head of his cock popped through the barrier and her tight ring threatened to strangle him below it. It was an awkward position, but it felt so good he gave her barely a minute to adjust before pushing further into her listening to her whimper loudly as she tried not to cry out in painful pleasure.
“Fuck!” Josh growled his eyes glued to Peri’s face as he felt his brother’s cock enter her ass through the thin membrane that separated them. Unable to help himself he bucked his hips feeling the awkwardness of the position and groaned loudly.
Peri felt both the strength and power of the two men at that moment and gave herself over to the sensation of not only their cocks but their hands and bodies that pressed against her. She felt Dante’s cheek caress hers as he leaned in his body curving to her position. She turned her head and kissed him as they started to move, the awkward position hampering them at first until they found some rhythm. She started to come and floating on a cloud of painful pleasure she shook has they held her in place one coming after the other filling her to overfull.
Dante staggered back leaning against the wall underneath the streaming water as Josh’s legs buckled carrying him and Peri to the floor of the shower stall. Dante cleaned himself again before helping Peri to her feet and tenderly holding her and helping her wash off the evidence of the love making before making room for Josh. They towelled off slowly both helping Peri as she took the time to come down from the high she had felt. They lay on the bed together for a few moments longer before beginning to dress again.
“So what happened with the ladies?” Josh asked remembering their conversation from when they had returned to the cottage.
“Gosh,” Peri said. “So much happened this morning that I wasn’t prepared for and then…” she explained everything that had happened to her, ending with her conversation with Emily and Carmen. “I might have come off a little arrogant when I said I would do everything alone if I had to,” she admitted.
“Carmen’s obviously the Queen bee there, and you did well making sure they both got the message needed,” Dante said.
“Having us interfere in women’s business would have just eroded your credibility,” Josh said nodding. “Bianca won’t be here, and she was friends with Nik just to piss Carmen off so I doubt there will be an issue there, Rosanna might be part of that little group, but I doubt she realised what was going on.”
“You’ve got Lucy, and I guarantee she will be a better friend than ever now that she knows what’s going on,” Dante said.
“Fin and Tina seem cool, and I’ll call Margarite once she is home and settled in with the new baby,” she smiled. “I just don’t want to make things hard for you if they complain about me to Ben or Romey.”
“What are they gonna say? You didn’t say no to any of their suggestions, and you certainly offered friendship. What can they possibly say you did to them?” Josh asked.
“I told Emily about the argument that Carmen and I had,” she said worriedly.
“Mama told Romey already. I can’t imagine anyone will be bringing that up, especially Carmen,” Josh said to both Peri and Dante’s surprise.
“I know it’s been a lot today, but it won’t always be like this we go home in a day or two, and you can start wrapping your head around everything the way you need to,” Dante smiled. “Probably alone in the library.”
“Unless you want to build me a secret room like your mothers?” she asked.
“Mama has a secret room?” Dante raised an eyebrow.
“Well it is a secret,” Peri laughed. “It’s so lovely and private. I’d love to have something like that to escape to. A small space that’s just mine, no boys allowed.”
“I think we can manage that,” Josh said and leaned forward to kiss her. “We better head back for the kids Christmas. Don’t worry about the women; they needed the wake-up call. I’m proud of you and I will always back you up.”
*****
During the children’s Christmas dinner where they were all together on the front lawn again, Peri watched her sisters-in-law. She noted the small quiet conversations that occurred between them and smiled. If they thought to rule over her, they were all finding out how difficult that would be to achieve now. She had purposely targetted the woman who had led them all for years as the wife of Joseph’s second son. She knew Carmen was ambitious and had her own agenda but also that she respected Emily’s position within the group.
It had taken some time and a few conversations with different people but when Carmen realised what she had said to Peri had appalled even Emily, she started to crumble. She began to cry when she realised that Peri was strong enough to leave her out of the group entirely rather than meekly step aside and let them take over for her.
It was Antonia who stepped in and gathered Carmen into the house to speak to her. Peri wished she could have been a fly on the wall. This wasn’t a good start to Josh’s reign as Chair of the Donati’s, and it was her fault.
“You’ve been busy I see,” Lucia said coming to stand beside her. Peri turned to look at her unsure if Lucia was upset with her as well. “I looked for you at lunchtime, but you and Mama seemed to have disappeared,” Lucia said still not giving much away as she spoke.
“I needed some time to think. I knew what was coming, we all did, but it was so much more than I was prepared for. I didn’t grow up in a family like this, and I probably need more time to take it all in than you do,” Peri admitted.
“I’m sorry,” Lucia said quietly. “I knew Dante loved you and after Lio’s death I thought staying with you and Josh was a bad idea because of that,” she admitted. “I didn’t like it, and it made me stay away when he rejected my offers to come and stay with me. He’s special you know? They’re all great, but he’s always had the biggest heart of all of them despite appearances.”
“I love him,” Peri said. “I’d never hurt him, Lucy, I promise. It took us all a very long time to come to terms with our relationship, especially me but I love him.”
“He’s happy that’s for sure,” Lucia said. “I might have been a little jealous that you were responsible for finally seeing him happy again. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you as much as I should have been, with the pregnancy and babies. We were close, and I let something that was only in my mind come between us.”
“I’ve missed you,” Peri said with a smile. “I understand it would be awkward to see me be affectionate with both of them, but we are happy, all three of us are very happy.”
“No, I’ve grown up with those sorts of relationships in the family. Now that I know he’s not just pining away like a love sick puppy, I will be there so much you will think I have moved in too,” she laughed.
“We have plenty of room,” Peri laughed with her. “I could use a friend in the family right now,” she admitted.
“Is that why you did it?” Lucia asked.
“Did what?” Peri seemed confused.
“Put me in charge of the christening,” Lucia said. “I just assumed it was because you didn’t know that I don’t matter to them, I’m Battaglia now, and I’m just there to make up the numbers.”
“That seems like a stupid rule considering you are more Donati than any of us,” Peri frowned. “I asked you because you’re the only one that I could trust to work with me, not just tell me what to do. Or at least I hoped I could,” Peri said honestly.
“You can,” Lucia said with feeling. “Thank you for trusting me. Could you trust me with one other thing and tell me what’s going on with Emily and Carmen?”
“They just learned that I’m not the naïve, meek little mouse that would do whatever they told me to and that Carmen may have made a big mistake threatening my babies and me last night,” Peri said quietly, but there was an edge to her voice. Lucia whistled and looked at Peri with widening eyes. “Nik made sure that I would never let any of them push me around again. I was so desperate for her to like me I put myself in danger. Now if any of them don’t like me, I can live with that and so can Josh and Dante. They both know what I did to make Carmen and Emily upset.”
“I wasn’t complaining. Honestly, I’m grateful to be treated like I belong. Now that I know what their agenda is, though, I’ll watch your back for flying knives a bit more carefully,” she laughed lightening the mood.
“Ladies, care to share the joke?” Dante asked coming toward them.
“Peri was just telling me what a pain it is to live with two Donati brothers, and I told her she was lucky because I grew up with eight,” Lucia continued to laugh.
“You two together are trouble,” Dante chuckled. “I thought you might want to say goodnight to your babies. The girls are taking them back to the cottage now.”
Peri walked across the lawn to where the nannies sat packing up a range of toys as the babies squirmed irritably in their rockers. She smiled as she sat and took the closest into her arms. “Hey there handsome, you’ve had a big day haven’t you?” she said as Cruze looked up at her with big blue eyes.
“It’s been such an exciting holiday,” Madeline sighed happily. “They’ll sleep well tonight.”
She cuddled each of her children before letting the nannies finally take them back to the cottage. When she stood, she saw most of the nannies were taking the little one’s home to bed, and the teenagers sat in a small group playing on their phones and tablets. The adults slowly made their way inside to the big banquet hall.
The Christmas Dinner as always was presided over by Antonia and Joseph. The food was lavish, and many speeches were made as the night wore on and people drank more than was good for them. Peri hadn’t been surprised that Josh would be asked to make a speech of some sort, and she smiled as she listened to him speak eloquently of the bonds they all shared and his hopes for the future of the Donati family. It was when he got to the end of his speech that she looked up at him in surprise.
“Above all, tonight I would like to thank my wife. It’s been a hell of a year for us, and she took it all in her stride, surprising many with her strength and ability to forgive those around her. I can’t believe I almost lost her on more than one occasion, and I am so grateful that she sits here beside me now and loves my crazy family and me as much as she does. I think even I underestimated how amazing she truly was at the beginning of our relationship. Thank you, my love,” he took her hand and pulled her up beside him. “For making life better, not just for me, but for many of us in this room,” he bent and kissed her before holding his glass up. “Here’s to the ones we love, Family.”
They all raised their glasses and chorused the word “Family”. Peri blushed deeply as so many sets of eyes continued to watch her.
“Thank you all for making me feel like family since the first day I met you. Pete was the first member of this family I met, and I have kept him busy ever since meeting Josh,” she said smiling at him across the table. “I grew up with just Mum, and me, no aunts or uncles or cousins, that I knew of, so meeting you all has been a big adventure for me. An overwhelming, noisy, messy adventure but one of the most exciting. There have been a few hurdles to overcome along the way, but it’s been worth it. It’s me who is grateful to Josh, for bringing me into such a loving and accepting group of people, that I am so proud to embrace as my family now.” She held up her glass. “To family.”
“It’s true; my new house will be solely funded from what I have been able to earn from trying to keep Josh’s wife alive this year,” Pete chuckled coming to his feet. “Not many of you realise that I was the first family member to meet Peri. It was before they started dating even when Josh rushed her into my surgery for the first of what would be many emergencies. The story of how they met and fell in love is quite incredulous given what an intelligent woman she is, so I will echo Josh’s words that she is one of the most forgiving and kind women I know.” He raised his glass, “To you little Mama.”
“I’ve got to hear that story,” Lorenzo chuckled after the toast was given.
“Peri tells it best,” Ben said. “After the toasts swap seats with me and get her to tell you.”
“Haven’t I suffered enough for that?” Josh asked in a pained voice.
“You don’t have to listen. She can come sit with us and tell it,” CJ said, “We all want to hear it now.”
“Peri worked in the research department of the publishing firm where Josh was an editor. He had a reputation for being a bit of an ogre, so when he came down to her department yelling about some research that had been done differently to the way he wanted it, this little mouse stood toe to toe with him and defended her work,” Dante began the story. “She’d done more than he had asked for so essentially he yelled at her for doing her job too well.”
“Not a great beginning, so where does Pete come in?” CJ asked. “Did she faint or something?”
“No Pete comes in later. After that day Josh realised she was better than most of the research mice who scurried around in the basement, so he moved her up to her own office on his floor of the building and had her research just for him. That’s when the stalking began,” Dante said lowering his voice making it seem like a sinister act.
“It wasn’t like that,” Josh rolled his eyes. “Not really.”
“You had your chance. I’m the one telling the story now. I should say here that she is also an excellent cook and often made gourmet things for lunch. So one day she’s in the break room heating up some pasta in the microwave when her stalker smells the food and goes to find the source. He walks in just as she pulls the steaming pasta from the microwave and turns, he bumps into her and spills the whole molten hot food all over her chest and neck causing excruciating burns,” He nodded at them all, hearing gasps from the women who put a hand to their chest.
“Excruciating is a bit over the top. She said she’d be fine. I insisted on a trip to the doctor,” Josh grumbled.
“So he drags her down to his car and speeds her over to Doc Pete for a full examination,” Dante ignored his protests. “Luckily he’d been stalking her long enough to know her dress size and while Pete examined the damage he went out and bought her a new dress.”
“Good grief,” Josh slumped in his chair, “Even the nice things I did are being turned on me. I blame you for this,” he said to Ben.
“Harden up little brother, we’re just getting to the good bit,” Ben chuckled.
“There’s more?” Emily asked shaking her head.
“So Pete worked his magic, and she had a new dress, so rather than taking her home after the ordeal, he takes her back to work having wasted her whole lunch hour,” Dante tried to go on with the story.
“Her car was there, and she said she was fine,” Josh interrupted again making Peri let loose the laughter she had been holding in.
“Stop interrupting because it will only get worse,” Dante warned Josh.
“Andie’s here,” she said quietly touching Dante’s hand willing him to leave out her flirting with Josh.
“Josh thought he was doing the right thing letting Peri’s mum know that she was injured but okay. Andie though came rushing in to check on Peri. This is where things went pear shaped. Peri became distressed that her mother had left work, she’d had a reasonably bad injury and had eaten nothing that day thanks to the hero of our story and that’s when she fainted. Passed out cold on her office floor,” he nodded as the women gasped again.
“Stalker that he is Josh saw what happened and rushed in picking her up and taking her back to the couch in his office as she came around. Then he called Pete who told him what an ass he was and told him to take her out to eat. So he did but being a stalker type he didn’t want Peri’s mum along for what would be their first date, so he sent her back to work and took Peri to Zio’s place,” Dante smiled. “First smart thing he’s done in the story, right, but it doesn’t finish there.”
“Seriously? What else could happen to the poor girl,” Tina asked in astonishment.
“They spent a few hours getting to know each other and eating good pasta, with her mouth rather than via her chest this time, and Josh thinks it could count as an early dinner so why not go see a show as well, make a night of it. So rather than taking her home to rest and recover from her ordeal he takes her home and makes her change and get dressed up to go to an art show. What he failed to tell her was that he was bringing her to the house of Lorraine gallery to look at pornographic images,” he chuckled seeing Peri blush and Josh shake his head.
“That’s so not how it happened,” Josh shook his head.
“Now I don’t have a lot of detail of what happened later that night, but there must have been fireworks because she went on a second date with him.” Dante finished his story with a knowing smirk.
“Definitely fireworks,” Peri placed her hand on Josh’s cheek and kissed him.
“She tells it better,” Dante told his still laughing family, “but that’s the abridged version.”
“You can’t fight true love,” Josh said with a smile. “As I recall there’s a story of idiocy from the first time she met you too,” Josh laughed.
“Luckily we aren’t talking about me right now,” Dante leaned back in his chair
“First time I ever saw her she was naked, so I win,” Carlo grinned and didn’t expand on his story as he watched her blush again and cover her face.
“Can we please talk about somebody or something else now?” she asked but laughed good-naturedly
“Hasn’t the weather been great these holidays?” Finola offered to make them all laugh again.
*****
The following morning Peri got up early and after doing what she needed to for her babies went to help Antonia and whoever she had asked to make the breakfast for the staff. Peri enjoyed this tradition most of all where the family became the servants for the day and showered their staff with gifts.
“I’m sorry I’m late, I had to see to the babies before I could get away,” Peri apologised as she entered the bustling kitchen.
“Oh baby we understood why you might not make it at all,” Andie said easily. “You have little ones to look after. I’m glad you’re here, though, I have no idea what I am doing,” she smiled. Peri immediately donned an apron and began helping the women who had arrived to help this morning. It was fun as she laughed and joked with the other women and while Lucia and Rosanna were there none of the other women of the new table had arrived. Carmen arrived a little bit later and set to work making toast and joining the activity quietly.
The men arrived with the last of the wives in time to serve the breakfast feast to the staff in the banquet hall. All of the children sat in the dining room eating, including Peri’s three babies who slept in their rockers amid all the chaos and noise as the nannies joined their counterparts in the banquet hall.
Peri and Andie kept a close eye on the babies while still helping with the cooking as Josh and Dante were both pressed into service. As they stirred more, Peri put aside the apron and went to settle them.
“Thank goodness I’m not the only one,” Bianca came in with her baby and sat beside Peri. “I’m not a morning person, and cooking is most definitely not my thing,” she said pulling a face.
“Sorry, but I was here over an hour ago,” Peri laughed. “Josh brought the babies with him when he came over.”
“Oh pooh,” Bianca said. “Oh well, I guess you had to with everything that’s happened. Better you than me.” She seemed good natured in the way she spoke. “I always let Carmen do all of the family stuff for me. She loves it. I always just hung out with Nik at these shindigs. She was lazier than me if you can believe it. I miss having someone who made me look good,” she laughed. “Speaking of which, Jules wants me to go with him to Prague and do the house hunting and set up, but if you’re happy to organise the christening and include Alberto we’ll come back for it.”
“Of course, we can talk on skype, and you can tell me what you want regarding decorations and cakes and things,” Peri said more than happy to have her agree to the idea. “Lucia and I are going to sit down and talk to Antonia about guests and invitations this afternoon before she heads back to the city. You can let me know about your friends that you’d like invited as well.”
“We’ll be happy with just family,” Bianca shrugged. Peri frowned at that but said nothing. “Jules works with Romey and they have employees rather than friends. The women I work with on the boards of charities are more acquaintances rather than friends. We were always pretty insular. We like our privacy.” Bianca explained seeing Peri’s frown. “I think you’ll find most of us are like that. We have family and people who work for or with us. Making friends outside the family isn’t something we often do.”
Peri thought about it, as she looked at her mother who had rapidly become part of this family as well. Even her friend Louisa was getting serious with one of Josh’s brothers. She’d barely seen or spoken to any of her other friends since falling pregnant. Was she becoming some rich bitch who was too good for her old friends now? She hoped not but the more she thought about it, the more worried she became. Josh’s friends from the publishing firm they had both worked at had come to work for him now, and she could that see what Bianca was saying was true even of herself. The difference was that she and Josh treated their employees as friends.
As the morning wore on and the Boxing day ceremony was completed most of the family prepared to leave. Peri would be staying with her family for at least one more day, so she and Antonia took the opportunity to return to her retreat with Lucia.
“I never even knew this room was here,” Lucia said in wonder.
“That’s the whole point,” Antonia laughed. “It’s time though to share my secrets with the new Mother, and I am overjoyed you will be staying here with us. Now where to begin,” Antonia considered a wall of old well-used books.
“This,” she said taking a book from the bottom shelf, “is our table. All twelve of the men who sat on it and their families. When seats died, we still invite their widows and children to the gathering and depending on the relationship, Joseph and I had with them, to other family events. It also includes Josephs sisters who married into other tables and their families. It’s getting a bit wieldy now and will need to be split up as I did to the table before that, Joseph’s parents led.” She pointed to the shelf above which had obviously been split into twelve, by the variety of coloured covers that nestled together in small groups.
“You do all of this by hand,” Lucia blinked in astonishment
“There wasn’t the technology to contain it all when I inherited the system from my mother-in-law,” Antonia laughed. “I think your generation forget that computers are a relatively new technology.”
“These are amazing you should have them all bound properly and kept with the family reliquary,” Peri said touching one of the older covers. “Do they go all the way back to the first table?”
“This information is far too important to give it to anyone else if it were lost we could never recover it all and be sure we hadn’t forgotten something. Even Vincenzo’s records are not as well kept as these,” she said proudly.
“Do all of the Mothers have systems like this?” Peri asked her mind immediately seeing the potential to reduce greatly the work needed for each of the family histories her team was working on.
“I imagine they would have something similar that has been passed down from generation to generation,” Antonia nodded. “Whether you keep it in the same form or choose to do it another way is entirely up to you.”
“This is too much of a treasure not to maintain it the way it is, but I may make a copy that will be easy to update and access for family events. There is a novel writing program that would allow for all of the extra information you’ve collected and be able to track the familial links to the other tables,” Peri’s mind was working as she took in what an amazing cache of family information was at her fingertips. “I wonder if I could talk to CJ before he leaves about the program I am thinking of and what I’d like it to be able to do, to make this work just the way you have always used it,” she mused.
“Sweet girl,” Antonia laughed. “You’re the mother. You call him and tell him you need to speak to him before he leaves. Each of those men will do what you ask now. They can argue with Josh, but they won’t dismiss you lightly.”
“I’m not part of the table,” Peri was astonished. “Those men won’t drop everything for me.”
“Even my daughters believed that the women in our family were kept barefoot and pregnant and had no career or chance at a life outside the home,” Antonia smiled. “Much of what I did I couldn’t share with them because they were destined to leave our family for another but if they knew their Zia’s better they would have seen what powerful women they were in their own right. The men do not underestimate our influence in the public arena. We do bear the future Donati leaders, but that is not the sum of our worth.”
“They are men, and they will deal with the men, but we wives and mothers often guide those dealings. At times we even smooth the way for access to men they wish to deal with by our connections as mothers of rich and powerful future leaders of society,” Antonia explained as Lucia looked at her as if she had grown two heads. “Close your mouth Lucia, you all saw what you wanted to see, but if any of you had asked what I did, I would have told you, but you assumed I was nothing more than a mother and wife. I suggest you talk with Marisol; she’s a brilliant chemist who has built that winery up by herself as Andreas took on two roles within the table.”
“Andreas has all those awards for the wines they produce, though,” Lucia frowned.
“No the winery has all those awards, and Marisol runs the winery which belongs to the Donati family,” Antonia corrected her. “What you need to understand is that everything belongs to the family, not individuals. We are only the caretakers for future generations,” Antonia lectured. “Nothing we do is for personal glory, even though we take pride in our accomplishments, in the end, it is to make our family name synonymous with excellence in both our business and philanthropic work. Joshua has always understood that, it’s why he protected Veronica and covered up for her so often. It’s why your father was so strict and why the watchmen are a necessary evil.”
“Maybe Lucia could stay an extra day with me and learn more about the work you and her aunts do for the family. Then we could look at this a bit more tomorrow as well,” Peri suggested. “I would like to see CJ before he leaves though and check on the babies. I’m not sure how Josh is coping and I hope he let the girls enjoy their morning off, rather than calling them back too soon.”
“I’d like that,” Lucia said looking at her mother with a soft smile. It hadn’t occurred to her even once how Antonia would feel having to give her daughters away and trust the women from other tables as daughters and her secrets with them.
“I’ll have CJ meet you at the cottage, and you can do both things at the same time,” Antonia spoke while picking up her phone. “Lucia and I will go and see our husbands as well about the change in plans. Go see your babies we can meet again after the first planes have departed.”
Antonia made several short calls and the three women left the small private room and went down into the dining room before going in separate directions. Peri had begun walking to the cottage when Carmen caught up to her.
“Peri, can we talk for a moment please?” She asked causing Peri to stop and turn to look at her. She glanced around realising that they were alone in the area just beyond the corner of the house. She began to walk slowly backwards as Carmen approached her not wanting the woman to get too close.
“You can talk from there, Carmen,” Peri said stiffly taking her phone from her pocket and swiping it open, she pressed the quick call button she had for Josh but didn’t put it to her ear. Instead, she just held it as a silent witness.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Peri,” she said indignantly.
“Funny, that’s exactly what Nik said to me before she tried to kill me,” Peri said. “You came into my home, stood over one of my babies and threatened me, Carmen. I have every right be concerned that you want to talk to me here where no one can see or hear us.” She saw the other woman blanche at the accusation.
“I behaved badly,” Carmen admitted. “I would never hurt you or your family any more than you would hurt mine.”
“This little ambush is supposed to be reassuring?” Peri asked her fear rising. “I don’t know what the two of you want from me. I won’t just lie down and let you steamroll me because you have been part of this family longer than me or come from other respected families. Antonia trusts me why can’t you?” She continued to walk backwards as she spoke gripping her phone tightly knowing Josh was listening and inching closer to the safety of the Athenaeum and surrounding buildings.
“You don’t understand that you need Emily and I and the connections we have already made. You can’t do this alone. The family is far too important to leave the running of it to chance,” Carmen had a pleading tone in her voice, “You must see that you can’t do this without us.”
“What I see, is that you don’t know me at all, and you have never bothered to get to know me. If you had you would know that I have many connections in, not only this family and the extended relations but also other tables,” Peri said trying to sound assertive rather than scared. “You both wrote me off as some commoner with no clue about how this family operated, but you couldn’t be more wrong.”
“How could you possibly have any connections beyond the immediate family,” Carmen scoffed.
“I bothered to find and talk to the next leader of the Vitali family and his wife at Maryanne’s wedding. I also know several of the wives, who may rise to that rank among the Battaglia. Though Josh and I never believed that he would be chosen, I was still learning and supporting him and this family by making those connections. I would question if you could say the same thing.”
Carmen said nothing as she stared at her for long minutes in disbelief. “You have been busy haven’t you, but it doesn’t mean that you don’t need us and our connections. Lucia can’t possibly help you organise an event of this size,” she said
“I thought we had come to an understanding yesterday when I extended the olive branch to you. I had thought we were able to respect each other. I can see that I was wrong now. You needn’t concern yourself with the fact that I will ask for your assistance again. I understand that was a mistake. I can see that you have been placed in a difficult position, however, so if you would like to talk to me in a more appropriate place, I will be happy to listen. That place is not here, and this is not the time. Now if you will excuse me,” she took a deep breath as she turned her back on Carmen and walked quickly toward the Athenaeum and the cottage beyond that.
“I don’t think you understand,” Carmen said waspishly. Peri ignored her and kept walking determinedly to get away from the confrontation she knew had to occur eventually. She wasn’t ready for it to happen yet and she looked down at her phone seeing the still open line.
“I’m near the Athenaeum, I’ll be at the cottage in a few minutes,” she said lifting the phone close enough so that he could hear her clearly and continued to walk. She turned at the Athenaeum and saw that Carmen followed her at a distance. She turned the corner and could see the cottage and the solace it offered her. Someone would be there, and she wouldn’t feel so afraid anymore.
She looked at the ring on her finger and smiled. She knew her easy acceptance of being tracked had surprise both Josh and Dante, but it made her feel safer. She had nothing to hide, so there was no need for her to worry about who knew if she was at home or work and she had been accosted often enough in the last year to make her wary enough of any clandestine meeting, to avoid anything like that.
“Ah there you are,” CJ said as she approached the cottage, “Antonia said you wanted to see me.”
“Oh gosh, I forgot for a moment,” she said with a nervous laugh and looked over her shoulder.
“You okay, you look a little shaken?” he looked at her and frowned.
“Oh yes, I’m fine. Do you mind if I check on the babies while we talk?” she asked with a smile.
“Sure, I’m good with babies. They grow up too fast,” CJ agreed easily looking back in the direction she had come and saw nothing there.
“I used some really good novel writing software to help create and collate the family histories I was working on. It was just a free open source one, and I was wondering how hard it would be to tweak it so that I could use it as a contact book but have the space to include other information about the family of that contact and link it to other contacts like brothers and sisters. It would need to be like a big spider’s web I guess,” she said frowning.
“Some of the open source stuff is better than the programs that can cost big bucks,” he chuckled.
“I can find and use this stuff but I have no idea about the programming side and how hard it would be to tweak the way I want it. I mean I guess I could create pages that linked together in excel like I did for the repository but what I am wanting is probably a bit more complex,” she tried to explain as they entered the cottage.
“So you want to be able to add a contact to a list but add information like birthdays, anniversaries, favourite colour and how many times they blink in a day. Then you want to be able to link that back to a family page that showed a tree-like structure of parents, siblings children so on and so forth,” CJ got a general idea and expanded on it as she smiled at Josh and took her crying child from his hands.
“Is your Papa pinching you?” she asked the baby. “Come to Mama I understand, he pinches me too sometimes,” she laughed as the baby settled slightly in her arms. “Ah I see Papa didn’t want to change your nappy,” she clicked her tongue and walked toward the nursery. “I’ll just be a minute CJ, but you have a general idea. If you look at my laptop, you’ll see the few programs I use. I like Freemind, but it doesn’t have a text writing option. You’ll see what I mean when you look at it” Peri said over her shoulder as she disappeared into the nursery.
“I’ll to talk to Papa about what happened,” Josh said once they were alone in the nursery.
“Not yet, please,” she turned to look at him. “I was just nervous because she ambushed me like that. I called because I got a little worried and I wanted you on the phone just in case I needed help but I didn’t. I’m just being safe; you know after…”
“Yeah, I know but you shouldn’t feel unsafe here of all places,” he said unhappily.
“If anything else happens you can get involved with no arguments from me but just for now let this one go, please Josh,” Peri said calmly. “There’s something else going on with her aside from me being the mother.” She smiled at her son and spoke to him quietly as she changed his nappy. “Did you feed them their bottles?”
“Yeah D. was here until they all fell asleep,” he said, “He got a message from Ang and had to go for a few minutes then you called, and then this little man woke up.”
“Could you put him to sleep while I talk to CJ for a few minutes, I won’t be long, and the girls will be back soon,” she asked.
“Their back already,” he laughed. “I told them they weren’t allowed in the nursery until after midday. I think Heather is very put out not being able to look after Cruze while he’s been crying.”
“Oh, she must be beside herself,” Peri laughed picking her son up in her arms. “I think you just wanted a little time to play with him by yourself.”
“Maybe we just wanted some man time together,” he chuckled taking his son from her and looking at the other two sleeping babies. “Go and see CJ we will be just fine,” he encouraged.
Peri went out to the table and found that CJ had already begun tinkering with the program she had mentioned. They talked about what she wanted for some time with CJ offering solutions to some of the perceived problems with this type of software.
“Okay, I think this will work, to begin with, but I’ll tinker a bit more with it once I’m home. We can always export the data later if you want to begin imputing it straight away. We’ll put it in a networked file for now so we can both see it and work on it at the same time,” he explained placing the altered software into a network file and named it P-book.
“Thank you that’s a great start,” Peri said happily. “I’m sorry I delayed your trip home.”
“You did me a favour, Papa is pretty impossible when Con is here,” he chuckled. “The kids are eager to see what Santa left them though so we have to get going soon.”
“I need to go see what this is about,” Josh said holding up his phone.
“We’re all done now, go play with your brothers,” she laughed and kissed him.
“I’ll walk with you,” CJ chuckled and stood from the table where they had been working.
“Cheeky,” he lightly smacked her ass and kissed her again as she stood to walk them out. “Let the girls keep you company, I don’t want you here alone,” he said sternly.
“I just thought about that,” she smiled.
*****
“Hey Ang,” Josh said walking into the Athenaeum. “I thought you’d gone back to your place.”
“Rosanna was adamant about going home early, couldn’t work out why until Vinnie explained that she was doing the right thing and walking away from the bully,” he spread his hands. “Rosie’s a good woman. She likes Peri and was quite impressed by the way she didn’t let the others steamroll her yesterday. Carmen planned to make her let them take over the women’s business today, though,” Ang said with a frown. “Rosanna didn’t want to be part of it. She had an argument with them.”
“Them being Emily, Bianca, and Carmen?” Josh asked not surprised that Carmen had tried to get the other wives onside.
“Seems they made some promises to the organisations they patronise they will have trouble keeping without access to the family money which was the main gist of the argument with Rosanna. They were trying to steamroll her too,” Ang confided.
“Peri thought there was more to it than just sour grapes about the chair,” Josh said nodding and filled Ang in on what had just occurred. “We’ll keep her close to us today. We’re staying an extra day or two so maybe Rosanna can spend some time with her tomorrow and clear the air. I think Lucia and Dino are staying too.”
“Peri wants to sort it out without us interfering, and I think that’s for the best,” Dante spoke for the first time since Josh’s arrival. “If she’s going to be the Mother then she needs to show them that she’s strong enough to lead and do it her way in these early days.”
“If Rosanna can be honest with her about everything, I know Peri will appreciate knowing there is someone she can trust in the family,” Josh said easily stopping short of telling Ang that Peri felt unsafe amongst her sisters-in-law. “What happened with Nik makes her more cautious than she might have otherwise been with the rest of the women in this family.”
“Understandable,” Ang said. He’d expected to see his brother’s famous temper in action, and he wouldn’t have blamed him. Maybe fatherhood had mellowed him or his relationship with Dante, which seemed to have replaced those they had with their missing twins. Whatever it was he liked this calmer more measured side of Josh and could see why he had been named as chair. “I imagine the three of us will be working fairly closely together from now on. Best to kick it off on the right foot.”
“Sure is, thanks for letting us know. Let’s go find some lunch surely everyone’s back from the morning now,” Josh said. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk tomorrow.”
*****