The Twelve Vitali Ch. 26

"We don't need to go into that right now," Henry said, cutting her off.

"I'm sorry. Was that a secret?" Cat faltered for a moment.

"No, I'm just not ready to unveil it yet," Henry shrugged. "We're still ironing out the bugs."

"I never would have said anything if I knew, I'm sorry, Henry, honestly," she said softly.

"He's a perfectionist, don't worry about it," Sebastian said. "I'm more interested in how you found out about it."

"I've been taking lessons from Thomas over the last week, I guarantee he knows all your secrets. Or at least those of his brothers," she laughed lightly. "I hope your disapproval of me has lessened now," she spoke directly to Sebastian.

"Why would you think I disapproved of you?" he asked.

"You weren't exactly subtle the night Ricco took me to see his photographs and retreat," she said again with no accusation, just stating a fact. "It is reassuring that Matteo has such a loyal friend amongst you all. You possibly know me better than the rest of Matteo's cousin's, all except Logan, that is. You should probably know I adore your brother, he's been so much fun to be around this last week, and I am looking forward to working with him fairly closely over the next few months." She noted Sebastian's look of surprise before turning to Logan. "I hope you have had as much fun as I have this week."

"Yeah, it's been great!" Logan said happily, loving getting one up on his older brother.

"You have to admit, he isn't the usual grumpy guy we're used to lately," Timothy said to his father. "Now do me," he grinned.

"I would love you to go through their wardrobe and update it," she laughed, indicating Matteo and Ricco, feeling more confident now. She spoke to the rest of the cousins, showing that she knew the talents and skills of each of them and their fathers. She wanted to assume that she had proven herself already to Matteo's brothers, so she finally stopped talking and looked at the table.

"Your turn, let me have it, surely you must know something about me that wasn't written on a piece of paper created by one of Cosimo's watchmen," she challenged them.

"You don't like hot breakfasts," Logan volunteered. "You prefer fruit, yoghurt and muesli."

"The Donati love you as if you were one of their own," Thomas said.

The table fell silent, and Cat smiled, sadly letting the silence stretch as she made her point. They hadn't bothered to get to know her at all before judging her.

"I shouldn't have to prove anything here today. It should be enough that these two men love me and trust me to always put all of you and your interests first. I am used to being judged, I grew up with it, but I feel for Matteo and Ricco, because in judging me so harshly you have shown your lack of trust in their decisions, as well as the decisions of their fathers," she said sadly.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I have to face the truly terrifying judgement of your wives," Cat stood and lifted her chin before walking from the room. Salvatore burst out laughing as the door closed behind her, making everyone else turn to look at him.

"Sonya is not going to know what hit her if Cat pulls that stunt with her!" he roared with more laughter. "I love that little woman, and I dare any of you to say otherwise now." He continued to laugh.

"I think I will go and minimise the fallout," Theresa rose gracefully to follow Cat from the room.

"I'll go," Matteo said stiffly, hating that she had looked so sad.

"Let Theresa see to her, we have other matters to discuss," Roberto said. "She is a much stronger and resilient woman than you give her credit for, than any of you at this table give her credit for. Sal is right to worry about Sonya, I imagine this is not going to be a good day for her." He smiled slyly as Salvatore roared with laughter again.

*****

Cat sat nervously surrounded by Theresa and her sisters-in-law. She'd taken a seat and waited anxiously as the women all found somewhere comfortable to sit, wondering what was coming after her time with the men of the family.

"How did you find the Battaglia when you were there?" Sonya asked abruptly into the silence, a small knowing smile on her face.

"A little confronting, but I learned a great deal," Cat said as honestly as she could. "Marcus was very nice to me."

"That's a very diplomatic answer," Sonya tilted her head. "Theresa told me you had Edith and Kate design your wedding dress. It was nice to see them at the wedding. It's been some time since I have seen anyone from my hometown. They mentioned some changes being put in place since your visit. Your trial didn't end well, did it?"

"Oh yes, I knew you were originally from the Battaglia," Cat said pleasantly, trying not to blush, even though it was obvious that she knew something about the incident at the end of her trial. Perhaps she was bluffing, Cat thought, and decided to ignore the question rather than confirm or deny anything. She couldn't believe Hella's breach of protocol would have become gossip. Marcus and his brothers had been horrified and apologetic, and Matteo had said they would not speak of it either.

"We are all from different tables," Sonya said lightly, as if it was an obvious fact that Cat should have known. "It's unusual for a woman to join a table without having grown up in a family like ours."

"So I've been told," Cat said. "Lucky for me Peri paved the way, and did it so well no one is concerned about that anymore." If this was going to be another attempt to see how she would react to Sonya's judgement of her suitability to be Matteo's wife and the mother of Vitali, then she was going to stand her ground. She had jumped through every hoop the family had asked of her, and she wasn't going to apologise for being Mrs. Vitali now. She took a deep breath and looked around at each of the Aunts who now sat looking at her curiously.

"Sonya likes to try and rattle people, Catriona," Anna said kindly. "I guess we are interested to hear your understanding of the women's role in our family."

"Would you like me to give you rote answer I learned by heart in my training, or the version I have recently learned is the truth? Or are you asking if I know what will be expected of me as the Mother of this family?" Cat asked, addressing the group. "I don't mean to be rude, but I think, after what I have just been through with all of your husbands and sons, the time for secrets and asking gentle questions is past. Don't you?"

Anna sat back speechlessly reassessing Cat and her mood. She had seen this side of Cat before. She had put up her walls and had become unemotional. She was interested to see what Sonya and Angela would do now.

"I'm all for that," Dina said in her no-nonsense way. "So, tell us, what do you know and what do you need to know?"

"I know you are all here to help Theresa in her role as the mother, but because there is a stigma attached to being a second wife you think you can push her around while she runs herself ragged without much help at all from most of you, leaving Mia to pick up the slack. That works out well for me, as Mia will be part of my circle. I am sure she will be able to step up quite ably and help me, despite whether you deign to share the wealth of your knowledge with me or not," Cat said simply, and was pleased by the look of shock on their faces.

"It's my understanding that the choice of charities we support, as well as the organisations we patronise, will also be my choice, so I will work with Theresa to look over those and make decisions about our future patronage, as well as put forth organisations I would like to become involved with," Cat continued.

"Then there are the events, like the gathering, births, deaths and marriages, as well as keeping track of the extended family. In between all of that I will be starting my own family, I think Matteo wants as many children as he has siblings, so luckily we are starting while I am young," she smiled tightly. "Did I miss anything?"

"I expect you feel you don't need us at all!" Angela said testily.

"On the contrary, I would love all of your wisdom and advice, but if you think I will let you treat me like some uneducated charity case who will leave all of those decisions up to you, then you can think again," Cat said. "I intend to do everything with the help of people I can trust. May I ask why Maryanne and the others haven't been invited to this meeting? They will be my inner circle, after all, along with the future wives of your sons. The younger men sit with their fathers. Why are the younger women not here?"

"We didn't realise you would want them involved in this first conversation about women's business!" Sonya said arrogantly. "So that you wouldn't be embarrassed to ask questions about the work our circle does while you get to know us and our place in this circle better."

"I know you because I have taken the time to find out and talk to you. Not including Theresa and Anna, who I know well and love dearly, tell me one thing that each of you knows about me that was not read from a paper put together by the watchmen," Cat challenged them as she had challenged the men and prepared to show off her own knowledge. She knew which families they had come from and where their talents lay, just as she had with the men, and she was prepared to rattle off her list of facts. "Bear in mind I have read the paper on me."

"Perhaps you could do us the same courtesy," Angela spoke at a severe look from Sonya.

Cat went through each woman present, listing their previous family and particular talents they were known for, as well as mentioning their children, to their surprise, as Theresa sat back watching the show and enjoying it thoroughly. This young woman may lack formal education, but she had street smarts and knew people. Theresa was more than impressed, and even a little envious of her bravado.

"That's was a clever little party trick," Sonya said, dismissively waving her hand as if disregarding everything Cat had said. "It means nothing, however. We will not be working for you. We will teach you what you need to know as we continue our work and you observe."

"It's a shame you feel that way. I will miss your voice amongst this group of women. I am sure I would have learned a lot from you, but I understand your need to retire early if you cannot work with me. I won't think badly of you at all," Cat said pleasantly.

"I have no intention of retiring!" Sonya spluttered.

"That's entirely up to you and Theresa, for now, but I'm afraid I couldn't have anyone who talked to me in such a condescending way remain as one of my advisors. Theresa may have put up with it because she needed your good will. I don't, and I can guarantee my husband would not expect me to be spoken to like I had no knowledge or understanding of my own about what was required of me now," Cat rose to her feet. "I think I will go find my circle while you think about what you would like to do, or you can throw some more daggers in my back while I am gone and see how that works out for you."

Sonya stared at her speechlessly, and Dina stifled a laugh as she watched the exchange. Anna looked at Theresa and raised an eyebrow, impressed by how cool, calm, and collected Cat was during the exchange.

"As always, we all have a choice in what we do and say, but respect should and will go both ways in this circle from now on," Cat said into the silence. "Theresa, can we make room for the other ladies, please? I won't be long, and then we can talk about the future of this wonderful family."

Cat walked steadily from the room when every nerve in her body screamed at her to run! She wanted to scream and cry and break down at the unfairness of being so unprepared for this day and all it entailed. Why hadn't anyone warned her? Her subconscious whined. When she finally stepped out of the room and closed the door to walk back through to the main area, she shored up the barrier she had built around herself and lectured herself on keeping everything together, just until she got home, and then she could really think about what was happening to her and her life now.

*****

Matteo looked at Ricco as the discussion wound down about the spate of lookalike threats they had received over the weekend of the wedding and what it meant for the family. Despite the gravity of the discussion and his father's insistence that he stay, Matteo's thoughts had been firmly with Cat, and he looked at his watch, often, wondering what was happening to her with the women of the family.

It had been hours since brunch, and Ricco could see the strain on Matteo's features, and, although he seemed like his normal relaxed self, he felt the same way, knowing that from the time Cat had left them on Friday morning it had been one confronting experience after another for the woman he loved.

"We're just rehashing the same information over again here," Ricco interrupted Jacobi, whose concern was for Vanessa and her convenient accident last night that had found her in the hospital overnight. The fact that she had seen Mario acting suspiciously and his subsequent anger with her at the wedding reception bothered him greatly, even though Vanessa claimed that there was nothing wrong between them.

"You have to admit, it's worth investigating the link to Savoy's, if not the Martino's. They are all the same family at the end of the day, and the accident is largely unexplained, so far," Jacobi pressed.

"We agree with you, and Cosimo already has men on it," Ricco said evenly. "I suggest we break for dinner and come back to it with clear heads, if not tonight, then tomorrow, when we have some real information to go on."

"We aren't getting any answers sitting here, that's for sure. Everyone stay with their security from this point on. We knew we would be targeted, as other families have been when announcing the new table. Let's not forget what happened to the Donati, and that the threat ultimately came from within," Roberto warned. "We'll meet tomorrow morning again. Keep your phones on you and your wits about you."

He looked at the younger men as he spoke. It was a gamble to have the eight extra men form a shadow table to assist with some of the roles officially occupied by their siblings and cousins. The aim was to confuse anyone targeting the family, but also to avoid a situation as had happened in the past where tables had been left languishing because replacements were untrained, unavailable, or unwilling to step up when one of the table fell to misfortune or disease. Those eight would not have a seat at the table of twelve, but they would be involved on an intimate level with the dealings of the men who did sit on the table, and back up certain roles within the family that had only grown and gotten bigger as they moved into the modern era.

The men watched as Matteo stood and walked swiftly from the room, followed by Ricco as soon as Roberto had finished speaking. The others chatted quietly in groups of two and three as the younger ones asked questions and struggled to understand the decision to have so many men so intimately involved with the table. Eventually, they all moved out to the back patio where large platters of antipasto littered the tables, and a bar had been set up with jugs of cocktails, beer and wine. Cat, Matteo and Ricco were conspicuously absent, and Roberto sent Lucca to find them.

Matteo had known as soon as he saw Cat that something was very wrong. Her walls were up, and she wore a mask that hid everything but the pleasant face she chose to show the world when she was upset. He knew that mask well, and had caused her to wear it more than once, much to his shame. Rather than moulding into his body when he embraced her, she remained stiff, as if holding herself tightly against flying apart, so he didn't push her to explain, he merely tilted her head up and murmured, "I'm sorry," before kissing her.

Cat closed her eyes, wishing she didn't have to go back out to face them all again and she could ask to just go home, but she also knew that wasn't possible if she was going to maintain any semblance of being the strong, determined woman she had portrayed to the older women. She'd shown his family that she wasn't the naïve and sweet girl they all assumed she was, and it terrified her that she would have to prove herself time and time again to these people.

She'd known it wouldn't be easy to be the wife of Matteo Vitali, she'd even been prepared for these confrontations, on some level, but she had not expected them today, along with the revelations they brought about her future. She had thought today was all about the table and the men who would work with Matteo in the future. She hadn't realised she would have to step up into her new role at the same time, and hadn't had time to even consider the ramifications of that, or that there would be open hostility from the women of the family who had been so lovely to her before today.

"I need to go out to the dinner. It's important," Cat said quietly, pushing Matteo away before she forgot where she was and lost control of the tight reign she held on her emotions. "We can talk about it once we go home," she gave him a tight smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"We can go home now," Matteo offered. "Lisa will make us something for dinner."

"No, I need to stay," she said, and stepped out of the circle of his arms. "Besides, we both know Ricco is starving," she joked, but it didn't carry to her voice or the tight smile she wore. Matteo frowned and was about to argue, but she held up her hand. "It's important to me, Matt. We can talk at home about the truly awful things I said and did to your aunts."

"I find it hard to believe you did or said anything awful to anyone," Matteo looked at her in surprise.

"Believe it, but also know I had reasons, which I will explain later," she said stiffly. "Shall we go to dinner? Because I would rather not argue or cry in front of these people, and if you both keep looking at me like that I am liable to do both."

"I'm starving, let's eat," Ricco said easily, and gave Matteo a look that told him not to push this.

When they went out onto the deck, Roberto looked thunderous, and Mateo wondered what he had missed and if Cat had, as she said, done something so awful that his father disapproved. He was suddenly very protective of her and wrapped an arm around her waist as Ricco stood close to the other side of her.

"What did you do?" he murmured close to her ear.

"Nothing I regret," she answered stiffly and shook him off, moving to the bar and getting a glass of wine before turning to face Roberto again. He wanted her to be strong and stand at his son's side, it was too late now to try and tell her how to do that. Ricco had followed her to the bar as Matteo made his way to his father.

"It doesn't matter what you did or said," Ricco said. "Matt and I will back any decision you made. We love you, and that will never change."

"Don't!" Cat said more forcefully than she had meant. "I am barely hanging on here, Ricco, don't do the whole loving and supportive thing right now. Okay?"

"Alright, how about this then... You might want to talk to Sebastian, he feels bad about you calling him out on judging us, and I think he is a little jealous that you Adore his little brother," Ricco exaggerated the word adore.

"You sound a little jealous about that, too," Logan said with a smirk, coming up behind them. "You can't blame the girl for having good taste. I have no idea what she sees in old fogies like you and Matt anyway."

"I can see the appeal," Tate said cheerily, coming to stand with them.

"Are you having a team meeting without me?" Kalum asked, approaching the small group.

"We wouldn't dare," Tate laughed. "But we probably should have one tomorrow, there are only a few days left, and we don't want to drop the ball now, so to speak."