The Twelve Zenati Pt. 05

The man sitting across the table from her wanted to date her and that terrified her, but she hid those feelings. If she wanted to stay without making her father angry and her mother's life harder, then this was the only plan she had. How bad could a few dates with the hot Noah Zenati be, she asked herself. He gave her control of the timing of things, and she would take it slow, really slow. She had all the power here, so it didn't have to be weird. She could treat him just like one of her friends with benefits. No emotions, just scratching an itch. Having made the decision, she smiled at him.

"Okay, so we date," she agreed. No matter how those dates occurred, it would still get her what she wanted, and she could keep Noah's friendship as long as she set some boundaries.

Noah watched Marcella, seeing her mind work through all he had said. He'd spoken the truth. He intended to give her the final say over the timing of everything they did intimately. He wasn't a rapist, after all. He didn't intend to make it easy for her to put him off though, and he returned her smile, seeing it for the challenge that it was.

*****

"Gideon, this isn't the way to my apartment," Vivienne said with a frown.

"I know. I have to pick up a package for Gen, and I'd like to meet someone," he replied without taking his eyes from the road. "Just close your eyes and come along for the ride," he chuckled. "I know that it's hard for you to not know what's happening at any given moment but think of it as an adventure."

Vivienne bit back her retort and sighed as she closed her eyes. Since entering her hotel room after their argument and talking her into staying, he had been nothing but sweet and attentive in his own brash and humorous way. The attraction was there from the first moment she had met him, she couldn't deny that. Men like Gideon didn't look at her the way that he had looked at her over the last few days. She knew that she was no beauty, and it made her suspicious of his motives. Had he been trying to seduce her so that she wouldn't interfere with Genesis' plans for Olivia again? She had gotten that point already and had taken a backseat as Genesis had shown how much he cared about the girl and her recovery. Gideon, however, showed no signs of losing his interest in her. If anything, he was more demonstrative of how he felt about her and in his efforts to seduce her. She sighed again as her thoughts whirled and danced around the man sitting beside her confidently driving her to goodness knew where.

Gideon was not a man known for his patience. He knew that people underestimated him and took his natural cheerfulness and jocularity as a sign that he was easy-going and relaxed about his personal and professional life. The truth was that his mind was always working, and he never did or said anything he wasn't sure about. He would drop everything for those he loved, but he would never let his family down professionally, now that he had been given such an important role on the new Table. In truth, he was proud that his uncles and father could see past the loud, laughing façade to the man he truly was, to give him the responsibility of the Chamberlains position. He needed the woman beside him to see past that veneer and take him seriously as well.

Like his brothers and cousins, he'd been working to close down his personal business and take on more of a load from the Family. This gave them all quite a bit of flexible time to move between the two jobs and settle into their personal lives as family men as more curse breakers appeared, as if on cue, for them all. Now that he'd found his curse breaker, he had no intention of waiting any longer to make that relationship complete, and he hoped that this visit to his Godmother would help Vivienne to understand his eagerness to make her his. Now that he knew that her broken wing consisted of a myriad of insecurities about her appearance and how her peers viewed her in the medical community, Gideon knew that it would take something big to convince her that he was serious about her.

After his curse broke, and he felt the very real pain of it, he had no doubt that this was the woman he would marry and have a family with. The fact that he would have to work to convince her of that frustrated him. He would like to just run away right now and elope, so that he knew she wouldn't fight the fact that they were meant to be together forever. Only the woman fated for a Zenati man could break the curse and, while he had believed himself in love more than once in the past, he had never felt the physical pull of a woman like this. It was all that he could do not to maintain constant physical contact with her in some way, every moment he was with her.

He and his brothers had been teased their whole lives by their father and uncles that they would never know love until the right woman came to break the curse by breaking their hearts. They had all laughed, along with their cousins, thinking that it was a great family joke, used to scare teenagers away from indiscriminate affairs and getting their girlfriends pregnant. He had never once considered the physical pain and need that he felt right now, even days after his heart had almost exploded in his chest. He needed the calming wisdom of Madrina, and the analytical Doctor Vivienne Papillo needed to hear it too.

Vivienne felt the car drive from the smooth road onto gravel and opened her eyes. The house that greeted her was like nothing she had ever seen before. It was as if someone had taken a dozen children's brightly coloured playhouses and stacked them side by side and on top of each other to form one big multi-levelled house. Each coloured section seemed to hold a different shaped window and decoration around it in an opposing colour. There was even a tower on the side of the house that Vivienne couldn't determine was a clock tower or a bell tower. It was bizarre and fantastical all at once, and she stared at it speechlessly, unable to take it all in.

"This has always been my most favourite place in the world," Gideon announced into the silence of the car. "It reminds me, all the time, that not everything in the world has to make sense to work, and that which is beautiful to one man is merely interesting to another.

"Wow," was all Vivienne could come up with to say before Gideon got out of the car and walked around to open her door.

"Follow the yellow brick road," he grinned as she stepped out onto the yellow pathway he had parked beside. She'd been so fixated on the house that she hadn't taken the time to look at the strange garden surrounding it. Quirky, unusual, fantastical and bizarre, she had trouble coming up with enough adjectives to describe the strange design of plants, statues and objects that shouldn't be in a garden. She ducked under a low hanging teapot that hung from the branch of an old tree in the centre of the yard that seemed to be flowering teapots from every branch in various shapes and sizes.

"My cheeky boy!" an old woman exclaimed, making Vivienne look up at the house. "You finally remember I am alive, do you?"

"Pfft, nothing will kill you, old woman!" Gideon yelled back. "You'll outlive me and my children!"

"You better start working on those children if you want me to bless them without dropping them on their heads, cheeky boy!" she admonished.

"Then come down and meet the future mother of my children and tell her she has to marry me soon if you want her to let you hold them, old woman!" Gideon laughed at Vivienne's gasp of shock.

"You found her!" The woman exclaimed. There was a loud bang as the window slammed shut, followed by the sounds of running in the house.

"Oh, my cheeky boy," she said as they walked up the steps and the door opened for them. "With such a big heart, it must have hurt you a great deal. Genesis said that you would bring me a surprise, but I never thought to meet your one," she said then kissed both his cheeks noisily.

"I am as healthy as the water buffalo you keep as pets," he grinned. "Zia Madrina, this is Vivienne," he introduced the woman beside him and let go of her hand as the old woman pulled Vivienne into a tight embrace and kissed both her cheeks just as noisily.

"You are beautiful, so beautiful and such a welcome sight!" Madrina grinned and took her arm, linking it with her own as they walked into the house. "When is the wedding?"

"Vivienne doesn't believe in love at first sight. She thinks that I am crazy for proposing after less than a week of knowing her," Gideon chuckled. "If she took me seriously at all!"

"Well, you are a very cheeky boy. Who knows what you will say to people, but you have told her about the curse, yes?"

"No," he admitted. "It is difficult to explain, even though I felt it. You would know the whole story, so I came here."

"You came because Genesis needs something from me," she accused, wagging a finger at him.

"I told Genesis that I was coming and he asked me to wait until he had spoken to you, or we would have been here yesterday," Gideon grumbled.

"And Noah? Has he, too, found his curse breaker?" she asked.

"No, but Dominic says she is close," he chuckled.

"Ah, that boy," Madrina went to her shelves and picked up an object, holding it in both her hands and closing her eyes. "His one will be trouble, as befits a troublemaker like him," she said seriously when opening her eyes again. "You must help him when he asks."

"When have I not?" Gideon chuckled. "Speaking of help, give me the list and I will do what I can while you talk to my future wife."

"Such a good boy," she patted his cheek. "Come into the kitchen, and I will make us some tea and get you the list."

"The list?" Vivienne whispered as they followed the old woman.

"There is always a list of odd jobs that need doing, ever since Zio Padrino passed away a few years ago," he chuckled. "I won't be far away. Just talk to the old woman, or better yet, just listen."

"Okay," Vivienne said, drawing out the word, not sure if it was okay to leave her with this strange old lady who talked about curses as if they were an everyday occurrence.

"Would you like some tea or would you prefer a cool drink?" Madrina offered.

"Tea would be lovely, thank you," Vivienne agreed. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, just have a seat and tell me how you met my cheeky boy," the old woman laughed.

"I was at the hospital when Genesis became involved with a patient there. He asked me to consult on the case, and I met Gideon while I was there," she said simply.

"He asked you out within the first minutes of meeting you, no doubt," she cackled. "That boy always did the first thing that popped into his head. He never managed to get in as much trouble as Noah, mind you, but still there were moments."

"Did the brothers all live here with you?" she asked confused. She was under the impression that their parents were still alive.

"When they came to the city for school, about the age of thirteen or so. I think their mother did it on purpose, so she didn't have to put up with those turbulent teenage years." She shook her head again. "Living with my husband and me was a better alternative than sending them away to boarding school. Here, they were loved and moulded into the charming young men they are today. Sera went to a different Zia, who had girls about her age, but she came and annoyed her brothers often enough that it was like she was here," she explained.

"I see. My parents live on a property too," she said, explaining her understanding. "I went to boarding school, though. It wasn't so bad."

"No? Girls can be such little bitches at that age. I was always much happier with the boys in my house. They were trouble, but they were never spiteful or rude," she said, her eyes glazing as if remembering them fondly.

"Now," she said, bringing an ornate teapot to the counter where she had placed cups, saucers, milk and sugar. "Would you like honey instead of sugar?"

"No, thank you," Vivienne smiled.

"Well, you better have one of these before the cheeky boy smells them and inhales the lot," Madrina laughed, placing a plate of homemade cookies on the table, and took a seat with her cup of tea. "Come and join me over here. It's far more comfortable than those stools.

"It must have been frightening for you when it happened." She reached out and patted the younger woman's hand as she took her seat.

"When what happened?" Vivienne asked.

"Let's see, he's a big man, and it would have hurt a lot. So my guess is you were upset or at least hurting in some way, possibly crying, and he would have looked like he had a heart attack. He probably turned ashen and had one hand on his chest. He probably froze like a kangaroo on the highway, maybe even trembled, though I doubt it. He is strong that one." Madrina grinned, seeing the truth of her words written on Vivienne's face.

"How would you know that? Did he tell you?" she asked.

"No, he didn't need to. It's the typical reaction, and because he has such a big heart, I imagine it would have hurt him more than others when it happened," the older woman nodded thoughtfully as she spoke. "How long after that did it take him to propose?"

"Twelve hours maybe, possibly less," Vivienne admitted.

"And you said no because it scared you, no doubt," she surmised. "Which is why he brought you here to talk to me."

"I didn't give him an answer," Vivienne said softly. "I thought that he was joking at first and told him not to be so cruel. Men who look like him do not propose to girls who look like me," she shook her head as she explained

"Men like him? Tall dark and handsome ones, who like tall women with curves?" the old woman said with a hint of humour. "You are exactly the type of woman my cheeky boy would go after. Why would you think otherwise?"

"As you said, girls can be bitches, and I have no illusions about my assets," she laughed self-depreciatingly.

"Oh, my dear, you could not be more wrong. Not in this family at least, but you will find that out for yourself soon enough. Have you met Gideon's father yet? He's been in town since the Suebi attack?" she asked.

"Maybe, I think he sent me down to meet Genesis and consult on the case," Vivienne paused to think about it, she wasn't sure. "A lot seems to have happened in the last few days," she admitted.

"For all of my boys, it seems," she said. "Genesis asked me for something special, and I was just boxing it up when you arrived. I'm so happy to hear that Gideon, too, has found his one true love that I forgot it up there. Finish your tea and we will go get it, and I will give you a tour of my grand old house."

"How can you think I am his one true love? I mean, I realise he has lost his mind but..." Vivienne began to say.

"How can I not know, just looking at the two of you together? Having you confirm that Gideon reacted the way he did when you were broken and crying? It is a strange thing with the men in this Family, and you can call it a curse as some do, or just fate, but they are each destined to truly love just one woman in their lifetime, and if they are fortunate enough to find her, they can act a little aggressive, possessive, crazy. The need to be with that one woman drives them completely, until the woman is theirs. I imagine that he has hardly left your side in the last few days, been all touchy-feely with you and held your hand any moment he could," she looked at Vivienne, who nodded. "It won't wear off, you know, not over a lifetime together. When the Zenati men find their one, they are besotted until their dying breath. But they must suffer for love, and your doubt in his sincerity is probably hurting his big heart more than you know."

"We fight all the time. Our first date ended in a huge argument. Then the morning after that fight he had this heart attack thing, that he said wasn't anything to worry about. Then he was suddenly a man in love and kissing me, holding my hand, being attentive and affectionate. It's too unbelievable," she shook her head. "How can I agree to marry someone I met just days ago and who is acting like a lunatic?"

"Is he really? Aside from claiming that he had fallen madly in love with you at first sight and wants to marry you, is he doing anything else out of the ordinary?" Madrina challenged.

"No offence, but you and this house are not exactly mainstream," Vivienne said and looked around helplessly.

"I know, isn't it wonderful?" she cackled loudly. "I was like you once, a long, long time ago. The man who was my one true love proposed within the first hour of meeting me. In the back of an ambulance as I was being rushed to the hospital. A camel stampede of all things!" Her laughter overtook her again. "I asked him to build the most wondrous house, that only the Mad Hatter would live in, and then I would marry him. Fate has a funny way of bringing people together, but I have found that, with the Zenati men, the fates are rarely wrong. There have been no divorces in our family for generations, and widowers do not remarry, such is the strength of their love. Is Gideon's love something you want to toss aside because you are scared?"

"I'm not scared, I'm... dubious, questioning..." She couldn't find the right word. "He's tall, dark and handsome, he belongs to a wealthy and powerful family. Men like him can have whoever they want." She flapped her hands, at a total loss of how else to explain why she doubted he was sincere about his almost-immediate declaration of love and proposal.

"Yet it is you that he wants," Madrina reached out and took her hand. "It is you that he is pursuing. It is you that he has brought here to talk to me, in the place he feels most at home, where not everything in life has to make sense to be true. Come, let's go find that package for Genesis and his one true love."

"Genesis's one true love is Olivia?" Vivienne gasped. That explained why he was so determined to find a way to help her and treat the damage that Remington had done to the girl's psyche, now that she thought about it. If what the woman said was true, that love may never be fulfilled, and she felt suddenly sad for Genesis and became more determined to help him.

"It is not always easy, and most of the Zenati men must suffer greatly before they get their happily ever after. Just as you are making Gideon suffer. He is not a patient man, and I imagine that he is eager for you to accept his proposal," she cackled again as she stood from the table and indicated Vivienne should follow her.

The house was a rabbit warren, with its short corridors and random sets of steps that seemed to appear around every corner. If she tried to find her way out of the house on her own, she wasn't sure that she could, so she followed the old woman closely to one of the top rooms, or at least she thought it must be one of the top rooms. A door opened in front of them, and as she walked into the room her breath caught as she was assailed by the chaotic colour of a well-used and cluttered sewing room. It wasn't the burst of colour or clutter, however, that made her gasp. It was the three mannequins and the exquisite garments they wore.

"These are magnificent," Vivienne whispered in reverent awe.

"I have something similar in your size, if you would like to try it on." Madrina went over to one of the many racks that lined the wall of the room as she spoke and pulled a dress from the rack. "You can change behind the screen over there. I don't often get to see my creations modelled so this will be a treat for me. I'll give you some privacy and see if I can find my cheeky boy. I need to explain to him the package that I have for Genesis."

"This won't fit me," Vivienne looked at the dress and shook her head.

"Of course, it will. Try it on and I will stay to help you do up the waist properly," Madrina said, changing her mind about searching for Gideon, and pushed Vivienne behind the screen. "It is meant to fit snugly," she reassured the younger woman.