The Twelve Zenati Pt. 40

"That's what I wanted too. So, I don't know why you are worried. What don't I know? Why are you so worried?" Marcella asked again and frowned at Olivia.

"Catriona is an outstanding artist, you know, and well, the Imperfect Princess may look a little more like you than the original sketches I drew and showed you," Olivia admitted. "So don't react badly and make her feel awful. She spent a lot of time on the illustrations getting them right."

"I saw the illustrations. They are great, Olivia. I don't even have to come to the meeting if you don't want me there. I meant what I said. This is your project, not mine. I recently decided on a project of my own that I wanted to see Peri about, but it is separate from the books. I trust you, and they are just illustrations, right? It's not like you are using photos of me. So a passing resemblance to an illustration is nothing to be worried about," Marcella shrugged off the concern.

"If you say so," Olivia eyed her sister sceptically. "What's the name of my new niece?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Well, if all goes well, Lucinda will be coming home with us tomorrow," Marcella smiled, allowing Olivia to side-track their conversation.

"I'm happy for you. I truly am," Olivia said. "Gen and I have been talking about babies, but I don't know if I am ready yet," she sighed. "I mean, how did you know you could do it?"

"I didn't. I still don't know that I'm doing it right, but the thing about the Zenati family is that you never have to do anything alone," she said, surprising herself with how easily that came to her these days. "We were given a very distorted view of what being part of one of these big families meant as well as how parents should act. But, trust me, it's not so hard once you have a little person relying on you to look after them."

"Ladies, are we ready?" Genesis asked.

"As ready as we will ever be," Olivia smiled and took his hand while Marcella went over to where Noah stood with their boys who had been out for a walk while Marcella and Olivia freshened up after the five-hour flight.

"Dante's coming to escort the nanny and boys upstairs while we go down to meet with Peri and Catriona. Lucinda is already there, so the boys will get to meet her first, and they will be perfect gentlemen, won't they," Noah said sternly to Arturo.

"But why do we have to have a girl," Arturo said plaintively.

"Mar is a girl, and all she has at home is us, boys. It might be nice for her to have another girl at home, don't you think?" Noah reasoned with them.

"We could dress Titus up as a girl?" Arturo offered as Dante entered the suite.

"Nah, he'd still smell like a boy," Genesis shook his head sadly. "Girls smell better than boys." He pulled Olivia closer and sniffed her with a big grin.

"That's gross, Zio!" Hadrian wrinkled his little face at his new uncle.

"Not as gross as this," Marcella grinned and picked him up, peppering his face with kisses. "Now you are covered in girl germs and don't have to worry about meeting your new friends." She giggled as he tried to wipe away the germs, and she continued to cover his face in more kisses. "Noah, why don't you take them up with Dante and then meet us downstairs once they're settled," Marcella suggested. "It will give me a chance to look at the illustrations before we have to present my idea to the circle of Mothers."

"I think maybe I should go with you?" he said, but at the determined look on her face, he backed down. "Okay, but remember Olivia has put a lot of thought into this book, and you don't have to like it to appreciate how much work she had done," he counselled. He knew how much she secretly bristled when Olivia told people that the Imperfect Princess was modelled on her sister Marcella.

"I'll help," Genesis offered. "It will be good for Olivia to show you what all her hard work has been for."

"Okay," Marcella said, frowning openly now and feeling patronised as if she were a ticking timebomb no one wanted to be near when it went off. "Alright, Olivia, let's go. Whatever is about to explode in this book can't possibly be as bad as everyone is making out."

"You are all on my shit list," she pointed her finger at Genesis and Noah.

"Zia said shit," Hadrian giggled as the men left the room with a kiss on each of the sister's cheeks.

"She's just nervous, and it slipped, but we're good boys, and we don't use words like that," Noah reminded him as they disappeared down the hall, leaving Olivia with Marcella.

Olivia grabbed her bag and walked silently beside Marcella down to the first floor to the House of Lorraine, where Peri Donati had meetings for her small publishing house that was part of her husbands more prominent publishing company. Marcella had to admit it was quite overwhelming to see the caricature princess that looked very much like her in life-sized cardboard cut-outs. It wasn't anything she hadn't expected, though, but she said nothing waiting for Olivia to tell her what was making her so nervous.

"Great, you're here! It's so good to meet you finally! I'm Daniel, Peri's right-hand man. The resemblance is amazing. I mean, I was told, and there is that photo, but wow!" the enthusiastic young man said as he led them to the long round table where brightly coloured folders held the details of the book's release.

"Photo?" Marcella asked, pouncing on the one word that was guaranteed to get a reaction from her. "Which photo would that be?" She asked as calmly as possible.

"Oh, here. It's in the media packet," he offered. He helped her to a seat and opened the folder to pull out an old photo in front of her. It appeared to have been cleaned up digitally because the one she knew from her parent's house had been grainy and hard to see even when it had been first placed in a frame. She slumped in her chair and gently traced the faces of the three young girls sitting stiffly with frozen if not terrified smiles on their faces. It had been taken the day of her grandmama's funeral, and their lives irrevocably changed after that day. A stray tear ran down her cheek before she could halt it, and she dashed it away before clearing her throat and looking up. "Thank you, Daniel. I apologise; I wasn't expecting the memory to hit so hard. That was a difficult day."

"Are you okay?" Olivia asked quietly.

"I'm fine. A little heads up would have been nice though," Marcella gave her sister a tight smile. "I'm not mad, just a little sad because I hadn't thought about that day for so long that it hit me harder than it would have if I had some warning."

"I didn't know how to tell you, and I wanted to use the photo, and you always said no photo's and well," she sighed. "I probably could have handled that better, but I didn't even have the nerve to tell Viv because she would have made me tell you."

"It's okay, Olivia. Honestly. And it's a nice tribute to Jessa for the boys to see when they are a bit older," she smiled sadly. "It's a surprise because to hear you talk, I was worried the stories were only about me," she laughed and leaned over to hug her sister. "I don't know why you were so worried. Unless there's something else, I should know?"

"That's the only photo I am using of the three of us," Olivia said. Marcella took that far better than anyone had given her credit for, but she was prepared to go through the whole media packet with her sister if that was what she wanted. "It's on the final page of the book where there is an 'About the author' blurb. I give you full credit for coming up with the original story idea."

"You what?" Marcella gasped.

"You're the one who came up with the story to help keep me, and I think even Jessa calm when Papa was in a rage, so you deserve at least that much credit even if it was me who put it into book form," Olivia said.

"Oh, Olivia, no, these are your stories. I gave them to you do with what you want," Marcella said, shocked that she hadn't seen this coming. She opened her mouth to say more, but the door swung open, and Peri entered carrying a stack of books.

"It's here! It's here hot off the presses!" Peri stopped and looked around. "Where's Cat?"

"I'm here. The sisters were having a moment, and I didn't want to interrupt," Catriona said as she stepped from an alcove.

"Great, this is our first venture into children's fiction, but I know it's going to be huge!" she handed out the first print release of the books. Marcella held the hardback in her hand, feeling its weight before turning to the final page to see what Olivia had written about the three sisters in the old photo. She breathed deeply and decided it could be worse. At least she didn't grow up in an age where every awful moment of her life was caught on social media. The familiar voices in her mind who arced up or made her withdraw at moments like these remained silent as they had been doing more and more recently. Instead, it was Noah's voice who always held those small but important wins in her mind now when she managed to keep her shit together. He had moved in alongside her other voices to help keep the balance when unexpected hurdles rose in front of her.

She hadn't told him that, of course. His ego was already big enough for the both of them. She smiled at the thought and mentally hugged that reassuring voice. This was nothing to worry about. This was the time to celebrate her little sister, who, like herself, had risen above all the pain in her life to do something more for others.

"Olivia, I am just so proud to be your sister right now! It's amazing! You're amazing, and Cat, wow, I never imagined how it would look in book form even though I saw the mock-ups. You all are amazing," she gushed and meant it.

"You're pretty amazing yourself," Catriona said. "I looked through the prospectus you sent me, and I'm amazed someone within the Table families hadn't suggested it before. It's so needed by every family."

"They would never have admitted there was a problem before," Marcella sighed. She still had moments where she railed against the old school train of thought that had ruled her parents generation of the tables. As Vivienne so clearly pointed out, there were always places for abused women to seek help with the Papillo. The children; however, often were absorbed into the tables without truly considering the impact of the trauma on their lives and the subsequent social-emotional scaring that they would bring to their adult selves. The small amount of research Marcella had done showed a devasting picture of violence, crime and suicide for those forgotten children.

"Sorry, I don't want to bogart Olivia's moment. These are amazing!" Marcella repeated.

"You realise both your projects come from the same place. There is no reason one can't enhance the other. Maybe even have some of the profits from the sale of Olivia's books boost the foundation you are trying to start?" Peri suggested.

"Giving away the profits already?" Joshua Donati asked as he entered the room and went straight to his wife kissing her before greeting the other women.

"Did the bomb go off already?" Noah asked with a frown as he too entered the room and made for his wife like a homing beacon.

"You knew and couldn't have given me a heads up?" Marcella accused but returned his kiss as he took a seat beside her.

"Hardly, they only told me that there was something about a last-minute addition to the books that you might not like but that Olivia thought was essential," he shrugged. "They didn't trust me to let her tell you in her own time."

"Because you always tell her everything," Genesis rolled his eyes as he went to sit with Olivia, followed by Ricco, who made his way to Catriona. "Dante and Matteo will be down soon. They're involved in a hardcore Super Mario Kart battle."

"Doesn't matter," Ricco shrugged. "Xavier took your prospectus to the circle weeks ago when you first floated the idea with the Zenati family. They took it to the mother's circle. Everyone is in, and the Papillo have offered to do the training for the house mothers and fathers in relation to poverty and trauma."

"I.. well I..." Marcella was genuinely lost for words.

"Xavier and Emma never said a word to us," Noah frowned, feeling as out of the loop as Marcella did at that moment.

"Once again, because you tell her everything, duh!" Genesis teased.

"It's not rocket science. You saw the need and came up with a plan to address it. Both of you did, and Olivia's books can become part of the same foundation that we plan to set up as a not-for-profit charity-based group for those children at the pointy end of the trauma spectrum," Peri continued.

"Wow, so my work here is done," Marcella let out a big breath and let the tension in her shoulders subside as she almost slumped in relief.

"What? No. It's just beginning. This is your project. You and perhaps your kids will be the organisation's face as you build it from the ground up and put it into action within each family territory.

Marcella reached for Noah's hand under the table, needing that physical support. When he had told her she could do anything as long as she let him do it with her, she had never dreamed the other tables would take her just as seriously. She thought she would have to argue and fight for her cause and she felt strangely let down by the fact that they had all discussed it amongst the leaders of each table and decided to support her initiative.

"Oh, good you're here," Joshua said as another couple walked into the room. "You all know Zach Gastone, and this is the elusive Nora Gastone who is rarely seen outside of the beautiful territory they live in," he teased, liking his southern neighbours a lot.

"That's fair," Nora said quietly, halting her husband from reacting protectively to Josh's teasing. "Which one is Marcella?" she said abruptly, her size making the impact of her words even more startling.

"That would be me," Marcella straightened her back. Maybe this was the fight she had been waiting for. All of the tension with Olivia and then having the agreement to her prospectus handed to her on a silver platter, she needed someone to challenge her.

"The prospectus is good," Nora started as she walked toward Marcella. "While I agree wholeheartedly with the concept, I found the overall approach lacking and needing a few revisions," she said in a no-nonsense way that Marcella found challenging. She came to her feet as if to accept the challenge but was genuinely curious about the revisions this woman offered.

"You did?" she asked. Finding that she would rather have a debate about her prospectus than the argument she had been expecting. At least a discussion would give her some idea of what they thought.

"What happens when these traumatised kids hit school and need even more coping skills? What happens when we have a bunch of hormonal angsty teens all living in a house together. Sure, if we give them skills as children, it will help, but what if we don't find them until they are angsty teens? What then?" Nora challenged.

"You have a lot of questions," Marcella said slowly and drew in a deep breath. She felt Noah squeeze her hand in support and was shocked momentarily as she had forgotten she was still holding it. "Do you want to help me come up with the answers? I've been told not to try and do everything by myself anymore."

"Well, I have some ideas," Nora grinned and roughly embraced Marcella as she laughed. The woman was soft and round, and her hugs felt like the softest, warmest place Marcella could imagine right then.

"What did we miss?" Dante and Matteo strode into the room, looking at the scene before them. "Hey, Zach, what brings you out of hiding and is that, Nora?"

"Yes," Zach nodded. "I believe I somehow just volunteered to build a school for wayward teens without actually opening my mouth," He said in a confused voice as Nora turned to eye him with a small smile curving her lips.

"He's such a clever man. You'd be surprised at the number of things he can agree to without saying a single word," Nora laughed merrily, and Zach shook his head indulgently.

"Don't worry. I will pick a fight with you later if you like," Noah chuckled, making Marcella whip her head around to look at him. They could read each other so well now that he lived for those little moments of shock he was able to elicit from her. Today had been a good day. A great day even. She just needed to accept that she no longer had to fight for everything in her life.

*****

"Mar!" Arturo cried out as Marcella entered the big play space the Donatis had for their children in this high-rise building.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she frowned as he waved his hand to make her bend down to his level.

"I think our new sister is broken," he whispered. "She doesn't talk, and she looks very sad all the time even when Titus was looking at her upside down, and that's the funniest thing ever," he explained as if frustrated.

"Do you remember when your Mama first went to the hospital, and you had to stay with people you didn't know who wouldn't let you see her?" Marcella asked, making him remember how scared he had been then and how he, too, had remained silent most of the time.

"Oh," he said as if the thought had not occurred to him at all.

"Why don't you introduce me, and we can see how it goes from there. I don't think she is broken. She's just scared and could use a brave brother to help her out." Marcella encouraged.

"She's hiding. She won't even come out for the nanny," Arturo grimaced.

"Show me, and we will see if we can change that," Marcella smiled softly. Arturo led her over to a nanny who sat in a soft arm humming a gently rolling tune. Without missing a beat, the nanny acknowledged Marcella with a head nod and pointed behind her chair, which was angled against the corner, leaving space for a small girl. Marcella wedged herself down into the corner and began talking to the nanny in a low voice but loud enough that the little girl could hear.

"That's a beautiful tune you are humming. I feel like I should know it. What's it called?" Marcella asked.

"Someone to watch over me. It's an old Gershwin tune," she said in a soft voice.

"Oh, that's right," Marcella nodded. "You know who are really good singers? Frogs!"

"Frogs can't sing. They can't talk," the nanny laughed, cottoning onto what Marcella was doing

"When I was a little girl, there was this pond close to our house, and the frogs there sang every night until one of the princesses came out and threatened to kiss them all and turn them into princes if they didn't stop," Marcella said conversationally leaning back against the wall.

"Wouldn't they want to be princes?" Another little girl asked, coming to sit close to where Marcella and the nanny were talking.

"Hello, Eden," Marcella knew she was Peri's oldest daughter. "Well, no, they were waiting for a special princess to kiss them so they could change into princes and live happily ever after. They didn't want kisses from just any princess."

"Oh, I see," Eden nodded as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"There was one frog who didn't sing, he didn't talk much either, but he was good at keeping the beat for his brothers while they sang," Marcella continued before Eden interrupted her again.

"You mean like beatboxing?" Eden asked. "My brothers try to do that, but they aren't very good." She pulled a face.

"Practice makes perfect. Not everyone can be good at everything, and sometimes the ones who say the least have the most to say, and you have to listen harder when they try to tell you something," Marcella said.

"Everyone in my family is a good singer, but my brothers are toads, not frog princess," she screwed up her nose as she looked over at the television screen where two boys were yelling at the screen where a virtual battle was taking place while the others around them cheered for one or the other. "They're pretty much good at everything they do," she rolled her eyes.