The Twelve Vitali Ch. 20

******

Cat looked up as Ricco entered the room. She and Theresa had been manoeuvring around each other all afternoon to get what they wanted for the wedding and Cat was exhausted from the mind games she constantly had to play to ensure her wedding was a reflection of herself and not just the Vitali Family. Maryanne, she had discovered, had docilely accepted whatever the family wanted, except for her dress and a song she sang at her wedding. Cat imagined this was the expected thing from someone brought up on one of the tables to just do as they were bid, but she wasn't, and wouldn't be like that ever.

She smiled seeing Ricco, and visibly sagged under the weight of the pressure being put on her. She knew that pressure was mostly being placed on her by her own need to make the decisions necessary for the wedding. She didn't want to have a starring role in someone else's vision of a wedding, she wanted her own dream day, and one that Matteo would never forget.

"Hey you, everything alright?" Ricco asked, seeing her sag and becoming concerned.

"This wedding is a bigger production than most Andrew Lloyd Webber shows," she smiled crookedly.

"You know Mama would do most of this stuff for you," Ricco said.

"Then it wouldn't be my wedding, and she might as well walk down the aisle to Matteo," Cat shrugged, startling Ricco.

"Would you feel that way with a wedding planner?" he asked carefully. "She's just helping you plan, after all."

"Wedding planners wouldn't try to force their own preferences on the bride because they wouldn't get paid," she laughed. "I get that this is a Vitali wedding, but it's mine too, and there has to be some compromise, doesn't there? I mean, you only get one day to be a princess bride," she quoted Aria's earlier words. "Maybe I should have pushed harder to elope," she half-joked.

"Where is Theresa now?" he inquired, looking around.

"She went to check on Stefano," Cat informed him. "The bakers just left a few minutes ago."

"What did you choose?" he asked.

"Who knew there were so many different types of Millefoglie. I liked a particular one very much, and I think it would work for the numbers of people we will need to feed, but..." she lifted up her hands, spreading them wide palms up.

"But she had other plans," Ricco nodded. "Why haven't you said anything before? I'm sure this isn't the first time you've disagreed with Mama."

"I'm not complaining, it just gets a little hard sometimes, that's all, but I am trying to stick to what I want, mostly. The Truth is I quite like the arguments, even when they're draining. No one has ever challenged me that way before. It's nice that she cares so much; it's like what I imagined having a real mother to fight with would be like. I'm just tired. Don't mention it to anyone, please?" Cat put on a false smile and the mask of a happy young woman about to be married. Ricco saw the mask go on; he had begun to recognise Cat's masks as he saw them through Matteo's eyes in different situations. There were only a few people who got to see the real Cat with all her flaws and insecurities rather than the beautiful and confident young woman she projected to most people they knew.

"How's the new car?" he changed the subject as she changed her posture and smiled brightly.

"So cool! I can't believe Chase got it ready to go so fast!" she grinned.

"I thought you might want to take a drive down the coast and maybe get some take away for dinner?" Ricco asked. "With Matt not being here, we could make it really junkie food. Burgers and thick shakes?"

"I'd love that!" she enthused. While Matt didn't mind pizza at times, he hated fast food, and it had been forever since she had a burger and fries that wasn't some sort of healthy gourmet version.

"Great, I'll just go check on Papa and whichever brothers are home, and then we can go," he grinned to match her smile.

"I should talk to Mia too, I feel dreadful that my wedding is overshadowing hers," Cat said, feeling the weight of everything settling on her again.

"This house is so big, why don't you give her a call and see where she is," Ricco said.

"No need, we were just coming to find Cat," Mia said, entering the living room followed by Trista and Aria.

"This can't be good," Ricco looked at his sisters. "Do you want me to stay?" he asked Cat.

"No," she laughed. "I'm sure I can take them if it gets physical." Cat joked.

"I told you we needed Vanessa as well, she'd struggle against all four of us," Aria said in her usual haughty tone, but her eyes sparkled with delight.

"Wouldn't make any difference, there are too many brothers in this house to come to her rescue," Trista grinned.

"I'll be back to check on you," Ricco said, eyeing his sisters warily.

"Is there a problem with the dresses?" Cat asked Trista as Ricco left the room to find his fathers.

"Not at all, I love the simple design, it suit's all of us, which isn't easy to do. Even the neutral colour will work well, especially with what I have planned for the boys!" Trista said enthusiastically.

"That's a relief, I'm not sure I could have fought another battle over the wedding today," Cat admitted.

"It's been pretty tough, huh?" Aria asked, tilting her head. "Dealing with Mama and all of us?"

"No, it's fine. I know everyone is just trying to help," Cat said.

"I heard what Matteo said to Mama before he left," Mia informed Cat. "Then Aria told me what you and Chase were joking about, and I'm concerned."

"You dumped him once because of me, and I couldn't bear it if you cancelled the wedding because you felt like you were being bullied into something again," Trista sounded upset by the idea.

"I'm not cancelling the wedding!" Cat was shocked by the way this conversation was going.

"You're talking about eloping though. Not just you, but Matteo too, and by the look on Ricco's face just then, he'd encourage it," Mia accused.

"I only ever had David to deal with, I didn't even have a mother who cared enough to talk to me much, so it's challenging to have so many people trying to influence my decisions about the wedding," she admitted. "I have different tastes to you all, and even when I think I am doing the right thing it isn't what's expected, and I end up disappointing someone."

"You know, most girls, Maryanne included, would have just gone along with whatever Mama wanted," Mia spoke again.

"I'm not most girls, and I didn't grow up in a family like yours with all this tradition and laws. I'm doing my best, but I still need to be me. Matteo fell in love with me; the uneducated girl from the wrong part of town, and while I am learning more all the time, and I've moved to the right side of town, I still need to me or the woman he loves will disappear entirely," Cat tried to explain. "If you've come to ask me to just let Theresa do what she wants for the wedding, I can't do that."

"Okay, I'm here," Vanessa said, walking into the room. "What's the big emergency?"

"Emergency?" Cat asked, looking at the other women.

"Matteo is threatening to elope unless we can stop Mama from bullying Cat," Mia said without pulling any punches.

"He what?" Vanessa was appalled by the idea.

"That was my reaction when she brought it up earlier today at the House," Aria nodded.

"Matteo wants a traditional wedding," Cat hastened to reassure them. "We are doing all this for him, not me. We won't be calling off the wedding!"

"What he said was, that if we stressed her out even more, she might choose to elope and he would cancel everything and do it," Mia said. "He intends to marry her in a few weeks with or without us."

"Everything will be fine, honestly. Matteo won't cancel it, and I have been digging my heels in about certain things and refusing to budge, no matter what was said," Cat tried to make the idea that Matteo was considering eloping because of her seem less likely. "I'm fine, honestly, no stress, see," she shrugged and smiled widely at them.

"Okay," Vanessa came and had a seat with her sisters. "What did Mama do today?"

Cat sat back at that point and listened to them all talk around her and about her. Mia, it seemed, knew far more about what had occurred in her meetings with Theresa than she had realised. She was such a quiet and still presence it was often easy to not even realise she was in the room. Yet here, with her sisters, she was obviously the voice of authority.

These were obviously all strong, intelligent and, in their own way, powerful women who had each found a way to use their patriarchal family traditions and laws to their advantage. They were by no means the meek and mild women that her history lessons had told her she would encounter amongst the families of the twelve tables, and she began to see them through different eyes.

She listened and spoke when asked questions as they made decisions about the best way to tackle their mother and help Cat get what she wanted for her wedding. With Matteo's absence, the threat loomed even larger, because if he called and found her upset he would whisk her away, and all the plans would be for nothing. No matter how many times she told them she wouldn't cancel the wedding because she knew how much Matteo wanted it, they carried on with their plans to support her. Cat knew she could never organise such a huge affair on her own, all she wanted was to be able to make choices with colour and layout and food. This had all become a much bigger issue than it needed to be, and she sighed loudly, making them all look at her.

"I appreciate that this is how your family works, but this," she waved her arms at the four women, "Just makes me feel stupid, and I have to wonder if marrying into this family at all is in anyone's best interests, particularly Matt's. Especially when no one thinks I am capable of arguing with Theresa without any hard feelings. I love that she is doing so much. I could never have even dreamed of pulling so much together in such a short amount of time without her. Yes, it's frustrating when we disagree, yes, Matteo is worried because I come home from here exhausted, but she has never treated me like I was stupid for my choices when she disagreed with them. We argue, and we compromise," Cat said sadly.

The sisters stared at her in silence.

"I have said at least twenty times that no one is calling off the wedding, and you refuse to listen to me. I've never had sisters before, and I was looking forward to it, but, seriously, this is over the top. I was joking with Chase earlier, while you know Aria and Matteo were just teasing Theresa and making sure I knew he would back my decisions. Mia, think about what you heard. It wasn't a threat. You are all overreacting," she sighed heavily again. "I appreciate that you all came here to support Matt and me, but there is no emergency, trust me. I love Theresa; I even love arguing with her, because I never got to argue with my own mother, who didn't care enough about anything I was doing to argue about it."

"I see that I should have stayed," Ricco grumbled, coming back into the room.

"Everyone is just trying to help me," Cat laughed, putting on her happy bride-to-be mask. "There was just a little confusion, that's all. I'll be more careful about what I joke about in the future."

"My fault," Mia admitted. "Sorry, Cat, I'm just a little overprotective of Matteo and want him to have the perfect day."

"Trust me, as long as Cat shows up, it will be perfect for him," Ricco chuckled. "That man is goofy in love."

"I know, right?" Vanessa laughed. "He's been control freak central about that building for years, and suddenly everything is wonderful, and he trusts my judgement! Speaking of which, I better get back to work," Vanessa gathered her handbag.

"Oh, I'm meeting Aria at the penthouse at nine in the morning if you want to come up," Cat said quickly. "She's going to help me choose some artwork. I had no idea there was so much to choose from in the depository."

"Sure, that sounds like fun," Vanessa said, and blew air kisses on everyone's cheeks. "You can see what we've done so far with the colour schemes."

"We should be going too," Ricco said to Cat.

"I'd like to see the penthouse too," Trista complained. "Wouldn't you, Mia?"

"I'd like to get the full effect when it's finished rather than in progress," Mia said, not wanting to push her luck by crowding Cat again. "Besides, weren't you going to work on the dresses tomorrow? Maryanne is getting bigger every time I see her, she must be having triplets by the size of her!" she grinned.

"I guess, and Lucia will be here the day after, so I have to get hers at least half done for the fitting," Trista sighed.

"As soon as it's all done I'll have you all over to inspect it, including Lucia and Maryanne," Cat said easily as she got to her feet to join Ricco.

*****

"Mm, that was so good," Cat said, taking a napkin and wiping her mouth before helping herself to a potato scallop.

"I think it's the oil they use in little fish and chip shops like this," Ricco said around a mouthful of his burger. "Lisa could make us burgers, but they wouldn't taste this good," he grinned and wiped a dribble of sauce from his chin. "It can't possibly be good for us."

"It's definitely not good for us, and I have a wedding dress to fit into in a few weeks," Cat stuck out her belly and rubbed it. "I'm not sure how Matteo will feel about my Buddha's belly, even if I tell him he can rub it for luck," she giggled.

"I don't think he would mind somehow," Ricco chuckled with her. "I know I don't."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence. They'd become more at ease with each other since her confession, though they still hadn't been in any intimate situations, and the weight of that hung heavily on Cat. She knew he would have an expectation now with Matteo gone, but somehow it didn't seem right, almost like she would be cheating if he wasn't there with them.

"This was a good idea, thank you," Cat said, and started to pack up the debris from their meal as Ricco finished eating.

"Feel like a walk along the beach?" he asked, looking out on the moonlit water. They had stopped during the sunset, and, while it was dark now, it was still quite warm for this time of the year.

"We could do that," she said warily.

"You don't have to be afraid of me, Cat," he said, feeling hurt by her wariness and the mask he could see closing over her features. He took the rubbish from her and stood, walking over to the bin near where they had parked the car. When he turned around, she had slipped off her shoes and was walking down toward the water.

Cat felt a tide of emotion hearing the hurt in his voice. She knew logically that Matteo wanted the relationship between the three of them to grow and include intimacy. She knew, on some level, that she still loved Ricco, not in the same heart full to bursting way that she loved Matteo, and she knew Ricco deserved better than that. She dipped her toes in the water and hissed, it was cold, and she went to take a step back and bumped against the hard body of Ricco who had come to stand behind her.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

"You barely touched me, let alone come close to knocking me over," he chuckled.

"I'm sorry about that too," she whispered and turned to look up at him. "It's just..."

"I know," he said softly as she hesitated, and lifted a hand to gently brush a loose strand of hair from her face. His fingertips barely brushed over her skin, but he felt the sizzle of attraction for her that he always had. She seemed to relax, and his fingers brushed along her jawline to the back of her neck and he bent his head to kiss her. Not the soft, chaste kisses she had doled out to him recently, but a deep consuming kiss that told of his need for it and her. The patience and restraint he had shown her seemed to evaporate, and he pulled her closer in the kiss until their bodies touched and melded together. He could feel the heat of her and the tightening of her muscles everywhere they touched.

Cat tensed in Ricco's arms. Everything she remembered about their lovemaking was soft and gentle, but this kiss was hard and demanding and showed her how much he desired her. She closed her eyes as his tongue slipped over her lips and sought our hers as the kiss deepened once again and she forced herself to relax. This was Ricco, Matteo encouraged their relationship, she wasn't cheating, it was okay to enjoy the moment.

Ricco felt her relax slightly in his arms and extended the kiss, his hands running down her back to rest on her ass. When he finally broke the kiss, he rested his forehead on hers and looked into her eyes for signs of guilt or regret. He knew that without Matteo being there she was probably feeling both. He, too, felt a twinge of guilt, but they were finally alone on a moonlight beach, and he was only human after all.

"Wow!" she breathed. "I don't remember you kissing me like that before!"

"This time I know exactly what I want," he whispered. "No hidden agenda's or commitments to anyone but you and Matt. I love you both, and I want everything that comes along with that more than I've ever wanted anything else." He ran his fingers through her hair, tilting her head back even more, and kissed her again in a soul-searing, demonstration of that love and need.

Cat heard his words, and all of the ones that had come before rose up into her mind. He wasn't trying to steal her away from Matteo, he didn't expect her to love him less. He just wanted to be part of that love. She surrendered to the moment and his demanding kisses and hands, wrapping her arms around his neck and returning the feelings she had for him.

Ricco felt her surrender and felt a tremor run through him. Maybe he should have pressed harder for a date night alone with her before now. The problem would be when Matteo returned, he knew, but, for now, it was about making new memories for her and erasing his past mistakes. He broke the kiss and smiled down into her face.

"You are so beautiful," he murmured. "If we don't start walking now I will end up doing something you're still not ready for." He took her hand and moved beside her, taking a step forward.

"Ned was super jealous," she said after a few minutes of silent walking. "Even of my friendships with people. I guess that's why I never had many friends. He tolerated David because he knew how much I needed him. It didn't stop him from threatening David to get me to do what he wanted, but...." She shook her head. "It's hard to understand how you and Matt are happy with this relationship, even without sex it amazes me that you seem so happy living with us."

"I don't see it that way," Ricco considered his words carefully. "I see it as you sacrificing a lot to live with us. Matt's my big brother, I've always loved him, and he loves me in the same way. We've become even closer, more than brothers, more than best friends, we're joined in a way I can't explain. In the last few months, he's shown me, not by pointing it out overtly, what an asshole Cobi was to me by treating me as his equal in all things. Cobi never did that. The two of us can and will do great things together, one heart, one mind kind of stuff. It's you who has to accept who we are, both as individuals and together, because once the table is announced and we have accepted our places nothing will tear us apart."

He stopped walking and pulled her close again, kissing her deeply. When he broke the kiss, he rested his forehead against hers and sighed as he admitted the truth.

"You still have the ability to do that," he added softly. "If you asked him to, Matt would call off the wedding and leave the family and his future to have a life with you."

"I know," she whispered back. "I've always known, which is why I let your crazy family order me around the way I do. I would do anything for him, including letting a Domme torment me for weeks on end," she gave a small laugh and started walking again. "What normal person would agree to that unless they knew the stakes were much higher than anyone realised? I never wanted to come between Matteo and his family, but in doing all of that, it seems I have inherited this family in a whole other way, and then there's you. I wasn't expecting you. You have to admit there's been a lot for me to take on and try to wrap my head around."