The Twelve Vitali Ch. 29

"Sure, I need to finish that book we've been reading anyway," she said easily. She had planned to stay home and wrap her head around everything she had learned yesterday, and the fact that she had a family, her father's family, that never knew of her existence. She also needed to talk to Bradbury, and she wasn't sure she wanted to do that in front of Matteo or Ricco. Not that she would hide the conversation from them later, but she wasn't sure what answers he would give her, if any, and how they would react.

"Who are you, and what have you done with my wife?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. "That was far too quick and easy."

"I know you're worried. I am too, to tell you the truth," Cat sighed. "I'd never purposefully make you worry about me. You know that, right?"

"Yes, but I'm glad to hear you say it," he held her close. "If anything happened to you..." his breath caught. "It won't, I will make sure of it. Thank you for staying home this morning, I'll come up and see you for a late lunch."

"Sounds good. Maybe bring Ricco with you? I'm not used to him not being here at all in the mornings," she smiled softly.

"I'll let him know he's in trouble," Matteo smirked.

"That's not what I said," she laughed lightly and shook her head. "Tell him I missed my Good Morning from him." It was true. He was there every morning until today with a smile and the words, 'good morning, Beautiful'. Cat walked Matteo to the foyer again and kissed him before he stepped into the lift, and she turned back into the apartment.

Bradbury stood like a sentry in the foyer, and Arturo stood in the living room, waiting for her to meet with him. First, though, she wanted to check on Lucca, and found him sitting up in bed finishing a breakfast that Lisa has served on a small tray that sat on his lap. Cat smiled and sat on the end of the bed.

"How are you feeling?" she asked quietly, trying to study his face.

"Better than yesterday," he smiled. "Hospital food doesn't compare to Lisa's cooking. How are you feeling after all the revelations last night?" Lucca asked.

"I'm still processing it all. It's hard to believe I had a family that never knew I existed before, or why they would suddenly find me now," she admitted. "I just need some time to think about it properly, without all of the cloak and dagger stuff and the obvious concerns of your brothers. I love them enough that I won't go charging off to find the mystery man for myself and make them worry even more, but that doesn't mean I haven't thought about meeting the man who claims to be my grandfather."

"If you did I would have to get up out of this bed and go with you, and neither of us wants that today," he smiled crookedly.

"You won't have to get up to follow me around. I have promised to be here to look after you this morning. You will, however, have to get up and have a shower sooner or later," Cat said. "I think Matt is organising a nurse to visit to help you, he's not very happy that I fell asleep in here reading last night," she grinned. "He accused me with sleeping with another of his brothers."

Lucca laughed loudly, liking the play on words, and they continued to banter as he finished his breakfast.

"Good morning, Beautiful," Ricco's voice sounded behind her.

"Good morning," she turned her head to accept a kiss from him.

"Geez, Lucca, you're looking pretty ordinary this morning, but I guess you're used to that. Maybe the cut will scar and make you look handsome for a change," Ricco said.

"He's always been jealous because he was blessed by being merely handsome, unlike me, who was born to be more than just fabulously handsome," Lucca shrugged. "Ricco could never possibly hope to be as handsome as me, his face is too long and his eyebrows too shaggy... I could go on, but you can see for yourself," he spoke directly to Cat.

"You could be right," Ricco considered. "It was probably natures way of making it up to you for being short. I'll admit you are handsome... for a short man."

"I'm almost as tall as you!" Lucca took the bait, making Ricco grin.

"Almost doesn't come into play when talking about height, little brother. I am taller, you are shorter, but you could be the most handsome short man in this apartment, at least if you had a shower and cleaned up a little," he chuckled.

"Yeah, I was just about to do that once I finished breakfast," Lucca agreed, wanting to change the subject after letting himself react to his brothers teasing, and wanting to change the topic of conversation.

"Your nurse is here. You can shower and have your war wounds seen to while Cat has breakfast with the taller, if not more handsome, brother," he smirked.

"Matteo came back?" Cat asked, knowing that he was taller than all of his younger brothers.

"Urgh!" Ricco rolled his eyes at her but continued to smile.

"I don't need a nurse, I'm fine," Lucca groaned.

"You have a fractured leg and a head injury. You get a nurse, or you go back to the hospital, your choice," Ricco said firmly. He had known Lucca would argue with the decision, but it was done now. "Do what we ask, and after I've eaten and spent some time with Cat, I will take you down to the conference with everyone else." He said as if speaking to a wayward child and offering a treat.

"I've just finished breakfast with Matteo, and I wanted to talk to Bradbury for a minute," Cat said. "You can go and see Lisa, I won't be far away. I promise I have no plans to leave the apartment this morning. You don't have to babysit me."

"I'm not here to babysit you," Ricco grinned, moving to sit behind her and wrap his arms around her waist. "I constantly think of many things I want to do with you, and, trust me, babysitting doesn't even cross my mind," he murmured in her ear as his lips brushed her neck.

"Do you have to do that right here?" Lucca groaned.

"Do what?" Ricco smirked innocently. Lucca was saved from answering by the arrival of his cousin, Isaiah. He had followed his father and older brother into medicine

"What?" Isaiah asked. "You didn't really think they would send up a pretty young nurse for you to shower with, in your condition, did you?"

"I wasn't expecting you," Lucca admitted. "How did you get roped into this? I'm hardly the type of patient you're used to."

"I'm a doctor, my speciality doesn't make much of a difference to looking after a bump to the head, but I can get Papa to come up and supervise you, if you like," Isaiah said indifferently. "However, my speciality means I will eventually be seeing you, no doubt," he looked at Cat with a knowing smile.

"Eventually, we have plans, of course, so you don't have to drum up business here," Ricco chuckled, stepping in after seeing the look of panic on Cat's face after they had decided not to tell anyone for at least another four or five weeks. They first wanted to be sure everything was going smoothly in the first trimester.

"Fair enough, practice makes perfect," Isaiah grinned. "That's why you have so many younger brothers, after all," he teased his cousin. Knowing that his older brother would inherit his father's practise and his place on the table, Isaiah had sought to make himself just as invaluable to the inner circle of the family by going into obstetrics. There were always pregnant women and babies in this prolific family.

"We'll leave you to it," Cat said softly, and touched Lucca's arm softly. "Don't overdo things." She stood and smiled at Isaiah uncomfortably and left the room with Ricco.

Cat walked absently toward the kitchen with Ricco, thinking of the minuscule life that sat within her. It was hard to believe she was pregnant, but she knew it to be true now. Both Matteo and Ricco mentioned it often, yet it seemed as if it wasn't real, she didn't feel any different. She didn't feel sick in the mornings; she didn't feel bloated or fat. In fact, she felt like she had more energy than ever before.

"Do you think Zachary told him?" Cat asked Ricco quietly.

"I doubt it. It's not uncommon for the women of our family to fall pretty quickly, though, so it's not unusual for him to say that," he said, trying to ease her concern. "We will have to tell him soon, though, because he is an obstetrician, and the best person for you to see now that Zachary has confirmed your pregnancy."

"I guess," Cat said thoughtfully. "It just doesn't seem real yet. Maybe when..." she sighed, not knowing exactly when or what she expected to feel, but right now nothing about her body told her she was expecting the heir to the Vitali family. The thought occurred to her that she was starting her own family now in more than one way. Not only was she now part of the huge Vitali family and expecting a child of her own, but she also had this strange and strangely hopeful letter from someone claiming to be her grandfather. The thought crashed down on her. She'd had so much to deal with over the last few months; so much to take on and accept that was so foreign to everything she knew growing up, that the idea of having a child right now, when she barely knew who she was as a person anymore, terrified her.

Ricco looked at Cat when she stopped talking, expecting her to speak again once she had gathered the stray thought. It wasn't unusual for her to pause halfway through a sentence to reword her thoughts. As he watched her, he saw tears fill her eyes, and he frowned, taking her in his arms and holding her close. It was long moments before he spoke softly.

"Can you tell me?" he asked. He had the feeling last night, with the letter and her withdrawal onto the deck to be alone, that she was overwhelmed. He wondered if this was finally the straw that had broken the camel's back, so to speak. Both he and Matteo had asked so much of her, and now that the wedding and Gathering were over, and life should be about settling into a calmer, cosier family life where they should be excited about having a baby, they have a new drama hanging over them. No one could possibly blame her for being emotional. She hadn't had a week of so-called normalcy since meeting Matteo, or, if he thought about, since meeting him almost a year ago.

Cat shook her head, she couldn't help the tears in her eyes, but she had said everything to both Ricco and Matteo already. To say anything else now would just be whining, she thought. At least he wasn't trying to pry the reasons for her tears from her as Matteo might have. She'd never cried so much as she had done in the past week, and, regardless of everything she had given up and taken on board for the men she loved, she knew that, no matter what, they would love her in return and be there for her, as Ricco was now. Cat knew she had no reason to be scared, but she was, so she snuggled into his shoulder and let her tears fall properly as he held her silently in his strong arms.

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