Tom and Luke Get a Family Pt. 06

Chapter LIII Back in Trabizona

Luke returned home in a slightly apprehensive state. That same evening, he, Tom and Olivia got together. It was agreed that neither man would have sex with Olivia for the next six months. This meant that if Roberto asked Olivia out of jealousy or anxiety if there was anyone else in her sex life, she could truthfully deny it. Tom was still very uneasy about the deception. The thought that his research student was having sex with the mother of his children was not a comfortable thought, nor was the fact that the two of them had to work together in the lab while a deception was going on. Olivia was unhappy that she had put Tom in such a difficult position, but she was reluctant to dismiss Roberto.

After a few weeks of discomfort from his conscience, Tom went to see Arturo in strictest confidence. "If this blows up," he said to his boss, "it could cost me my job. What shall we do?"

"That's what comes of getting involved with a woman!" said Arturo cynically. "All gays should steer clear of people with cunts! Have you given Roberto any hospitality? I was just wondering how Olivia got to know him."

"Yes, he came round and ate with us one Wednesday night about six weeks after he started work, and met all the family."

"Does Roberto know that Olivia is the mother of Bernardo?"

"No, but Carlo does."

"So if the two of them get talking, Roberto will find out that he's fucking the mother of your son! Then things really will blow up. He will regard Olivia as a whore, and you as either devious or a cuckold!"

"But even if we succeed in fooling him and he loses interest in Olivia, I still have to work with him for the foreseeable future. Carlo and I are quite close, and in principle I would like to have the same kind of relationship with all my research students."

"I could arrange to transfer him to Ben's supervision, but I would need to give him a plausible reason. Can't you persuade Olivia to dismiss him?"

"No. She has no marital bonds with either Luke or me, and we cannot tell her whom she must see and have sex with. Sometimes sex is a pain. It can destroy lives and careers!"

"That's the reason why it has been the stock-in-trade of opera and drama for four hundred years!" said Arturo. "As far as I can see, there's only one thing to do. Olivia must tell Roberto that she is part of a ménage à trois, and invite him to join the family. I assume that you have no objection to the two of them having it off in the family home, as long as you have room for him to move in. If he is happy with that, problem solved! If not, then either he will pull out of the relationship without rancour and we can transfer him to Ben's supervision, or he will bear a grudge for you, Tom, in which case we have a problem, because working relationships will be poisoned. Are you willing to risk that? I might be able to get you a job elsewhere in Italy, but there is Luke and the family to consider. Gays getting involved with women always leads to trouble!"

Tom reflected for a moment. "You're right," he said. "We'll talk to Olivia tonight."

Chapter LIV Relationship problems

When Arturo's suggestion was put to Olivia, she was at first hesitant. "I'm not sure that I would want to sleep with him in the house. What will the children say when they find a strange man in my bed?"

"They are still very young," said Tom, "so they'll get used to it very quickly. In England, lots of women continually change partners, and the children get used to it. But this is different. No-one is leaving, we're just adding another man to the family. One thing I insist on though, they must call him Roberto, and not father! It is totally dishonest to deceive Roberto, even though it may be a nasty shock to him. Please Olivia, we must not practise deceit!"

"No, you're right, of course," said Olivia.

It did come as a shock to Roberto that Olivia was not just a housekeeper who had given a pair of wealthy gays some children, but was also sleeping with them regularly. They had met for a shagging session at his flat, and after the sex was over, he asked Olivia to go home, as he needed to think.

Next day, Tom asked him to come for a drink after work, and 6 pm found the two of them in a bar, Tom drinking caffè Americano, and Roberto drinking Peroni. "Roberto," said Tom, "what Olivia has told you must have come as a big shock to you. She is very fond of you and she is free to do what she wants. If you are in love and hope to marry her, that's OK. But I imagine that you don't want to marry just yet. If you want to come and live with us, you are welcome, and you can then sleep with Olivia every night! Luca and I are quite content never to have sex with Olivia again, unless she asks us. We have only been doing it because she asked us to. We have each other, we are in a happy lifelong partnership together and all we ask is to be able to live with our children. Olivia has promised us that she will never take the children away from us, so if you married her, you would have to start a new family. By living together, we can all, including the children, develop trust and confidence in one another. However, if you decide that three men and a woman and three children in one house is more than you can cope with, that's up to you to decide.

"I was very upset when Olivia told us that she was seeing you, because I don't want personal relationship problems to spoil our day-to-day working relationship. The only way to solve the problem properly will be for you to move in with us. We would charge you a modest rent, we would expect you to eat with the family, you would have to see to your own laundry, and you would be free to come and go as you wished. I expect that you will want to think about it. Professionally, it ought not to make any difference to our work together in the lab, but if you decided to terminate your relationship with Olivia, we could if you wished arrange for your supervision to be transferred to Ben Curtiss. Carlo has finished his thesis, and as soon as he becomes dottore, he will be leaving for Camford, where he will be doing post-doctoral work.

"Two things are important for you to know: Luca and I will never make Olivia do anything that she does not want to do, and I am very anxious that emotional and sexual relationships should not affect your work in the lab. You are an excellent student and I would much prefer you to stay with me, but if you wish to transfer to Ben, I know that he will look after you as well as I have tried to do. Please tell me as soon as you make up your mind. You will probably want to talk to Olivia about it. She is quite happy to have you living with us, which shows that she is very fond of you."

Chapter LV The new lodger

The following week, Roberto moved in with Olivia and the men. He had decided that maximum opportunities for sex, a very reasonable rent, and the opportunity to sample Olivia's cooking regularly were too good an offer to miss! He was assigned a small room to use as a study and to house his books and clothes, but did not need a bed, as he was going to share Olivia's. Before he arrived, Luke as the senior member of the household, told the children that Roberto, Tom's research student, was coming to live with them. At their first family meal, Tom introduced him to the children and said that they were to call him Roberto. Afterwards, Giovanni came and asked Tom where Roberto would be sleeping, and with great embarrassment, which he did his best to conceal, Tom told him that Roberto would be sleeping with their mother. "I hope he's nice" said the boy, "and I hope that he loves Mamma."

"So do I!" said Tom, and he hugged his eldest son.

The arrangement seemed to work. After a few months, Roberto was established in the household. He got on well with the children and played with them when he had time. Olivia seemed happier, freed from a timetable for sex, and could devote more time to her cooking. There were no problems in the lab. Usually Roberto travelled to and from the lab. with Tom in the car, unless he was engaged with something that needed finishing, when Olivia would keep his meal hot for him until he got home.

At weekends, one of his fathers would take Giovanni to his singing lesson on Saturday afternoons. The other would take the other children out for a walk or a trip to the swimming pool, or sometimes the children would go out with Olivia and Roberto. On Sundays, the men told Olivia that she did not need to come to church with them and the children if she wanted to stay at home and spend an hour or two in bed with Roberto. By now Caterina had become better behaved in church, so one of the men would keep an eye on her, while the other sat with Giovanni and Bernardo. All the children soon got to know Roberto. Caterina made a great fuss of him and frequently sat on his knee. The two boys were more reserved and seemed to have to make an effort to talk to him.

Bernardo was growing up rapidly, and would shortly start school. Of all the children, he was the one who spoke English the most frequently, and this was good for helping Caterina to improve her English, because every time she spoke to him in Italian, he would reply in English. Roberto's arrival had somewhat undermined the routine of speaking English and Italian on alternate days, but a realization by Tom that Roberto's English needed improvement led him to ask the children always to talk to Roberto in English. They all spoke English with Italian accents, because they were not exposed to it at school. Luke had noticed that his twin nieces spoke Italian with an English accent. But fluency is more important than perfect diction, and all five of the children were equally happy to chat in either language. However, it took them a long time to realize that very few people are bilingual, and that they needed to pause and decide, before speaking to someone, which language they would understand. Eventually they each came to realize that they could not speak to Costanza or Olivia's parents in English or to most of their British relatives in Italian!

One week in the summer, the men took Bernardo and Giovanni to one of their favourite spots, the Sacro Monte at Orta-San Giulio. Unlike the previous very solemn visit that Tom and Luke had paid together some years before, this was a more relaxed occasion. Each of the chapels (which depict incidents in the life of Saint Francis) was visited, but prayers were only said at two of the stations. They all regarded it as a nice day in a beautiful natural environment. They booked a family room at the hotel, and had an early dinner each night so that the boys could eat and not stay up too late. "No hanky-panky with sex when we are sharing a room with the boys!" Tom had told Luke. They told Giovanni that if the boys felt lonely or could not sleep, to use his little mobile phone to ring them downstairs. But the boys were fascinated by the two bunk beds and feel asleep within minutes of saying their prayers. The men were woken the next morning by Bernardo climbing into bed with them. Tom got up then, and leaving Bernardo talking to a very sleepy Luke, he went into the bathroom and began to shave. After attending mass at the Friars' church on the Sacro Monte, they had an early lunch and then crossed to the island of San Giulio and explored the nunnery and the rest of the island. They returned home the following morning. Caterina had behaved herself in the boys' absence, but was glad to welcome them home.

Chapter LVI Vittore leads Roberto astray

At Arturo's summer party, Luke took Vittore along as his guest. "It's not all gays, Vittore. There are some interesting people of both sexes from Tom's department." Over the Prosecco that was served to everyone on arrival, Luke introduced Roberto to Vittore, his assistant. The two men got on like a house on fire, and in the following weeks began to go out together to drink, go dancing or to the cinema. When Roberto heard about Vittore's womanizing, he became quite envious. He decided that he should go out more. He would go to bars and night-clubs with Vittore two or three times a week, and sometimes came home the worse for drink. This behaviour did not please Olivia. She might have been less displeased if Roberto had invited her to go out with him, but he insisted on going out with Vittore. At first Olivia wondered if a sexual relationship was developing between the two men, but decided that it was unlikely.

Things came to a climax when one night Roberto did not come home, but arrived in a rather worn-out state at breakfast time. He told Tom that he would have a morning off work to deal with his hangover, but would be in the lab. by lunchtime. When Tom got home at lunchtime, a very upset Olivia told Tom and Luke that she had dumped Roberto. "He had spent the night with a woman," she told them, "and even if he was drunk, he's not the sort of man I want to marry. He has gone to find somewhere to live and will then come back to collect his things." Luke was delighted to hear this. Tom's feelings were much more complex. He had some sympathy for Roberto, who was young and a bit naïve and had obviously been 'led astray' by Vittore. But he could see that Olivia was seriously upset.

"You've been expecting too much from him!" he told her. "He's not done anything that most Italian men have not done several times in their lives. Luca and I are not like that, not because we are British, but because of our Christian faith, which teaches us to be considerate of the feelings and emotions of our friends and colleagues. I'm sorry if I sound pompous, but both Luca and I love you and you can be sure that we shall never abandon you or the children. It's for your and their sakes that we will not leave Italy for at least ten years. If you need help to get over your disappointment, you know that you can count on us! It's Wednesday today and Luca will not be working tonight. If Costanza can look after the children, we will take you out to dinner after we have put them to bed." Olivia smiled gratefully.

"That would be nice," she said "just the three of us!"

When Tom returned to the lab, a severely chastened-looking Roberto was sitting at the bench measuring a melting point. "Roberto," said Tom. "I'm not going to give you any kind of lecture. You are too young to settle down, and in any case, Olivia is not the right woman for you. She may be hurt by your behaviour, but we all learn by our mistakes. Luca and I will do our best to console her, even if we are not as good as you are in bed! Let's just forget the whole incident. I don't want you to change supervisors unless you feel that you can't continue to work with me."

"No, Tomaso, I want to continue working with you. I was very fond of Olivia, but I had no intention of marrying her. I guess I'm a bit young to get deeply involved. I need to get my dottorato first."

"Maybe you might do better with men than women!" said Tom with a grin, and added hastily, "Not that I'm making a pass at you! I'm very happy with Luca, to whom I owe almost everything in life except my scientific skills. But I advise all men who have trouble with their love-life to consider trying men instead of women!"

Chapter LVII Back to a household of three

The children were puzzled by the sudden disappearance of Roberto. "Dovè è Roberto?" asked Caterina. It is difficult to explain to young children the changing whims and attitudes of adults. Children hate change. They prefer the adults around them to be always the same. It had been difficult for them when Luke had disappeared to Antwerp for a couple of months. Caterina was always asking when Pappa was coming back.

Olivia told them that Roberto had been very naughty, and that she had sent him away because she could not forgive him. "You forgive us when we are naughty," said Bernardo.

"Yes, but you are our children. Roberto was a grown-up, and he had had too much to drink. He didn't come home last night. I don't want a man in my bed who stays out all night!" said Olivia.

"I didn't like him!" said Giovanni. "I just want to live with you and Dad and Pappa!"

Tears filled Olivia's eyes. Perhaps she had been selfish in her attachment to Roberto. Maybe she should be content with two loving men who would do anything for the children and would go out of their way to make her happy. Roberto had had the advantage of youth and had been an excellent lovemaker, but he had always lacked commitment. His slender athletic figure had excited her sexually, his agile cock had satisfied her desire for a man inside her, but he took up more than his fair share of the bed, and often snored. Also he did not appreciate her cooking, whereas both Tom and Luke enjoyed the food that she prepared, to the point at which they risked putting on weight! All in all, Olivia could not regret the decision that she had made. At the same time, she knew that Roberto would continue working with Tom, and she tried not to have really hard feelings towards Roberto.

After a few days, after the children had gone to bed, Olivia said to Tom and Luke with a smile, "I'm ready to welcome you back into my bed. Who wants to go first?" Luke said, "As Tom slept with you while I was in Antwerp, I guess that it must be my turn."

Olivia smiled to herself about Luke's evident reluctance. Getting the men to fuck her was the total reverse of the usual role of the married man coaxing a reluctant wife into letting him fuck her. It gave her an immense feeling of power that she could get sex from either of these two men at any time that she wished without any marital strings! Moreover, she had three adorable children who loved their two fathers. Even her parents conceded that in spite of their highly unusual, by Italian standards, ménage à trois, Tom and Luke were model fathers who devoted every moment of their free time to their children.

Giovanni was now beginning to read music. His voice had improved under the tuition of his teacher, Signora Rampelloni, and he was now ready to sing in a choir. He was very keen, but Signora Rampelloni could not offer a way forward. Luke finally contacted David. "You know a lot about singing, Dad," he said. "How can Giovanni best make musical progress before his voice breaks? He wants to sing, not play the piano."

"You could try and get him into your old school, Winton College School. It would of course involve him leaving his family for months at a time at a very young age, but if he went as a weekly boarder, he could live with Jon and me at the weekends, and he would have Caterina as a mother figure. She has felt a bit lonely since your brother Tommy left home. On the other hand, unless he is totally obsessive about his singing, it would not be a good thing to do. He needs to be at home with his mother and brother and sister."

"I'm not really keen on the idea of him going to WCS," said Luke, "leaving home at age eight is not good for a child. He's bound to miss his mother. It wasn't too bad for me, because I had no mother to leave when I started at WCS. But he is very keen, so I will talk to Tom and Olivia and then to him."

"The other possibility is to look around for a similar institution in Italy," said David. "Check out your local cathedral." Enquiries via Signora Bruschetti revealed that there was indeed a choir school attached to Trabizona Cathedral. The cathedral had only three choral services a week, and the boys in the choir were drawn from a single local primary school. Three afternoons per week they learned music and practised their singing in a special hall attached to the cathedral, the rest of the time they spent in school having normal lessons.

Needless to say, both Tom and Olivia thought that for Giovanni to go to England was a very bad idea. "He's too young to be sent to school miles away from home in another land," said Tom, and Olivia was even more vehement.