Why I Hated The Guy From The FBI Ch. 17B

"Blood pressure 115/68

"Okay, everyone. Everything is clean and dry inside, make your counts make sure we got everything out, and we can close."

Charlie whispered a prayer, "If you can hear me, thank you for giving me my wife back. I will never doubt your existence, again."

"You did great, Ann. I knew you were a fighter and you did fight for both your son and me. We love you very much."

As he entered the locker room to change, he was mentally exhausted, and started to cry. He could not remember the last time he had shed a tear, but if he had lost Ann, he would have felt like an empty shell. He had everything to be thankful for; a doctor had saved his wife, his wife had given him a son; and he was crying like a baby. He could not understand why. However, it felt good to unburden his soul.

Then, he had to make phone calls and let everyone he cared for know what had happened. He did not call Celeste first, because of her condition. He called Frank and told him what had happened.

"Is she alright now, Charlie?"

"Yes, Frank, the Doctor said she is going to be fine."

"Let me run this by my mother, before you call Celeste. This will scare her to death, Charlie. It may be a good idea, just to tell her that you have your son, and everything went well. Let me call you back after I get some input from her."

"That is a good idea, Frank. I will call my friends in New York, and wait for your call."

His mom was not at home, so he called her cell phone. As usual, she was out with the girls shopping.

"Mom, I need a few moments of your time."

"What is the matter, Frank? You do not sound right."

"Ann had an accident while she was on the boat today, with Charlie. She had to have an emergency C-section. The baby is fine, but Ann nearly died because of the bleeding artery. The Doctor was finally able to close it and she is going to be fine. What I need to know is 'What should Charlie tell Celeste.'"

"Give me a moment, Frank. I am going to have a conference, with Angelina, Sarah, and Rose."

Gloria came back on the line moments later, and said, "Frank, tell Charlie to lie to her. Tell her everything went fine and the baby came a little bit earlier than expected. We do not want her to be upset, and have her panic over Ann's condition. She will want to get onto an airplane and see her. It is not a good idea for her to fly in her condition."

"That was my opinion, also, mom. I did not want to tell Charlie that, until I spoke with you. I will call him back and let him know what you said."

"Tell him it was not just me, Frank. It was a group decision between the three of us. Angelina, Rose, Sarah, and I all think that is the right decision."

"Great mom, that will make him feel a lot better. Goodbye, I will talk to you, after you make the ravioli."

"What ravioli, Frank?

"Tomorrow is Wednesday, mom. You always make me ravioli on Wednesdays. Did you forget?"

"Frank, you are going to be the death of me. When I have this baby, I am not cooking for you any longer. I am going to teach Antonia how to make ravioli, lasagna, and manicotti."

"Mom, Antonia cannot reach the countertop. How is she supposed to make homemade macaroni like you do?"

"Make her a platform, Frank. I do not want to hear any more excuses from you"

"Mom, no one can make ravioli like you do."

"Frank, go to the store and buy it by the box. I am going on strike."

"Mother, I am withholding grandson privileges."

"You would not dare do that to me."

"As my darling wife would say, 'Do you want to bet?'"

"As your darling wife would say,' I hate you, Frank; I really, really hate you."

"I will see you tomorrow at 6 o'clock mom. 200 ravioli will be fine."

"200, what happened to 150 ravioli?"

"PA takes a lot of energy to care of. I need more carbohydrates to keep up with him."

"I am going to have to go to confession, after what I have to say to you. Frank, I am going to post your address, phone number and email address to every girl you ever fucked. When you start getting responses by letter, phone call, and email, I hope my daughter-in-law kills you."

"Mother, you would not do that to me."

"Frank, watch me." Gloria hung up her phone, leaving, Frank, with his mouth open, and fear in his heart. Antonia would rip it out of his chest, if his mother followed through with her threat.

After sitting down for 15 minutes, mulling over his mother's threat, Frank realized he had to call Charlie back.

"Charlie, the consensus of the mothers here is that you should lie to Celeste. Tell her that the boat was hit by a wave that caused Ann, to go into premature labor. The Doctor did not want to take a chance and wait for her to go to term, and took the baby by C-section. Everything went well. She should be home in three or four days. You do not know when the baby will be home, because he is a month premature and the pediatrician will make that decision."

"Frank, you do realize when she finds out she will kill both of us."

"This was not our decision, Charlie. Four women made this decision. We were just innocent bystanders, following their sage advice."

"She will still kill us, Frank. We are men, and they are women. We are always at fault."

"As they say, Charlie, shit always rolls downhill; and we are always there to catch it."

"Okay Frank, I will tell Ann, what the plan is. I will talk her into going along with it, until after Celeste has her baby. We will tell her what really went on after she is a mother. Then you and I will run for cover."

"That sounds like a plan to me, Charlie. I will talk to you later. Congratulations my friend, I am very happy that everything turned out well for both you and Ann."

Charlie called back the next day to tell Frank that the baby's name was going to be Richard. They were naming him after Commander Richardson, who had saved both Ann's and their son's life.

64. Fence me in

As the old cowboy song goes, "Give me land, lots of land under starry skies above, don't fence me in..." Celeste had a totally different plan. Her lawyers had successfully purchased every vineyard, and plot of land around Philip's and Tony's vineyards. Permits had been received and contractors had been hired to build 4-foot high, old-fashioned stonewalls around the entire perimeter of the connecting properties. Since they were owned by different corporations, no one knew what was really happening; until one day Antonia took a friend home from school, and had to take a different route. When she saw the construction sites at all the properties, she smiled.

"That bitch thinks she can keep another secret from me. It is time to make some money."

At their weekend get-together, with their mothers, and PA, Celeste was talking about Ann's new baby, and was wondering what the name was going to be.

Antonia said, "I will bet the next name will start with a W."

Rose asked, "Ann's baby's name is going to start with a W? "

"No mother, Charlie called and said the baby's name is Richard. Now, the next thing that happens will start with a W."

Celeste said, "Richard is a good name, it is the name of a King, a strong King."

"Forget Kings, does anybody want to bet on the W?"

Celeste knew that her baby was next to be born, and she was not going to name it with a W, so she said, I will bet you $100, it will not be a W."

"I love you Celeste. You are so freaking easy. Give me my money."

"Why, how did I lose already?"

"You bought all the land around Philip, and my dad's vineyards. The W is for the walls they are now building around the properties. You said you were going to wall us all in, and you are doing it now. Give me my money."

"You little witch how you found out about my properties, and my wall."

"You just verified it for me."

Celeste screamed, "I am going to kill you one day. You deserve to die. I cannot keep anything from you. You bait a trap, and I fall right into it."

"With Hooters that size, you cannot help but fall right into it."

"Don't you start with me about the size of my breasts, Antonia. Given half a chance; you would be all over them."

"If you did not promise Philip, that they were his alone, I would have kept them down to normal size, throughout your entire pregnancy."

Rose said, "Antonia, be nice, she is probably wetting her panties right now."

The women sitting there started to chuckle at Celeste's expense.

"You people are very funny. I cannot wait to see your wrinkled old cunts push out new babies."

Antonia yelled, "Bitch fight!"

Gloria said, "We will see who screams more having the next baby. The new mother; or the experienced ones. Remember, Celeste, when Frank came out, he weighed more than 11 pounds, and the drugs they had 27 years ago, were not as good as those they have today. I was able to take it then, I will be able to take it this time."

Rose jumped into the fray. "I pushed out two puppies in 11 months. I know what pain is like. As my doctor told me 'It is like pushing a watermelon through an opening size of a lemon.' I hope you have fun with the first one, Celeste."

Antonia's laughed. "Do you see what your smart mouth got you into, Celeste. You never fool with mothers. You always wind up getting smacked in the back of your head."

Celeste started to tear up, and turned her head away from the group. Antonia realized what she had done, and ran to her friend.

"I am sorry Celeste. That was a mean thing to say. I know you lost your mother a long time ago, and she is not here to help you."

"Every time I think I am over losing her, I find out that I am not. Every day I grow older, I miss her more."

Rose put her arms around Celeste. "Honey that is what friends, like us, are here; to help you fill the void left by the loss of a loved one. When a parent is missing, it is like a piece of your heart is missing. There is nothing you can do or say that will ever take us away from you. We are your family, and you belong to us."

Celeste went into labor on the morning of October 1, and delivered a beautiful baby girl, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. She had fair hair and green eyes just as Antonia had predicted. Both mother and daughter looked beautiful as they lay in bed together.

Marlon immediately took charge of the baby girl, "Celeste. Are we naming her for your mother?"

"Yes Marlon, her name is Kimberly."

Marlon said to the child, "Kimberly, if you give me as much trouble as your mother, I am going to quit."

Celeste realized something as Marlon was leaving the room with her daughter. She yelled, "Marlon, get your ass back in here."

"Yes, Celeste, what can I do for you, now."

"You never told me how you knew everything I was going to do so you could be there to stop me from doing it."

"Madam, do you know how many companies you own that do micro- implanting?"

"Yes, Marlon, I own three of them."

"Madam, they implant wonderful transmitting devices into jewelry."

"Marlon, you are a dead man. I am going to kill you, when I get out of this bed. You have transmitters in every piece of my jewelry." She continued to yell at him as he walked down the corridor towards the nursery, with a smile on his face. He had talked her father into this, so he could keep track of her at all times. It had become a very useful tool as she became more and more obstinate, with regards to her physical safety.

Nurses ran to her room to find out why she was yelling so loudly.

Philip had cigars in every pocket of his jacket, and handed them out liberally. He also had hundreds of cases of wine delivered to the hospital, and had members of his staff handing them out to everyone as they were leaving the hospital. He was an extremely happy husband and father.

Anthony and Rose Caruso's new home was ready for them to move into in November, and sonograms proved that Rose was indeed going to have a multiple birth; twins to be exact: a boy and a girl.

Tony's reaction was predictable. He said, "Oh God, not again!"

All Rose could do was laugh.

On Christmas day, 4000 miles apart, Donna Caruso, and Gloria Gennaro had their babies, nearly at the same moment. In Milan, Gloria Gennaro delivered her second baby boy at 4:07 PM. He weighed 10 lbs. 2 oz., and was 20 inches long. Gloria compared baby pictures of her newborn and his older brother, they looked like twins. Gloria became inconsolable thinking of the years of cooking ahead of her. Philip Gennaro did not dare enter his wife's room, after she threw a bedpan at him. Her son was bolder than his father. He walked into the room with the biggest grin on his face and said to his mother, "Mom, I do not think I am going to have to teach Michael anything. He is running the nurses ragged already."

Gloria wanted to scream at her son, but all she could do was laugh. She said, "I am not keeping score this time, and he will have to learn how to wash his own sheets."

Six time zones to the west, Donna Caruso, delivered her second baby girl, at 10:05 A.M. She looked just like her mother. They named her in memory of her father, "Marcesa."

On February 1, construction began making internal roadways connecting the houses on the properties owned by Philip Castronova and Anthony Caruso. One road led to nowhere. Frank and Antonia wanted to stay at the Villa, on the campus grounds, until Antonia completed college. Frank would be deeply involved with his PhD and the less traveling he had to do the better. Another construction project began at the same time. A huge swimming pool with a connecting whirlpool and hot tub was started. A short distance away a wet steam room and dry heat room was being constructed. The women and children sat at a discreet distance away, watching the construction of Rose and Celeste's dream.

On April 15, Rose Caruso, delivered her twins. The baby girl came first, followed seven minutes later by the baby boy.

Antonia was ecstatic. She was older than Vincent, now her sister was older than the younger brother. Life was repeating itself again.

"What would you like to name them, Rose?"

"You are going to let me do that this time, Anthony?"

"I did it the last time, Rose, and look where that got us."

"I see what you mean, Anthony. We will name them Christina and David?"

"Those are very good names, Rose, but why the sequential letters?"

"I just thought, if you got me pregnant again, we could use E and F the next time."

The next sound she heard was a thud as her husband hit the floor. She started to laugh and pressed the call button for help from the nurses.

Antonia saw the nurses running into her mother's room, and rushed in after them.

She saw her father lying on the floor and yelled, "Yes, mom, how did you do it. How did you kill dad."

Rose smiled at her daughter. "We just named the babies Christina and David. He asked me why C and D together. I told him the next time he got me pregnant again, we could use E and F. He fell down like a stone."

THE END

CHAPTER 17

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Postscript: Dear Readers, Finding an appropriate end to this story was exceedingly hard. I could have continued on for years by following the adventures of Philip learning to fly; the six new children, who entered the picture, while the five harried parents tried to deal with them, and their sex lives, at the same time. I could have explored the newfound relationship, between Rose and Sarah, while introducing an entirely new group of people, Rose's 2 brothers and 3 sisters. The juiciest plot line of all would have been the new adventures of Sarah, Sophia, and Angelique Saint Jerome, the 3 unmarried sexy women. As you may remember, from one of the earliest chapters of this story, Angelique's brother was extremely handsome, but he was also gay. Introducing Sarah to him, and explaining to her that he was gay, at the very beginning, was going to be a ploy to get her out, into the dating scene. There were so many scenarios for that; I would have driven myself crazy for a month, going through them.

As you can see from these little tidbits above, there is enough work for me to have continued on and on for years. However, I thought it appropriate to end this story with Anthony Caruso, flat on his back, as every other new father-to-be started out, when confronted with the fact that more children were in his future.

For Antonia, life had come full circle. Was it "Vengeance At Last?" She laughed as she looked down at her father; unconscious, and on the floor. He was starting a new family at the age of 43 years old. Philip Anthony Gennaro would be older than his Uncle David and Aunt Christina. She could not wait to watch her father run after his twins, while realizing the mistakes he made the first time around, while raising her and Vincent. She was actually hoping he would get it right, this time.

THE VERY END

CHAPTER 17

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P.S. I have just started working on my next story. Its working title is:

"Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother"

It is a love story, mixed up with a mystery, mixed up with a love story.