Chapter 13 - Teaser

As promised, here is the teaser for Chapter 13.  It is a rough, first draft and hasn't been edited, so please be kind with your remarks.

Also, check out the Rossi Pack page for more pics of Luc, I promise you won't be disappointed...

Carlo picked the newspaper off the counter and after removing it from the protective plastic sleeve he glanced at it and muttered, “Fuck.”  He threw the newspaper to Dante who started to laugh as he read the banner headline, “Italian Billionaire lands in Hagerstown.”  The front page was filled with articles about Dante, his personal life, his businesses, what he could possibly be doing in Washington County and there were several pictures of him and then one of him and Carlo together. 

“It’s a good thing I notified the Council you were coming.  If I wouldn’t have told them, it would’ve looked like I was trying to hide it,” said Carlo with a shrug as the phone rang.

“Rossi residence,” Gina answered as she poured a cup of coffee.  “Yes, he is, May I ask who’s calling….Certainly Governor Branch, hold on a minute please.”

“Russell, how are you doing?...Yes, he arrived Monday….No, he picked up a new Gulfstream and decided to pay a visit…Yes, very last minute…Cocktail party to welcome him…Oh, I’m sure he would love that…I’ll have my PA Marco arrange it for Thursday at 7…Yes, in Hagerstown…He’ll let your Chief of Staff know the details…Yes, we’ll arrange for local businesses to do the catering to highlight local products…I’ll call Senator Martin and I’m sure he’ll be available…Good to talk to you too, see you Thursday…” Carlo hung up the phone and almost immediately it rang again, he sighed and said, “The madness has begun.”

For the next hour the phones rang non-stop, both house lines in addition to Carlo’s cell phone often ringing at once.  Newspapers both local and national, prominent business people across the state, and local, county, state and federal government officials called.  Finally, Carlo had enough and sent a message to Clay Martin, “Clay, I need you to host a reception for Dante on Thursday at 7PM, send out a press release so they’ll call your office and stop calling me.  We’ve been on the phone for the last hour talking to every fucking government official that even thinks they’re important.  Have your Chief of Staff contact Marco and Gina to coordinate a guest list; you know who needs to be invited so there aren’t any hard feelings.  I want Pack businesses to cater the event, and make sure the bills come to me.  Hold on a sec, Dante wants something…” 

“Long John Silvers, I want them to cater some of the food,” said Dante with a grin.  He got his wallet out of his pocket and searched for a business card and handed it to Gina with a smile.

“For the love of….fine, we’ll get them to cater,” said Carlo with a grimace as Gina was laughing.  “Oh, and use this opportunity to your advantage as much as you can, since your re-election is next year.  I want you to include people that are going to be beneficial to your campaign, also invite some people that normally get overlooked and will be thrilled to be invited but keep the guest list to around 600.”

“Yes, Alpha and thank you,” said Clay.  “I’ll have my Chief of Staff start a guest list immediately and he’ll contact Marco and Gina at The Manor House in an hour, is that okay?”  Carlo asked Gina and she looked at her schedule planner and the clock and nodded her head as she contacted the Millers and told them to meet her at 1PM at Rossi’s Grocery.

“Mom, do you know where my Timberlands are?” Anthony hollered from upstairs.

“And that’s my cue to bring me back to reality,” muttered Gina setting her coffee cup down on the counter.

“Before you go and help our son, remember President Roberts is coming Thursday for the official reception from the Alpha Council.  Schedule that reception at 6 at the same venue but in a different room.  There should only be around thirty of us there, so we can use one of the conference rooms,” said Carlo absentmindedly.  “What am I telling you this for?  You know what to do; you always know what to do.”

“A reception for the Alpha Council, plus a reception for 600 people with a day and a half notice…sure Carlo no problem at all,” Gina said as she rolled her eyes and then a sly smile crossed her face.  “After I’m done with all this, I’ll give Vinnie a call and order that new SUV you promised me.” 

Dante started laughing and asked, “That is not quite fair, you get an SUV and he gets a helicopter?”

Seeing the look on Gina’s face, Carlo grinned and said, “Shit, I forgot to tell you I was buying a helicopter.” 

Gina walked out of the kitchen muttering, “I swear they don’t grow up, their toys just get more expensive.”  Carlo and Dante looked at each other and burst out laughing.

*****

The sky was overcast and dark grey clouds hung low over the mountain as Rose looked out the back windows of the kitchen as she cleaned some of the dishes from breakfast.  The Clan was getting ready to sit at the table after loading their plates and Rose said in a loud voice to be heard over their conversation, “It’s supposed to rain, make sure you bring your jackets, and when you come home you’d better not track mud in my house.”    

Michael started to laugh and said, “Aunt Rose we learned our lesson five years ago when you made us scrub the floors and we haven’t done it since.” 

“Mom’s good at giving lessons that involve us doing housework,” grumbled Vin.

“I heard that Vincent,” said Rose as she smiled.  “Madame Gina sent a message that we’re not going to the safe room today and we’re going Friday instead.  We have enough food in the fridge that I don’t have to worry about cooking this evening, so I’ll be in the office after I stop in at the clinic to see Maria.”

“Have you heard from Mom and Dad about how Maria is doing?” asked Lorenzo as everyone stopped eating to look at Rose.  “We didn’t want to bother them; we weren’t sure how much sleep they got last night.”

“I talked to your Mom, she said Maria slept through the night, Doc’s been in to see her and said her vitals look good so he’s going to cut back the medicine around noon so she can start to wake up,” Rose said with a sigh of relief.  “Depending on how she responds she could be released later today.  They’ll be bringing her here so Annie can concentrate on taking care of her while the rest of you also get taken care of.  So after practice, you boys will need to go to your house and get what you need to stay here a couple of days.”

Sophia looked at her mom with a frown and said, “Momma, who’s going to take me to training if the boys have football practice?”

“I will,” said Frank as he walked into the room, followed by Ric, Rocco and Luc.  All four of the men were dressed in shorts and t-shirts and their hair was wet from their recent shower in the pool house.

“You trying to get rid of that spare tire before you get back to Italy?” Damian asked with a smile.  “It looks like your thighs are getting kinda jiggly too; maybe we can look on Ebay and get you a Thigh Master.”  The Clan put their heads down as they dissolved into laughter at the look on Ric’s face.

Ric glared at the youngsters and said, “Frank, I swear to Luna I’m going to kill a couple of them before I go back to Italy, starting with Damian.”

“You’re welcome to try, but don’t come crying to me when they whip your ass,” Frank responded with a laugh.

Luc looked at the youngsters gathered around the table in their school uniforms and said condescendingly, “They look so cute dressed alike, like the Boobsy twins.”

The Clan looked at each other and Dom exhaled slowly before saying, “Luc you’re a good looking guy, thank Luna for that because you’ve got shit for brains.  If you’re going to insult somebody get it right, it’s the Bobbsey Twins.”

As everyone broke out in laughter, Luc shrugged his shoulders and said, “At least you’ve admitted I’m better looking than all of you.”

“I never said that,” said Dom with a snort.  “I said you were a good looking guy, the kind of thing people say to be polite.”  He hesitated for a split second, glancing at Sophia out of the corner of his eye, “Like when Sophia asks ‘Do these pants make my ass look fat?’ and we say no even though her ass looks like a billboard.”

Sophia gasped loudly as her brothers and cousins started to laugh.  “What pants make my ass look like a billboard?  Momma we’re going to have to get rid of all my pants and buy new ones now.”

“Think about it Shortstuff, you’re 115 pounds, how big could your ass possibly be?” Vin asked as he continued to laugh.  “You must be really tired this morning for Dom to be able to rattle your cage like that.”

 

“I don’t expect that from him…from Damian yes…but not from Dom,” huffed Sophia as she glared at Dom.

“How did I get dragged into this conversation?” Damian asked as he reached for the pancake syrup.  “Have I ever done anything to you Squirt?” 

“Don’t pay attention to him Smurfette,” said Lorenzo with a smile.  “He’s jealous that somebody has a fatter ass than him.”

Sophia hissed as she stabbed at her pancakes, “I don’t have a fat ass and I’m not short, I’m almost 5’5” darnit.  That’s normal height for a girl; I can’t help it if the rest of you are abnormally large.”

“Ant calls you Peanut, so we were trying to make you feel better since he isn’t here, Short-stack,” said Gianni as he grabbed some bacon from Enzo’s plate.

“Daddy, tell them to stop with the nicknames,” Sophia said with a sigh.  “And my nickname has nothing to do with my height you bunch of morons.”

“The next one that says anything to her will be washing my truck this weekend,” said Frank with a scowl as he looked around the table.

Rose walked in the kitchen from the mud room and said, “Sophia, I put some old raincoats in the mudroom, I’m not sure if the Miller girls have any or not.”  Noticing the silence she said, “What?”