by Nanette Fox
Returning to the Townhouse, Tim dropped Izzy off and didn’t stay long. Izzy faced a questioning Bec and Paul. Intimating, she didn’t feel like talking, she needed to do some emails and confirm some details for the week ahead, she left them looking at each other as she headed upstairs to her room after calling out for Basil to go with her. She quickly came back and wished Paul a good flight. “Not going tonight Izzy, a couple of days yet, remember we have Antonio’s birthday celebration Tuesday night.”
“Oh damn, I’d forgotten about that,” cursed Izzy as she turned to go back upstairs.
Bec twittered to Paul, “She’s not happy and Tim stayed all of five minutes, they didn’t have a good weekend.” Paul sent a quick text ‘want to go for a beer’. A quick reply came through 20 minutes later ‘meet you in an hour at the tavern’.
Chapter 42
Yabba over a Few Beers…
Concerned Paul started the conversation almost immediately, “So is there a problem between you and Izzy?”
Tim nodded. “I can’t even begin to know where to start. We went to see my grandparents at the farm. When we got there, everyone was there, David and Ronnie with Mum announcing their engagement, Julia and Antonio just having a weekend away before the baby. So, to see them all wasn’t especially an issue. Trouble was Lainey had also turned up with her husband Stefan and Zot. She has been up before when Dad was alive. I have absolutely no idea why she turned up again, Saturday, of all days.”
Paul looked at him, “So that would have been okay surely?”
“No,” said Tim emphatically. “Firstly, I wasn’t genuinely ready to share my closeness to Zot with my family, let alone Izzy.”
“Then Lainey was absolutely vile about Izzy and in front of my family.” Tim had twisted his face in anguish. “The only saving grace was that Izzy didn’t hear it, she’d taken Zot out for his first pony ride.”
“It didn’t stop with a disgusting argumentative performance between Lainey and I inside.” He had finished the first beer and was quickly on to his second. “We were outside taking family photos with Zot and the pony and Lainey was just in my face, cuddling up to me in photos with Stefan right there. We’re normally fairly reserved around Stefan out of respect to him.” He lent forward on his stool. “We’re close you know, we’ve shared some pretty intimate moments because of Zot. I thought though she understood I don’t want a relationship with her. In a relationship we don’t work together. She is not who I’d want for a partner, but I just thought we were close friends, parents of Zot. We cuddle and touch each other around our uni friends and obviously around my family but not when Zot is there. I have always been straight up with Zot and said I like his mother Lainey, but we don’t love each other and can’t live in the same house like other mums and dads do. He’s little, you can’t tell him anything too complicated.”
Paul had his beer in one hand and was leaning his chin on his other hand. “So where was Izzy during the photos?”
“I have no idea, she drifted off and the next I saw of her, she was riding her equestrian horse together with my Aunt Tea on her horse and my cousins, Danny and Sarah, on theirs. They were off to train in the Arena for an equestrian competition. She didn’t even acknowledge me as she rode past. I went and watched them in the arena for a little while before going back inside to be with Zot. Later on, she came in and was sitting on the floor playing a game with Zot and myself and there was more drama from Lainey because she caught David taking pictures of the three of us with his phone camera.” He stopped and rubbed his hand across his forehead. “My Gran Rosa got all upset at Lainey, cursing her in Italian and asked her to leave the farmhouse.”
Paul looked his friend, “Better than a movie.”
Tim grumbled at him, “Don’t try to be funny.” Paul apologized.
“Anyway,” continued Tim, “everyone had gone, and I went to find out that my beautiful girlfriend didn’t want to talk and was more than happy to bunk down in the Stable-block with a bunch of horses snorting in their stalls.”
Paul looked at Tim, “So did things improve today.”
“Marginally, we took the ATV’s, raced around on those for a while and then had a picnic. We did talk, but I think we have unsettled each other even more. I wanted, rather I needed to talk about the situation with Lainey and managing my contact with Zot. It’s become a major priority for me after Saturday. I think Izzy would be an amazing step-mum as she is very patient and gentle and has had a lot of experience with teaching kids’ activities. Zot seems to have taken to her. Trouble is she believes she isn’t meant to have children or be in any way ‘a mum’ so she is a little terrified of getting involved. The other issue is that unless Izzy is prepared to stand up to Lainey and fight for her rights, she’ll be ‘eaten for breakfast’, ‘chewed on’ and ‘spat out by dinner’. Lainey’s hard as nails and doesn’t mince words. Izzy’s all soft and mushy and gentle and will get trampled over.” Paul just looked at Tim and had to suppress his laughter.
He couldn’t resist, “Well you won’t be planning on having them mud-wrestling anytime soon.”
Tim just looked at him, “What?”
Paul said, “Mud-wrestling Lainey and Izzy, sounds like it be Lainey for the win.”
“Geez Paul.”
“Well at least you’re grinning.”
“You want another beer?”
“Yeah I walked here.”
“Me too; you want to play some pool?”
"Nah, I am just enjoying the ‘yabba’.
“Izzy’s considering a career change and has been working on some possible business arrangements with this guy she knows through Isaac. I’ve met him, Rob somebody or other, he’s okay, he’s in a same sex relationship so I have to wonder about his friendship with Isaac as he describes them as having been very, very close.”
“Interesting,” said Paul. “She was talking about offices in Sydney, Perth and Singapore and a heap of travelling. I was listening and thinking great Izzy but are you in any way committed to our relationship.” He took some swigs of his beer. “It doesn’t stop there she’s angry she is experiencing too much chronic pain in her lower back to compete on that wretched horse.”
“What’s he like the horse, really good-looking?” Paul was smirking. Tim looked at him.
“Well you said ‘wretched’ you sounded jealous.”
“It’s a she, and she’s pretty bloody stunning actually for a horse, she’s called Majestic Dreams!”
Paul sat regarding his friend, “So all in all, not a great weekend.”
Tim just looked disgusted and said, “No and we needed to have an amazing weekend, just the two of us together.”
Tim looked at Paul, “So how’s Bec after Friday night?”
“She calmed down.”
“Tell you what, so unlike Bec.” Paul took a swig of his beer.
“You know, Izzy was right, Bec is very conservative, and she is absolutely in knots about falling pregnant before we got married. To have her folks upset too is not helping her to feel right about it.”
“Bec wouldn’t have decided to terminate the pregnancy?”
“Definitely not, wouldn’t have entered her head.”
“Did you and Lainey ever contemplate that?”
“We discussed it, because obviously it wasn’t an ideal situation as I no longer wanted to continue the relationship, Lainey’s just too ‘different’ for my liking. You know I think she thinks she can go on partying and using recreational drugs forever, and it will never impact her health.”
“Back to you though, so have you finished with the forces now? What are you going to do?”
“I’ve applied for positions in a couple of the major hospitals.”
“I might have to do some more study to widen my prospects. Unfortunately, it’s all about budgets. I could start up privately, but my experience is not broad enough.”
“So, what are you going to do about Lainey?” asked Paul.
Tim looked stricken but resolved, “I�
��ll have to sit down with her and have it out with her. Also, just like I know Izzy did with David, I’ll have to set her straight about how we are to be around each other now. She has always in the past been great to talk things out with and this time around I hope she has her ‘sensible cap’ on. If she comes back at me with threats about not seeing Zot, I am not sure how I will handle that. She has tried that tack in the past when Zot was about two. It didn’t work, Zot got sick, and she needed my help. Then not long after she met Stefan and she has been very lucky as he and his family have been so supportive.”
“Unfortunately, Stefan wants to go back to his wife, he’s been romancing her again, and she seems happy to re-marry.”
“How do you know that?”
“He approached me privately and explained because he was concerned about Zot. His plan is to withdraw gradually from Zot’s life so that he and his parents and his own children just gently fade away.”
“Not so sure that’ll work when they do break-up, however, in theory, it’s a good idea.”
Paul looked his friend in the eyes, “Please don’t get too down about it all, just work through everything methodically and logically. I am around until Wednesday morning. Even then you can always ring me.”
“I’ve got a busy week with work,” said Tim, “so it will all have to go on the back-burner for now. Izzy and I are supposed to be together with all of you for Antonio’s birthday Tuesday night, hopefully that will happen.”
Paul lent over and said quite forcefully, “Mate Izzy loves you, and I know you love her, you’re being daft. Don’t doubt your relationship, just talk to each other, it’s just stuff to sort out.”
They just looked at each other. “Do you want another beer?”
“Yeah I do then we’ll go and find some takeaway.”
Chapter 43
Antonio’s Birthday and a Whole Lot of Drama
Isabella Stewart was just a teeny bit proud of herself as she arrived at the Martinelli home. Dressed in her beautiful slate grey angora jumper dress with its provocative mini length and low swooping cowl neckline at the back paired with the superbly soft thigh high grey suede boots, hair and make-up perfection to match she was anxious to celebrate the successes of the negotiations that had culminated today. Bec and Paul had arrived, as had Julia and Antonio. David was lounging around waiting for Veronica to arrive. Tim had messaged Julia and said he was running behind schedule and would be there probably 15 minutes late. As she walked in to the family room where everyone was gathering, Paul sat up and took notice. Antonio’s eyes followed her every move, and David rolled off the couch to stand his eyes almost falling out of his head. Paul whistled, Antonio and David were broadly smiling. Bec said, “Well Isabella you have made their night, and we haven’t even starting celebrating.” Izzy start frowning, she wasn’t even thinking of how she looked. The sexy impact she was making was punctuated with her obvious excitement, she was glowing.
“I am so proud of my achievement,” she said as she sat herself down between Julia and Bec. “I bought a Marketing and Advertising Company today, ‘Stewart Martin Michaels’. I have gone into partnership with Rob Michaels; actually, I call him ‘Bobby’. He is someone I got to know through Isaac. We work so well together; he is brilliantly creative. We have been in serious negotiations for about three weeks. I am so excited about it. Our main office will be here in Melbourne, but we will have auxiliary offices in Perth, Sydney and Singapore.” Julia and Rebecca were looking at their close friend and boss in astonishment.
Julia spoke first, “So what about the Gallery?”
“I am not selling it, but I have put in a Gallery Assistant-Director, Monique, who is, Bec, going to need a lot of advice about the business side of things. Bec you are going to be the Manager now.”
“Julia, you’ll get to work with your mum.”
Julia opened and closed her mouth. “What?”
David said “what?” almost in unison.
“Your mum came to me a couple of weeks ago and asked for a couple of days a week. She wants to get out and about, not be at home hidden in the studio.” Everyone was just looking at her.
Antonio, I have something for you. She got up and went over to the small carry-on sized briefcase set, kneeling to open the front pocket, she came back across to Antonio with several envelopes and an A5 sized folio. It is a letter of introduction to a well-known wine-maker, galleys of the wine label and a contract for the marketing of your wine blend. He just looked at her. If you and he can work together, you will be our first financial clients. How does that sound?" Antonio swallowed, looked up at Izzy, looked at Julia and smiled the widest grin. He got up to kiss Izzy on both cheeks.
“So European, I love that about you,” said Izzy. Antonio felt and looked quite flustered.
David was looking at her, “Now I know why the office staff were all bustling about and talking about a new client today.”
Izzy got up and did a little happy dance, “I know, isn’t it so good?”
David said, “It’s a re-vamp of one of Isaac’s old companies isn’t it?”
Izzy smiled, “Sort of, my money, our money really as she drew a little circle indicating them, because it is owned technically mostly by Bobby and myself, but you guys, the three Martinelli’s have shares.”
“I have envelopes of documents for you all.”
“We’ve structured our business initially to provide marketing and advertising to a wide range of charities before expanding to financial clients.”
David smiled the widest smile, “So Izzy the money, the bad money is suddenly going to do a lot of good for many.”
“Yep that’s right Mr. Dave.”
“Bobby and I have been writing to all the charities, most have signed up for our services.”
“Wow girl you’ve done a good thing.”
He looked up as Veronica came through the door and smiled broadly. “Veronica, I love you.” Julia giggled. Izzy looked up at David, her eyes twinkling. Bec was just sitting flabbergasted at everything unfolding around her.
Paul, amused at Izzy in full flight, said, “Iz darling, can you get us some beers and maybe some wine to celebrate, pre-drinks before we go out.”
She laughed, “I have bubbles for us girls, just a sip mind you,” looking at Julia and Bec, “and no doubt there are beers in the fridge.” The men followed her with their eyes as she went in and out of the kitchen getting everyone’s drinks.
Tim strode in looking very business-like in a magnificent cashmere overcoat over a casual business outfit of grey and navy with dark grey trousers. He shed his overcoat with the same mannerism of his father. Julia sighed. He took in the merriment around him and the looks of the men as Izzy flittered in and out of the kitchen. “Wow Iz, you look amazing but oh so sexy.” He followed with, “Well you guys can all stop drooling over my beautiful girlfriend and tell me what’s been happening.” Tim sat down just as his father would have done, upright posture, expansive and inclusive of everyone. He certainly had a presence, such a tall, good looking man. Julia blinked and filed her thought.
Julia spoke, “Izzy finalized the purchase of a Marketing and Advertising company which is called Stewart Martin Michaels. I am guessing the Martin is an acknowledgement of the three of us as we have shares in it.” Tim gazed at his sister.
Izzy piped up, “The ‘elli’ bit didn’t fit with our branding. Bobby and I discussed it at great length because we felt uneasy about dropping it.”
Tim was looking at Izzy. “I don’t understand. Who is Bobby?”
“Bobby is Rob.” Tim still looked puzzled.
Izzy sat beside him quite close, her hand on his inside thigh, explaining what everyone was chattering about. He was taking in her sparkling eyes and glowing expression. She said, “Not bad for a blonde bimbo who works in retail and plays with horses, I think.”
He frowned and said, “How did you hear that?” glancing across at David and Julia.
"I had a phone call yesterday morning from Gr
an Rosa, she doesn’t like to speak on the phone, but we had a nice chat, she was a little concerned and told me to keep you because ‘you will mess-up my lipstick and not give me black eyes’. I think she was alluding to that famous quote that floats around ‘Find a man who ruins your lipstick darlin’. Not your mascara’ recited Izzy in a perfect southern drawl. How she has ever heard it I couldn’t guess. Julia burst into gales of laughter.
“You, all three of you, should spend heaps of time with your grandparents because they are getting quite frail,” said Izzy. “I am very fond of them both and have noticed; because of my horse at the farm I have been seeing them frequently. I never knew my own grandparents, so I do care and respect them.” Tim, holding her quite close, kissed her forehead, thinking he loved her gentleness and caring for others. He was still feeling a little sick to the stomach after his altercation with Lainey earlier that day.
Tim couldn’t believe he had been so sloppy and careless. He was always so attentive with details. David had emailed him Monday with the family photos with Zot and the pony. He hadn’t forwarded the email to Lainey as he was pre-occupied when it came through. David had emailed him again the same morning with the ‘for his eyes only’ photos of Zot, Izzy and himself. This morning, he had opened his emails; then unthinkingly forwarded the incorrect one to Lainey. Within half an hour, Lainey was screeching down the phone she needed to see him and as soon as possible.
They met at a coffee shop and tossed viciousness and insults backwards and forwards for an hour or more. She got up and left quite abruptly after he said, “Lainey, we can argue and talk all we like. I am marrying Isabella. I would like to continue seeing Zot. I want to have minimal contact with you. Our contact should be about Zot and only Zot. I am no longer coming inside your home, and we won’t be together amongst our university friends anymore. Do you understand?”
She flounced out with a parting shot, “You know you are something special to me, we were amazingly good for those six months back then and we have been extremely close ever since. NO, I don’t understand.” He was dreading what would come next.