Impossible Love

Impossible love 89

Maxieplus

There was tension in the air on Friday evening, I had been down to the Cartasso apartment and everything had been cleared out, a desk and chairs were placed in front of a poster the boys had made of the Prahran market, along with a tripod with a camera and lighting. They had trialed it the night before and everything looked good on screen so it was ready to go.

Iris returned and she had a handsome, surprisingly younger man on her arm who she introduced as Jeffrey Ferguson, he will spend the night here because contracts had to be signed by him, myself, and Iris.

"Be ready for anything Jeff, they can be a bit unforgiving."

"Iris has worded me up on them Antonio, I should be all right." I think he was sweating.

Brent and Conner arrived and Leon took him through the camera workings then rattled off a lot of rules, he was laughing his head off right from the start, but in the end, he didn't have to do a damn thing, he had assistants to help him, Maxie and Tomas did the filming they had been practicing for a few days.

Chairs were provided and makeup was done, it has to be done for real now because it will be live, Carlos had that job even the cameramen had to have their faces done. The babies were being looked after by Alice, but Lukas was old enough to understand and to insist he sit and watch with gran in the corner. Brent had left his kids at home with the grandad's, and I believe he's going to be interviewed tonight. I don't know what he does except be a daddy and on the charity board.

"What are they up to Brent?"

"I don't know but I'm ready for anything they throw my way."

"Okay everybody we go live in twenty minutes, Iris, Gianni, my Carlos, take your positions," Leon shouted while he clapped his hands.

"Mr. Jeffrey please be seated you are first and be nice to our audience."

Jeff sat at the desk and they checked the lighting.

"And Mr. Conners please be seated also."

"You said I'm not in this one Leon." Conner protested.

"Yes you are, you are in all of them, so please do not fuss about it, and by the way, my Carlos is going to sing his new song also, so there."

"He can't sing."

"Twenty thousand sales tells me he can Mr. Conners."

Conner cracked up, his album is the fastest-selling album in the world it's already up to thirty-five million. I was chuckling to myself, I think Cons going to get it bad tonight. I kissed my son and sat with him and gran to watch the show, Maxie shifted us because we were on camera.

"Such nonsense Antonio, why do they do ridiculous things to their old nona. I get comfortable they move me, I have a good mind to smack them."

"Go with it gran, they are all just having some fun."

"We will see when they interview me, I will fix them good."

"They are interviewing you?"

"Yes Antonio, such nice boys wanting to talk to their old grandmother on the television."

"My god, watch yourself they could do anything gran."

She smirked at me and straightened up her shoulders.

"Watch them try."

I passed Lukas to her and went to talk to Leon.

"If you put gran on camera Leon, please don't upset her, please," I begged.

"She is our gran Antonio, why would you even think we would upset her, go back to your seat, please. Okay everyone we are rolling our Iris's interview in five four three two one, roll it."

"Welcome to the Iris Wilson wine show, tonight we have some very special guests for you and now is your host Iris Wilson with Australia's premier winemaker Jeffrey Ferguson." Leon then pushed play on his desk computer.

I could hear her talking to him but couldn't see him.

"We are on air in ten minutes, Mr. Conners and Mr. Ferguson please take your seats, I will not tell you again." They both sat at the desk and Conner started laughing again, I think he's going to shine tonight.

I watched as her interview came to a halt she was smiling and from what I could hear she did very well.

"Good evening listeners and lookers this is the Iris Wilson show and I am Leon Cartasso, Gianni's brother and Carlos's husband, Lukas Antonio Gianni, and little Luca's uncle. Tonight we have some special guests. Carlos, how is my makeup for television?" Carlos dabbed a little powder on Leon's nose and said.

"You are good to go my Leon."

"Carlos you have sold a lot of records this week and you are still top of the Iris Wilson tunes list are you happy?" He stared at Conner.

"Yes I am very happy Leon, my new songs come out tomorrow and they will be another best-seller."

"Mr. Conners is here tonight how many records have you sold this week?"

"About thirty million Leon and rising. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all my fans....."

"That's enough free advertising thank you Mr. Conners." He fell forward laughing, Conner that is.

"Mr. Jeffrey Ferguson we have listened to your interview with our Iris and we think it was very good, why did you not take your daughter Penny to her ballet lesson two months ago?"

"What? Ballet, two months ago?"

"We think you didn't take her because you were drunk we think you drink a lot of your own very nice wines."

"I can't even remember it, how the hell did you know anyway, and I don't drink?"

"We talk," Leon smirked.

"And your son Jimmy missed out on his football game also because you were drinking with your workers in the winery."

"His mother takes him what business is it of yours and I will say it again, I don't drink?"

"Little Ben thinks it's our business, hello Ben Penny and Jimmy, it's me, uncle Leon." He waved.

"He said you never take them anywhere because you drink a lot."

"I do not, I do a lot of wine tastings like Iris does, the kids just made that all up."

When there is no one to defend you things can get a little sticky.

"We at the Iris Wilson show think you should dry out for your children, little Penny you get a free Carlos Cartasso cd in the mail for your input."

"Leave my kids out of it Leon."

"Well when you sober up, you can do all those wonderful things with your children in the future."

"I do a lot with them already."

"They said you fell down the stairs and it was funny."

"I tripped down a couple of stairs so what, it happens."

"Were you drunk?"

"Of course I wasn't."

"Would you like some of our Giannis wines now?"

"For bloody sure, I need it, this is so distressing."

He was red in the face and about to explode, I passed a drink to him and he skulled it online.

"See little Penny you were right, your daddy doesn't drink too much even though he makes the best wine in Australia, did you win your bet with your mummy?'

"What bloody bet?"

"Your babies bet their mummy ten dollars they could get you to have a drink on the Iris Wilson show."

"I don't drink, I'm a wine taster."

"You do now Mr. Jeffrey, and our viewers saw you do it, well done children for that question you will receive some Iris Wilson loafers along with my Carlos's cd."

"What just happened?" He looked around the room everyone was laughing at his face.

"You just got Cartasso'd Jeffrey, go with the flow," Iris said.

"You see listeners and viewers, not every winemaker is a drunk, but as much as they tell you they don't drink you have just seen how easy it is to get them to drink, thank you little ones. Now Mr. Conners have you something to say to our listeners?"

"No, only a big thank you for the...."

"Enough of the thank youse, thank you. Is your husband here?"

"Yes." He groaned.

"We will be interviewing Brenten Walsh after this advertisement, our Iris would you like another wine?"

"Yes please, Leon."

"I rest my case." he laughed as he threw his hands in the air.

It was hilarious and I shook my head as Jeff had another drink then came and sat with us.

"I have no idea what happened there."

"Watch the replay with the kids, and watch their faces, I think you have just been kiddy bombed."

"We are back to the Iris Wilson show and we now have Brenten Walsh here to interview. Welcome Brenten what would you like to say to my Gianni?"

"Nothing Leon, what's that got to do with anything, hello Gianni."

"That is better Mr. Brenten Walsh manners cost nothing do they, listeners?" Fuck he's in for it.

"But I said hello earlier."

"Yes you did, but our viewers don't know such things, say hello to our Iris"

"Hello Iris, how are you this evening?"

"Very well Brenten." Iris smiled demurely.

"That is also better because we have heard on this Iris Wilson wine show that you can be pretty rude sometimes, is this true?"

"Don't try that with me, Leon. I thought I was here to talk about Conner."

"Why would you want to talk about him, you see him all the time and our listeners are more interested in you, more than anyone that thinks he can sing a few songs and make a lot of money. My Carlos does that with ease, did you know that Mr, rude Brenten Walsh?"

"My god Con, help me." He slid down the seat and looked at Conner.

"Mr. Brenten Walsh we have heard you can be pretty rude to your friends sometimes also, is this true."

"Of course not, where did you hear that from, there's so much shit going on in the fake tabloids about us and all of it isn't true. I am a husband and father that is my life, I am not rude to anyone because I am too bloody busy with my family."

"Your friend Adam tells us differently."

"Adam, fucking Adam, what the hell has he been saying?"

"Only that you treat him very poorly."

"I treat that little Hobbit poorly? he is the master of rudeness, how the hell did he get into this conversation?"

"He rang us."

"Okay that's it, I'm not talking, I'm out of here. Conner get your bag we are going home, really Adam, is that the best you can do. I take on lying tabloids all the time, I defend my family and friends with my whole heart, and this is what I get, bloody Adam he wouldn't know his asshole from his mouth sometimes, why would anyone listen to him."

"So you are rude then Mr. Brenten Walsh?"

"Conner we are going, I'm sick of defending my life to everyone. I married Rick Conners out of love not because he's a singer. I wouldn't give a stuff if he's a frigging washroom attendant, he's the gentlest most generous person I have ever known, something you Leon Cartasso could mimic if you weren't such a prick."

"Mr. Conners do you want to talk about your babies, how is little Teddies football going?"

"I haven't finished yet." Poor Brent they have him all wound up.

"Antonio, can you remove Mr. Brenten from the studio, I think he's being rude again." I poured a drink for Brent he skulled it and joined Jeffrey at the makeshift bar.

"We will be back after this advertisement.

"Thirty million viewers Leon." Maxie sang out.

Carlos poured Leon a drink and I got another.

"You did well Brent."

"He's a frigging idiot."

"He's a genius Brent, watch the replay to see what happened here."

"What do you mean?"

"He showed you up as being the sort of person we all know you are, not the person the tabloids tout in their fake news, you did very well." He leaned back on the wall and thought about it, I could see Jeffrey still trying to make sense of it all."

"You were a victim of a bet made between your much-loved children and their mother and you came across as a very human loving father Jeff."

"Welcome back to the Iris Wilson wine show, are you still all there? I am Leon Cartasso and Rick Conners is my special guest tonight, now tell us about little Teddy's football."

"Well, his team is on the top of the ladder....."

"That is enough Mr. Conners because I see our gran over there, she knows a lot about football maybe she can give Teddy some tips. Our gran can you join us please?" Conner had tears in his eyes he was laughing so much.

"Thank you Leon," Gran sat down and straightened her dress Carlos put some powder on her face and she shooed him away.

"This is our Nona, Gianni's husband Antonio's grandmother, Antonio can you join us please."

"There's no way Leon Cartasso I am getting into this discussion."

"He is such a naughty man our gran, is it because he didn't go to college?"

"Yes Leon, he has the brains but I am afraid he does not use them, not like his beautiful son Lukas."

"I have heard our gran that you have plenty of brains and you cook a lot also and Lukas helps you."

"Yes Leon I am a cook and I am teaching Lukas to do the same."

"Mr. Conner's do you teach your babies how to cook?"

"No Leon my grandfathers live with us and John is an excellent cook he does it all now."

"Do they love your children Mr. Conners?"

"Very very much Leon they are the soul of our family, without them we wouldn't exist."

"Do you feel the same Antonio?" Who me? for god's sake Leon where are you taking this?

"Yes Leon as you know gran is the heart of our family, and yes, without her we all would be nothing."

"So, you love your grandmother very much Antonio, please sit with us."

I sat down and took grans hand, she was warm and familiar.

"Mr. Antonio, Gianni's husband, you say our gran is a wonderful person then why do you let her use your son Lukas for children's slavery?"

"What a load of rubbish?" I shouted.

"It is true, you let your son, my nephew, work his hands off in your gran's kitchen and she pays him very little for his help. Are you in agreement that our gran uses children for her very own gains?"

"She is teaching him how to cook, a skill you should have been taught years ago Leon." They have got me again.

"I can cook Antonio my brother, but I choose not to. How much do you pay our Lukas for his hard work our nona?"

"This is nonsense Leon, what I pay him is none of your business, and how dare you say I am using him up. Such naughty boys the both of you, you both need a good spanking and this old nona is the one to do it."

"Lukas, can you come here please."

"No, you have overstepped the line Leon, Lukas stay there." I pointed to him.

"So, you allow this slavery to go on do you?"

"Of course not, shut this shit show down Iris, now!!" I screamed.

"Lukas, how much does our gran pay you?" The little terror had come over anyway.

"One and this." He did the o with his fingers.

"Ten dollars that is not enough for all your hard work our gorgeous Lukas." He looked at gran.

"He should be getting twenty dollars off our gran, not a penny less." She seethed but to save face she nodded.

"He gets twenty from tomorrow Leon, better?" She did the sign of the cross.

"Thank you our gran, what do you think of that Mr. Conners our Lukas is a good negotiator isn't he?'

"Yes, but he should have held out for fifty." He couldn't stop laughing.

Lukas was as pleased as punch he got a raise.

"We will be back after this advertisement, our Iris is in the room and I want to talk to her, our gran can you stay there and talk football with Mr. Conners?."

I could hear gran complaining and Iris sat with her, by this time Conner was begging for a drink.

"We are back on the Iris Wilson wine show, our Iris has joined us with her fourth glass of wine, are you okay our Iris? we will have to place you in your bed again tonight I think. He pushed a button and played the other night's movie he made with Iris singing and getting into our spare bed. It was funny and they played a looney tunes song as she fell face down.

"How dare you, I will sue you Leon Cartasso, how bloody dare you." Iris was pissed off.

"Our gran what is the truth in the rumor that you have many interesting family secrets and ties with the Vatican?" He then took a kid's plastic tiara out from the desk drawer and placed it on his head. Gran's face went red and she was out of that chair in an instant, Iris had followed her around to Leon's seat and they both were beating him up.

"How dare you Leon Cartasso, this old grandmother's new heart will be breaking very soon, and it is my business, not yours. How dare you tell anyone my secrets. And you Antonio I should slap you into next year for telling my business."

"Not Antonio our gran, Gianni told us." Leon smiled at me.

She slapped him again, then she slapped Gianni hard, something she has never done, she likes him.

"Ouch!" He protested, Conner was still in stitches.

"How dare you, I have had enough of this shit and will be closing it down very soon," Iris yelled, Leon screamed in fake pain.

"You may talk about your babies now Mr. Conners."

Conner started talking about his family particularly his sons, while Leon and Gianni got well and truly beaten by both ladies I heard gran yell.

"I have had enough of you naughty boys, do you not hear me, Leon this old grandmother has had enough, her arms went everywhere and Iris helped her bash him up again, Iris had taken her pink loafer off and that was her weapon of choice.

Conner waffled on for the next two minutes then Carlos told him to stop.

"But I haven't finished yet."

"You never started Mr. Conners, we were just rolling the credits so no one heard you anyway, but they did see your lovely face" I rolled on the floor laughing Lukas jumped on me, he thought it was a big game. Conner's face was priceless, nowhere in the world does he get treated like this, absolutely nowhere.

Gran was furious along with Iris, they both grabbed their handbags and left for our apartment, they complained their way up the fire escape, Iris was the loudest because she had forgotten to put her loafer back on. I didn't want to get in between it so I waited for Gianni to settle down a bit and then we both took Lukas upstairs.

Gran was complaining to grandad about being humiliated on tv and he was laughing, the more he laughed the angrier she got.

Leon and Carlos with Brent and Conner came up with the kids, they immediately went to the computer to check the stats.

She confronted Gianni and me.

"I told you to tell no one Antonio, why do you banter around this old lady's business, how did you know Gianni Cartasso?"

He pointed his thumb at me.

"So you did open your big mouth again, that is the last time I tell you anything."

"Gran he got it out of me I was under marital pressure."

"Under his big bulging...." She didn't finish but I knew what she was going to say dick.

"Our gran would you please sit down for a minute? Leon said.

"What am I going to do with you, I can never trust you again I think Leon Cartasso."

"Gran, you were worried, we all were worried, so we fixed it."

"Fixed what?"

"We have fixed it through our mafia ties please sit down."

"What nonsense, Iris have you ever heard such lies coming from these naughty boys?'

Iris was onto another wine I don't think at this stage she cared much, she had noticed the replay numbers and they were enormous.

"Gran please read this letter, the official one will be sent to you in the mail sometime next week but for now please read this letter."

He handed a print off of an email to gran she huffed a lot then asked me to get her a vino.

I did that job gladly and placed it in front of her.

"What is this more nonsense to place upon your very sick grandmother?"

"Please, just read it."

She picked it up and looked at it, then she looked at Leon through her eye slits. I could see she was reading it slowly then she made the sign of the cross and looked at him again. Three times she read it and three times she made that sign.

"Is this genuine?"

"Yes our gran, it is real, and as you can see your parents and yourself are much loved by the Vatican mafia."

"I don't know, I don't believe it but I want to." She handed the letter to me maybe for confirmation. Then she started crying and reached for a tissue. Carlos sat on her other side and cuddled her.

"We do not like our family to be worried about anything our gran, so we talked to our mafia family at the Vatican about your parents. They are overjoyed you are alive and they have sent you this invitation to join them to talk about your dear parents and what they did during the war. Gianni also has something for you, the gypsy has medals to present to you on their behalf, but they will not be here until a fortnight I think. So you are not worried anymore and there are no hidden secrets about your dearest parents." He kissed her head.

"I am being a silly old grandmother, I should have had more faith in my dear parents."

Everyone was looking at her and as I looked at Brent and Conner I realized they didn't know the full story of what her silence was all about, but I needed gran to tell them I have already done my part.

"She will tell you soon but it's an amazing story." They smiled and said they were both worried there might have been something wrong. I asked gran if they could read the letter she nodded yes, so I handed it to Conner.

"A contessa, wow gran you come from nobility," Conner whispered.

"Yes Mr.Conners and because I am, Antonio is the current Count D'Corsico then little Lukas, he will be the one to inherit the title." It was then I felt the courage to say something.

"You weren't to know gran, it was a terrible time for everyone back then, and when we have a moment I can show you all the beautiful write-ups I found on the internet and there are some photos also."

I hugged her she whispered in my ear.

"You are a good boy Antonio, I love you so much for doing this for me."

"Well I may not have gone to college but I did have the best teacher in the world." I kissed her cheeks again.

She had a couple of wines and watched the replay, then she and grandad went home. She couldn't say anything else she was too overwhelmed.

"Don't forget our gran, twenty dollars for our Lukas," Leon yelled.

The death stare was back and Leon shut up, but Lukas rubbed his hands together. I think it was a setup to get him more money, maybe he will forgive them now. I kissed both of my brothers and then a longer one for my husband, tongue and all. Conner was urging us to do more so I said to him.

"If you both want to stay with us tonight you will have to share the bed with us all, Carlos gives a really good morning bum show." I grinned at Brent he licked his lips. They laughed but I think they are too shy for our Italian ways, I did say the bed was an extra-large king-sized one.

Conner and Brent had such a good time and he got what they were trying to do with his interview, they stayed late and Jeffrey was on the phone with his kids for some time, then Iris and I signed the contract and he went back to Iris's apartment, god knows what he was thinking about us crazies. Iris was put to bed and filmed again hugging her loafers, they will use the new footage in their next show.

"Did you enjoy yourself, Conner?"

"I had a fantastic time Antonio, they bring out the human side of me."

"That's a good thing isn't it?'

"Yes but I am worried about the new songs they are releasing, they might sell heaps." He laughed again.

"Take me home Brent my ribs are hurting."

"I'll call the men, are you quite sure you don't want to stay the night?"

"Maybe next time but tonight it's you and me, baby." He kissed him deeply it was nice to see but Gianni does it better.

"For you." Leon passed a memory stick to Conner.

"What's this?"

"My Carlos's new album, you will love it." He winked.

"Shit." he groaned.

He wouldn't sue the boys for stealing his songs, and apart from the organ music, the words would still be the wrong ones, and funny.

After everyone had left and Lukas was finally put to bed, I was standing leaning on the balcony when Gianni came up behind me, he didn't play a big role tonight he sat there looking gorgeous as always.

"I think they shouldn't have done that to gran anything could have happened."

"She is very strong Antonio, she was also worried and we don't like our nona to be worried. Leon wanted to fix it and whoever sees it won't even know what it was all about anyway, I think her secret is still safe."

"Maybe you are right Gianni, but they should have kept it quiet."

His hands slipped down the front of my jeans and he was having a good feel. I nearly got on my knees but he felt so good rubbing up and down on my ass.

There wasn't any lovemaking because the boys were in our bed before we arrived. Gianni complained bitterly and I laughed for the last time.

The internet had lit up last night and the kids came up early to try and get on top of the emails. Fans were not only emailing the show they were also writing to Giannis wine and cafe inbox's which made it very difficult to coordinate.

I was sitting watching them and suggested they ignore the other inboxes and just concentrate on the official Iris Wilson one, they should delete any mail except the ones to Gianni's wine account. I also thought Leon and Iris should hire someone else to do all the emails.

When Iris appeared I talked to her about my concerns but she said it was already in the works, she had spoken to the kids that run the site and they are going to get some classmates to help them.

Gran arrived and I gave her a big hug she didn't want to talk much but said she slept well. Lukas ran out to see her and she went with him to check the babies. I had already changed them and they were playing on Lukas bed the last I saw.

"Oh my god," Maxie said.

"Forty million watchers we are trending and on top of the most-watched list. This is awesome."

I watched grandad he was looking at me so I went over to the sofa and we talked for a few minutes.

"I think she is very pleased just to receive the letter it has made her happy, but as everyone knows she never knew her parents they had been killed before and after she was born. Maybe Roberto will throw more light on it, I know he has to go to the Vatican bank to go through the security box," he said.

"Did you ring Roberto last night gran?"

"Yes Antonio, we had a few words he was pleased he can now be a little more open."

"Grandad do you want me to stay home today and you can both read what is on the internet?"

"No thank you grandson, I will do that this afternoon, I am very good with our computer and have already bookmarked the sites." He winked.

"So you have been searching also?"

"Yes Antonio that was the first thing I did on the internet when we got the computer years ago. I know she was just being her old foolish self, but I didn't say anything because it's her business." he laughed.

"Okay." I smiled. Leon and Carlos were freshly showered when they came out and Iris was disappointed because they had their tops and shorts on. When Carlos saw her he dropped his shorts showing off a red jockstrap, Leon was being stubborn but he sat next to her, I guess his lumps were enough for our Iris. Gran came over and leaned on the table.

"There was a reason I didn't pay Lukas more money Leon, but I am happy with the twenty dollars, please do not interfere again. He will never know the value of his money if I just throw it at him." She winked.

"Sorry our gran, but we have to do something to get him to trust us again."

"Oh, you noticed that too did you?" I smirked.

"Yes Antonio, we should not have taken his money in the first place and we are very sorry."

"He is over it because before he went to sleep last night he said a small prayer for you both."

"He did?"

"Yes you have been included again, so I think all is forgiven."

"We will give you the extra money gran don't use yours."

"What do you think I am Leon Cartasso, a poor old grandmother? I will pay him but not a penny more. And one more thing, thank you for making this old woman happy again but you must maintain silence for now."

"We promise nona." Leon did the sign of the cross.

She took up her position behind the kitchen bench.

"Now what do we want for your breakfast?"

I grabbed my eldest son and said.

"Come on baby school today, let's get you looking awesome."

"Okay daddy." he hopped off the couch and followed me to the bedroom. The babies had found some comic books which they had proceeded to rip up and eat. Lukas wasn't happy but I told him I would buy some more for him today.

"Out you little beggars, go see your nono." They kissed me as they passed then waddled out to see everyone. It started with the comic books, they had decided they were going to be naughty today and had a food fight at the table. I couldn't scold them too much their antics and laughter had everyone going, it was a great start to the day for us all, except Iris she had made the mistake of sitting in their firing line so she had to go and change.

I spoke again to grandad before we left for work, he thought she will sit all day reading, and would I like to make a small wager on how many times she will cry. I laughed as we walked out of the building to go do some chores.

maxieplus@hotmail.com

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