Fairytales (43 page)

The next morning, Catherine was up early. In between bites of toast and sips of coffee, she said, “Gina Maria … I’m invitin’ the family to dinner … Papa’s comin’ home and I want everyone here.”

“We’ll be there, Mama.”

“No later than six … now, I’ve got to call the others. Bring the children … you know how Papa misses them.”

“I will, Mama.”

Fights, confusion were something the Rossis had learned to recover from. The recent Washington incident was forgotten … if not forgotten, at least no longer a major issue. That night at dinner, especially with the whole clan assembled (except for Roberto and his Japanese mistress), Dominic was a contented man … for the moment. After dinner was served and the family was still seated, drinking coffee, cracking walnuts, passing the platter of assorted cheeses, the bombshell dropped.

“Alright, I want everyone’s attention,” Catherine said. “I’m gonna open the most gorgeous boutique in town.”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at Catherine, dumbfounded. Recovered from the first shock wave, all now rushed to begin to speak at the same time … you’re what? … You’ve got to be kidding … this is crazy … you can’t be serious. Everyone except Dominic, who sat staring at Catherine in total shock.

“That’s right … I was never more serious about anything in my whole life,” she answered, smiling defiantly as Dominic thought, she’s got to be going through the menopause.

“When did you decide that?” Tory asked.

“Yesterday.”

“I don’t get it, Mama … why?” asked a bewildered Tony.

“Why? Because I’m tired of being useless, that’s why.”

“Useless?” Angie asked, his voice a little higher than usual.

“That’s right, useless.”

“How can you say you’re useless when you’re helping Papa?” Dom demanded.

“But that’s just the point, I’m not helpin’ Papa at all … I think I am hinderin’ him,” she answered, ignoring Dominic as though he were absent.

He scratched the back of his ear, then cupped his hand around his mouth and thought. This is just a little device to try and jolt me, even punish me for what happened in Washington … Okay, we’ll handle this one. “Look, Catherine, this is something I believe you and I should discuss after the children leave.”

“Anything you say, Dominic darlin’,” she answered like a proper Sicilian wife. That’s what he’d like me to be, Catherine said to herself, but he’ll find out …

After the children left, Catherine and Dominic went into the study.

“All right, Catherine, now … what’s on your mind?”

“Weren’t you listenin’ at dinner?”

“I was listening.”

“So you must have heard … I want to open a little shop.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to become a worthwhile person … as you suggested so many times in the past. And besides, I want something to do when you’re away—not like in the good old days.”

Dominic sighed.

“I see … and it doesn’t occur to you that maybe it might embarrass me that my wife is running a … what’s that name again?”

“
BOUTIQUE
.”

“Yes, a
boutique.”

“You make it sound like a bordello … but to answer your question, I wasn’t especially thinkin’ about you … not anymore than you were thinkin’ about me when you decided to throw your hat in the ring for a second term, as I believe the sayin’ goes.”

Trying to hold down his anger, he asked, “Maybe I should give that up and go to work for you running the boutique?”

“Might not be such a bad idea … at least, I wouldn’t be left alone three weeks out of every four.”

“That’s not because of me—”

“You’re sayin’ it’s because of me … right? But I can’t live out of a suitcase. What’s the use of all this talkin’… we’ve been this route for almost thirty years now.”

“Why are you doing this to me, Catherine?”

“Because you have a life, and I need a life. I’m not so crazy about the one I got—”

“Okay … okay … open your damned store … and thanks a lot … you timed it perfectly.” He went out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Once Catherine had thought nothing ever changes … but was she ever wrong … and Mama ever right.
Her
shop was exactly the answer to an absentee husband. Seeing
her
name written boldly above the tall, slender, chic black shining double entrance doors with the heavy brass knobs, never ceased to make her pulse race just a little faster. Her name …
CATHERINE POSATA
… Yes, sir, that’s the one she was born with, the one on her birth certificate. It would have made Daddy proud … Proud to see the Posata name perpetuated, especially since there were no sons. There would be little Dominic Rossis running around for generations. But not one boy Posata. Yes, sir, it was the least she could do as a livin’ memorial to her darlin’ Daddy’s name.

Being a merchant was the beginning of a dream … the excitement, the challenges, left her excited, happy, anxious to reach the next day. Always something new, always something to anticipate. It meant short trips to Paris … Rome … New York, Los Angeles, taking along one daughter-in-law or the other for companionship depending on who wasn’t pregnant or expecting momentarily. But she was never able to take Gina Maria … because Sergio was strictly against wives leaving their husbands for any reason … it was simply not the thing to do … “Go argue with a count!” But in spite of the joy it would have been taking Gina Maria, still she adored Sergio’s jealousy (although he knew it was unnecessary). But that was marriage the real Italian style. He wanted Gina Maria with him. If only Dominic wanted her as much, there’d be no need for
Catherine Posata
to … oh, well, what the hell, she loved what she was doing. A career provided an exhilarated excitement she had not experienced till now. Catherine wheeled and dealed, speaking on the phone not only consumed her days completely, but the sense of importance it gave her was immeasurable as she pushed one button after the other …
“On Hold’
was her favorite … “I’ll call you back.” As she released the hold button, “Sorry I couldn’t get back to you sooner … now, I want to order four dozen more silk scarves.”

“But Mrs. Rossi, that seems to be quite a large order. The point is I don’t want you to overstock. I’m not that kind of salesman and …”

“Look, I’m payin’ the bill… send the order.”

She ordered to her heart’s content. To hell with it … what if they never sold… it was such fun to be useful, happy and fulfilled. The only problem she had was the turnover in help. If her stock turnover was as constant as her employees, she’d be making a great deal more money than she was. But for some reason, the help just didn’t stay. It wasn’t because she was suspicious about them stealing, it was simply one had to watch carefully and the clerks seemed to resent that … She kept the store open in spite of that, but stayed home and conducted her business in the comfort of her boudoir. Naturally, she called the store frequently throughout the day to see if everyone was on their toes. One could not be too careful. She wondered how Dominic controlled such a large staff … well, that was his problem. The only problem she had to worry about was her little empire.

The only thing wrong with Catherine’s little empire was her accountant, who constantly kept badgering her. “Look, Mrs. Rossi, figures don’t lie … last year we were in the red and this year …” “Don’t keep confusin’ me with a lot of small talk,” Catherine interrupted. “Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of what’s wrong.” The silence during the conversation was misconstrued by Catherine as sullenness on the accountant’s part, as he sighed (with his hand over the receiver), shook his head then wiped the perspiration from his brow. He had explained it a dozen times before but somehow it just didn’t seem to impress Catherine. “Now, Mrs. Rossi, we have to view this thing logically … it’s as simple as this … You cannot continue to run your business like …” “Like what … ?” “Like … like … like it was all fun and games.” “Okay … you’re so smart, what’s the solution?” “For one thing, you employ too many people for such a small establishment … with a volume of sales such as Posata’s you are overstocked … even if …” “Hold on a minute … we showed a profit last year.” “True … but only on paper. The thing that clobbered us was the floor tax …” Interrupting, she jumped in, “I don’t want to hear about the negative, let’s deal with the positive.” “Alright, Mrs. Rossi … get rid of some of your help and have a storewide sale. You’ve got to turn your merchandise over.” The word
SALE
was like waving a red flag. Sale … she’d let the stuff rot before she’d allow Posata’s to become a schlock store, with sales and reductions like a Market Street operation … never … but the help was one thing she understood. The accountant was right about that … okay, she’d listen to reason. The next day without notice three of her five employees, as of that moment, were out of a job. She had a time clock installed. It was expensive but it would be worth it … time was money, and money was time, so Posata’s was going to be run as all efficient businesses … on time, with her only two remaining employees checking in and out. In that way she’d know exactly what was going on.

As the election grew near, her appearances from time to time were necessary, and she attended as few functions as possible, but in some cases, at the last minute she simply refused to go … who missed her smiling face … and besides, she’d given a hell of a lot to her children, now let them return a little. Gina Maria proxied in her behalf as hostess, as well as Tish who had become more than a daughter to Catherine. Tish was her confidante, her friend and the only one she trusted. And for that loyalty, Catherine filled Tish’s home with magnificent antiques she never failed to buy when in Europe. The other daughters-in-law she bought for but with a reluctant charity … anything to keep the family together and happy. In fact, everyone seemed to be thriving and forging ahead.

Hardly a surprise, Dominic was elected to a second term. And those brief times they had together, all she heard was money for education … housing for the poor … that’s what the mayor kept begging Sacramento for, and if the mayor was beggin’ for something, Dominic fought for it in the Senate. If she heard all that once more, she’d scream, and if she saw him on the television a few more times, she’d break it. But aside from those difficult moments, she was quite content. She was doing her thing … and he was doing his thing. However, of late, it seemed to Catherine that Dominic was beginning to show the effects of his pressures … he was less composed at times and a little more explosive … giving vent to his frustrations with the boys. Dom, Tory and the twins understood and did not take him seriously, but Catherine began to think, happily, maybe he was beginning to see the light. Who needed it? So one day Catherine pressed down the hold button, while a salesman waited, and said to Mama, “Dominic’s got two years left on his prison term and then I think he’s through with politics. I got that feelin’.”

“What gives you that feelin’?”

“Well, a man can take just so much, Mama. I just know Dominic’s simply got to get his belly full… he’s havin’ so much trouble with this union and that union and this ethnic group and all the loonies that constantly hound him. One of these days he’s gonna say … look, I’ve had it and then just maybe we’ll be able to settle down and live like human bein’s do.”

Knowing Catherine was deluding herself, Mama asked, “What about the boutique? You poured your heart and soul into it.”

“To hell with it. When it outgrows its usefulness, I’ll chuck it.”

“Why not give it up now? Why don’t you spend some time with Dominic—”

“In Sacramento! That hick town. Never.”

“All right, Catherine, but you’re losing lots of money and—”

“To hell with it… it’s worth the loss for my peace of mind.”

But Catherine’s peace of mind was to be invaded.

“Catherine, they want me to run for senator,” Dominic said to her before going to bed.

She looked at him. “You don’t say … so what else is new?”

“I’m talking about a United States senator.”

Having just bathed, she stood stark naked with her nightgown in her hand … and thought she’d go out of her mind. “When you gonna get over this drug you’ve been on, Dominic … this craziness? Haven’t you had enough? Taken enough punishment? When in the hell are we gonna live … find time for livin’ … don’t you think by now I’ve earned the right to—”

“Let’s not get started on that again … how many men get a chance to be a U.S. senator?”

“Not too many. Most of ’em are too smart and realize they need a home life—”

“Catherine, for God’s sake, I’m asking … begging for you to understand. Won’t you please understand how much I want this?”

“And then after senator, there’s only one other job you just might like … president… right?”

He smiled. “Well, what the hell … you’d be the first lady.”

“It sure as hell would be the only time I was ever first.

“Okay … okay, I guess there’s no way to fight you on this. In fact, Dominic, I’m too tired to give a damn. If you want to run, run … but I’m not gonna live in Washington. No, thank you … but keep runnin’ till you run out of steam.”

I
T WAS WITH THESE
blessings Dominic declared his intentions to enter the senatorial race. The competition was no pushover. Dominic’s opponent had the most important piece of real estate pretty well tied up and that’s where the votes counted … Los Angeles, Orange County, was where Dominic needed to make his greatest thrust. In fact, it was the whole southern half of the state where he needed all the help he could get, and Dominic got help from those whose voices meant something … the important members of the movie industry who pitched for him loud and clear were no small contribution. But there was a lot of territory to cover, so for six grueling months he stumped the state, concentrating his total energies in the southern cities. There was no hamlet too small … not a nook or cranny that was not familiar with the name Dominic Rossi. And this time, Catherine agreed to make as many junkets as possible. Dominic had pleaded with her (among a few other pressures brought to bear by her family and key members of the committee) that this race was not San Francisco, where their faces and names were household words … this was the big time … the whole state was involved and the more well-known
they
became as a couple, as a family, the better his chances. She was an integral cog in the machinery … more essential than she could ever imagine. One of Catherine’s special and natural assets was she looked good in photographs. Her smile was enchanting and warm and that appealed to the ladies who read the morning paper over a cup of coffee. As long as it was not her wish to address the ladies in her husband’s behalf, they were in good shape. Her appearances sufficed.