Chapter 2

The Fanelli women were uncharacteristically silent as they left the Martelli residence, and took their seats in their car. That condition lasted almost until they arrived home, at which point Maria gave Joe a serious look, and said:

"You know, don't you, that you are headed for trouble with the cosca over the issue of continuing the Martelli line..."

"Yes," he sighed. "It is no secret that we promised to perpetuate our pilots' genes if they fell in the line of duty. Cris's final wishes notwithstanding, the rank and file wouldn't tolerate us reneging on that promise."

"So what do you intend to do about it?" she asked.

"I don't know ... but I need to come up with a solution fast, or there'll be hell to pay!"

"I agree," Luisa interjected. "The younger Martelli women, at least, are not going to want to give up their chance at having normal relations with a living husband, and Cris was right: many men in the cosca will be unwilling to take on a wife who can't give them children. Those same men, though, will feel that the cosca is honor-bound to ensure that the fallen pilots will have more sons and daughters.

"It is as if their honor will require them to rape these women in order to accomplish that goal, if necessary - and make no mistake, if a woman is impregnated against her will, it is rape!"

"I have an idea that might solve the problem," Maria said, thoughtfully, "but it will take some sacrifices, personal sacrifices on our part, to make it work."

Parking the car, Joe looked at his senior wife and said, humorlessly, "So far I haven't got a clue, so anything you offer will be light-years ahead of me! What do you have?"

Joe thought he'd seen and heard just about everything, until Maria began to speak, but as he listened, both he and Luisa felt their jaws drop. In the end, though, Luisa was sold, and he found himself, grudgingly, giving the idea his blessing

Orquidea faced her co-wives with grim determination. She had already filled Jason in on the fact of Cris' demise, and felt she already knew what the outcome of the meeting would be, but it was necessary, for planning the future, to get everything out in the open.

"All of you, except Jason, heard what Cris said. You also heard what Father Nicholas and the Don said. We are each free to pursue new relationships, if that is what we individually want to do. I have to tell you, though, I'm concerned that about the welfare of our children. The rest of you may feel you need to find new husbands, but I intend to stay here and make a home for the children."

"Are you going to have more of Cris' babies?" Gemma challenged.

"I may have one more," she responded. "I am approaching that time when my own fertility will begin to falter, and risks of both birth defects and difficult pregnancies rise. If I do it, it'll have to be soon.

"I have already had two for Cris, and I brought two into this marriage. That is already one more than my own mother had. All of our children have been raised in the tradition of the cosca. If I have another, I will have more than done my duty."

"What about love?" Clarisse queried, timidly. "Won't you miss the feel of being held by a man, having his hands caress your body?"

"You're talking about sex, not necessarily love, my dear," Teodora interjected. "Although, I will miss that, as well." Turning to Orquidea, went on, 'As you know, my Ruby was two years old when I married you and Cris. And I too have borne two children for him. I'm not facing the limits you are, quite as soon, but they will be coming. I don't feel right about leaving you alone to manage Cris' household. I'll stay with you for now, and maybe have a couple more of his babies."

"Well, I think you are both nuts!" Gemma exploded. "He wanted us to find new husbands, not be widows the rest of our lives! I for one am going to accept his gift!"

Regaining her composure, she went on more calmly, "I will still love you all, and want to see you and the kids regularly, but I want a husband who can be a husband, not a ghost, and I want my babies to have a father they can see and touch!"

Orquidea heard a muted sob, and noticed that Clarisse was crying. Moving closer, she took the younger woman in her arms, and asked what was the matter.

"I want a living husband too," she sobbed, "I loved Cris, enough to carry his baby in my belly, but now he's gone and my baby won't have a father ... and I don't have a husband! What am I going to do? How will I raise a child without his help?"

"There, there," Orquidea said, trying to console the distraught girl. "It'll all work out. If you decide to stay with Teodora and me, we'll help raise the baby. The Don has also promised that the cosca will support our needs. On the other hand, if you want to find a husband, there are a lot of good men in the cosca who would raise the child as their own."

The discussion went on until the early hours of morning, and there was plenty of emotion to it. In the end, all of the women accepted the decisions that their mates made, and it was settled that Orquidea and Teodora would maintain the family, while Gemma and Clarisse sought their futures elsewhere. The two younger women would stay with the family, though, and help out where needed, until they found a new path. There were hugs and tears enough to go around, even for Jason.

Twenty-four hours after delivering the sad news to the Martelli widows, Joe made the formal announcement that Cristiano Martelli was missing in action and presumed dead. In order to do so, he pre-empted all video links throughout the cosca's colony worlds, and following that, he announced the scheduling of a memorial service, to be held in two months.

Immediately after, in private teleconference with the Capi, he requested that each colony send a delegation to attend the service, preferably led by the Capi themselves. The reason for this being that he intended to have a formal business meeting of the cosca, to deal with issues raised by Martelli's death. Whoever attended the meeting needed to be able to speak for their people.

Upon concluding his teleconference, he sat and thought a moment, cataloging the myriad tasks comprising support of the Martelli family. One issue in particular leapt out at him. Knowing that the younger wives were going to want to shop for and eventually marry, new husbands, he realized that in doing so, they would be vulnerable to (at least verbal) maltreatment at the hands of immature and less-genteel members of the cosca.

And I know just what to do about it! he concluded, as he punched in a pair of familiar comm codes. Shortly thereafter, he had both Marco and Frank in a three-way conversation.

"I need help from the two of you," he told them, "to provide some obvious protection for the younger Martelli women."

"Are they being threatened?" Marco questioned. "Who did it? I can probably change his mind..."

"And if he can't, then I sure as Hell can!" Frank added vehemently.

"No," Joe responded, "as far as I know, no one has done any such thing. I just don't want it to come to that, and if everyone sees them being squired around by two of my favorite 'heavies, ' it probably won't."

"But why would anyone bother them, anyway?" Frank interjected.

"Because they will be trying to find new husbands."

There followed a pregnant silence.

"Um ... Boss ... aren't they supposed to keep having babies for the deceased husband?" Marco asked.

"That was the original plan," Joe answered, "but Cris Martelli, with the support of my wives, has thrown a monkey wrench into the works. It seems that he wants ... wanted, now that he is dead ... his widows to remarry, and in his final statement, he released them from their obligation to have more of his babies.

"The two younger ones want to accept that release, and your cousin, along with Luisa, has committed to supporting their rights to do so. I'm in a corner here because of that, and along with it, I've concluded that it wouldn't be honorable for the cosca to force the issue.

"Maria has a plan that I believe can work, but it's going to take some time to fully develop and implement. In the meantime, I need your help. Can I count on you?"

Both of the men agreed, but Marco had another question.

"I can see that having us with them might protect them from some of our less-well-behaved elements, Boss, but wouldn't it work the other way, too?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm thinking that their prospects for meeting interested guys might not be as good, if we're always hanging around..."

Joe barely succeeded at keeping his smile to himself, before replying: "That might be true, at first, but I'm sure that any really good man would find a way to approach them. Besides, it probably won't be necessary for very long ... people will get used to seeing them dating, and after a while it'll be accepted. You won't have to baby-sit them for long."

Only after the men acknowledged the assignment, did Joe break the connection and allow himself a visible grin.

Yes ... I have plans for you boys...

Marco and Frank took their new assignment as seriously as any other, and Joe was very pleased. He stayed busy over the course of the next several weeks, as he went about making arrangements for the service, but he continued to check in on the Martelli women at least daily.

In order to avoid feeding the ubiquitous rumor mongers, he always had Maria or Luisa, or both, accompany him during these visits. He saw no value in supplying the gossips in the community with grist for their mill, and regular visits to a house full of widows, by an unescorted Don, would be just that.

After a few such visits, Maria approached Luisa with concern etched on her face.

"Luisa, have you noticed Joe putting forth any effort to recruit younger wives for us?"

"No-o-o ... should I have?"

"Neither have I, and it's a big problem."

"How is that?"

"It's a problem, because as the Don, he should be setting an example for the men of the cosca!."

"Okay, you've lost me somehow. Our husband isn't chasing skirts, and that is somehow setting a bad example..."

"Exactly!" Maria exclaimed. "I knew you'd understand!"

"Umm ... but I don't! How is that a problem?"

"Oh ... well, he only has two of us, and he needs four! My thinking is that the next two should be younger women, who have more fertile years ahead than you or I..."

"I see ... you want some more junior wives to boss around..."

Maria laughed, and said "Get serious! You know very well that the Church has decreed that all men who are able should have the maximum number of wives that they can support. There is nobody more able than Joe! He should set an example by having four wives - the maximum allowed by the Church.

"The purpose in his having multiple wives is to have lots of children. You and I still have a few fertile years left, but not so many that we can afford to rest on our laurels. We need to somehow encourage him to find and marry some younger women..."

"I guess I can see that," Luisa granted. "And it's not like we don't get more than enough attention from him now..."

"If he gave us any more attention, we'd both be walking bowlegged all of the time," Maria snorted.

"So what, or should I say who, do you have in mind?"

"Well, have you noticed how he looks at Clarisse, whenever we visit the Martelli's? Perhaps there is the seed of interest, and a situation that we can use to promote unity in the cosca..."

Orquidea was unnerved by the unnatural quiet reigning in the house. With the other Martelli women away, or otherwise occupied and all of the children asleep, there was little to distract her from the uncertainty of her future, and the sorrow of losing her husband. Pulling herself up by her bootstraps, she decided that there was little point in remaining awake, since all of the necessary housekeeping was done. Faced with a boring, lonely evening, she decided to head for bed.

As she approached the room she shared with Teodora (when they weren't in Cris' bed!) she heard the sound of muted sobs filtering through the wooden door. Torn between a need to offer solace, and an inhibition against intruding on her roommate's privacy, her maternal instincts won out. Quietly, she opened the door to find Teodora stretched out, face down, on her bed, her body shaking with grief.

Orquidea marveled that the younger woman had been so effective at hiding her suffering. Only when she was completely alone had she let it go, not expecting that anyone would find her out. It might have worked, too, if Orquidea hadn't gotten bored with being awake and alone. Gemma was out on the town, trailing one of the nice young men who were serving as bodyguards, and Clarisse was visiting with the Don's wives ... again ... for the fourth time in a week.

After watching for a moment, Orquidea moved over to sit on the bed, and began to stoke the younger woman's back.

"Cry it out, baby," she murmured. "I'll be here for you until you're finished and ready for sleep."

Teodora quickly turned over and threw her arms around her roommate's neck, burying her face in the older woman's bosom.

Orquidea hugged her tightly as she continued stroking. Surprisingly, she found herself becoming aroused.