Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2021 16:18:37 +1100 From: Max Dowling Subject: Impossible Love 69 Chapter 69 Maxieplus Iris met us downstairs on the steps, Anna was so happy Gino was in out of the cold, and happier because he gets more money and she doesn't have to go back to work. Little Sam was keeping her very busy he was rolling everywhere and now sitting up all on his own, it won't be long before he is crawling. My three slept our get-together away and Lukas sat on Alice's knees. "Have you been to the salon Gianni, you look a lot tidier?" Gino asked. "No my brothers attacked me." "Oh, looks good." "It's for Alice's radio station program, he has to look his best for the cameras," Leon said. "But it's radio there are no cameras." Anna was confused. "But there may be newspapers there that want to photograph him, Gianni you better wear your good suit I think." Leon has got this. Inside I was laughing and was even more intrigued when Iris winked at me. "You look very nice Gianni, but the interview will be done in my apartment on the internet, no one else there just us two." "How can you do that Iris?" "I am very up to date with technology Leon. We have all sorts of gadgets nowadays for radio." "When do you want him?" I asked. "Next Thursday night I will write out my questions tonight." "Can I talk about my babies?" I looked at Gianni trying not to laugh. "No Gianni, only your wine." "But that's not fair Iris, maybe Gino will do the interview and then I can talk about my babies." I giggled at him not understanding the interview process, we had better prerecord the show just in case he wants to break out in song. The boys joined us and Tommaso was smiling from ear to ear, I think he just got some loving. "Have you started your online studies yet?" "Tonight Antonio, I do one hour to meet my schoolmates and professor then tomorrow it will be a four-hour class. After that, it's daily and some nights, I will still be able to work part-time at Angelo's." He smiled. "Well don't run yourself into the ground kiddo, don't forget you will be working on your cheese business." "We can do that in the mornings which will free me up for the rest of the day." "As long as you do your studies and get grandad to help with the tough questions." "I have already spoken to him, he's happy to help me out." "Our parents are still worried we will end up owing a lot of money." "You won't I can guarantee it." I grinned. "You are not going to buy a heap of it are you?" "No." I wish they had more confidence, this will be big for them. "I will see if I can mention your brand on the radio Maxie, that will be a free one." Iris smiled. "But not my babies?" Gianni was confused. I did laugh then and took little Sam off Carlos for a cuddle. Everyone was at our place for dinner because Gino wanted to carry on and celebrate, the boys ate then Tommaso had to go and sit on the computer, Maxie went with him to supervise. Iris received a message and asked if she could turn the TV on, that was fine because Lukas had gone to bed, he was exhausted. "What's on?" I said. "Call everyone in Antonio, I think I have a small surprise for them. Can you put it on the entertainment channel?" I called the troops and seats were taken, she turned up the sound and the announcer welcomed everyone back to the Never Give Up/ Brenton Walsh combined foundation charity ball, it was being streamed live worldwide from the casino. "You may see some familiar faces, my friends." "I didn't know they had a ball, Iris." I said. "They have one every year Antonio, this is the first one I have missed." Cars were pulling up and I saw Brent and Rick Conner's alight from a limo, they looked gorgeous and the applause and screaming were awesome. They stood in line to be interviewed as the next car pulled up and out stepped two gorgeous handsome men. "That's Cody Mitchell and Daniel Lawrence." Iris was our tour guide. Of course, I haven't met Cody, I have only been in his shop a few times, but I wish I could meet him and that husband of his is divine, but not as divine as my gypsy boy. Sabine and Tony were next. "That is mama, look Gianni our mama." She looked stunning on the red carpet, it was as if she was born to be there. She did something the others didn't do she stood and posed for many photos from the crowd, then she talked to some of them. Tony had a smile from ear to ear and the announcer gave us a small rundown of who they were. Their interview went off without a hitch and Sabine worked that camera as she owned it. We started clapping and Carlos was nearly in tears his mama looked divine on TV. I looked at Gianni and yep, his tears had arrived. "She didn't mention her babies." He looked at me. "Maybe next time," I grinned. It was a great surprise for everyone and we watched it until the end, speeches were made and the show stopper was Rick singing one of his new songs which bought the house down. The camera was on Brent's face and yes, I guessed the song was about him and yes there were tears on his face. "That's Grant Antonio their minder." Iris pointed out, I saw the man sitting next to Brent, he was a delicious babe. "He's straight?" "No he's gay, he has a team of security men following the family around even at the boy's school, his partner is Doctor Mike he has the surgery next to the market." "I see." I mused he might have been Gianni's doctor Mike but discounted that because from what I hear from Stavros his niece the nurse is dating him. Surrounding Brent was a group of gorgeous women and men and Iris was naming most of them and said they were all part of Brent and Conner's lives and are all involved in the charity. "That's Dianna, she's a world-class model but is retiring and starting up her own home décor business next to Nan's Café." There is plenty of work being done on that corner and yes I had heard a few rumors about this famous model. "Her husband is Rick's manager." More information I needed to know. When the song had finished the speeches started and we listened quietly as Cody listed some of the things the charity had achieved up to this time. The casino ballroom was packed, it's a yearly fundraiser and they do good work for the community especially with homeless children. I even spied Hildy, the lady with the soup kitchen I had met when we started up the combi van juice bar at the market, there were so many familiar faces and so much money in the same room. "Hildy is now in the senate she had a landslide win at the last election" More information. "I suppose we should think about going next year Iris, we can't let Sabine have all the fun," Gino said. "Twenty-five grand a seat and double that in donations per head. How many tickets do you want Gino?" "I hope they do well out of the night Iris, maybe I won't go next year then" He laughed. It was out of our price range but I will make sure Gianni and I donate something to the charity. The broadcast was only snippets of the night and went for one hour, but that was enough to make a party happen, I had turned the record button on so Lukas can see his nonna in the morning, he will like that. We all sat inside it was cold out there and many a text was sent to Sabine. "Iris, why was Tony and Sabine there?" I asked. "They are there because we do a lot for charity, the luncheons the dinners they are all for these charities, yes some happen to promote wines, but mainly charity. Sabine is a big plus Antonio she's not unheard of in Australian society, she and Ramone did a lot of these sort functions over the years." "I see, does she contribute?" "Yes through the Cartasso." The night went by late and we didn't see the boys until the next day. It was a day off and we thought we might take the kids to the park. No such luck because the panic started around nine am when Gianni got a phone call. "The shipments have arrived Antonio, the cheese has just been delivered." "Good, we had better go and help unload it then." "Yes Antonio, do they have staff yet?" "Not yet, your workers will be able to help and my ladies will pitch in." "Okay, we had better call them down here then make a plan, in the meantime call your men to come and help if you don't mind." He called Maxie and they were on our doorstep within five minutes, no gran today and the babies will have to come with us, so I had better rug them up nice and warm. The shops have heating so maybe I will get some ladies down, they can babysit. All our friends were on board even Gino and Iris, Anna had Sam in his stroller and we walked across to the three shops. Alice joined us while Federico slept some more, he always seems to get out of doing heavy work, maybe he's a little lazy. There were three containers mainly Gianni's wines and his men were already unloading the cheese one, they will deliver the other two to Gianni's warehouse. The large container was dumped in the driveway, three of my ladies walked in and started looking after the babies. "Where do you want these pallets, Maxie?" One of the guys sang out. "In front of the cool room, if you can, you will have to bring them in the back entrance." He's now a businessman. I went to look in the tea room and the babies were all set up and surprisingly gran and grandpa arrived with a big food basket for morning tea. "Gran, how did you know we were coming here?" "I have excellent radar Antonio, your grandfather told me." "Oh? and how did you know grandad?" He smiled but didn't answer me he was too busy making coffee. "Can you keep an extra eye on the boys for me ladies?" I asked generally. I got a few yes's, groans, rolled eyes and harrumphs. "I guess that's a resounding yes Antonio, it will be our pleasure." "You should bring them to your warehouse more often." One brave lady said. "I try but work gets in the way." I nearly postured myself. "What work Antonio, attending to your gorgeous husband I think." Yes lady you are very brave. "Antonio," Gran shouted out. "Yes, nonna?" "Why is Iris not allowing your Gianni to talk about his babies on the radio?" I give up I bloody do, I walked out and she got a big fat silent answer from me, I heard a lot of giggling. I walked back to the third shop/ warehouse, it was every man for himself as they had already emptied one pallet and were working on the second one. Tommaso was coordinating where the different ones will be stacked in the large cool room and Maxie had now commandeered the forklift. In total there were ten pallets of treats. I noticed pallets of biscuits stacked next to the cooler, which will be for Iris's hotels and the cafe. "There's too much Antonio, what are we going to do with it all?" "Sell it Tommaso, you had better start loading it into the computer, did you have the boys do a spreadsheet for you?" "I did it myself the other day, all I have to do is load up the stock and then we can scan them out." "Good, we can do that later today or tomorrow." "Thank you for your help guys I doubt we are capable of doing all this on our own." "It's all new to you but when it settles down everything will fall into place." I winked. I looked at my boys they were stacking boxes into the cool room and working up a sweat, see they can work hard if they are forced to. "Gianni, there's more in the second container do you want it unloaded?" "Yes Franco, over here." "What?" I think Tommaso just fainted. I looked over at the forklift and Maxie was just sitting there stunned. "Hey Maxie, it's not going to unload itself," Franco yelled out. "Uh?" He fired it up and started more taking pallets from the big steel container. Sixteen pallets in total and when it was all done gran was watching and tapping her feet, it must be morning tea time or near to. We all hit the tea room and as chairs squealed, plates were placed on the table. "Where's Anna?" Gino asked. "Out in the garden center with the ladies, she's supervising the children." Gran laughed. Lukas had been sitting with grandad who was doing his bookwork and he was passed over to Alice to have something to eat. Maxie was looking over the invoices and he looked at me. "What have you done Antonio, we didn't order all this." "You will need them, the wheels you will sell to Gianni and Angelo for cheese platters, we will make them up as needed. Remo will take a few wheels of Parmesan for his store also. The prepacked wedges should have the cafes labels on them and Gianni will take them. See not that much overordered." I smiled then added. "Of course the Woolworths and Hotel ones are all prepacked and you should have five pallets to go to their distribution centers, your next order should arrive in four weeks." I smiled. "There's more?" "Yes, of course, there is more this cheese it's going to be very popular, have some confidence please Maxie." He looked at Tommaso and kissed him. "Looks like we have a business to run baby." "Yes, I had better restructure my education plans." That's it kiddo, think about the business not some dreary accounts book. "Iris, please enlighten this old lady why my son-in-law can't talk about his babies on your radio show?" Gran said with hands on her hips. "Because it's a wine show, not a baby show. He is being interviewed for his wines a big free advertisement for his business nonna." "Well, I would much rather hear about the babies." She went back to work Iris looked at me. "Don't look at me iris, this is your doing." I giggle to myself. "I had better ask him about his family then, it's going to be a long night I think." The food came from everywhere and so did the ladies and babies, we took it in turns to eat because the tea room was full. The babies giggled and squealed as they were passed from one to another and when Luca saw me he squealed the loudest and moved his arms out. I took him and he wanted to look into my eyes then his head dropped heavily to my chest, he was laughing, the others followed his antics. "Where do we start Antonio, I think we will be working into the night." Maxie oh Maxie, of course, you will be. "I will start moving it onto the computer after we finish here is that okay?" Tommaso said. "Yes, the sooner you get it on the sooner we can get it delivered." "Iris are your hotels ready?" "Yes boys, the memo went out last week so some room has been made." "Okay, then I had better get on with it then," Tommaso said. "Don't forget your studies boy." Grandad reminded him. "I will try grandad, but I think it's going to be harder now." "You can do it, nothing is gained if you don't put your back into it, that's right isn't it Antonio?" He smiled at me. "What would I know Nonno I never even went to college." Just rubbing it in that anyone can succeed without a college education. Well, that and marrying into a very wealthy family. I handed the babies over to the ladies and they went back to their babysitting work, nonna had Lukas now and a play day at her place tomorrow bought on the clapping. Alice stayed in the tearoom we didn't want her doing any lifting and she can help gran wash up, or organize the lunches, I think it is going to be a long day. The pallets had been unloaded and I was happy to see the big cool room filled with Maxie cheese. Tommaso headed for the office and Iris went with him to help if she was needed. Gianni's men followed the container truck back to his warehouse but not before thanking gran for their sandwiches and cakes. Maxie sent a box of assorted cheese wedges and a big box of biscuits with them saying to share with the ladies in my workshop, then he started looking through it all. "So much Antonio, I can't even imagine what my account will be." "It will be big, and we will help you with that because Matteo and James have to be paid fully, you can pay us back as sales pick up." "Thank you, I don't know what to say to you all and I can't give you any money at the moment so all I can do is thank you." He hugged us all and thanked every one of us. The initial panic was over and we converged to the office where Iris was having a vino with the boys, who were helping Tommaso with his spreadsheet. Leon printed something off and checked it with Carlos helping. He handed the paper to Maxie. "Your first delivery Maximillian, get to it." He laughed as Maxie ran off to do that job. "We will double-check it and I will get the men to check it also Antonio before it goes out," Tommaso said. "Who is it being delivered to?" "Iris's warehouse." "Where is it, Iris?" I asked. "Down the road Antonio, I never go there I got sick of all the wolf whistles.' She laughed then elaborated. "Tony looks after all that, it's just at the end of the street and around the corner it's small, but they are expecting the delivery." "The Woolworths one?" "Distribution warehouses on the other side of town, it can go today also if we get it ready in time." And just like that orders left the warehouse heading for their respective warehouses after I called in a few delivery trucks. It was checked five times, and five times when I looked at Maxie he had tears in his eyes, this is going to weigh heavily on his shoulders but he will work it out, he always does. "Your account Iris, I have attached the Woolworths one to their delivery slip." Leon handed over an invoice to her, she poured another wine then looked the invoice over. "When I get the okay this account will be paid, and then we will wait and see if it's a big hit, or not." "Yours too Gianni." Carlos placed the invoice into an envelope and handed it to my husband. "Is it a cash one?" "Yes Gianni, we are setting up a second accounts book." "So you are doing only cash?" Maxie asked. "Yes, I can give it to you tonight when we get back home." Tommaso and Maxie were dumbfounded at the speed their business has been organized, my boys know their spreadsheets and accounts back to front. Gianni opened the envelope and nodded. "I owe you nineteen thousand dollars." "It isn't that much Gianni." Maxie protested. "It's the full account I pay for, I will give to you the cash. My branded cheese is now all paid for in advance and must be held here separately, no selling to Angelo, he takes your brand." Maxie then fainted, well almost but he had to sit down. "Hide it away for a rainy day boys you will need it to do cash business in the future." "I don't understand," Tommaso said. "Matteo invoiced you separately for Gianni's order, cash, we like to deal in cash baby. So from now on, you deal only in cash with Gianni. The boys have separated the account so it's all under the table stuff. What Gianni is paying for is your wholesale price less the government taxes." "It's doing my head in," Tommaso said so I flipped my phone and rang grandad. "It's okay kiddo we have this. Grandad can you come down to the warehouse, Tommaso needs a little coaching, he did go to college but he's not going to University." I hung up laughing and reached for a glass of wine. "Salute Tommaso and Maxie and all the best in your new ventures." "Ventures?" "You're not going to stop at cheeses Maxie there's a whole range of goods you can keep, but let's just get this one out of the way first." "Yes let's get this out of the way first." Iris winked at them. I looked through the window and saw that the warehouse was almost cleared of pallets, all they had left was Gianni's orders which will be stacked into his coolroom, the casino order is to be delivered by one of my men tomorrow. The guys had left some boxes for Gianni they will contain some of his wonderful wines and some special purchases we made while in Italy. I must go and have a look at his extra special one. Unbeknown to them while we holidayed in Italy we did source out some small village industries, particularly around Matteo's area. Nuts pretzels sea salt chips and assorted other nibbles that go with wine and cheese, the container will be landing next week, what is here are the samples. I spied Gianni put the three boxes of samples into his van we will look at the labels later and Iris can have the first choice for her hotels, he told the boys it was personal stuff for his family. "Antonio, I feel really warm inside now, you did a good thing." "You did a good thing baby, and I suppose you want your reward now." "Yes please." We waited as long as we could then excused ourselves and went to the toilet where Gianni was splayed out against a wall in all his glory waiting for his reward suck. By one, everything that had to be done was done, Tommaso had sat with grandad and eventually he got his head straight dealing in the business of cash sales. Lunch was on and I doubt anyone will eat because we were too excited. Gran was smiling and she hugged the boys lovingly, the ladies said the cheeses were the best they had eaten and wanted to buy some. "Cash only ladies." I sang out. "They can have them for free Antonio." "They earn good money Maxie, don't give your stock away just set a good family price for them." "They will order for the Italian club also son, we have already discussed it so don't be too generous with your discounts," Grandad said and nearly started a riot but it was all in fun. "Where are my babies, and Iris why can't my son talk about his little ones on your radio show?" We heard Sabine scream across the flower room. "Okay, okay, I give up that's enough, he can talk about his babies all night, see if I care. I give up with you lot, I really do." Iris waved her arms around while the boys scooted into a corner I started cramping up from laughing. "Sabine, so lovely to see you again, you have pulled up all right after last night's spectacular entrance." Iris was back to giggling with my mother in law she had grabbed Lukas to hold first. "It was a lovely night Iris, Tony and I were the stars of the event." "You looked wonderful Sabine, especially when you were talking to the fans that doesn't happen a lot nowadays, but to be fair I saw Rick Conner's do it also," I said. "I was handing out business cards for my little dress shop Antonio, nothing like a bit of free advertising." Iris grabbed her throat and blanched. "You didn't." She said. "I did, and the shop will be so busy on Tuesday, I just know it will be." She winked at me, I knew she hadn't done that it's too crass even for Sabine. "Did you see the papers this morning?' "No Sabine." "We are featured in all of them, you had better buy copies on the way home." "You looked so beautiful mama, we were rooting for you to win a prize," Carlos said. "My darling Carlos there were no prizes last night honey." "There should have been because you were the best." He kissed her cheeks. "Thank you. Leon?" "Yes mama I agree you were the best." "Gianni." "Mama you looked awesome as usual." "That's better, Iris, have you anything to add?" "No Sabine, not at the moment." But I knew Iris was as pleased as punch with Sabine's performance. The noise from the tea room was loud and one baby decided to cry then the others went out in sympathy, they all needed changing and the ladies gladly did that job for us. Little Sam didn't know whether to cry or not as Gino hugged him, but I eventually saw a smile when he realized his daddy was smiling back at him. "He will be a heartbreaker Gino, that smile of his is gorgeous," I said. "Just like his father Antonio," Anna spoke. Gianni stared at me and I blushed, Gino wasn't that big a deal, for God's sake leave me alone will ya. "Well I for one am stuffed, you kids tidy up and we will meet you at home, I will show you the secret compartment in your bedroom when you get there." "We have a secret place?" Maxie said. "Yes, we had it installed after Basilio took all our money." "Okay, this sounds interesting," Maxie replied. "For another time kids, Gianni are you ready to go and look at your collector's wines?" He had forgotten in the hype that his wines had arrived and a crate was left at the garden center. We all took off down to the warehouse to find the large carton that had been opened. He pulled out a beautifully presented pine box and when he pulled the wooden plugs out there was his flagship wine nestled in hay and wrapped in a gold satin bag tied with black thread, it presented very well. "This is gorgeous Gianni, my friends will love it to bits," Iris said. "Take one Iris, it will be number one just for you." He kissed her cheek. The boys whined all the way home because they didn't get a free one, as Gianni said they will only drink it, and he has some extra without their regal wrappings but he will find them tomorrow and we all can have a taste of it. The babies were all tuckered out and needed an afternoon nap so I closed their bedroom door behind me and Lukas watched over them from his sleep. I went downstairs and showed the boys where the secret compartment was and then Gianni handed them nineteen grand cash to place in it. Maxie sat at the table he was too scared to touch it. After he had two wines he snapped a photo of it and sent it to both their parents. Messages came through and Tommaso's phone rang and he went out to the balcony to talk to his dad. When he came back he was beaming and he pulled Maxie up and kissed him deeply, saying he loved him forever. A tear arrived in both Iris's and my eyes, and my boys interrupted their love in by holding them a bit too close for my liking. We didn't eat because so much food was on offer at the warehouse. but we did go and sit on the steps. I talked to Gianni about his flagship wine and he said that the American order was shipped direct and will land there shortly. He puffed up because his bank balance was almost unbelievable and he still wanted to buy me something nice. There's nothing I needed, and I reminded him that I loved him, not his bank accounts. We sat around talking about the cheese business and Tommaso said he will email his professor and defer his University studies for a year, he still wants to do it just not at this moment. I was pleased he was going to help Maxie in the warehouse which bought up another question. Will they need to be still working at Angelo's, although I was confident they won't have the time to even scratch, I did say they should do some work just in case. It was all too early to tell, Gianni's money wasn't any indication that it was going to be super successful. Iris smiled to herself, she is more confident than any of us were. The next day Gianni and I had a meeting, he had bought up the extra boxes of goods we had shipped over. He displayed the packets of nibbles on our large island counter. Iris and the kids had been invited to lunch, then they were off to the warehouse to check everything was still there. There were seven packets with extras sitting there and as he made his presentation to the kids their mouths were wide open. "We can't afford all of this, we cant." "You have to diversify kids, you can't live on cheese alone you have to think big." Gianni grinned. Maxie groaned and shook his head as Gianni explained what his vision would be. He didn't need my help he was a successful businessman himself, but he was himself in the end. "We ordered a container load just so you can try them." "WHAT!!!" "They are coming next week and some are already sold." He handed Tommaso an order form he looked at it and blanched, then he looked at Iris and hugged her. " You will do my order first won't you boys?" Iris smirked. "We got an order from the Italian club this morning also, it will take us ages to pack," Tommaso said. "Good exercise for you both, later on, we can revisit the staff situation, and use my trucks that's what they are there for." They both fainted again, well almost, eventually they went back home and Tommaso entered the new stock onto his home computer which had been linked to their work one so he can place the orders directly from home. By the end of the week orders were pouring in and the kids were chasing their tails to get it all out, Iris's hotels were starting to reorder up big and the casino wanted more to send to their Sydney Brisbane, and Perth kitchens. Woolworths was still distributing but they had promised payment by the end of the month, that's the way they run it. Not surprisingly Gianni's mini, medium, and large cheese platters skyrocketed at his café, just about everyone that sat and had a wine ordered one or the other. Angelo was using it on his after-dinner cheese platter and he has already increased his orders. Gianni had placed his new wines in the shop and now he did have a good solid lock and chain on his collectible one. The rush was short-lived the first day and every day after he was selling one or two of them, his other good one was walking out the door at seven-fifty a bottle. Gianni's name was well known by now and the buyers knew if they bought that brand they would get super quality. Iris's winery started production the following week and we traveled to Rutherglen and had a wonderful day amongst the vines, Gianni was in his element and I saw him taking many photos and giving advice to the head man, or in this case headwoman, she was a niece of Iris's and had taken over the manager's job. We dined in the tourist café for lunch and with no expense spared. I could tell Iris was well and truly loved by her staff as they came to greet her at every turn. On the following Monday containers pulled up outside my shops and a forklift was produced to unload them, there was plenty of room in the back for them as we supervised the placement. By now the kids were organized and very much into their business. Orders were packed and sent out to Iris's distribution warehouse and the madness of it all took its toll on us all. "No! you don't get to sleep with us tonight." I heard Gianni scream, little Luca started moaning so I picked him up before the others started. I opened the sliding door to the balcony and told them to keep their voices down. "Sorry Antonio, but we sleep alone tonight these brothers of mine think they own our bed." He winked at me. I was pleased because it seemed that my husband and I never have a moment to ourselves. and I think tonight Antonio is going to get some. The kids came up because it was almost dinner time and I noticed they had ditched their cheap rings and were now sporting new bands, one had real diamonds and one was plain. I grabbed Tommaso's hand and looked at the sparkly ring. "He insisted I have diamonds, it isn't too much is it?" "Not at all its beautiful baby, congratulations." I hugged him. The boys did the same when they stopped staring at Gianni and the party started again. It wasn't a late night but we did end up with six in the bed. He was in such a mood in the morning he waited for the kids to head off to work then he handed the car keys to the boys and told them to bugger off to the café he would be in late today. His pants were down and after a lot of licking and deep kissing, we eventually got to do the deed. He took his time too because he said he didn't know when we would get the opportunity to do it again. It took me ages to calm down and by the time I did he was ready for another round, God I love my gypsy boy. Donations to Nifty are gratefully accepted.