CINDERELLA Revisited
Thunder, lightning, plenty of rain. Not unneeded or unwanted but bearing a pall on his mood, nonetheless. Most of his days, he was content with his lot in life, accepting his flaws; no better, sometimes worse than others. But this time of year, this day precisely, he allowed himself to dwell on his one major mistake and what he lost because of it.
CHAPTER ONE
Anthony DiNozzo, Sr
Anthony DiNozzo entered the foyer and removed his raincoat, hat and gloves handing them off to his butler Janes along with his umbrella and briefcase.
"I've left several phone messages on your desk, sir, and Mrs DiNozzo asked to be informed when you arrived," Janes said as he removed a sodden newspaper from the raincoat pocket. Anthony nodded quickly intent on getting to his study, a warm fireplace and a double martini.
"Also, young Steve called and said he would be here in 20 minutes and wanted to know if you had changed your mind about attending the Langston dinner party tonight with Mrs DiNozzo or should he continue with the plans already made?"
"No, I will not be attending the Langston dinner party tonight! Steve can take his mother like he always does. I'm not accepting any phone calls, I don't want any dinner, and if Steve brings the grandkids, they are not allowed in my study at this time! Is that understood, Janes?" was DiNozzo's exasperated response as he all but stormed into the study. His good manners and breeding would not allow him to slam the door.
DiNozzo relieved himself of his tie and suit jacket and flung them onto the full-grain green leather chair as he made his way to the fully stocked bar. A crystal decanter of his dry martini drink of choice on ice sat next to a goblet just waiting to be filled. A Flora Danica platter with moose milk cheese and exotic mustard-honey crackers was placed next to it along with sliced and peeled mandarin tangerines and imported sliced pears.
Mrs DiNozzo catered to her inherent need to have the best, her lips curling in distaste at serving sliced cheddar and crackers, his favored snack. 'Only the best for the DiNozzo's,' he thought, in self-mockery, 'the best for the best'.
God, he was getting maudlin. He poured his drink even though he was grateful his man Janes knew him so well; food was the last thing on his mind right now, but later, a snack would be appreciated.
He glanced at himself in the mirror behind the bar as he took his first sip, savoring the coldness and sharp bite as it touched his palate. He didn't look bad for a man his age. He'd be sixty seven his next birthday with two grown and successful (and acknowledged) sons, and five beautiful grandchildren. He visited a gym a couple of times a week now that he was more or less retired from DiNozzo Enterprises, and went golfing every Sunday with his cronies.
His hair was silver and cut to style by a barber he'd used for thirty years. His weight was good, his cholesterol and blood pressure tolerable, and he still had all his teeth. He knew he was thought of as still handsome by women his age and even younger women turned their heads when he entered a room.
He made his way across the room to his executive mahogany desk where he placed his
drink and the crystal decanter on the desk top. He sat wearily in his chair and kicked off his leather, handmade and extremely expensive shoes that carried no label. His suit, shirt, and tie were also handmade by excellent tailors from this country and abroad.
The carpet he ran his feet through was of expensive wool and imported. There was nothing about his looks or his home surroundings that suggested anything but a successful and wealthy man with the perfect family. But he knew differently and tonight he would relive the one event that made his life less than perfect.
A knock on the study door interrupted his thoughts before the door was pushed open and a tall man in a black tux and raincoat entered. The man shook his wet head and rubbed moisture off his face with his coat sleeve as he confidently strode over to the man sitting at the desk. DiNozzo noted peripherally the muddy shoe prints left on the gray carpet and remembered a time when one of his sons would have been severally punished for that misdeed.
The man started talking right away. "Father, I left Ann waiting in the limo. Are you sure you don't want to escort mother to dinner? You know how she gets when she has to attend these affairs without you."
"I'm not going. End of discussion," Anthony interrupted. "Take your wife and mother and make the best of it, Steve," he said as he studied his son.
The boy will be forty in a few months, no longer a boy except to him. He was handsome, like all the DiNozzo men. Self-assured, with brown hair and hazel eyes, and the indentations in both cheeks that no man would call dimples.
He was his strong right-hand man, taking over the business with confidence. And he had been involved in some things in Afganistan that he would not talk about but that had hardened his gentle heart. But Steve was still able to forgive his father's faults. He was a determined man, but not cutthroat, and very astute as his son was studying him also.
"I know what this is about, father,"Steve said as his light hazel eyes bore into him.
"Every year it's the same like clockwork. Why don't you just call him and get it out in the open?"he implored, before he was again interrupted.
"Get what out in the open, Antoney?" his mother asked as she glided into the room with a flourish. A lovely women was Angela Delane DiNozzo with beautiful blue eyes and lustrous brown hair stylishly coiffed with not a strand of gray.
Her blue flowing gown showed off her perfect figure; the gown had thin spaghetti straps, form fitting bodice, jeweled belt around the thin waist. Her form was tall and trim, a figure any 20-year old would covet.
Angela's natural beauty was enhanced by the best hair stylists, makeup artists and clothiers that money could buy. She belonged to the same exclusive club as her husband and visited the gym regularly. She swam and rode horses and jogged. Even with two grown sons, any man would feel privileged to escort her on his arm.
Yes, any man, except her husband, the only one that mattered. And the only thing that marred her flawless face and caused the bitterness to show in her expression was what and who her husband agonized over on this date, year after year, for the past 30 years.
"Get what out in the open?" she repeated at receiving no response from the men in the room.
She walked over to her husband and around his desk as he had not stood when she entered the room. The peck on the cheek had been aimed at his lips just before he turned his head away. She leaned over familiarly to rub at his cheek with manicured, pink painted nails in an attempt to remove the same-colored pink lipstick stain she had left but Anthony leaned back in his chair and put his sock clad wet feet on the desk, knowing how much this would displease her sense of decorum.
Angela smiled in acknowledgement at the games he played, not showing any of her irritation; not at his wet feet nor the mess he had made in the room with his clothes or the dampness from the glass and decanter seeping into the irreplaceable desktop; not even the mud on the priceless carpet was commented on even though she saw everything. That was not her style. Not in front of him. She might try and take it out on the staff later behind closed doors but they would let him know. Besides, he would not tolerate that kind of abuse of the staff again.
"You look extremely lovely this evening, my dear," he changed the subject. "I haven't seen that frock before and you know how much I love you in blue. It matches, no enhances your eyes," his voice was charmingly sincere as he drained his cocktail and reached for the decanter.
She forced a smile at his praise as she stood back but at the same time said bitterly, "You're not going to answer me are you, Anthony, as if I didn't already know it's about that bast.."
"Stop!" He banged the decanter down on the desk as he rose from his chair, his slightly teasing mood quickly disappearing. "Just stop now! We are not going to go into something we will both regret, Angela!"
Angela was his second wife, mother of two of his children, not deeply loved but tolerated and at times there was fondness and compatibility. She knew where she stood with her husband and not to cross that strong but invisible line.
"Mother, please, let's go!" Steve intervened. "Ann's waiting, and we're going to be late, and not fashionably late, if we don't leave now. And you said it yourself, Mother, Eloise Langston is going to be furious when she sees your dress. You know how hard she tried to purloin Madam Vivienne from you just so she could be first on her dressmaking list."
Choosing her battles had always been her strong point so giving in gracefully, she turned to Steve.
"Very well Antoney. But what a diplomat you turned out to be, always putting yourself between your father and I. I still do not understand why you never chose to run for senator, my dear. Just because your father's political career was over before it began because of his one mistake, does not preclude you from seeking office in some capacity."
Anthony accepted the unsubtle digs at his failure to achieve something they had both desired. The so called mistake he had made so many years ago was still a white elephant in the room.
"Why, so many of my friends said they would have voted for you. But you are right, we should go and have a delightful time and leave your father to... well, whatever it is that he does to exact his penance until the next year comes around." She smiled coldly at her husband, having made her point, and slipped her hand through her sons arm and led him from the room.
"Sorry, father," Steve mouthed as he looked over his shoulder. He followed his mother from the room and quietly closed the door leaving the man alone with his troubling thoughts.
(57 years ago)
Ten year old Anthony DiNozzo waited anxiously at the bottom of the circular staircase, wiggling and shifting from foot to foot, until his father's stern look directed his way abruptly curbed his fidgeting.
He sighed in relief as the quite austere sound of the doorbell announced the arrival of the expected guests. He and his older brother Fred, and their father David DiNozzo were awaiting the arrival of his mother today after a long extended visit with relatives in England.
Caroline DiNozzo was a wonderer unable to remain long in one place. David DiNozzo had accepted his wife's gypsy ways and he and their sons had gone about their lives without her.
Anthony loved his mother and missed her dearly when she was gone. Now she was returning home for a week, a month or a year if it suited her.
Caroline rushed through the front door in excitement to see her boys, clinging to them with tight hugs.
"Fred, Tony, oh my boys, I have missed you so much. Let me look at you two, how you have grown, and so handsome." She took turns smothering them in kisses as they squirmed and laughed happy to be together again.
"Caroline!"
The smile remained on her face as she turned to her husband. "Yes, David?"
David, who already knew her guests suggested, "Perhaps we can invite the Paddingtons into the parlor where they can be introduced properly to the boys?" Anthony had only just noticed the group that had entered with his mother.
Always unconventional, Caroline replied, "Oh, don't be silly, David, they're tired and need to rest. They're not up to parlor talk right now but I do want them to meet my lovely boys."
She led each boy by the hand to the three adults and two children standing together in the middle of the floor.
"Frederick, Anthony, this is Arthur Paddington and his wife, Alice. This is Arthur's brother Daniel Paddington, and this handsome young man standing next to him," she indicated fondly, "is Daniel's apprentice, Remy Santuri. Remy is 15 and will be attending school with you boys while learning the business also.
"And of course, I've saved the best for last. Boys, this lovely creature is Arthur and Alice's daughter, Louisa Paddington."
Said creature had green speckled hazel eyes and blond hair and appeared older than her 13 years. She graced the boys with a perky smile and wink, and a flip of her hair which showed off one feathered earring and her long elegant neck.
His mother had breezed through the introductions so fast Anthony's head was spinning. His father looked bemused and his brother Fred, who had just turned 15, was ogling 13 year old Louisa. Anthony was instantly in puppy love.
Years went by. Fred, Remy and a host of other young men worshiped at the feet of Louisa, including young Anthony, but Louisa had eyes only for the handsome, dashing Remy. At 15 Anthony announced to everyone who would listen that Louisa was his. They would be married and have two children, a boy and a girl, and live in his grandmother's mansion. The adults chuckled in indulgence.
By the time he was 20, Anthony had officially become a stalker, a predator who was obsessed with Louisa and boldly demanded his right to his claim of her night and day. His phone calls and letters were non-stop. He threatened her, yelled at her, demanded control of her life. He told her that she would save herself for him, that no other man could ever touch her. She was without recourse, defenseless. Her family's close business association with the DiNozzo family precluded her from getting a restraining order or even notifying the authorities.
His father sent him to the best psychiatrist; his mother, on her infrequent visits, tried reasoning with him. He was beaten up by Remy and his friends regularly. Fred, his brother, pretended not to know him.
Louisa despised him. She wanted nothing to do with him just that he leave her alone. She chose a school all the way across the country to finish her education to be as far away from him as possible.
During his school breaks and on the weekends, he'd hop on a plane and show up at her favorite coffee shop where she'd be chatting and laughing with her friends. He'd push his way through a crowd of people and pull up a chair next to her and start talking as though they were alone. He'd be outside her dorm room, in the bleachers at cheerleader practice, at a school dance. His private investigator service was paid an inordinate fee to keep track of her every move.
No matter how much she complained or how distressed she became, nothing was officially done about it; not by her family, not by the school. The DiNozzos were rich, with old money and powerful friends. The library at the school she attended was donated by the DiNozzo family. To top it off, the Paddingtons were not doing well financially. They needed to stay on the good side of the DiNozzo Empire to keep their business afloat.
Louisa finally had had enough. She'd take matters into her own hands. She and Remy's plans were set. Their elopement occurred with a justice-of-the-peace; a quick cheap champagne, soda cracker and American cheese dinner, and a night flight to Italy. She had never been happier.
Her happiness was short-lived.
"That sham of a marriage will be annulled! Louisa and Anthony will be married immediately upon her return and there will be no further discussion about it! Those are the conditions, Arthur. Take it or leave it. Your poor business sense has put you in this position, I had nothing to do with its failure and I resent your insinuations!"
"Don't play innocent, David," Arthur Paddington responded. "A hostile takeover of my company has made the circuit of gossip for the past 6-weeks, and your name has been on every lip. My question is why, though, why this way, why not be reasonable? We've been friends for a long time!"
"Anthony wants Louisa, that's why. She's bewitched him. He can't function for thinking about her. He's been prepped to take over the company from me. He can't do that if he is in constant pursuit of your daughter. Anthony was arrested last week chasing after your girl, involving himself in a brawl with some guy who was just an innocent bystander helping her change a flat tire. The guy called the cops after Anthony accused him of molesting his girl and attacking him with the tire iron.
"Needless to say, I had to fork over 100 grand and pay for the guy's ER visit for him not to press charges. It's got to stop before there's real trouble."
"So your solution is to threaten to take over my business if..."
"It's not a threat, Arthur. They will be married with your blessing or not. Just make it easier on everyone; talk to Louisa, make her understand the consequences if she does not agree to this plan.
"They'll be married and stay married for five years, during which time she will produce an heir for Anthony. After the five years and there is an heir, she can go on about her business. If all requirements have been met, she will receive a substantial settlement for life. Your company will remain in your name and be solvent. What else can you ask for, Arthur?"
"She doesn't love him, David. Matter of fact, she abhors him, and we're not living in the Victorian era. I can't force my daughter to marry someone against her will!"
"She will if you explain that her father will suffer financial ruin if she refuses. I've seen to her return to the states. Please talk to her. Make it clear to her what the effects of her refusal would have on her mother and father! I'm sure she'll do the right thing."