In Over Her Head by Elsie Russell - Parnasse.com

a son. But then, what do you know, not one but two baby boys come
out! She thinks she has it in the bag, no? Yes, so for a while, il
marchese has two ménages, one in the Eternal City and one in the City
of Light."
Penny bit into a cornichon.
"Then, the wife dies, and Beatrice think, oh boy, I get him now!
And the title, marchesa! A symbol only, because in reality the
marchesato is only a pile of earthquake rubble on either side of the
autostrada. Ah, but no, by then il marchese has her figured out, that she
is a conniving bitch, and also a bad mother, you know, after the scandal
with the Jesuits."
"Huh?" Penny almost choked on her cornichon.
"When she goes to launch her movie career, spaghetti westerns
at Cinecittà in Rome, she leave them here with Jesuits, for the
discipline! Terrible, terrible, what happened. To treat little children that
way!" Maia took a deep breath.
"So Beatrice decides to keep them home out of trouble, while
she lives her jet set life in Rome and New York and the Riviera. The
boys they pretty much live alone in the house with the servants and it
gets very strange, with Angelo always in his mother's high heels and
Sandro playing renaissance courtier with his lute and the swords, and
then learning soccer from the chauffeur, of all people! So she has Deek,
her very dear friend, keep an eye on things. Okay, she is a busy woman,
but, I mean, Deek? Oh, he keep an eye on them and better than the
Jesuits!" She blew a cloud of smoke into Penny's face.
"Then, il Marchese, he dies of infarctus, like that!" Maia
snapped her fingers. "So, everything goes to Sandro, not a crumb for
the others!" Maia leaned back, exhaled and watched the swirls rise to
the ceiling, waiting for a reaction, but Penny was busy folding her
napkin into a pattern of tiny isosceles triangles.
"Hey! Do you know what Sandro does? The perfect gentleman,
when he becomes adult, he split the fortune three ways, fair and square,
and he restore the house for Beatrice, even though the crazy bitch kick
them out! Good boy, but a little mixed up, no?" She shook her curls
and exhaled, glancing around to see who was watching her.
"Gee, guess I'd be pretty mixed up too," Penny stammered.
Maia leaned forward again. "Mixed up, yes! But with a big heart.
(She struck her chest hard.) It broke when his brother died, and you
know, his mother never reconciled... Yes, terrible."
"And Ula! her career was nothing before, nothing! She wastes
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