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Thanks for editorial assistance go to Story Reader and deGaffer. Any errors that remain are my own.
Joe entered his house with his wives, after returning Clarisse Martelli to her own home. The women had been strangely silent, again, throughout the trip, and that worried him. On entering the house, they had immediately disappeared into the bedroom while he secured the entry door.
It had been a long day, and he was tired. Loosening his tie (yes, he still wore one of those archaic affectations!), he made his way toward the bedroom, hoping that the ladies only had sleep in mind.
Entering the room, he saw that neither of his wives had prepared for bed... in any sense. They were both sitting, fully dressed, on the oversized bed, with their hands folded in their laps. With a sense of foreboding, he asked. "what's up?"
Maria looked at Luisa, and got a nod. Then she took a deep breath and launched into her speech.
"We are disappointed in you, husband. You have been shirking your duty to set a good example for the cosca."
Confused, he asked, "What do you mean?"
"You know very well that you should have already filled your quota of wives. Because you haven't, many men of the cosca do not feel compelled to do so. That is a shameful lack of leadership in a Don.
"Furthermore, the wives you do have are past their peak reproductive years. You should be finding and courting younger women, who can give you babies for many years to come! What do you have to say for yourself?"
He smiled, realizing that Maria was again on a crusade.
"I suppose I must plead guilty, and throw myself on the mercy of the court. There are extenuating circumstances..."
"Such as?"
"Well, my own age for one thing. I can barely keep up with you two. A younger woman would cripple me... two would likely kill me!"
"Oh tush," Luisa scoffed. "You keep us sore all of the time. Deliciously sore, true, but sore nonetheless!"
"And you still have energy to burn," Maria added. "Energy which would be better spent impregnating some sweet young bride..."
"Okay, okay," he laughed. "I surrender. Do you have a candidate in mind, or am I just to go on the prowl?"
"Hah!" Maria huffed. "We have seen you staring at young Clarisse Martelli. Even pregnant, she draws your gaze whenever she enters the room. You cannot believably deny your attraction to her..."
"I confess," he interrupted, impatiently, "but I am still an old man. Compared to her, I am a very old man!"
"Apparently not that old," she smirked. "Perhaps it is only your eyes that are old, because everyone else can see that she is smitten with you!"
I will get no sleep tonight, unless I yield, he concluded, and there are many worse things than having a beautiful, pregnant, sixteen-year-old wife.
"What do you wish me to do?" he demanded.
"Just be your romantic self," Luisa told him. "She will be back with us again tomorrow night. Pay her some direct attention, and see where it leads."
Looking from one of his wives to the other, he observed, "You two have this all figured out, don't you?"
The two women stood and sauntered sexily over to his sides.
"Of course, dear," they said in unison, as they each kissed a cheek.
As the Fanelli women expected, the next few weeks brought Joe and Clarisse ever closer together. It wasn't unusual for her to spend several nights running at the Fanelli home, or to find her sitting on Joe's lap (swollen belly and all) while he teased her into giggling fits.
When she did have to leave for her home, it became commonplace for her to deposit sweet kisses upon the Fanelli adults, and those she gave to Joe became increasingly passionate. One night, as she was saying goodbye to him, the kiss ran long into overtime, and when they broke, they found themselves alone. The other women had abandoned them - really just given them some privacy.
Worried, she looked up at Joe and said, "I hope they aren't mad at me..."
"Not to worry, my little flower. They are just accommodating us."
"What do you mean?" she asked, brow furrowed.
"They seem to feel that you are attracted to me," he told her, causing her to blush. "And they have known for some time that I hold you dear to my heart, and that I lust for you unashamedly, as well."
"Do not tease me so!" she rebuked him tearfully, and pulling away from him. "Who would want a woman who carries another man's child? Surely not so powerful a man as the Don! You could have any woman in the cosca, and as many as you would like... why would you want me?"
"I am not teasing," he reassured her, taking her once again into his arms. "What you say about those other women may be true, I know not: but I do know that I want you. And why? Because I can taste a sweetness in your soul that slakes a thirst in my own.
"Though you are young, you are already a beautiful and desirable woman. The child in your belly is proof of that, and being a father-figure for that child would be no great burden, if I can have your love, and possess your body."
Clarisse just stared at him, unwilling to believe, until he moved to kiss her. Then she melted in his arms and put her entire being into the kiss. Afterwards, when she had regained her breath, she acquiesced to his desires.
"I am yours, if you want me," she said with a sigh. "Now take me home while this poor young widow still has some virtue."
Across town, Marco Lentini poured wine into two stemmed glasses. Not unusually, he was entertaining an attractive young woman in his quarters. There was one thing unusual about the woman, however... she was every bit his intellectual match.
He passed one of the wineglasses to her, and Gemma gazed thoughtfully at him, over the rim.
"We shouldn't have done that, you know..." she said.
"I know," he responded. "When Joe finds out, he's going to blow a fuse. I'll be lucky if I don't end up with a new asshole." He stopped for a moment and grinned. "It was worth it though."
"You think so?" she smirked. "Will you still think so if it happens that I carry your child?"
Marco stopped and looked at her, stricken. "I know that we are nominally Catholic, but aren't you using birth control?"
"No, silly," she teased. "Up until just recently, I was a married woman! I didn't plan to be seduced, either..."
"I'm sorry," he murmured, "but I'll do the right thing by you. In fact, I'll marry you right now if you like."
"No Marco," she told him seriously, "I don't want to entrap you. If I'm pregnant, I'll deal with it. I would only marry you if I believed you really wanted me for your wife."
At that, Marco slipped into a reverie. On recovering, he said, "I think I do."
"Why do you say that?" she queried. "I know you've brought many other women here, before. Why should I believe that I am special to you?"
"Because, as I just realized, I've never before been so thoroughly dedicated to eliminating any competition. I wanted you for my own almost from the moment I became your protector. You didn't seem to notice that I cut Frank out of the job almost immediately..."
"I thought he was sort of assigned to Clarisse..."
"No, we were both assigned to both of you, but she obviously didn't need our protection when she spent so much time at Joe's place. Frank would have liked to share the duty of protecting you, but I told him I had it handled."
"I see," she acknowledged, smiling. "Go on..."
"Didn't you notice that very few men ever approached you, when we were out together? They could see in my eyes that I would have looked for reasons kick their asses!"
"So where does that leave us now?" she asked.
"That depends upon you. Gemma, will you marry me?"
She set her glass on the bedside table, and took his hand. "Of course I will, you silly man. You just had to ask correctly."
Pulling him into position, she wrapped in her arms and legs around him, kissed him thoroughly, and said, "Now make love to me again."
There was no need for foreplay. She was ready, and so was he. With his rod already poised at her entrance, it was simply a matter of nudging his hips forward to achieve penetration. This was ground previously broken, so there was little resistance... nonetheless the feeling of being enveloped by her soft, wet warmth, was overpowering. Coupled with her caresses and kisses, and the sensation of her hard nipples boring into his chest, the effect was devastating.
They moved together in a time-honored rhythm, generating wavelets of pleasure with each cycle of motion. The wavelets piled up upon one another, like water driven by a storm, until, at the end, an impossibly large composite wave swamped them in exquisite bliss. The kisses they shared on the heels of that wave were short and small, because they had yet to recover their breath.
After a while, Gemma said, "You know, there might be a problem with this..."
"How's that," he queried.
"Well, I overheard a conversation that I shouldn't have, recently, although in a way, it was my business. Anyway, the point was made that even though Chris died, I'm still married to the other Martelli wives. So is Clarisse."
"You're kidding, right?
"Uh-uh," she answered. "We all took the same vows, swearing to cleave only to one another 'til death us do part! The Church is going to have to deal with it too. This is a situation that's never happened before."
"Well there's only one thing we can do then."
"What's that?"
"We have to go to confessional. We put it in the Church's lap and they'll have to fix it!"
"Now you're kidding!"
"Not a bit! They'll ignore the problem until someone threatens to make it public. It's just easier that way. But if we confess that we've had an affair, and tell them we want to get married, they'll find a way."
"I always knew you were a smart man. Kiss me!"
The memorial service went off without a hitch, exactly two months after the public announcement of Cristiano Martelli's death. The cosca spared no expense in preparing funeral trappings and meeting the protocols required for the interment of a hero. The fact that there was no body to inter was irrelevant.
Father Nicholas delivered the eulogy, personally. Clearly such things would normally be handled by a priest of lesser rank, but just as clearly, as the first pilot to die in the line of duty, Cristiano Martelli was not an ordinary casualty.
Immediately following the service, Joe stood before the assembled Capi, in the large meeting room. Considering how best to open the meeting, his gaze fell upon his new fianc�e. Thank God that Nicholas granted those annulments! That idiot Marco would have hung both of our hides out to dry!
"Before we begin, I must tell you of my good fortune. Clarisse Martelli," he said, gesturing for her to rise, "... widow of the late Cristiano Martelli, will be joining my family in the near future. Only last evening did she consent to become our wife. This is the first public announcement of our engagement. Maria, Luisa, and I invite you to share our joy, and welcome her to this gathering."
There was a smattering of polite applause, as the young, and very pregnant woman curtsied, blushing madly. Maria and Luisa rose simultaneously, and encircled her in their arms. Nicholas nodded his approval from his seat. Joe smiled his satisfaction, and after a moment, resumed speaking.
"Circumstances being what they are, our fianc�e will take up residence in our home immediately, so that we may care for her during her pregnancy and delivery. For propriety's sake, however, the wedding will be delayed until after the child is born."
There was some murmuring among the audience, in apparent confusion as to just how such an arrangement might accommodate propriety, but no one raised an objection.
"On to business, now. To refresh your memories, I will review the history of the issue about which we meet tonight. When we began this undertaking - our unilateral declaration of war upon the Sa'arm - we needed pilots for our warships. Many young men volunteered to do the job, but few were qualified.
"Those who were qualified, had rational concerns about how such work would affect life and family. While the purpose was honorable and heroic, the process would be protracted, lonely and boring, and sometimes, dangerous. Many of these men were married, or planned to be, and they had hopes of building families. This kind of work creates obstacles to doing that.
"One of the things we did, to get the kind of pilots we wanted, was to guarantee the continuance of each of these men's bloodlines, at least into the next generation. It seemed little enough to offer at the time.
"Those promises were made for the best of reasons, but without much planning or forethought about how they would be fulfilled. In retrospect, it is clear that, on some level, we rejected the inevitability of losing pilots, and neglected to consider the issues that could complicate fulfilling them.
"Recently, that lack of foresight and planning has come home to roost, and we are faced with the unpleasant task of trying to accommodate our foolish commitment. I freely admit that I had no idea how to approach the problem, until Maria came to me with a proposed solution.
"I have listened and considered her words, and I think that once again, our Maria may have saved our bacon. So, rather than having me give you a poor facsimile of her ideas, I choose to have her to present them to you directly. Maria?"
Maria, whose pregnancy had become nearly as obvious as Clarisse's, approached the podium and took the microphone.
"The Don has succinctly described the dilemma we face. What I propose for your consideration, is a solution that will require voluntary participation from responsible members of the cosca, if it is going to work.
"First, let me give you my operating philosophy. I believe that when babies are born, they should be born into intact families. I know that it is not always going to happen, but whenever possible, there should be both a father and a mother present, for a variety of reasons of which you are already cognizant.
"While I would be the last person to deny a lone widow the right to bear her deceased husband's seed, that creates a difficult situation: one that grows even more difficult as the number of children she has increases.
"How many of you would marry a widow, even a beautiful one, if she were obligated to only have her dead husband's children?" she challenged. The men in the audience grew uncomfortable under her gaze, but none answered.
"I thought so," she observed grimly. "So why would she be willing to obey that restriction, knowing that she could never again expect to feel the love of a living man? Why should she? Because we were too short-sighted to see the problem?
"I think not... nor do I believe that the women of the cosca at large - including your own wives - will be willing to support enforcement such requirements!" There! The threat is out in the open now!
"Doing so would be no better than rape! It would be the rape of a widow by the entire cosca! Where is the honor in that? There is none!" The discomfort level had grown so, that her audience had begun fidgeting. "There is an alternative, though," Maria smiled, seeing the light of hope gleaming in their eyes - she had them where she wanted them now.
"What if there were other women of the cosca, who were willing to accept the seed of these dead heroes... would that not meet our obligation to them?" she asked. Many of those in the audience looked confused, others nodded careful agreement.
"I'll get right to the point," she continued. "I propose that the cosca solicit volunteers for this purpose from the ranks of our own married women." Shock began to register on the faces of her audience, so to keep the tactical advantage - and to forestall immediate objections - she pressed on quickly.
"Think about it," she invited them, "If a woman volunteers, then no one has to be forced to serve, and the issue of besmirching the cosca's honor disappears, and the cosca is meeting the obligation. If she is married, then the baby will be born into an intact family - one with two parents." One of the men in the audience raised his hand, as if he were a child in school. Maria nodded.
"What about her husband? What about his rights, and his proper expectations of his wife?" he asked.
"I don't propose that any married woman should do this unilaterally," Maria replied. "That would defeat the purpose. No husband would be willing to nurture his wife's child by another man, if he felt that, in bearing that child, she had disrespected him."
"But that's the point!" the man cried. "If she has another man's child, she is disrespecting her husband!" Many in the audience seemed to be in agreement. Maria had to think and act fast.
"That is only true if she does it without his agreement!" she snapped. "I am not suggesting that any married woman should volunteer if her husband cannot be convinced that it is right and proper!"
Joe, sensing that things were about to get out of hand, intervened. "Why don't we hold the questions until the end of Maria's presentation. Otherwise we'll be here all night, and we still would not know everything we need to know in order to act." Not waiting for a response, he said, "Go on Maria."
She was a little angry with Joe for interfering, but realized that it was necessary in order to make any progress. After giving him a short glare, she took a deep breath and turned back to her audience.
"Okay. Here it is. The basic plan is stepwise, to first publicly admit to the cosca that we screwed up by making these commitments in the first place, but that we are now honor-bound to see that the names and the bloodlines of deceased pilots continue, for at least one more generation. The second thing we have to do, is decide on the limits of that obligation.
"I propose that practically speaking, even if the pilot had lived, and all of his wives been very young, it would have been very unusual for him to have sired more than five children on each wife. Even with the maximum allowed number of wives, that would have amounted to only twenty children. That number is probably even somewhat higher than is reasonable, but we shouldn't stint on meeting our obligation.
"The third thing, is to decide who, that is which women, will be bearing these children for them. We already know that we can't, with honor, force anyone to participate. We also know that we want children, when possible, to be raised in complete homes. That means the women must be volunteers, and that they must be married.
"I suggest that any woman who volunteers to have one child, would have met and far exceeded her portion of the cosca's obligation to the deceased., and her husband, by his agreement, would have as well. On Catania alone, there are now over five thousand married women. Surely among them there are twenty women who, with their husbands' consent, would be willing to serve in this way.
"The final requirement, is to adopt and implement a system to select women from among the volunteers. I fully expect enough response from among our women, that this will be necessary. I propose a lottery of sorts. To be eligible, the women must not only volunteer and have their husbands' agreement, they must be in stable relationships, in good health, and have sufficient resources to devote to raising an additional child without hardship.
"In conclusion, I would like to mention one other item. It was the leadership of the cosca that decided we should make this commitment in the first place. All of the Capi were participants in that decision. It was you who sold the idea for the commitment to the rank and file. Perhaps it should be the leadership who set the example, by meeting the challenge of this obligation head on. I would be happy to speak on your behalf, to any of your wives who are not here."
Maria had been keenly aware of the grimaces displayed by many in the audience, and it was difficult to ignore the sounds of discontent that had grown continuously, during her presentation.
"And that is the essence of my proposal," she concluded. "Are there any comments or questions?" There were, but they were not directed at her.
"Father Nicholas," one man began, "What Maria wants our wives to do, wouldn't that be adultery?"
Nicholas rose wearily from his seat and took the podium, as Maria yielded her place. Taking the microphone in his hand, he began to pace, back and forth, across the speaker's platform.
"I have wondered about that myself, and not finding any answers from within, I sought guidance from the Holy Father." He paused for a moment before continuing, wanting to be sure of the truth of his next words.
"The guidance he gave me, at first, seemed nebulous. He repeated the reason for creating this new branch of the Church. We are in a new environment, one which is hostile to the Church and to believers.
"He repeated his charge that I lead you spiritually, in a way that would insure the continuation of the Church in this new environment, and he added emphatically that I should do so without petitioning the Vatican concerning every need to deviate from historic traditions.
"He repeated his edict, that this new branch of the Church should have its own rules and traditions.
"Some of the rules and traditions that were considered sacrosanct on Earth, are not so much so, here. Witness the changes in marriage and the priesthood. Witness the revised age of majority. Witness the authority that His Holiness has vested in me and those who will come after me, to minister unto you, who he hopes and believes - as we all do - will become more numerous than the sum of all believers who ever lived on Earth.
"The substance of his advice was... pray.
"I have prayed without ceasing concerning this exact matter, and I am satisfied in my heart that what we are doing is right. I know that this will not sit well with some of you, so I also must offer some observations that are indisputable.
"Adultery is prohibited, by the Seventh Commandment, and the biblical concept of adultery was very specific. In the context of the Hebrew culture, at the time the Commandments were given them, adultery only happened when a married woman had voluntary sexual relations with someone without her husband's permission.
"Originally, the prohibition had its roots in the status of women as chattels. Later on, however, our Christian forebears extended the definition to include any kind of sexual congress outside of marriage. A rationale for this can be found in Jesus' own principles concerning how one should treat one's neighbors, and who those neighbors actually are.
"The point of all of the Commandments is to observe the Golden Rule. Don't deliberately do things that will offend or hurt your loved ones, your friends, your neighbors... physically or emotionally.
"Now, as it did then, giving yourself sexually to someone, other than your sworn mate, offends your neighbors, confuses your friends, sets a poor example for children, and most importantly, hurts your mate emotionally. In response to that emotional injury, a mate might become irrational and behave in ways that can cause them physical injury; then there is the obvious increase in risk of exposure to sexually transmitted disease.
"So does the prohibition still stand? Are we so modern that we no longer need observe it? I have to believe that it still stands. Even though we view our wives differently than those ancient Hebrews did theirs, the intent of the Commandments, and the interpretation of them given to us by Jesus, still remains.
"So where does that leave us with respect to this new idea, and this obligation we have, to perpetuate the bloodlines of our fallen heroes? How does it affect our obligation when the hero has released his wives from theirs? Are we entitled to force those women to bear children they might not want?
"We are NOT! And that is true, whether or not the late husband releases them! It would be dishonorable to force someone to conceive and bear a child, under duress and against their will. Doing that, we would become no better than the minions of the Godless Confederacy!
"On the other hand, we still have an obligation to those men. The cosca made a promise in haste, and must now find a way to fulfill it.
"What Maria has proposed, is that we ask for volunteers... mature women who, with the consent of their husbands, will come forward to accept the seed of a fallen hero. No one will be coerced, so there is no dishonor, and sex isn't involved, so there can be no adultery! I can conceive of no more elegant solution to the cosca's dilemma, and the Church will stand solidly behind it. My own Michela has asked to participate, after our own child is born, and I have consented."
"What about the ban on artificial insemination?" another man challenged. Nicholas was disgusted.
"I find it ironic that this objection should surface only now. I don't recall hearing any of you voice such concerns when it was just the deceased pilots' wives you were discussing," Nicholas answered, dryly. "No matter. I broached that very subject to His Holiness."
"His response was - and I quote - 'Those rules were established for the Church on Earth. You [meaning me] are the Patriarch of the Church Extraterrestrialis! Within the framework of scripture and prayer, it is your job to determine the appropriate rules of behavior for your flock. Do not to shirk that responsibility by attempting to delegate it to me!'
"I don't think I can adequately convey how irritable he was, in delivering that statement."
Nicholas looked around the room, meeting the eyes of each of the Capi in turn.
"The importance that the Pope has placed on population growth for the cosca is prima facie obvious, and his most recent words to me are a clear expression of his intention not to interfere in how we achieve that growth.
"It is also clear that he intends for us to find our own way in the cosmos, without reliance upon, or inhibition by, many of the requirements which have historically been imposed on earthbound believers.
"I have searched the scriptures, and spent many hours in prayer over this very issue. I have no sign from God that prohibits us these activities, nor has He moved my heart to dread the outcome of same. I have faith that if He disapproved, He would have guided me to a different conclusion, perhaps even by moving the Pope to take a different stance."
Having said his piece, Nicholas replaced the microphone and returned to his seat, without waiting for further questions. It was clear that, as far as the Church was concerned, the matter was closed.
Maria returned to the podium, trying to hide how pleased she was with Nicholas' stand on the matter. Taking a deep breath, she addressed the stunned crowd:
"Consider this! Neither the Church nor Father Nicholas were party to the promise we made, the cosca made, to our pilots; yet, he and his wife see it as their duty, as members of our society, to participate in fulfilling it!
"Do you think that my family would stand idly by, waiting for others in the cosca to face up to our obligations in this way? We would not ask you to do what we would not do ourselves!
"My husband and I, and my sister-wife Luisa, have discussed these matters in depth , and I can report that my family plans to take an active role in implementing this program.
"Don Giuseppe has graciously consented for Luisa to be the first to volunteer to accept the seed of our slain hero, Cristiano Martelli. When the child I am now carrying is weaned, I will volunteer as well.
"The Don has pledged that the children we bear from that seed, as well as the one to whom Clarisse will soon give birth, will be raised in our home; that they will be treated as if they were his own; but, that they will know their biological father as well as we can manage. They will carry the Martelli name into the future.
"Familia DiCatania will do our part. I challenge you to do as much!"
Returning to her seat, Maria was visibly shaken by the proceedings. Joe rose to his feet and embraced his wife, before taking over the podium himself.
"There you have it," he said flatly. "You have heard our proposal, and you have the position of the Church on the matter. My family will do this. We will not dishonor ourselves by breaking our promise to those pilots. Each of you must decide for yourselves what is right for you.
"Any who choose to follow in our wake will be treated with honor and respect! No one will be forced to participate, but physical or verbal abuse of those who choose this path will be dealt with summarily!" He glared out across the room, reinforcing his determination for the benefit of the audience.
Riding roughshod over their objections was a gamble. No individual mafiusu could successfully oppose him, but if enough of them banded together, he could be ousted as Don. His greatest asset in this confrontation was their distrust of each other, and the fact that everyone in the room knew that he didn't act capriciously. There was little point in opposing him, because no one else in the cosca had as much claim on their trust.
After the grumbling faded away, he looked over the crowd, observing the discomfort of his Capi, as they came to terms with the realities of the situation.
"All that remains for us to do now," he began, "is to decide whether the leadership of the cosca endorses this program as a means of meeting our obligation. I want there to be no room for criticism of the consensus when we leave here. I will have a show of hands when I put the question to you. Before I do that, does anyone here have anything else to say, or questions to ask?"
The gathered mafiusi looked around furtively, to see if anyone else had in mind to challenge the boss. Finally one man, far in the back of the room, stood and asked, "What happens if we agree to this, and some of us don't give our wives permission to participate?"
"You live with your conscience," Joe retorted. "There is no punishment for women who do not volunteer, and there is none for husbands who don't agree to allow it. If you feel your honor is unsullied by refusing, then you have only to live with the knowledge that you did not participate in meeting this obligation, and with the attitudes of your family and friends concerning your decision.
"On the other hand, what we do here will be common knowledge very quickly, and the rank and file will expect us to lead, not lag, If your own crew decides that your decision exposes you as a poor leader, that could be... career-limiting. That is not a threat, just an observation."
The questioner might have had other things to say, but apparently decided against doing so, and quickly faded back into the audience.
"Anyone else?" Joe queried. When no one else responded, he went on, "In that case, let's get down to business.
"There will be no possibility of questions concerning the true outcome of this meeting. There will be no room for accusations of 'creative evaluation' of a voice vote, and no back room counting of paper ballots. We are each going to show our indisputable support or opposition to this proposal before all of the Capi.
"All in favor of adopting this proposal as a policy of the cosca, please raise your right hand."
Only about a third of the Capi present raised their hands. Joe shook his head in disappointment.
"All right, you can put your hands down. All those opposed, please raise your right hand."
Surprisingly, not a single hand went up. This was not a consensus, nor was it an acceptable outcome. Joe gave each man a hard look in the eyes as he demanded: "Look guys, you can't abstain this time. This proposal is either a good thing, or it's not, and we need to know where you stand on it. Let's try it again. All those in favor?"
This time about two thirds of the Capi showed support for the plan immediately, while others slowly began to come around. Before it was over, there were fewer than ten men in the audience who hadn't agreed to the proposal.
Joe looked at the hold-outs, and said, "You heard me say there would be no abstaining. When I call for the opposing votes, if you haven't already cast your lot with the rest of us, I'll expect to see you raise your hand. If you are going to oppose the will of the majority of this cosca on this, you should be willing to say so in front of everyone."
The men shifted about uncomfortably, and slowly, one by one, each one raised his hand in support of the proposal.
Gazing at them steadily, Joe murmured, "Thank you gentlemen. Everyone please lower your hands. Now for formality's sake: are there any who oppose the plan?"
Knowing that there wouldn't be, Joe waited only long enough to satisfy custom, and then declared, "We have a consensus. The leadership of the cosca unanimously supports the proposal put forward by Donna Maria DiCatania. Let any who say otherwise be branded as liars and enemies."