Marcello was only six years old when his mother passed away. He had hardly known her much, but his father talked about her often. The way he talked about her made it seem like true love, even though they had divorced. Marcello's father, Giovanni, was a priest in Italy when he met her. Her name was Charlotte, and had been in Italy to visit with her friends. Charlotte had just graduated college, and her friends decided to celebrate by taking a summer trip. Her family was loaded with money, because both of her parents ran a large company that produced concrete. Although it sounded boring, it did rake in a enormous amount of cash.
The two had met when Charlotte and her friends were touring one of the old churches of Italy that was still running. Giovanni had seen her across the room: she was taking a picture in front of a statue of Mary and Joseph with her friends. He thought she was beautiful, and he went over to her. He hardly knew any English, and when he spoke it was very broken. Charlotte's friends were giggling, however Charlotte thought the stranger was cute. She got his number, and the two had met up a few times so Giovanni could give her and her friends tours around Italy. She actually decided to stay in Italy. She had enough money to sustain herself, and she felt like she could spend the rest of her life with him. It sounded ridiculous, but neither of them had felt such a strong feeling like this before.
Unfortunately, Charlotte's parents found out, and they tried making their daughter return to America. Charlotte wouldn't have it however, and so her parents decided that the best way to get their little girl back home, was to cut off her credit card. This would force her to come back begging for help. Their plan had backfired, because not only did Giovanni work two jobs, Charlotte was also looking for work. She wanted to stay with the man she met, and soon, the two got married and had a set of twins. Alfred, named after Charlotte's grandfather, and Antonio, named after Giovanni's father. Everything had seemed perfect. The newly-wed parents had sustainable jobs, and lived in the outskirts of Vatican City with their two boys.
However their happy ending didn't stay happy. Charlotte's parents had gotten into a fatal car accident, and she had to go back to America, taking her children with her. She was heartbroken, and so was Giovanni. When she left, he was devastated. He stopped being a priest, and had picked up a job at a local bar instead. There, years after Charlotte had left him, he met another women. Technically he and Charlotte were still married, and he still loved her dearly, but he was still heartbroken. He didn't know the woman's name, but he had an affair with her. Fourteen months later, returning to the same bar he worked at, the woman had shown Giovanni the child she bore. It was his. He would have left the child with her, but he saw she was desperate. She couldn't keep up with paying for the child, and so he took the baby boy.
He hoped it would fill some empty void in his life, but it only made it worse. He still kept the child, not going back on his promise to the mysterious woman, but the boy was a constant reminder of the mistake he made. He often took out his anger and self-loathing on the boy. None of his abuse was physical, but it left a toll mentally on the child. Years passed, and his two sons in America— only 18 years old— had gotten in contact with Giovanni again. They told him that Charlotte had died of breast cancer, and this sent Giovanni over the edge. He sent his six year old son, Marcello, to go live with his two older brothers in America.
The two twins knew that Marcello was an illegitimate brother, but Alfred wanted to accept him as part of the family. Antonio on the other hand, was furious that their father had cheated on their mother, and refused to accept that Marcello was family. Alfred went against his brothers wishes and bought Marcello a plane ticket to Hooksett Oregon. Alfred and Antonio had inherited the company from their mother, although both had just gotten out of high school.
When Marcello arrived, he could barely speak a word of English, but Alfred knew Italian, and so he taught him before sending him off to kindergarten. Although some kids made fun of his accent at first, Marcello actually hit it off with the children. He wasn't extremely outspoken, but he was a follower, and usually did whatever he could to fit in with the other kids, and in a way it actually worked.
Years later, his accent faded, and Marcello adapted well to America. He was a popular kid in high school, partly because his brothers were some of the richest people in Hooksett, which isn't saying much. Most families there were middle class at best, but there weren't many families to begin with anyways. Eventually, in his senior year, Marcello would meet someone who would end up changing the way he viewed himself and the world.
