AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue
Tony Roman stood in front of the bathroom mirror and grabbed the spare tire around his midsection with both hands, giving it a good shake. Glaring at his reflection, at his shaved bald head, protuberant Roman nose, and salt and pepper five o’clock shadow, he cried, “I give up. Why couldn’t I look like Andy?”
His brother Andy Roman, former Manhattan DA, in an Armani suit with his thick hair styled, sat at a commentator’s desk on the evening news, looking like a fashion model.
“Are you talking to yourself?”
Over his shoulder in the mirror’s reflection, his long-time girlfriend, Kassandra, in bra and panties, her long legs crossed at the ankles, looking more like she was twenty-five than nearly forty, leaned against the doorjamb with a grin on her face.
“Tony, you’re you, and Andy is Andy. Stop putting yourself down. Get dressed, please. I’m eager to get down to Babylon and look at your father’s place. If we’re really going to buy the house, we need to do it before he lists with an agent. And I want to be in there before Christmas.”
The house in question was Tony’s father Igor’s place. Igor had realized after a year that he didn’t care to live in Babylon, preferring his old stomping ground of the Hamptons. Plus, the woman Igor had been dating, Pam Smith, had recently accepted an engagement ring from a guy he hated.
“Do you really want to live in Babylon?” Tony asked Kassandra. “The nightlife there sucks.”
“That’s the whole point. We’re tired of the nightlife. At least I am. I shouldn’t speak for you.” She walked into the closet and began rifling through her clothes. “If we move, I’ll need a new wardrobe. Sandra said she has worn nothing but bathing suit coverups, spandex capris, and sweatshirts for the past three years. Unless she’s going to work.”
The carillon from the church across the street rang out the melody of “Autumn” from Vivaldi’sThe Four Seasons.
“I’ll miss that,” Tony said.
“There are churches in Babylon.”
Tony turned from the mirror and joined her in the massive closet. “What will you do about work?”
“I’ve had enough. I’m not commuting, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“We need your income, Kassie. That house is way over my budget.”
She pulled a white shirt off a hanger and slipped her arms through the sleeves, pulling the collar up. “I’m buying it. Cash. But you won’t be on the title, so you don’t have to worry about debt.”
Kassandra had been through similar situations with Tony before. She was better educated and made more money than he did, but she didn’t flaunt it, not for a second.
“My ego can take it,” he said. “If it couldn’t, I wouldn’t be involved with a beautiful surgeon.”
Igor Roman had introduced them when she had first come on as an associate in Igor’s cardiothoracic surgery practice.
Slipping on slim jeans, she smiled at Tony. He had a remarkable ego. He was a sportscaster for the New York teams. They had been the odd couple from the moment they’d met, the hulky bald New Yorker with a thick accent and the slender, blond, soft-spoken surgeon from Michigan.
“Does my father know you’re leaving?” he asked.
She patted Tony’s cheek. “It’s all good. He’s retired, after all. I’m going to rent office space in Babylon and see patients to refer elsewhere.”
“What’s that called?”
“I’ll consult. I’ll review test results and make recommendations. But my OR days are over. I don’t care if I ever pick up a scalpel again.”
“Wow, I didn’t think I’d ever hear you say that. Don’t most surgeons operate until the instrument is removed from their dead hand?”
“Maybe, but that’s not me. I want a baby. I want to sit on a terrace overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and nurse my baby. And then I want another one, and another and another, and fill that ridiculous house up with babies.”
“Um, will I be the father?” Tony asked, gathering his clothes.
“If you want. That’s entirely up to you.”
He grabbed her arm gently but firmly. “Are you purposely trying to hurt me?”
Kassie immediately melted against him. “Calm down, Tony. You are the one who doesn’t think we need to make anything legal. How long have I been after you to make me an honest woman?”
