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“Dad thought a great deal of you and Toby. You know that he was watching over you, so to speak, as you were growing up. It wasn’t until later that he found out that you were related to us.” He again told him that he was barely a relative. “Hey, we’re a big, happy Italian family. The more, the merrier, is what Dad used to say. But you’ll be there. Don’t make me have to send someone for you, Sebastian.”
“No. Okay, yes, I’ll be there.” David watched Sebastian as he moved around the family. He could see the things that his dad had told him about now. Sebastian carried himself well. He wasn’t rude to people when they grabbed him and hugged him. Even when his overzealous aunts dragged him up from the table to give him hugs and kisses did he shy away from them. And he was quick to introduce the other side of his family to them as well. He would fit well into the family dynamics of this family.
Harold knew what his dad had done for Sebastian. He and his brothers had been sat down with their dad the morning before he had passed. Dad told them that he thought that since he’d missed out on the family, they should all make him feel welcome. That included having him be a part of the new enterprise that Dad had started. They were going to be a giving family from now on. And all three of them had agreed that his dad had it spot on.
At first, none of them wanted Sebastian to be anything but a blot on the ground when they’d found out that he’d turned down Dad on working for him. No one had ever said no to him before and they were both shocked and pissed off about it. Then, the more that dad told them about the younger man, the more respect they had for him. Even walking across the United States to be with his brothers had impressed the hell out of him. Collin sat down next to him with a platter of fresh vegetables and fruit. They had all gotten on the bandwagon of eating healthier.
“Did you know that Momma Roman is leaving her sauce recipe to Toby?” He said that he’d heard that too. “I’m glad she didn’t—” He looked around before continuing. “I’m glad that she didn’t leave it to my wife. She would have tried but wouldn’t have been able to pull it off. Not like she will.”
“Do you think it might have occurred to someone that she might not cook?” Collin looked around again. “Not your wife, idiot, but Toby. She has a staff. I doubt that she spends any more time in the kitchen than Clara does.”
“You think?” He nodded at his brother. “Nah, you’re funning with me. Everyone wants to cook for their man. You know how momma did.”
“You, my dear brother, are the reason that women hate Italian men. You’re in the twentieth century. You are aware of that, aren’t you?” He said he knew what year it was. “Yet you spout off things like women being in the kitchen. No wonder you and Clara are having trouble. Perhaps you should hang out at my house more. I know how to treat my wife.”
“You spoil her.” He said that he did, proud of the fact that someone noticed. “Did you know that your wife wants to go to college again? Why, I ask you? What does she need another education for?”
“Because she wants to learn all that she—sometimes I wonder if you weren’t switched at birth. You are nothing like Cramton and I.” He told him that he was glad for that. They were pussies. “Sure, you go on thinking that, and we’ll see who has the best marriage. I’m about as happy as I can be, and my wife loves me. I don’t have to sneak around corners to make sure that I don’t have to spend time with my wife. Dork. What are you going to do when she decides that she could do better than you?”
“I could. I really could do better than her.” Again, his brother looked around like he was terrified that his wife was nearby. “You really think that Toby doesn’t cook? That would be really sad for Sebastian. Not having a homecooked meal to come home to.”
“He’s a stay at home dad.” That got his brother coughing his carrot sticks all over himself. “Not only that, but he is richer than you are, thanks to his wife having more money than we do. Their combined worth is a great deal.”
“Why? Why would you tell me shit like that when I’m eating. That’s just sickening.” When he finally told his brother to go away, he sat there watching the people interacting with each other. When his little girl joined him, she was going to be eighteen soon, he only just realized, he held her hand in his.
“I’ve been thinking about things. A lot. I don’t want to go on the trip to Europe. I want to stay here and get to know the family, the newest family.” He asked her if she’d spoken to her mom. “No. Not yet. I will, but I wanted to talk to you about it first. I wasn’t very happy about it when it was mentioned at my sixteenth birthday party. I’m no more wanting to go now than I did then. It’s just not me. I just don’t know how to approach Mom about it.”
“You do what you want, honey. Haven’t your mom and I told you that all your life?” He wouldn’t admit to her that he was relieved that she didn’t want to go. The thought of his little girl traveling with a bunch of other girls her age alone bothered him to no end. “I know you have a plan, so why don’t you tell your old man, and I’ll help you out with telling your mom.”
“Telling Mom what?” Vicky sat down next to their daughter, and it shocked him every time that she looked just like her mom did when she was the same age. Beautiful. “Is this about your trip? I’ve been thinking that you’re not going to enjoy it as much as I thought you were. And if you’re game, I was thinking that your dad and I could take you on the trip but not walking everywhere. I want comforts.”
“Really? You’d want to hang out with me? This would be epic.” When their daughter walked away, he smiled at Vicky.
“How did I become the luckiest man on earth? You, a lovely daughter, and you.” She told him that he had said her twice. “Because I feel that I’m twice as lucky. How much did you hear before you pretended to come to this conclusion that we needed to take the trip with her?”
“All of it. I was hurt at first, I will tell you that. But after I heard her say that she didn’t know how to approach me about it, I was more hurt by that. I thought that I could be the bigger man and just admit I wanted her to take this trip so that I could live vicariously through her. Then I realized, hey, we have money. We should just make a trip of it together.”
He laughed while holding her hand. He did love this woman more than he did anyone in the world. As they sat there watching people, something that they both enjoyed more than anything, he told her what he and Collin had been talking about.
“Clara isn’t happy in their marriage. She’s not been for a long time. I don’t know that it has all that much to do with Collin. More like she didn’t get what she wanted in marrying into a mobster’s family.” He asked her what she had thought. “You remember that movie we watched the other night? The one where there were all kinds of stupid shit going on in the family that got them into trouble? Well, I think that’s what she thought that she’d be getting into. You know, guns about the house all the time. Stashes of money all over the place. Not to mention the police coming around all the time wondering what her husband was up to. We don’t have that sort of family.”
“No. We don’t. Thanks to Dad.” She told him how much she missed him. “I do, too. So very much.”
“What do you think we should do about it? I mean, as the head of the family now, you can have her taken out if you wish it.” He stared at her for a full ten seconds before they both burst out laughing. “Christ, that was funny. No, but seriously, something needs to be done before she flies off the handle again. The last time nearly had Collin in prison. I don’t know how he could stay with her after she had him arrested for things that he didn’t do.”
“I’ll talk to him. Though it’s doubtful that he’ll see what she did as anything more than just a cry for more money. He figures if he throws money at her, then she’ll be happy. I don’t think that’s going to work.” Harold was surprised when Toby sat down next to them. After telling them that she wanted to help, he asked her what she needed.
“I don’t need anything. But have a feeling that you do. Did you know that Clara is telling people that your brother is having an affair? I hate to point this out, but he’d have to have his tongue ripped out—which might not be a bad thing—if he was to ever have a woman want to be with him, much less let him fuck her. He’s a Neanderthal.”
“He is at that.” The three of them laughed as they kept an eye on Clara. “She’s not going to be happy when I have a talk with her. What would you say to her? If you were to take this project for me.”
“Say to her that you’re head of the household now, and if she fucks up again by telling lies, I heard about her earlier trouble that you’ll have her taken care of. You can mean that you’re going to have her put in a home, but she won’t care. You’re being all mobsters-like. Anyway, I heard her telling my brother-in-law that she could make it worth his while if he were to fuck her. That is going to get her killed if Tabby finds out.” Harold was shocked to his core that she’d say something like that to a guest. “There’s more. Do you want to hear it?”
“Yes and no. But you’d better tell me. I don’t want to have to have a clean-up without knowing all the facts.” She told him her plan. Even looking at his wife, Harold could tell that she was impressed, too. “So we just pay her off to disappear. Will she stay away, you think? I don’t want to have to pay her off over and over again when she runs out of money.”
“She won’t be back. It’s not the money that she is in need of. It’s someone recognizing that she’s the injured party in all this.” He asked her what she meant. “If you pay her off, and I’m talking not as much money as you’re thinking, she’ll be able to tell people that she was once in a mob’s family and that they paid her off to go away. That and a one-way trip to someplace far away will give her a new crowd of people to listen to her and maybe take her seriously. Not too seriously, though. What do you think? Oh, by the way, did you know that Collin is terrified of her?”
“He isn’t terrified of her but just doesn’t like her.” She handed him a sheath of papers. They were hospital bills, all with Collin’s name on them as the patient. “Where did you get these?”
