by SUE FINEMAN
Tony and Catherine arrived with Tony’s golden retriever, Riley, who ran out to help. Maria hugged and kissed her brother and sister-in-law, and both dogs started barking.
Tony walked out to the tangle of arms and legs and wagging tails and offered Blade a hand up. “Tony Donatelli,” he said. “You must be Blade.”
“That’s me, or what’s left of me. These kids are brutal.”
Tony grabbed one little boy and raised him up for a kiss and hug, and then he did the same with the other. Robbie, considerably taller than his brothers, stayed on the ground. “Where’s Molly?” asked Tony.
“She’s coming today,” said Robbie. “We get to finish school here, and Molly gets to stay with Uncle Nick and Aunt Cara.”
“Oh, yeah? That’s cool. Hey, guys, how ’bout taking Riley down on the beach.”
“Stay out of the water,” Blade called after them. “Daisy doesn’t want another bath.”
“Okay,” yelled Andy.
As soon as the kids were out of earshot, Tony said, “We heard about the shooting. I thought the trouble was over.”
“I wish. My attorney and I forced my grandfather’s attorney to turn over the estate, and the next day he killed himself. Until I know why, until I’m sure somebody won’t try to get to me through Maria and the kids, they’re staying right here.”
Tony clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m here if you need me, and so is every other man in this family.” It was an unexpected show of support from a man Blade had never met, the same kind of response he’d gotten from Nick and Angelo the day of the shooting. They were Maria’s family, and as long as she was with him, they included him in the circle of their family.
“I appreciate that, Tony.”
One of the kids on the beach started crying and another yelled for Blade, so he and Tony ran down to see what happened. Jimmy had tripped on a rock and skinned his knee. Blade had flashbacks of skinning his knee when he was about this age. Sunny’s cure was bourbon, her standard remedy for any kind of problem. Blade talked quietly to Jimmy, and he stopped crying. “Are you hurt anywhere else, or is it just your knee.”
He held out a scraped elbow. “Daisy tripped me.”
“She didn’t mean to,” said Andy.
“Of course she didn’t,” said Blade. He scooped up the injured kid, told the other kids to stay with Tony, and walked up the hill to the house. Outside the kitchen door, he stood Jimmy on his feet and rinsed the sand off. He didn’t cry. Someone brought a towel, and Blade gently dried him off. Last time he’d skinned his own knee, Sunny cleaned it off with Black Jack and he screamed so loud she knocked him across the room. From then on, he took care of his own wounds.
“You’re a brave kid, Jimmy. Do you want your mom to fix this for you?”
“No, you do it.”
Mr. Pettibone produced a first-aid kit complete with antibiotic ointment and bandages. Blade treated the scrapes and sent Jimmy to find his mother. “Tell her that Doctor Blade said you’d be good as new in a few days.”
He was rewarded with a grin missing a tooth. The tooth fairy came last night. Maria let Blade put the money under Jimmy’s pillow and remove the tooth. He still had that little tooth in his pocket.
Maria introduced him to Catherine, a cute little redhead. “I hear you and Tony have a hotel.”
“Two hotels,” said Catherine. “The Princess Catherine in Santa Barbara and Catherine’s Plantation near San Simeon. My mother runs the one in Santa Barbara, and I run the Plantation.”
“Impressive,” said Blade. “Maybe I’ll bring Maria there to stay one night.”
“Better make a reservation. We’re booked solid through next Christmas. Tony wants to add more cottages, but it’ll have to wait until he finds a new project manager for Max and Company.”
After a few minutes of small talk, Blade excused himself to go upstairs and check his e-mail. He’d given Lonnie another assignment, and he’d promised to send regular progress reports. Reaching out his hand, Blade said, “Come on, Jimmy, you can rest on my bed while I check my e-mail.”
A small hand nested inside his and they walked upstairs together. This father stuff wasn’t so hard, at least not with the boys. He wasn’t sure about a teenage girl, especially Maria’s daughter. Aside from the ride on his Harley, Molly had barely spoken to him.
The first message was from Joe Grafton.
The Elizabeth will be in port for a week in mid-June. Captain Studebaker would be happy to give you and your family a tour. When you get your schedule nailed down, let me know and I’ll make the arrangements.
“Hey, Jimmy, come look at this.”
The kid scrambled off the bed and came over to see.
Blade pointed at the screen. “This is a picture of the ship we’re going to see. Her name is Elizabeth.”
“Awesome! How come ships are named after girls?”
“Uh… Why don’t you save that question for Captain Studebaker?”
“Okay.”
Blade printed out the e-mail with the picture and handed it to Jimmy. It wasn’t in color, but the kid didn’t seem to care.
“Can I go show Mommy?”
“Yeah, sure. Go show Mommy.”
As soon as Jimmy left the room, Blade opened the e-mail from Lonnie.
Blade,
I talked with Malcolm today. He was working in the house when the boys were growing up. He said Michael was the kid who was always dreaming up schemes, and he usually talked John into going along with them. Matthew, the middle kid, was the peacemaker of the family.
Michael supposedly died first, in 1980, then John died about twenty years ago. He was an alcoholic, but I suppose you already knew that. Matthew died in a plane crash in 1992. He never married, but he had an off-and-on girlfriend who is now married to Matthew’s best friend. I’m having lunch with them tomorrow.
I had to coax Malcolm to talk about Michael’s life as an adult. He finally told me that Michael had spent several years in prison in France for pulling some scam. Apparently, Edward cut him off because he wouldn’t work.
He was released from prison in the early 70’s. Edward sent him a few thousand and told him to come home, and he did, but he didn’t stay. He still wouldn’t work, so Edward threw him out. Three years later, Edward heard from Michael, who said he’d found Jesus and was becoming a priest. He wrote every other month or so, and then in 1975, he said he was at a mission in Angola, but his return address and the postmark on all his letters was Paris, France. Edward suspected something was going on, but Mary Beth believed every word and insisted they send him money ‘for the starving orphans in Angola.’
Packages came from Michael, again with the Paris postmark, but Malcolm never saw the contents of those packages. Edward took them upstairs before he opened them. This went on until 1980, when they received a letter from Sister Bernadette saying that Father Michael had been killed in an attack on the mission in Angola.
I’ll check with the Catholic Missions Board on Monday, but I can’t find Wanamaka Mission on the Internet, and judging from what I’ve already learned, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was no such place.
Lonnie
Blade swore softly to himself. He didn’t want to be right about this. He wanted his uncle, the ‘priest,’ to be the real thing.
Interesting that the oldest kid in this family would be so irresponsible, when the oldest kid was usually the most responsible one. Michael wouldn’t work, but he’d probably worked harder at not working than most people did in their jobs.
Edward and Mary Beth wanted their son to be like the Prodigal Son in the Bible. John wasn’t the only one who’d soured as an adult. Had any of Edward’s boys ever held down a real job?
Blade had no idea what his father’s life was like, and he didn’t care, because he despised the man. In Blade’s mind, anyone who beat on a helpless five-year-old until blood ran down his legs was no kind of man. And neither was son who bilked his own father and mother out of their hard-earned money. Edward wor
ked until he was in his eighties, and from the looks of that house, he gave his boys every advantage money could buy.
One thing Blade knew for sure. If he ever had kids, they wouldn’t be handed everything they ever wanted, and they’d be expected to work at a respectable job. Maybe growing up on his own had taught him a few things about life that his father and uncles hadn’t learned.
Like how to be a decent man.
<>
The rest of the family arrived before dinner, and Maria introduced Blade. Vinnie was the landscape artist who did Nick and Cara’s hillside above the beach. He was a happy guy who smiled a lot, and his wife did, too. Vickie was a chubby bleached blonde, and Maria had always liked her. Gina and Will were there with their little boys. The oldest was finally potty trained and the little one, still in diapers, ran everywhere.
Blade had already met the others. Molly was pouting about something, and Maria gave her a big hug. “Anything you want to talk about?”
“I wanted to stay and go to the dance tomorrow night, but Grandma wouldn’t let me. She wouldn’t let me go to the dance anyway.”
“Next year, honey. You can go to the Spring Dance next year.”
“But what if no one asks me,” she said on a whine.
“Someone will ask, and if they don’t, then you can ask them. Okay?” Her braces would be off by then, and, like Gina at that age, she’d have more offers than she could take.
“He’ll take Kellie, because I’m not there.”
Maria’s heart went out to her little girl, but if she thought this was a disaster, wait until she started dating for real. Girls could be best friends one week and bitter enemies the next, all because a boy dumped one and started dating the other.
“What’s with the big bandage on Jimmy’s knee?”
“He fell down today and Blade fixed it for him. I suspect a tiny bandage would have covered it, but this one makes him feel important.”
Molly went over to kiss Jimmy’s boo-boo and make it all better, and he showed her the hole in his mouth where he’d lost his tooth. Maria glanced at Blade, who watched Jimmy pull the dollar out of his pocket. He smiled, and she knew he loved her little boys. She wanted to give him what the childhood he’d missed, and maybe she was, through her kids.
Dinner turned into a noisy, exuberant affair, as it always did when the entire family got together. Maria thought it would never end. Jimmy passed around the picture of the big ship that Blade had given him, and everyone told Jimmy how lucky he was to be touring a big ship like that. Her youngest son was clearly the star that night, with his big white bandages, his dollar from the Tooth Fairy, and his picture of the big ship.
Max fell asleep on Nick’s lap, and someone took him upstairs to put him to bed. Gina’s little one went next, and then her older one climbed on Grandma’s lap and fell asleep.
The men were still talking when Jimmy yawned. Tired from staying awake half the night making love with Blade, Maria excused herself and the boys and walked them upstairs.
Andy pouted. “How come Molly gets to stay up?”
“Because she’s twice as old as you are.”
“She’s almost grown up,” said Jimmy.
“Nuh uh,” said Andy.
Blade stood in the open bedroom door, watching Maria put the boys to bed. He couldn’t remember Sonny ever tucking him in or kissing him goodnight.
Andy asked, “Blade, will you tell us a story?”
Maria glanced at Blade, eyebrows raised, and a little smirk on her face. Your turn.
“Okay, what kind of story?”
“About pirates,” said Jimmy.
Blade sat on the side of their bed. “There once was a pirate named Michael, who grew up with his brothers, Matthew and John.”
“Did he wear a patch over his eye?” asked Andy.
“No patch, but he had a peg leg, and it was hollow in the middle. He robbed other ships and filled his leg with diamonds. One day he sold them all and built himself a big house in Paris, France.”
“But he got caught,” said Maria. “And he spent the rest of his life in prison for stealing from other people.”
She kissed her children goodnight and walked outside the room with Blade.
Pirates?
That’s what he asked for.
I know, but you don’t always give them what they ask for, especially before bed. They’ll have nightmares and end up in bed with you.
But I’ll be in bed with you.
Not tonight you won’t.
Blade retrieved the valise from his room and walked down to the dining room with Maria, where most of the adults in the Donatelli family sat talking.
“I found a few things in my grandfather’s safe a few days ago,” Blade said. “Cara, I hope you can tell me if they’re worth anything.”
He pulled out several small sculptures and set them on the dining room table, and then he pulled out the two small paintings. They were oils, and they looked very old, but he didn’t know much about art.
Cara took one look at the paintings and sent Nick to the study for a book. After flipping through the pages, she handed the book to Blade. “These paintings were stolen from a museum in London over thirty years ago.”
Conversation at the table stopped and all eyes turned to Blade, who felt like sinking through the floor. He should have known they were stolen because they were in the safe with the other things Michael had sent. “How do I return them without getting myself into a mess?”
“I’ll do it,” she said. “I’ll say they were donated to the museum anonymously. I’d love to display them, but I won’t show stolen art. It sullies the reputation of the museum.”
“What about the sculptures?”
“They’re African. I don’t know much about African art, but I’ll take them if you don’t want them.”
“You can have them.” Looking at them reminded him of his father and uncles, who’d had everything and thrown it away. He respected his grandfather, but he had no respect for John or Michael. He wasn’t sure about Matthew.
“Blade, I want to thank you for sending Bridget,” said Cara. “She is a delightful woman, and she not only cooks, she plays with Max, changes diapers, anything I ask of her. But, she tells me she wants to work for you and Maria when you get married.”
Maria groaned and every woman in the family except Mom smiled. Molly looked stunned, but she kept her mouth closed. So did Mom. The others started asking when they planned to marry, and what could they do to help with the wedding.
Maria glared at Blade. You got me into this.
Yep, I sure did.
You’re not even sorry.
Nope. Do you want to tell them now?
No.
Sophia listened to Maria and Blade and realized that he could hear her thoughts. Why didn’t someone tell her that? She remembered falling in love with her dear Vincent. She knew he was the right one for her when he started hearing her thoughts. Her mother in Italy had told her that when a woman with the gift found her one true love, they’d be able to communicate without spoken words.
And Blade could hear Maria’s thoughts. Was he the right man for Maria? A biker, a loner who wasn’t comfortable around kids? Her heart went out to him for the way he grew up, but she didn’t know him at all. But Maria did. She saw something in him that Sophia hadn’t seen, or maybe something she hadn’t wanted to see.
Blade seemed to be getting along well with the boys. Molly didn’t like her mother with anyone, but there was a reason for that. She didn’t want another neglectful father like Fred, and she didn’t want someone taking her mother’s side when they argued about curfew and dating. Molly needed a firm hand, and there were times when Maria found her hard to handle. Teenage girls were harder than boys, or at least hers were, especially Gina. Vincent’s death had left them without a father. Sophia had done her best, but she didn’t wish it on Maria.
In the beginning, Vincent wasn’t comfortable around children, but that all changed when Vinnie came alo
ng. Then Sophia had Maria, his precious little girl. Vincent used to rock her to sleep and then stand beside her crib and watch her sleep. Every man wanted a son, a boy to carry on the family name, but a sweet little girl could melt any daddy’s heart.
Each child that came into their family was special to Vincent, to them both. But Maria already had four. Could Blade step into a father role with them, or would he leave all the unpleasant tasks for her?
And now he’d brought stolen art into Cara’s house. It wasn’t his fault, not really, because he didn’t steal them. Cara had handled it well, as she did everything.
All her children had great spouses.
Why couldn’t she like Maria’s?
<>
While Maria checked on the kids and said goodnight to the others, Nick and Blade went into the library to look at the plans the architect had worked up for Blade’s new house. The biggest change was that Nick had flipped the plan. The kitchen and garage were on the right side of the house instead of the left. Nick said, “Angelo and I went out and measured again, and because of the slope and the angle of the road, it’ll fit on the property better this way.”
“That’s okay with me, but I want Maria to look at the plans.”
Nick pushed the plans aside. “I understand the reason for the big house now. Why didn’t you tell me you were getting married?”
Blade took a deep breath and blew it out. “We got married on the way home from New York, but it’s a secret.” He explained the reason for the quick marriage. “If and when I can get the trouble cleared up in New York, we’ll plan a real wedding. In the meantime, the only other person in the family who knows is Sophia, and she’s not happy about it. She doesn’t think a biker is good enough for her daughter.”
“Aunt Sophia is the most protective woman I’ve ever known, and when she loves you, it’s all-consuming,” said Nick. “Maria went through hell with Fred, and Aunt Sophia doesn’t want to see her hurt again. Give it time.”
