by SUE FINEMAN
The boy’s eyes narrowed. “You’re offering me a bribe to marry Alex?”
“I’ll give you the trucking division of my business. Mario nearly ran it into the ground, but you’ve got the moxie to make it thrive again. Marry my daughter and the business is yours.”
Charlie slid the plastic container of cannoli into the refrigerator and slammed the door. “Let’s get one thing straight, you interfering old bastard. I don’t want your damn handouts. And if and when I decide to marry your daughter, it won’t be because you offered me a bribe.” He leaned down, his face in Vinnie’s. “You got that?”
“Yeah, I got it. Just answer me one thing. Do you love her?”
“That’s none of your fucking business.”
The boy stomped out of the kitchen, and Vinnie knew he’d made a big mistake. The boy had too much pride to take a bribe. If Charlie told Alexandra about their conversation, she’d be angry with her papa for interfering.
“There you are,” said his nurse. “You snuck away on me.”
“I didn’t want to wake you.”
“That’s what I’m here for. Next time you wake me.”
“Yeah, okay.” If he woke her, she wouldn’t have let him eat the cannoli.
<>
Charlie was so angry he wanted to scream at Vinnie, but if he caused another heart attack, Alex would never forgive him. The one thing Charlie knew for certain was that he couldn’t live in this house any longer. As much as he wanted to be with Alex and Taylor, he’d have to move back in with his parents until he got his house finished. But he couldn’t go tonight. If he went home this late at night, he’d wake his parents, and Dad had to go to work in the morning.
Vinnie thought he could manipulate him into marrying Alex. Charlie had been thinking about marriage lately, but he hadn’t decided what to do. He absolutely refused to be pushed into it by a blustery old man who thought he was God. If he decided to ask Alex to marry him, it would be because they loved each other and wanted to be together for the rest of their lives, not because Vinnie Porcini wanted to sell his daughter before he died.
By the time Taylor was up the next morning, Charlie had packed his bag and stashed it in the trunk of his car. Over breakfast, he told Alex he was moving back to his parents’ house. “I’ll drop Taylor off at school this morning if you’ll pick her up this afternoon. I need to work on my house today.”
Without missing a bite of her breakfast, Alex asked, “What did Papa do?”
“This is between me and him.”
“Damn it, Charlie. You knew what he was like when you moved in here.”
“Yes, I did, and I’m not putting up with it any longer. Stay with Taylor if you want, as long as I can see her when I want.”
“Of course you can, but you don’t have to leave.”
“Yes I do.” If she knew what Vinnie had proposed, she’d be livid. But he couldn’t tell her. No matter how angry Charlie was with Vinnie, he couldn’t ruin the last few days Alex would ever have with her father.
“Daddy’s mad at Papa,” said Taylor.
“Why? Why is he mad?”
Taylor shrugged. Apparently the kid didn’t know everything. Just as well. Charlie wasn’t sure he could live with a kid like Mary Beth Snyder, the know-it-all third grader.
<>
With Charlie’s help, the police investigated the theft of the two big trucks. They arrested Jabrowski and tracked down the missing trucks. Jabrowski said he’d sold them, with Mario’s permission, and they split the money. Mario denied involvement, but Vinnie wasn’t so sure about his son’s innocence. Damn kid had lied so much, he didn’t know what to believe.
Vinnie didn’t want his son in jail, but it was out of his hands. Before Charlie handed it over to the police, Vinnie had asked Mario if he knew anything about the missing trucks, and he’d denied it. Now it was between Mario and the police.
Vinnie didn’t have much longer. He felt it in his bones and his labored breathing. Everything he did took a whole lot of effort. He’d die soon. As much as he wanted to get Alexandra settled in a solid marriage before he died, he knew it wouldn’t happen now. Charlie had moved out of the house and Alexandra looked so sad, Vinnie couldn’t stand to look at her. He’d tried to buy off a man who couldn’t be bought.
Over the next few days, Vinnie made a few changes to his will, and he made his video. His family had a few surprises when they added up the numbers. There wouldn’t be much money left for his kids. His sons would be more than a little disappointed. They expected to be able to live forever on the money they’d inherit. But the way they spent money, they’d blow through their share in no time. Then they’d have to find jobs to support themselves and their families.
Mario and Antonio wouldn’t be happy.
Charlie Kane would be surprised. So would Alexandra.
Chapter Twenty
Over the next few weeks, Charlie worked like a man possessed. The drywall had gone up, so he painted the walls in the upstairs bedrooms. When the tile man finished in the upstairs bathrooms, he painted the bathrooms. Then he worked downstairs.
The kitchen cabinets had been installed, so Charlie installed the backsplash and painted the rest of the walls. Then the granite came, and the appliances. The carpet went in on the stairs and the second floor. All the inside work had been done except the painting downstairs and the hardwood floors. With any luck, he’d be moved in before harvest time.
Aside from trips to the farm to check on the garden and his cash crop, he spent from dawn to dusk working on the house. Except for Saturdays, which he spent with Taylor and Alex. They went ice skating, played catch, and romped with Wilma at Mom and Dad’s house. Taylor was out of school for the summer, but he didn’t have any more time to spend with her right now. He had to get the house finished.
Charlie hadn’t returned to Vinnie’s house. He had no desire to spar with a dying old man. Knowing Vinnie, he’d try again to bribe Charlie into marrying Alex, and as much as Charlie loved her and couldn’t picture his life without her in it, he wouldn’t be pushed into marriage.
Three weeks after he moved out of the mansion, Dad helped him with the floor sanding. On a break, Dad said, “Charlie, Vinnie Porcini invited your mother and me – and you – to Sunday dinner. I don’t know what in the hell happened between you two, but he said he owed you an apology, and he wanted to do it face to face.”
“The old fart thought he could buy me.”
Dad laughed. “Fat chance. I tried to pay you to behave yourself when you were a kid, and it backfired.”
Charlie felt his mouth tug into a smile. “I remember. I was an ornery kid, wasn’t I?”
“You were a little stinker, and you got worse as you grew older. But we didn’t give up on you. I almost lost my first election for mayor because of you and that stupid stunt you pulled at the playground.”
“Sorry about that.”
Dad clapped him on the shoulder. “I know. What did Vinnie want you to do?”
“Marry his daughter.”
Dad had the good sense to look shocked. “You’re kidding!”
“Nope. He doesn’t think I can support her, so he offered the trucking division of his business. He’s sold or given away the rest, so that’s all he has left to barter with. The business isn’t doing well because of Mario, but Vinnie seems to think I have the moxie to put it right again. If Alex knew what Vinnie said, she’d be out of there so fast he wouldn’t know what hit him.”
“You didn’t tell her?”
“I couldn’t. If she yelled at him and he had another heart attack, she’d blame herself. I can’t do that to her.”
Dad drained his bottle of water. “So, are you going to marry her or what?”
“Or what. Nobody is going to push me into a marriage I’m not sure I want.”
“What about Taylor?”
“What about her? She’s still my daughter whether or not her mother and I are married.” Charlie cocked his head and stared at his father. “So what di
d you tell Vinnie?”
“I said we’d be there. He says he has another gift for the city, and he wants to present it in person.”
“A dinner party for a dying man?” Charlie tossed his empty water bottle toward the trash bag on the kitchen floor. It rolled in, as he knew it would. “Alex says he’s not doing well, that he sleeps most of the time. The doctor said it wouldn’t be much longer.”
“Uncle Tony was in his mid-eighties when he died, and Tony’s wife was ninety-two. That’s when Vinnie made the gift to the hospital.”
“I hope he isn’t expecting his sons to make a big donation in his name when he dies, because from what I’ve heard about those two, they’d rather spend the money on themselves.”
Dad pulled on his mask. “Let’s finish the sanding and get this machine back to the rental place. You can put the stain on tomorrow.”
Staining and sealing the floors would take the rest of the week. After it dried, Charlie would have to buy a bed, so he could move in. The dining room furniture was in the basement, along with a pretty antique bedroom set for Taylor and one for the guest room. They’d need mattresses, but Alex said she’d take care of the mattresses, bedding, and curtains for Taylor’s room and the guest room. That was fine with him. He didn’t know shit about decorating.
She hadn’t been by the house in weeks, which was just as well. He didn’t want her to see the house until it was finished inside. The painting outside and the yard work could wait until after he moved in. After he moved his daughter here. Alex wouldn’t leave Vinnie’s house. Not now. Not until after Vinnie died, and maybe not then.
He hadn’t been alone with Alex in weeks, and they hadn’t slept together since they left the farm. His heart ached with missing her soft, warm body in his arms. If he had any sense, he’d go out and find himself another woman. But he didn’t want another woman.
He wanted Alex.
Charlie and his father finished the sanding, ran the shop vac, and cleaned up the mess. After Dad went home, Charlie loaded the sander in his car and returned it to the rental center.
He longed to see Alex again, but aside from his weekly date with her and his daughter, he didn’t see much of her these days. She looked hurt and sad, and he understood, but he couldn’t change his dislike for Vinnie Porcini, and he couldn’t change the nature of the manipulating old man. Vinnie Porcini was what Pop would have called “a real piece of work.”
Did he really want to go to Sunday dinner at Vinnie’s house? No, but he would. He wanted to hear Vinnie apologize.
<>
Alex helped Papa with the papers for the cannery, and the employees sent flowers and get well cards.
“It’s starting to look like a damn funeral home in here,” Papa said when another huge flower arrangement arrived.
“The employees miss you, Papa, and they appreciate the gift you gave them.”
“Yeah, I know. Some of those people have been there since the beginning. They work harder than Mario and Antonio ever worked.”
Alex couldn’t argue with that. Papa may have lived most of his life in luxury, but he worked hard, too. He built the business from nothing, hired most of the employees himself, and expected to leave a thriving business to his sons. Too bad he hadn’t put as much work into being a father as he did into the business. Maybe Antonio and Mario would have turned out different.
Antonio and his family came for dinner one night, and Papa asked him if he’d found another job yet. “Are you looking for work?”
“There isn’t much out there, Papa.”
Alex said, “I put in applications at both television stations and a radio station this week. I doubt they’ll hire me at the TV stations, but the man seemed interested at the radio station. He said they might have a slot coming up in a few weeks.”
“Doing what?” Antonio’s wife asked.
“He said it was on-the-air work, but he wasn’t specific. If I don’t hear from him in two weeks, I’ll call again.”
“Why do you have to work?” Antonio’s oldest son asked. “It isn’t like you need the money.”
“Of course I need the money,” said Alex. “And I need to do something productive with my time.”
Alberto sneered. He’d just gotten out of jail, his third time there for possession. He had tattoos all over his body and metal studs in his ears, nose, eyebrows, and lip. But that didn’t bother her as much as his attitude. Alberto had never worked and apparently never intended to. She looked around the table and realized they all thought Papa’s money would support them forever.
She’d been working with Papa’s attorney to help get his estate in order, and Alex knew there wasn’t enough money to support the entire family forever. For the past few years, she’d been saving and investing most of her earnings, because she knew her job at Papa’s business wouldn’t last. She didn’t want to live off Papa’s money, but Antonio spent every dime he’d ever made. He counted on inheriting enough to support him and his family forever.
“Did you apply for unemployment?” she asked.
“What for?” Lisa asked. “It doesn’t pay enough to live on.”
“It’ll buy the groceries until Antonio finds another job.”
“He’ll be back at work at the business soon enough,” she replied, her nose in the air.
Alex exchanged a long look with Papa and shook her head slightly, but Papa turned to Antonio and asked, “What business? I told you I sold the distribution division to Dominic, and I gave the cannery to the employees. The papers were signed off two days ago.”
“What about the trucking division?”
“I’m giving that away, too. There’s nothing left for you, Antonio. You couldn’t run the business, and Mario nearly sent the whole thing into bankruptcy. If the trucking division survives, it won’t be because you’re running it. Hell, you didn’t even know two big trucks had been stolen last fall. People were stealing things from under your nose, and you didn’t do jack shit about it.”
Alex put her hand on Papa’s arm. “Papa, calm down. It doesn’t matter now. The police found the stolen trucks, and the trucking business is back on track.”
“No thanks to my sons,” Papa muttered.
Antonio’s face turned dark with anger. “You’re giving that away, too?”
“Damn right I’m giving it away. The condition it’s in, the income wouldn’t support you anyway.”
Alberto grinned. “Can I have it, Papa?”
“No,” Papa barked. “You can’t stay out of jail long enough to run anything.”
“What about me?” Antonio’s younger son asked. Vincent was nineteen, a high school dropout headed in the direction of his older brother. He may have been named after Papa, but he’d always been a lazy kid.
“Ask me when you finish college,” Papa said, and everyone in the room knew that would never happen.
Papa motioned for his nurse. “I’m going back to my room. Gina made dessert, but I can’t eat it.” He pushed the control on the arm of his chair and rolled out of the room. Alex was left at the table with Antonio and his family and Aunt Gina, who hurried to the kitchen to get the chocolate cake she’d made that afternoon.
“Why can’t he eat dessert?” Lisa asked.
“Because it’s not on his diet. We’re trying to keep him alive for a few more days, but he hates dieting. I’m sure he’ll sneak into the kitchen later, after his nurse goes to sleep, and eat a piece of cake.” Papa thought no one knew what he was doing, but everyone in the house knew. And no one would deny him.
“I can’t believe he gave away the business,” said Antonio. “He promised it to me and Mario.”
Alex didn’t want to get into an argument with her brother, but she couldn’t hold her tongue. “It was his choice, not mine. I would have sold it all.”
Antonio came out of his chair. “But he promised it to me and Mario.”
“You nearly sent the whole thing into bankruptcy. Papa worked hard on that business for over forty years, and in three year
s, you and Mario nearly lost it all. What did you expect him to do?”
“What the hell do you know?”
She took a deep breath before muttering, “Nothing. I don’t know anything.” She pushed her chair back and stood. “Excuse me.”
Papa wanted her to get along with her brothers, but it wouldn’t likely happen in this lifetime.
<>
Charlie finally finished the floors in his house. He thought about putting hardwood floors upstairs, but it cost too much, and the carpet would help deaden the sound between the floors. Maybe someday he’d put wood in upstairs, but not now.
He backed himself out the front door and locked the house. It would take a couple days for the finish to dry and harden enough to walk on.
As he walked out to his car, his cell phone rang. “Yeah, Charlie here,” he answered.
“This is Detective Montgomery with the River Valley Police Department. I’m calling about the things you found buried in your backyard.”
“Are they stolen?”
“Apparently not. Marsha Garrett’s father was a wealthy jeweler. He left her some jewelry and gemstones when he died thirty-five years ago.”
“Why did she bury them in the backyard?”
“Who knows? According to your neighbor, the woman was mentally unstable.”
Charlie laughed. “That’s putting it nicely. Mabel said she was downright crazy.”
“Since we can’t find any living relatives, the loot is all yours. I suggest you rent a safe deposit box instead of burying this stuff in your backyard again.”
“I’ll do that. See you in an hour or so.” He disconnected and let out a whoop.
“I’m rich!”
<>
Sunday evening, Donovan stepped through the door at Vinnie Porcini’s house, the first time he’d ever been invited there. Rumors over the years said the place was luxurious, and it was. It felt like a ritzy hotel, only this was someone’s home.
Alex met them in the foyer with hugs and warm welcomes. Charlie kissed Gina on the cheek and asked, “Are you cooking tonight?”
She smiled. “I made lots, just for you, Charlie.”
Donovan winked at Hannah. Their son had won Vinnie’s sister over.
