“I’m glad. I’ll help you make it, and I’ll think about it objectively.” Anthony smiled at her, with love. “I don’t want to let him go either, not really.”
“You don’t?” Mary smiled.
“No.” Anthony’s voice softened. “He gets under your skin.”
“Right?” Mary felt happy to hear it. “You didn’t say so before.”
“While you were gone, he called for you, so I went upstairs. We had a nice talk.”
“Aw, what about?”
“Honestly, everything.” Anthony shrugged, shaking his head and looking up at the stars. “He talked all about his grandfather, and his comics, and World War II. He knows a lot of historical battles. I think he just wanted company. He didn’t want to be alone. I held his hand.”
Mary felt tears come to her eyes that she couldn’t really explain. “He’s sweet, right?”
“He really is. We started talking about chess, and he told me how much he liked it. He really was good at it, I have to tell you.” Anthony reached across the table for her hand, and he took hers in his, holding it gently. “He picked it up so quickly, I was surprised. Anything I told him, he remembered. He soaked up the way the pieces move. He’s smart.”
Mary nodded. She knew if she tried to speak, she would cry.
“What’s amazing about him is that he wants to learn and he wants to be taught. He didn’t get impatient or bored, and at first, I thought it was about the game, but it wasn’t. It was about the connection. He likes to be talked to and listened to, and his heart is so open.”
“I know. I love that kid.” Mary felt tears brimming in her eyes.
“I know you do, babe,” Anthony said quietly.
“I hate to give him up, now that I finally got him.”
“I know that, too.”
“It just makes me want to cry.”
“You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t.” Anthony rose, coming over to comfort her. “I’m here. So go ahead and cry.”
EPILOGUE
The ceremony was about to start, and Mary, Judy, and Anne listened nervously at the thick carved door, dressed in their swishy gowns, holding their fragrant bouquets, and squeezed into a small room at the church, among stacked boxes of newsletters, a rolling rack of coats, and an American flag in a wobbly stand. Sunlight poured through a small arched window, showing the dust that got stirred up only on Sundays.
Mary could hear the quartet playing entrance music and the guests talking, laughing, and coughing. The hubbub echoed in the church, so she knew that everybody was seated. She glanced at the clock, which read 9:56. Her mouth turned to cotton. Her heart fluttered in a permanent state of fibrillation. Unfortunately, she lacked oxygen because her wedding dress was too tight. She almost hadn’t been able to zip it up.
“God, I can’t breathe.” Mary rushed panicky to a full-length mirror leaning against the wall, dismayed to see the satiny fabric of her wedding dress pulled along the waistband.
“Don’t worry about it.” Judy rushed to Mary’s side, looking fresh and pretty in her light blue gown, which matched her eyes perfectly. Her hair was its natural blonde again, cut feathery and feminine, and she put a comforting hand on Mary’s shoulder. “Mare, nobody’s looking at your waist. Just carry your bouquet in front.”
Anne rushed to Mary’s other side, looking like a bridesmaid model in her blue column dress, her glistening red hair braided around her head with tendrils curling around her lovely green eyes. “She’s right, Mary. You look gorgeous.”
Mary shook her head, worried. “But I can’t breathe. I can’t sit down.”
Judy said, “You don’t need to sit down.”
Anne said, “You don’t need to breathe.”
“What if the dress rips?” Mary checked the clock—9:57.
“It won’t, and look at yourself.” Judy gestured at the mirror. “Really, you look great.”
Anne said, “Yes, look. Be in the moment,”
Mary looked at her reflection, trying to come into the moment. She’d had Anne to do her makeup, so it looked natural and lovely, and she’d had her hair professionally styled into a French twist with freesia woven in. She had on her favorite pearl necklace with pearl stud earrings. The delicate beads on her dress sparkled in the sunlight, and the sweetheart neckline fit well because her boobs were back. Truly, a girl couldn’t ask for more.
“Gorgeous!” Anne said, her eyes shining.
“Yay!” Judy threw up her hands happily.
“I love you guys!” Mary let herself be swept up in their enthusiasm, her heart lifting. She felt so grateful, happy, and blessed that they were here, even if her sister Angie couldn’t be.
“Yay!” Judy cheered, and Anne joined in.
Suddenly there was a quick knock on the door and into the room burst Mary’s father and The Tonys in their rented tuxedos, looking like a flock of beloved penguins and smelling like Aqua Velva.
“IT’S TIME!” Her father gave her a big hug. “WHOA, MARE, YOU LOOK LIKE A PRINCESS!”
“Thanks, Pop.” Mary hugged him back, her throat tight.
“Mare, I’m so happy for you!” Feet gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“Maria, che bella!” Pigeon Tony stood on tiptoe to kiss her on the cheek.
“Mare, you look like a million bucks!” Tony-From-Down-The-Block gave her a hug. “Yo, you know who looks really great for her age? Anthony’s mother, Elvira!”
Mary smiled. She hadn’t seen El Virus yet, but anything was possible. “You know that you’re the same age, right?”
Tony-From-Down-The-Block winked. “So maybe I’ll give the old broad a shot, huh? Does she have a boyfriend?”
“Ask her.” Mary was too preoccupied to play matchmaker but she would like nothing better than to keep El Virus busy.
As if on cue, El Virus appeared in the threshold, striking a pose by putting one hand with red talons on the doorjamb, and everyone’s mouth dropped open because El Virus looked awesome, for an alternative source of energy. Sequins encrusted her silver fish-scale dress, throwing off so much light that she could’ve powered the Northeast corridor, and the sheath was tight enough to hug her curves, which were curvier than Mary had ever realized. Extensions filled out her darkly gleaming coif, balancing out her heavy makeup, and her false eyelashes turned her smoky eyes into a five-alarm fire.
“How do I look, Mare?” Elvira asked, wiggling her hips in a sexy way rarely seen in church.
“Wow! You look great!” Mary glanced over at Tony-From-Down-The-Block, who was going to have to hit the gym if he wanted a shot.
“You do, too!” El Virus sauntered over, air-kissed Mary, and gave her a majorly perfumed hug.
Mary’s mother appeared in the open door, holding Patrick’s hand, and Mary felt her heart wrench. Her mother looked happy and elegant in a pale blue chiffon grown with her hair teased the way she liked, and Patrick was impossibly cute in his rented tux, since he was their ringbearer. Last week, Norm Lavigne’s DNA had proven he was Patrick’s biological father, and any day now, a court would declare him Patrick’s legal father. It hadn’t been easy to let Patrick go, but Mary and Anthony had known it was the right thing to do. Patrick wanted a family, and now he would have one.
“Maria, che bellissima!” her mother said, raising her arms for a hug.
“Hey, guys!” Mary hugged her back, kissing her on the cheek. “Ma, you look so nice! You ready for the big day?”
“Si, yes, andiamo!” Her mother’s eyes lit up behind her glasses, and Mary ruffled up Patrick’s hair. He had just moved in with his father and Amanda, and he was already liking Fairmount Prep. The DiNunzios and the Lavignes had grown closer since Edward’s funeral, and the Lavignes were honored guests at the wedding today. Everyone would be at Mary’s parents’ house tomorrow for Sunday dinner, bonding over homemade ravioli, and Mary knew that the families would be in one another’s lives, for some time to come.
“Patrick, you got the ring?” Mary kissed the top of his head.
&nbs
p; “Yes, see?” Patrick grinned, holding up the blue satin pillow, and her gleaming gold wedding band was fastened to the center by a white satin bow.
“And you remember what to do, right?”
“I go first down the aisle. My dad said I’m the leader!”
“You sure are.” Mary gave him a hug, touched.
“Andiamo!” Patrick said, and everybody laughed.
“OKAY, EVERYBODY OUTTA THE POOL!” Her father hurried into the vestibule, where he could undoubtedly be heard by the entire congregation. “TONYS, YOU GOTTA GO SIDDOWN! HURRY UP!”
Mary waited in the doorway of the room, her heart pounding. The Tonys shuffled down the aisle in their orthopedic shoes just as the quartet played the first strains of Purcell’s “Trumpet Voluntary.”
“PATRICK, YOU GO FIRST! HAVE FUN, BUDDY!” Her father put a gentle hand on Patrick’s shoulder, and Mary watched from the doorway as Patrick faced front, squared his skinny shoulders, and went forward bravely, holding his blue pillow like a lunch tray at school.
“NOW, ELVIRA, YOU GO!”
Elvira struck a pose like an aging Madonna, then sashayed off.
“ANNE, YOU’RE ON DECK!”
Anne waited for her musical cue, flashing Mary a dazzling smile before she took her first step down the aisle, like a model on a runway.
“NOW, JUDY! OKAY, GO!”
Judy took one last look at Mary, winked, and left, leaving Mary teary.
“VEET, COME ’ERE!” Her father took her mother’s arm on his left side, because all three of them were walking down the aisle together, which was what Mary had wanted. Her father had given her away at her first wedding, but she was younger then. The truth was that she owed everything she had become to both of her parents. She silently sent up a prayer of thanks that they were alive to see this day.
“OKAY, MARE, WE’RE UP!” Her father smiled sweetly at her, and she could see his hooded eyes already glistening behind his glasses as he extended his hand, which she took, then looped her arm through his.
“I’m ready, Pop.” Mary tried not to hyperventilate when the music switched to “Here Comes the Bride.” She leaned on her parents, and the three DiNunzios stepped into the church, arm-in-arm.
Mary felt her breath taken away as everyone turned to look at her, a veritable sea of smiles and tears, and she realized that she was looking at everyone she loved most in the world—Bennie, Lou, The Tonys, Allegra, John, Marshall, and an array of long-time clients whom she adored and who had supported her for so many years. It was all she could do to keep walking, her knees weak, and when she got partway up the aisle, she lifted her watery gaze to Anthony, the most wonderful man she had met in her entire life.
She hung on to her parents, and they propelled her forward, but all she could see was Anthony, and all she could think was that he was in her family now. She found herself remembering what Patrick had said, and she realized that she had family in heaven too. Her first husband, Mike, was with her too, walking with her, and so was her sister, Angie, an angel on earth. And Mary felt so much love and so much happiness that she thought her heart would burst, and when her parents kissed her and let her go, she practically floated to Anthony.
And they stepped into their future, together.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am so lucky and blessed to have great friends in my life, and this book is dedicated to my best friend, Franca Palumbo, Esq., who gets the biggest thanks here. We’ve been besties since law school and she has become one of the top special-needs lawyers in the country, because she cares so much about her clients and their families, and she works around the clock to make sure that they get the programming and support that they deserve. Franca inspired this book and helped me so much with its research, but more important, she has been an amazing and sustaining force in my life and I want to thank her here. I love you, honey!
Yet another reason to thank Franca is that she introduced me to an array of experts in the field of special education law, and I would like to acknowledge their help as well, though any mistakes in this novel are mine. Thank you to Judy Baskin, Esq., and Janet Ellis, Esq., for their guidance and expertise, as well as for their hard work and determination to make sure that Philadelphia schools meet the needs of their students.
Special thanks to the amazing Diane Reott, founder of the Pennsylvania Dyslexia Literacy Coalition, whose advocacy for children with dyslexia culminated in the Dyslexia and Early Literacy Intervention Pilot Program, just signed into law in Pennsylvania. Diane’s hard work and advocacy is proof-positive that one loving mother can change the world not only for her own child but for many others, and I am indebted to Diane for taking the time to open her life experience and expertise to me, in order to inform this novel.
Special thanks to Kathleen Tana, Esq., an expert in family law who advised me every step of the way and even read pages of the manuscript for their accuracy, in addition to being a wonderful friend and fellow dog lover. Thank you so much, Kate! Thank you to Mario D’Adamo, Esq., Deputy Court Administrator, Family Court, who took the time to meet with me and patiently answer my questions about the process in Family Court. Thanks, too, to Judge Diane Thompson of Family Court, who met with me informally and gave me an idea of what life on the bench was like from her perspective. Thank you, Judge Thompson, for your dedicated public service.
Thank you to the amazing people at the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance, led by the awesome executive director Chris Kirchner and Miranda Barthmus, who took the time to meet with me and answer all my questions about the endlessly good work they do for abused children of Philadelphia. Thank you to Denise Wilson, manager of Forensic Services at PCA, too. It is heartbreaking but necessary work, and they and PCA have my highest admiration.
Thank you (again) to the hardworking and handsome Detective Thomas Gaul of the Homicide Division of the Philadelphia Police Department, and to Officer Goodfellow of the Twenty-fifth Precinct of the Philadelphia Police Department.
Thank you to the brilliant and good-hearted Lisa Goldstein, M.D., a psychiatrist who treats children and adolescents and helped me inform the novel’s accuracy by answering all of my questions in the clutch.
Finally, I’m a bookaholic, so I read a lot to inform this novel, including Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz and The Dyslexic Advantage by Brock and Fernette Eide, as well as Machiavelli: A Portrait by Christopher Celenza and The Essential Writings of Machiavelli, edited and translated by Peter Constantine.
I’m a lawyer, but criminal law wasn’t my field, so I always touch base with my dear friend, the brilliant public servant Nicholas Casenta, Esq., chief of the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.
Thank you to my genius editor, Jennifer Enderlin, who is also the Senior Vice President and Publisher of St. Martin’s Press, yet she still finds the time to improve every one of my manuscripts, including this one. Thank you so much, Coach Jen! And big love and thanks to everyone at St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan, starting with the terrific John Sargent and Sally Richardson, plus Jeff Dodes, Paul Hochman, Jeff Capshew, Stephanie Davis, Brian Heller, Brant Janeway, Lisa Senz, John Karle, Tracey Guest, Dori Weintraub, Anne-Marie Tallberg, Nancy Trypuc, Kerry Nordling, Elizabeth Wildman, Caitlin Dareff, Elena Yip, Talia Sherer, Kim Ludlum, and all the wonderful sales reps. Big thanks to Michael Storrings, for outstanding cover design for the series. Also hugs and kisses to Mary Beth Roche, Laura Wilson, Samantha Edelson, and the great people in audiobooks. I love and appreciate all of you!
Thanks and love to my agent, Robert Gottlieb of Trident Media Group, whose dedication guided this novel into publication, and to Nicole Robson, Emily Ross, and Trident’s digital media team, who help me get the word out on social media.
Many thanks and much, much love and a big hug to the amazing and wonderful Laura Leonard. She’s invaluable in every way, every day, and has been for over twenty years. Laura, I love you! Thanks, too, to my pal Nan Daley and to George Davidson, for doing everything else, so that I can be free to w
rite!
Finally, thank you to my amazing daughter (and even coauthor) Francesca, for all the support, laughter, and love.
DAMAGED
by Lisa Scottoline
Behind the Novel
• “You Inspire Me”: An original essay by the author
Keep on Reading
• Ideas for Book Groups
• Reading Group Questions
Special Extra!
• An excerpt from Lisa Scottoline’s next novel, One Perfect Lie.
Also available as an audiobook
from Macmillan Audio
For more reading group suggestions
visit www.readinggroupgold.com.
ST. MARTIN’S PRESS
An Original Essay by the Author
“You Inspire Me”
Readers often wonder where I got the idea for a novel, and I’m always happy to explain, because there’s usually a single notion that inspires me when I begin to write, and this time, my inspiration came from you.
What do I mean by that?
I mean that one day, I was talking to my friend Franca, who has been my best friend since we met in law school. We practiced law together, were pregnant together, and both quit our jobs to stay home and raise our children. I never returned to the law, because I loved being at home with my daughter, Francesca, more. After long years of struggle, I became a published author and now I get to tell stories for a living.
Thanks to you.
But Franca returned to the law, and she changed her practice entirely. She became an expert in the area of special education. She advocates tirelessly for her clients, who are children in public and private schools fighting to get the special help they need in order to acquire the basic skills that many of us take for granted, like reading.
It struck me one day that Franca changes people’s lives, one child at a time. Children she represents have bright and happy futures, all because of her. And Franca works very hard, so she represents hundreds of clients.
Damaged Page 40
