Glory Days
Page 27
“Nope,” he said and gestured to Mike to have a seat.
“I’ll be going,” the priest said. “I just wanted to see if you were all right. The letter . . . ?”
“Don’t need it. Don’t worry about it. You’ll see what happened on the news, maybe. It was ugly, but it’s over and Dutch is avenged.”
Mike left. Carly stopped sobbing. John brought her over to the couch where she curled against him.
“I was so afraid you’d leave me.”
Her words tugged at his heart.
“I prayed for you.”
“You did? You prayed for me?”
Carly sniffled. “I know it doesn’t always work. I know you probably don’t deserve miracles, but maybe this is one of those crapshoot things and I got lucky and won. There’s a first time for everything.”
He didn’t quite understand her, but he was touched that she’d prayed for him. “Did you think I would leave you after just finding you? You’re my daughter! Don’t you know how much you mean to me?”
She pulled away, her tear-filled eyes boring into his own. “How did I know? How could I know? Your word, you gave your word to your partner. I didn’t know if I meant the teeniest bit more to you than he did.”
“Sweet baby,” he said as he hugged her to his chest. “There were enough Bureau people there to arrest the entire funeral party. They were looking out for me, I guess, but no one thought someone else was out for revenge. I was just going to nail the son of a bitch and bring him to the cops. Somehow the FBI had the same idea.”
“Good,” she stated, firmness in her voice that hadn’t been there before. “They believed me.”
“What? Carly, what do you mean by that last bit?”
“What I mean is, I called the Asbury cops and the FBI and anybody I could think of and told them about the funeral and how this guy was going to be there. I overheard plenty and Curtis told me everything else I needed to know. He’s my buddy, Curtis, and he didn’t want anything to happen to you.”
Typical. Everybody looking out for him, even when he didn’t care about himself.
“Remind me to thank Curtis for his help,” he muttered. Then, he laughed. Carly pushed away from him, her eyebrows lowered in unspoken question.
“That’s what friends are for,” she whispered.
“Come on, kid,” John said as he rose from the sofa. “I have work to do. And I’m getting hungry. Aren’t you supposed to be helping Liz or something?”
“Yeah, I’m supposed to scrub pots. Part of my job to pay for the prom dress. But hey, since you bought it for me. . . .”
“Don’t get any ideas. You still need shoes to go with it. And I’m tapped out until I get a check. Soon, I hope.
Carly walked behind the desk, her eyes sparkling with triumph. She saw the two envelopes John had been handling. “Since I’m going downstairs, I can take this to Liz.”
He moved quickly and took it from her hand. “No. No need. In fact, I’m going to tear it up. Watch me.”
“What was in it?”
“Nothing I can’t tell her myself,” he said. “Nothing at all.”
The three of them watched the news that night, sitting in Flo’s crowded living room.
The newscaster droned, “Thanks to an anonymous tip. . . .”
Carly snickered at the words. “Hey, that was me! I gave my name and all.”
“Yeah, if they gave your name, little girl, you might have half the Jersey mob after you. Did you ever think of that?” John tugged at his daughter’s hair with mock seriousness.
“Um, no.” Worry creased her brow.
“Best to be anonymous then, sweetie,” said Liz as she stood and stretched.
John caught her eye and motioned for her to join him in the darkened kitchen. She hesitated, then followed him out the door.
He stood, arms dangling, fingers twitching. “Lizzie, now that this whole thing is over, those things I said the other day—well—I still mean them. Most of them. How I feel about you, how I care. Except that now maybe I can be around for you. I want to. If you want me to be.”
Sweat trickled down his neck. “I’m not doing too well here, am I.”
“Look, John,” Liz interrupted, putting her hand on his chest lightly and feeling the quickening beat of his heart, “you’ve just become a father. I’ve just started this business and Gram’s going to need my help more than ever. Neither of us is in any real shape for anything serious right now.”
John shuffled his feet and looked into her eyes. “Not now, but eventually.”
“Yeah, eventually,” she agreed, her heart thundering inside her. “How about we go nice and. . . .”
“Slow?” He grinned that infectious, guaranteed-to-melt-her smile.
Liz felt a tingle of hope she hadn’t felt in a very long time. “Yeah. Nice and slow. Sounds good to me.”
John pulled her against him and squeezed. “Nice and slow. I’d like that.”
Epilogue
June 11, 2004
Perfect day for the Mary Immaculate of the Grotto high school junior prom. Perfect day for the much anticipated removal of the wall of Palace Casino where Tillie’s bizarre yet familiar face leered out at the public. John and Carly and Liz and Flo watched as workmen cut through the brick and freed Asbury Park’s most famous landmark from over fifty years in its place.
“Tough seeing him go,” Flo sighed.
“Gram, are you okay? Do you want to go back?” Liz asked, her voice full of concern.
“Yeah, pack me into the Jeep and let’s go. I think we might have a crowd for lunch.”
“Unh! You and that restaurant! We should have closed today. After all, Carly’s got the. . . .”
“I know damn well what’s happening. There will be people coming in and then there’s a little something Rose and I planned for later. We’ve got to get movin’.”
Carly looked from Liz to Flo to John.
He shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I know nothing about anything around here.”
They drove back to S.R.O., chatting about the big event to come that evening. Carly danced her way down the broken sidewalk then stopped to peer into the window. Even John who cared little for decoration, had to admit the theater props and costumes really classed up the place. It still had the best coffee and jelly doughnuts in Asbury Park. Perhaps all of New Jersey.
Two hours before the limo was to arrive to pick up Carly, the ladies of the Preshin clan together with the ladies downstairs were abuzz with excitement and fussing over Carly.
“Sheesh, you’d think nobody ever went to the prom before,” she observed. “All this for me?”
John stood with his shoulder to the jamb of the door to Flo’s apartment. “It’s all about you, baby. Your relatives are so happy. I couldn’t drive them away. Besides, your grandmother would pitch a fit if I’d told her she couldn’t come.”
“I’m not getting married or anything. I’m just going to the prom. Geez, what will Choo . . . Jason think when he sees Frankie and all the others? It’s like being on display or something. Like a sideshow.”
John stood away from the door frame. “You’ll get used to it. My grandmothers were both still alive when I took Cheryl Kuchinski to my prom. God, they must have taken a thousand pictures. When I close my eyes, I can still see a big white spot.”
“You’re lyin’.”
“Yes, I am, sweetheart. But it made you smile, didn’t it?”
Preshins crowded along the sidewalk outside S.R.O., cameras pressed to their faces, as the stretch limo pulled up, disgorging dark haired Jason, tall and handsome in a jet black tuxedo. John gave him the once over, then a look of warning that would have frightened a lesser man. Good, the kid had balls enough to stand his ground. But he knew who was in control, and it was definitely the girl’s father.
Carly carefully minced down the flight of stairs while her cousin Frankie held open the door. A collective sigh passed through the assemblage. John thought he saw a tear in Strap’s eye while Curt
is and his wife nodded in approval.
Carly Preshin was beautiful. No doubt about it. John’s breath caught as he watched her shyly take the flowers from her date and look around for help with them.
John’s mother slipped them on Carly’s wrist then patted her on the cheek. Whatever she whispered in her granddaughter’s ear was strictly between the two of them.
Liz came up behind John, slid her arm around him and asked, “Why do you keep looking up and down the street? Any relatives you didn’t invite?”
Twirling her into his embrace, he bent to place a kiss on her soft, ripe lips. Someone in the collected crowd of relatives clapped while others hooted approval. Reluctantly, he broke away. Liz ducked her head and laughed.
“In a way, yes,” he said. “Let’s see the couple off first, then I’ll tell you all about it.”
Jason helped Carly into the limousine, handing over her clutch bag and stuffing in the long cerulean skirt of her gown. Carly looked at John and mouthed, “Thanks, Dad.”
That was a first! He grinned like a crocodile, startling Jason. But the boy had guts.
With one more guarded look at John, he joined his date inside the limo. A final wave and they were off.
Though the street was lined with familiar cars, John looked up toward the beach once more before tucking Liz under his arm. Man, she smelled good.
From the corner of his eye, he saw the big black Navigator drive away. “What say you and I go someplace and split a jelly doughnut?”
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Copyright © 2006 by Irene Peterson
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