A Heart Decision

by Laurie Kellogg

  “What about her class? Won’t she miss too much?”

  “She dropped all of her courses after Ty’s accident. She said she’ll go back in January. If she decides to join us in France, she’ll probably bring Sam along so she doesn’t have to wean him.”

  “I think that has more to do with her not wanting to be away from him.”

  “You’re probably right. If she doesn’t come, we’ll just order a dress for her and have it hemmed here. She and Crissy are the same size.”

  At least Sabrina wouldn’t be alone with Ben the entire time they were vacationing in the most romantic city in the world.

  “Anyway, I think Jake made a good point this morning. You need to focus on your own needs and make the decision without any input from the people you love.”

  The microwave beeped again. She removed the delicious smelling vegetable soup and poured it into two bowls. “Do you still want to eat on the patio?” she asked. “It’s pretty hot out there.”

  “I guess we’re okay in here.” He grinned. “It’s not like this kitchen is big enough for any monkey business.”

  “You’re a brave man to make wiseass remarks while I’m handling hot soup.” She peered down at his crotch as if she might spill the scalding liquid on him as she set it on the table.

  “Point taken.” He bit into his sandwich and groaned. “This roast beef really is incredible, Princess.”

  They ate in companionable silence while he polished off his soup and two sandwiches before she finished the one he’d prepared for her. She pushed away the last few bites. He promptly popped them into his mouth. “Thanks. That was delicious,” he mumbled. “What’s for dessert?”

  “I have cookies from Sallie’s.” She stood and sank onto his lap winding her arms around his neck. “But I was hoping you’d settle for a few kisses, instead.”

  “I’d better stick to the cookies.” He tried to hold her off while she wiggled on his already stiff erection. “Pleeease.” He gritted his teeth. “I’m only human.”

  “That’s what I’m counting on,” she whispered, nuzzling his neck. “If we’re not going to see each other for more than a month, I need something to tide me over.”

  “I shouldn’t, Princess.” He winced as she shifted her weight again.

  “Pretty pleease. It’s not like I’m asking you to make love to me.”

  He had no idea how he’d limit himself to just kisses, but he couldn’t deny her. “If we’re gonna make-out, we’d be a lot more comfortable on the sofa.” Or at least he would be without her rubbing up against his overeager dick.

  She laid her head on his heaving chest, panting in time with his labored breaths. “Oh, Luke, the next six weeks are going to be hell.”

  No doubt. But it was time to stop putting his own happiness first, and do what was best for her. Maybe a romantic vacation with Ben was just what she needed to see the possibility of a future with someone who wouldn’t lose his mind in the next ten years.

  ~*~

  They spent the entire afternoon watching movies wrapped in each other’s arms. Sabrina fell asleep, waking as the sun set, casting the living room in shadows. She felt so loved and safe in Luke’s arms.

  Tears seeped from her eyes, and her throat tightened. If he tested positive for Huntington’s, how could she keep her promise to marry Ben?

  He stroked her hair, whispering, “I love you so much.”

  She used the edge of his shirt to dry her eyes. “I love you, too.”

  “I need to go home and let the puppies out.”

  “I could come with you and make you supper.” She glanced at the large wall clock hanging over the television. “It’s almost seven o’clock. You must be ravenous.”

  “Hmmm, I’d better head home alone and nuke a frozen dinner. If you go with me, I won’t be able to let you leave again. And then you’d miss seeing Paris.”

  “Just say the word, and I’ll tell Ben I don’t want to go.”

  “Except, you do. I know you’re looking forward to the trip.”

  She played with the few hairs peeking out of the open collar of his shirt. “Not if I get to stay with you, instead.”

  “No. You need to go, Brina. I don’t think with my brain when you’re around.”

  “Oh, what do you use?” She chuckled, slowly sliding her hand down his abdomen.

  He grabbed her wrist. “Not with that, either.” He laughed and inched away from her. “Yeah, okay, I guess I do think with that when I’m around you, but mostly I let my desire to please you get in the way of clear logic. I have a tough decision to make before Thanksgiving and it can’t hinge on whether you approve or not.”

  The last thing she wanted him using was logic.

  “The choice whether or not to have the test is an emotional one, Luke. It has to be a heart decision, not one made by weighing the pros and cons of the issue.”

  “But don’t you see?” He pulled on the sneaker he’d kicked off his good foot. “All of the pros of spending my life with you are for my benefit, and all of the cons will end up ruining your life. I won’t be able to live with myself if I end up putting my needs before yours, no matter how much you insist it’s what you want. I love you too much to do that.”

  He was right. She needed to go to Paris with Ben and let Luke envision her having the time of her life with his friend. The only way he would ever listen to his heart was if he got a taste of what it would be like to lose her.

  If that didn’t convince him they belonged together, nothing ever would.

  ~*~

  Three days later, Luke pulled Cal’s car up to the gates of a huge estate on the mainline, a few miles northwest of Philly.

  He sat there for several minutes, summoning the courage to press the call button on the intercom. Something rapped on the car’s window, making his heart leap into his throat.

  He jerked his gaze to the rearview mirror where a man in a dark suit stood next to the Prius’s back door.

  Shit! Where the hell had he come from? It was as if the guy had materialized out of thin air. Either he’d gotten soft or his concussion had damaged his spidey sense. He was a cop, for crying out loud. He wouldn’t live long letting anyone get the drop on him.

  The burly man made a rolling motion with his hand. No doubt he was one of Dante’s henchmen.

  Luke took a deep breath to slow his pulse and lowered the window.

  “Can I help you with something?” the man asked.

  “I was hoping to speak to Mr. Marino.”

  “Antonio or his son?”

  “Either will be fine.”

  “And you are?”

  Uncertain how to identify himself, he chose to say, “Antonio’s nephew, Luke.”

  The man spoke quietly into his cell phone, and the gates magically swung open. He pointed to several chimneys peeking over the trees. “Follow the driveway up to the house. They’re expecting you.”

  The driveway turned out to be more of a road that wound through acres of manicured lawn and colorful gardens. When he rounded the third bend, the so-called house came into view, and he nearly choked. The ancient gray stone manor resembled a beautifully landscaped castle more than a home.

  He’d always known his dad and mom were honorable, hardworking people, but he’d never appreciated exactly how high their moral standards were until now. Obviously, they’d valued their principals more than the incredible wealth they’d shunned.

  So these were his unsavory roots, huh? He chuckled, recalling the way Ben and Tyler had always called him a peasant because he preferred beer and pizza over champagne and lobster.

  After parking the car in the circular drive, he climbed out, and the front door opened. On the threshold, stood a slightly younger, thinner replica of him—albeit a more polished version with a hundred-dollar haircut and Italian leather loafers.

  Although, people had frequently likened Luke to a young George Clooney, he looked more like the actor when he’d played Jack Foley in the movie Out of Sight, while his half
-sibling mirrored the sophistication of Miles Massey in Intolerable Cruelty.

  How ironic that his doppelganger character should be on the wrong side of the law, while his mob-connected brother’s played a slick, mostly law-abiding attorney.

  “Hello, Lucca. It’s nice to finally meet you,” Dante said, extending his hand as Luke approached the door.

  Luke shook his hand. “You know who I am?”

  “Yes. A better question is whether you know who I am?”

  “I do.”

  “Come in.” Dante stepped aside so Luke could enter the large foyer. “What brings you to see me after all these years?” Dante led the way through a wide archway on the right into an immense living room and gestured for Luke to take a seat. “I’ve been working overtime to clean up the family business, so I hope you’re not here to arrest me for anything.”

  “No.” Luke chuckled, sinking onto the overstuffed sofa across the armchair Dante chose. “You’re a bit out of my jurisdiction. I’ve never visited before, because my mother didn’t tell me about our relationship until last week when, under duress, she admitted I have a relative with Huntington’s disease.”

  “I’m surprised the old man told her. It’s not public knowledge. The media only knows he retired due to illness.”

  Luke studied him for several seconds trying to ascertain if Dante knew the truth or if he believed they were merely cousins. “Let’s lay our cards on the table, okay?”

  “All right.”

  “There’s a good reason your father felt my mother needed to know about his HD. Do you know what our real relationship is?”

  “If I didn’t know before, I would’ve as soon as you climbed out of the car. I saw pictures of you when you were in college, but I never realized that, in the flesh, we have such an uncanny resemblance to each other—and Pop, when he was younger.”

  Neither had he when he’d seen Dante on the news.

  “In answer to your question, yes, our father explained all about you when I was fifteen—after your mother told him how she lost his brother.”

  “I don’t think of Tony as my father.”

  “I’m sure it’s difficult to see him that way—especially since you’ve just found out. I told him you’re here. He’s moving a little slower these days, but he’ll join us in—” The sound of shuffling cut Dante off. “Here he is now.”

  Luke stood as Tony pushed his walker into the room and took the vacant armchair next to Dante.

  So this was what he would look like in about twenty years? Assuming he lived that long. It was a comfort to see Tony was still in fairly good shape except for the walker.

  Luke sat back down, unable to think of anything to say to break the ice. Fortunately, Dante cracked the glacier between them. “Teresa told Luke who you are last week, Pop.”

  “That’s good.” Tony’s head bobbed and jerked. “It’s nice to finally see my boys together.”

  Luke frowned. “You said together as if you’ve seen me on my own before.”

  “I have. I learned you were my son right after Salvatore died,” he said, twitching. “I attended most of your football games as well as your graduations from high school, the university, and the police academy.”

  “Oh.” Some might find that a little creepy, except he probably would’ve done the same thing in Tony’s position. He wouldn’t want to miss the milestones in his son’s life, either.

  “I’m very proud of you, Lucca—not that I had anything to do with what a good man you became. I sent your mother a check to pay your college tuition, but she returned it torn in a dozen pieces.”

  “I had a full ride, so she wasn’t depriving me.”

  “Sal would never take a dime of what he called our family’s ill-gotten gains. Your mother still won’t. I send her a check for twenty grand every Christmas, and by New Year’s its back in my mailbox with VOID written across it.”

  “My dad was a proud, honest man, and she shares his values.”

  “You may be relieved to know I’m more like him than you might suspect. You grandfather ran things until about five years ago when the son of a bitch finally died. I’d been working in the background for a long time to legitimize most of our dealings. Unfortunately, it takes years to turn around businesses that have operated outside the law and kept two sets of books for decades. Since the old man died, we’ve become mostly legit. Dante’s working to make that a hundred percent.”

  No wonder he hadn’t heard of either Tony or Dante being linked to any criminal activity in the last several years.

  “The Latino gangs and the Asian and Russian mafias have taken control of most of what our grandfather dominated at one time,” Dante explained. “The families don’t wield the same kind of power they once did. We have more than enough in assets to operate legally.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. I’d like to stay in touch, but as a police officer, you can understand why I can’t knowingly associate with felons.”

  Tony smiled. “I’ll look forward to seeing you again.”

  “The main reason I came today is because I’m thinking of being screened for Huntington’s. I wanted to hear your thoughts on it. Did you get tested and know you would eventually develop the disease?”

  “Nah.” Tony’s hand jerked as he waved it. “I didn’t want to know. But Dante hopes to eventually have kids, so when he considered getting engaged two years ago, he was screened and tested negative.”

  Great. Luke snorted to himself. One more sibling who hadn’t inherited the damned gene. What were the odds he’d also be that lucky?

  “So you’re married?”

  Dante shook his head. “We broke up. Turns out she didn’t even want children.”

  “When I turned fifty and still had no symptoms,” Tony continued, “I thought I was home free, and you would be, as well.”

  A uniformed maid wheeled in a cart with coffee and assorted pastries. Luke accepted a steaming cup, chose a small cheese Danish, and thanked her. While she served her employers, Tony said, “Why are you suddenly considering being screened?”

  “Like Dante, I’m thinking of getting married. Sabrina is a nurse who insists it doesn’t matter if I get sick. But I want a life with her as my wife, not as my caretaker.”

  “Can’t she be both?” Dante asked. “Pop didn’t start developing symptoms until he was fifty two. Since his onset was so late, the doc says he could have ten years before things get bad. You could be sixty before you need any kind of help—or not at all.”

  “That’s true. But I could also develop HD at only forty-five like my da—” Seeing Tony stiffen, Luke stopped cold.

  “It’s okay.” Tony held up a hand. “Sal will always be your father in the ways that count.”

  Luke nodded. “As I was saying, he developed symptoms at forty-five, and some people get them even sooner.”

  Dante leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. “But if you test positive, the geneticists can sometimes tell approximately when you’re likely to become symptomatic by the number of trinucleotide CAG repeats in your DNA.”

  Right. The test might reveal that he wouldn’t be likely to get sick for a long time. But it could also tell him it would happen in the near future. If his grandmother became symptomatic when she was pregnant with Tony, she had to have been a very young woman.

  Tony’s hand went into a spasm as he put his cup down, spilling the last of his coffee in the saucer. “The fact that you love this girl enough to put her happiness before your own proves she’s a good influence on you. If she’s willing to have you, you should marry her no matter what the test says. The biggest regret of my life was letting your mother go.”

  “Why? You weren’t in love with her.”

  “Given a little time, I’m pretty sure I would’ve been.”

  “Even though she wanted my dad?”

  Tony nodded. “I always wondered if she could have eventually learned to love me, instead. In the week we were together, I fell hard for Teresa. She was beautiful, strong, an
d gutsy. She had the courage to stand up to my old man—something I always had trouble doing.”

  “The way my mother tells it, Nunzio was a total bastard who undermined everyone. It didn’t seem like she stood up to him when she went through with the wedding.”

  “She only did that to save her father. With Teresa as my wife, I might have become the more confident man I should’ve been—like Sal—and stopped my father’s underhanded dealings. If I’d had her in my life, maybe I wouldn’t have minded giving up all of this.” Tony waved his hand around the room. “Instead, I’m going to die with a lot of regrets. One is not knowing you until now.”

  Luke’s throat swelled shut. He could never become Tony’s son, but he could imagine himself developing a deep affection for him and Dante.

  “It might make you feel better to know my mother speaks kindly about you.”

  “Thank you. That is nice to know, but you didn’t come to visit just to tell me that. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I think you came looking for my advice. So here it is, Lucca. Life’s too short not to grab the brass ring when it’s right in front of you. You have a woman who loves you as much as you love her. Grab the fuckin’ ring.”

  Dante nodded. “Pop’s right. Besides, do you really think a woman who went to school for four years to become a nurse would consider a loved one a burden if he became sick?”

  She’d made it very clear she wouldn’t when she’d defended Mrs. Klausen’s decision to keep her husband at home. Luke released a deep sigh. And he sure as hell wouldn’t resent taking care of Sabrina if the situation were reversed.

  Dante wiped his mouth with a napkin. “If you ask me, it’s damned arrogant to think you know better than she does what will make her happiest.”

  People had used at least a dozen adjectives to describe him in his lifetime—from athletic and smart-mouthed to fearless and crazy. But no one had ever used the word arrogant before.

  Until now.

  Something Sabrina said at the hospital echoed through his head. If you and Ben don’t stop putting my welfare first because you think you know better than I do what will make me happy, I won’t marry either of you!