Exploding: A Mafia Romance (The O'Keefe Family Collection #1) (16 page)

F
allyn was half hoping
that Vince wouldn’t take her up on her offer to show Tony the ward, but when she showed up in pink hospital scrubs with her hair pulled up into a braided bun, there he was. Tony had his hands shoved in his pockets, wreaked of cigarettes and looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. Vince, Angelo and Joey stood by the nurse’s station uncomfortably, waiting for Fallyn.

Fallyn shook Tony’s hand and greeted the rest of the D’Amato clan cordially, leading the way into the NICU. “First wash your hands all the way up to your elbows. They all have compromised immune systems, so don’t cough on them.” She motioned to the nursery, where there were a few rocking chairs set up by a large picture window overlooking a peaceful wooded area. “Then pick a chair and the nurses will bring you a baby to hold. Have you ever held a baby before?” she asked them.

There were varying looks of uncertainty. “I don’t want to do this, guys,” Tony said with a frown. It wasn’t stubbornness; it was the crushing byproduct of their father’s dastardly deeds he was wary of being confronted with. “I’m not a baby person.”

“Are you a person who cleans up your messes, or are you a man who just goes around breaking things like a toddler?” she challenged, pointing to the rockers. “Pick a chair and take your medicine like a man.”

Tony postured, looking down on her with venom. “Look, Little Keefer. Don’t think that because Vince and Angelo decided to play nice that I’m your bitch. Best not to talk to the big man with the gun like he’s a child.”

“Any man who uses only his gun to get things done is a child. And don’t try that intimidation nonsense on me. I remember way back when you were obsessed with frogs and mud pies. Couldn’t get you out of the pond up at our cabin. You weren’t scary to me then when you tried to hide frogs in my sleeping bag, and you’re not now. Pick a rocker.”

Tony grumbled at being bossed around by the smallest of all the O’Keefes, but when Vince set the example of sitting in one of the gliding chairs, he followed suit with a scowl. Fallyn and the nurses brought the men each a screaming baby, while the head nurse talked them through how to properly hold the infants.

Fallyn tried not to laugh at the horror on each man’s face. Even the usually stony-faced Angelo looked like he’d rather be holding an elephant. He tried to hand the baby off to Fallyn. “I’m not doing it right. It knows I have no idea what I’m doing!”

Fallyn took a chance and placed her hand on Angelo’s shoulder. “That’s how this is supposed to feel. They’re going through withdrawal, so they’ll scream no matter what. Pain is the first thing they know, so the very least you all can do is hold them while they go through it. Solidarity.” She squeezed Angelo’s shoulder and pressed down. “Relax. You’re doing just fine. They can sense your tension, so pretend you don’t feel it. Pretend this is natural. It’s all they know, so if you freak out, they’ll freak out more.”

“I don’t think that’s possible.” Tony tried to hand the baby to the nurse. “I can’t do this!”

Fallyn waved the nurse away, and then lowered her face to stare directly into Tony’s panicked expression as he rocked the screaming babe nervously in the glider. Tony had black hair and thick eyebrows like Vince, but his features were more rigid and angular, making him look menacing even when he wasn’t trying to. “You can do this, and you will. This is what you have to look forward to if Vince doesn’t clean up your streets. Homes full of this. Is that what you want?”

Tony tried to hand off the baby to Fallyn. “It’s just screaming! Babies aren’t supposed to be like this. It’s clearly afraid of me.”

Fallyn’s hand went to Tony’s back, where she rubbed a little gentleness back into him. With her other hand, she pressed the baby to his chest. “She’s not an ‘it’.” She looked at the tiny tag on the thin baby’s leg. “This is Baby Girl Smith. I think we should give her a name. What do you like?”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t know. Why doesn’t she have a name yet?”

“Because her mom gave her up before she could name her. Happens all the time in this kind of situation. The mom wants to go back to her bad habits and leaves the baby for society to take care of. The problem is that soon there are going to be more people like Baby Girl Smith’s mom out there than there are people to take care of their children. And then what happens?” Fallyn took Tony’s thumb and stroked it across the baby’s cheek as she wailed and shook in his arms. “Isn’t Baby Girl Smith part of your neighborhood too? Doesn’t she deserve your protection?” Fallyn met Tony’s eyes with compassion and saw the fear there. “Don’t D’Amatos take care of their own?”

Tony took a steadying breath and nodded once, letting the rocker move gently back and forth. “I’m no good at names.”

“How about Antonia?” Fallyn suggested, knowing choosing their mother’s name would really drive the point home.

Tony scowled at her. “My mother wasn’t a crack baby.”

“No, but your mama wouldn’t have wanted this. She’d be right down here with me if she were still alive. Mama Antonia was smart and funny. She could make spaghetti sauce out of thin air that sent you straight to Italy. She could skin a rabbit while telling you jokes and singing Italian opera.” Fallyn’s tone shifted to sadness. “But what if she’d been born like this? What if her mother hadn’t cared about her? Your whole family would’ve been different without Mama Antonia. Don’t you see how many families the drug trade is breaking? How many fewer Mama Antonias there are now? Is that what you want? Less of your mama’s magic?”

Tony swallowed hard and closed his eyes, leaning into the kiss that Fallyn pressed to his forehead. “Baby Antonia, then. Okay. I can do this.”

Fallyn gave him a tight squeeze around the shoulders. “I know you can. I know you want to be a good man others can look up to. I know the D’Amato family is something special.”

Joey’s voice was bogged down by emotion. “How are you all not crying right now? You three are made of stone. Stupid, stubborn stone.” He had moist eyes as he rocked his baby boy, holding him as if the child was his lifeline.

Fallyn looked at the clock and knew it was just about feeding time. She set to work making the bottles with the nurse, who was so grateful to have so much help, she hugged the girl. The nurse was patient as she instructed the gruff men on how to feed the babies, pausing at Vince’s infant. “This one only drinks milk through an eye dropper. Fallyn, do you want me to show him, or did you want to do it?”

Fallyn could see the nurse was overwhelmed with her workload. Her section of the ward was the least popular. The other nurses usually made themselves extra helpful near the healthier babies so they didn’t get stuck with the perpetual screamers. “I can do it,” Fallyn volunteered. She took the baby from Vince, who followed her without question. She took the eye dropper the nurse prepared and waited until little five-pound William opened his mouth for a big howl. She dribbled a few drops into his mouth, smiling softly as he choked it down between furious screams.

Vince cupped William’s tiny head with his large palm, posturing when his other hand found its way to Fallyn’s back, rubbing her in concentric circles. He leaned down to whisper in her ear, “I’m so in love with you.”

Fallyn stiffened. No man had ever said that to her before, and the simple sentence shocked her to her core. Before she could respond, Angelo cleared his throat, reminding the two they had an audience. It was a thing of luck that Joey and Tony were sucked in by their babies, who required all of their attention.

“Can I try?” Vince asked, taking the eye dropper and mimicking Fallyn’s pattern of waiting for the big cries to get in a few milliliters of formula. “Man, he’s an angry little guy.”

“You would be too if you were in pain twenty-four seven, didn’t speak the language and your mom couldn’t be around you because she was detoxing.” She moved him up so he could scream into her ear. “I know, William. I know it’s hard. You’re not alone. See? Vince is here.”

“I’m telling them,” Vince warned her quietly. “I can’t be without you anymore.”

Fallyn shook her head vehemently. “No! I told you it can’t happen. It’ll be a mess, and we don’t need that right now.”

Vince turned to address his brothers. “Guys, I have to tell you something.”

J
oey was in shock
, eyes wide and mouth agape. Tony was vacillating between sick and enraged. “You… you can’t… This is… No, Vince!”

Joey rocked his baby, shaking his head. “Get it out of your system if you have to. Go at it nice and hard until you get your head back on straight. Just keep it away from her brothers. They’re mental, and we don’t need more drama.”

Vince stiffened. “Do you think I would risk everything if banging her a few times would cure it? I’m deep in it guys. I’m in love with Fallyn.”

Joey had more words than Tony, who was still choking on a coherent response. “What about Maria?”

“Broke it off with her yesterday. I’ve been thinking about Fallyn this way for a few weeks now, and I wanted to wait until I was sure. There’s no turning back, guys. I wanted you to find out from me before I lost my mind and kissed her in front of you on accident. I’m pretty close to that right now.”

Angelo hissed. “It’s a mistake, Vince. A big mistake that’ll cost you all the peace we’ve been working for.”

“I know it’s all wrong, but I’m past the point of having a choice in it. I wanted to come clean with you. We don’t keep secrets.”

Fallyn was shaking worse than the baby she was holding. He’d jumped off the cliff without consulting her, and now she was crashing through the air without a parachute right alongside him. She kept her eyes down on the baby, hoping they would view her body language as submissive.

“Are we supposed to just ignore the fact that she’s a Mick?” Tony growled. “Forget that. What about all the other stuff? Her brothers are going to murder you, Vince. I mean, actual murder. You want to see it all go up in flames? This is the way. Follow your dick to your own side. If you’re tired of Maria finally, good. Don’t know how you lasted so long with her loud mouth. You have our blessing to move onto someone else. Fine. Don’t go dipping into eastern territory. Don’t do this, Vince. I don’t care how nice Fallyn’s ass is, no piece of tail’s worth all this.”

Vince’s arm banded around Fallyn, tightening in protection. “Don’t talk about her ass, Tony.”

Joey closed his eyes. “Okay, let’s ignore the O’Keefes. She’s younger than I am, Vince. You know that, right? You’re twelve years older than she is!”

Tony scoffed. “And good luck ignoring the O’Keefe boys. I know a little about the Jeremy situation. They ran that poor fool out of town in a weekend. We’ve got enough problems without adding them to the mix.”

“They don’t know,” Fallyn said quietly, only just able to be heard over the screaming babies. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… It’s all been so quick and crazy confusing. I don’t want my brothers to know for a long time.”

“I’m not afraid of your brothers,” Vince boasted, his chest puffing out.

“Then you’re not thinking things through. You have to consider it from every angle, Vince. We can’t be selfish when everything’s so precarious. You’re doing good things for your people. I won’t be the one to wreck that.”

Angelo grumbled, “I’d listen to her, Vince. Gino was going to kill her just for stepping into our territory. He’s one of many. You make this public, and it’ll be chaos. The whole family will be in jeopardy.”

Vince’s tone turned sharp. “How much did I give up for the family? Who paid for you to go to college, Joey? I did! Who got you cleaned up when you took a dive in Papa D’s stash, Tony? I did! I’m the one out with Angelo every night running the dealers out and killing the ones that come back. I’m the one it’s all riding on. This is the one thing I ask for in all of it.” He glowered at the three, who seemed smaller beneath his cold anger. “You’ll give me this one thing. I’ll handle the fallout, just like I’ve handled all of your messes. This is my mess, and you’ll have my back through it.”

Fallyn remained close in his partial embrace, holding her baby and making sure someone stood with him while he declared himself. “We’ll do our best to keep it from my brothers.”

Angelo’s lips were tight with all the things he was holding back. When he finally spoke, it was with a finality for the others to fall in line, or face his cruel reckoning. “If this is the mistake you want to make, you can have it. Just keep it secret as long as you can, from our people and hers. Neutral territory only, and make sure no one catches on.” He rocked his baby, unperturbed by the infant’s wailing now that there was a bigger problem in the room. “Spend more time with her brothers, so when they finally do find out, it’ll be harder for them to take you out.” He met Vince’s eyes without blinking. “And make no mistake, they will take you out. But if this is how you want to go down, I’ve got your back. Always have.”

Joey nodded once. “Me, too. I’ve got you, Vince. And Fal? Be careful. I mean, beyond careful. We’re trusting you with a lot, here. You’ve never been my favorite person, but I don’t want to see your body in a ditch somewhere.”

Fallyn cast him a grateful smile. “Thank you.” Her smile faltered when she took in Tony’s fury. He was breathing like a bull through his nose, and at any second she expected him to exhale fire. She was shaking, and knew she probably shouldn’t be holding a baby while standing when her knees were so rubbery. “Here, can you take William? I need some air.” Tony hissed at the image of Fallyn and Vince holding the baby together, looking like a married couple with a kid.

“I told you I’d find a way to make this work,” Vince said, his chest tight with pride.

Fallyn leaned against the counter behind her where the bottles and formula were kept. “You call this working? They’re basically telling you you’re going to die, but they won’t pull the trigger. That’s the best we’re going to get! And Tony hasn’t even agreed to that! Don’t you see I’m not worth all this?”

Vince was angry, and pulled her to him by gripping of fistful of her shirt with his free hand. He kissed her to chase out the words he wished he could scrub from her mind. “I don’t ever want to hear you talk like that again. You’re worth it all.”