“So is Riley. Tony’s dog is big, but he’s very gentle with the little ones.”
“Catch him,” called Gina.
Blade reached out to snag a wayward toddler. He swung him up into his arms. “Hey, Bobby, let’s go see the horses, okay?” Blade pointed at the merry-go-round. Cute little stinker, but the little guy never stopped moving. Were they all like that at this age?
He plopped Bobby’s behind on a horse and stood by his side, holding him by the back of his pants. “Me, too,” called Billy, and Will, Gina’s husband, hoisted him up on the horse behind them. As soon as all the kids were secure, the music began and they started to move. Billy giggled, and Bobby’s eyes grew bigger. Blade thought he’d cry, but he didn’t.
Blade had never been on a merry-go-round, although he had gone to Disneyland with a friend when he was thirteen. He’d helped himself to money from Sunny’s purse, and he didn’t ask if he could go, he just went. She pitched a fit when he returned, and he locked himself in his room with a bottle. Sunny didn’t care that he was gone. She was angry because he wasn’t there when she needed him to go out and buy her drugs.
The little boy at his side grunted and an unmistakable smell emanated from his pants. “Hey, Will. How about a trade? This one needs a diaper change.”
“Time to find Mommy,” Will said with a grin, and Blade laughed.
“What are you laughing at? If you marry Maria, you’ll have some of your own to change.”
Blade wrinkled his nose. “Not the stinky ones.”
This time Will laughed. “I wouldn’t bet on that.”
When the ride ended, Will took both kids and went to find Gina, while Blade played baseball with Maria’s kids and Vinnie’s kids and ones he’d never seen before. He had as much fun as the kids.
“I’m hungry,” said Andy.
“So am I,” said Blade. “Game’s over, kids. Let’s go see what’s cooking.”
The boys ran off and Molly hung back. “Are you gonna marry my mom?”
“We’re thinking about it.”
She crossed her arms. “I don’t need a dad.”
“What about your brothers? Do they need a dad?”
“No. We have Uncle Nick and Uncle Angelo. We don’t need you.”
Before he could speak again, Molly ran off, leaving him with a heaviness in his chest. He’d won the boys over, but not Molly.
What did he know about girls that age? He’d gone to one year of high school, but he skipped more days than he attended school, and he never socialized with girls. The next three years, he kept mostly to himself, and he didn’t date until he was in college. Being a father-figure to Andy and Jimmy would be easy. Robbie was a different kind of kid, but they got along okay.
Maria wasn’t likely to stay with him if any of her kids were against it. And Molly didn’t want her mother to marry anyone. After meeting Fred, Blade understood why.
He wandered toward the food tables and filled his plate. The cheeseburger had a burnt taste, but he wasn’t complaining. Daisy flopped on his feet, worn out from all the kids, and he snuck her a bite of his burger.
Maria sat beside him.
Are you having a good time?
Mostly good.
Molly?
Yeah. She doesn’t want us to get married, says she doesn’t need a father.
She’s fourteen.
As if that would explain anything.
Why doesn’t she like me?
She’ll come around, Blade. Give her time.
Sophia came over and sat beside them, and their private conversation ended. The guys in the family were a whole lot easier than the women. This one didn’t like him any better than Molly.
Blade finished eating and excused himself. Sophia and Maria sat with their heads together after he left, and he wondered what they were talking about. All the Donatelli men had disappeared, and he heard music coming from the house.
<>
Sophia rubbed Maria’s back. “Why didn’t you tell me Blade could hear your thoughts?”
“Does it matter?”
“Oh, honey, of course it matters. My mother told me that when a woman with the gift finds her one true love, he’ll be able to hear her thoughts, too. After I fell in love with your father, God rest his soul, he could hear my thoughts. He was my one true love, and I still miss him.”
“Does this mean you approve of Blade?”
“I don’t want you hurt again, but I know you love him. How can I not accept him if you love him?”
What about Molly?
She hurts down deep from the way Fred treated her, but she’ll be okay. She’ll come around.
“You have to do what’s right for you, Maria. If it’s right for you to be married to Blade, it’s right for your family.”
Someone rolled out a birthday cake, candles blazing, and sounds of Happy Birthday filled the air. Cara blew out the candles and then Maria’s brothers stood on the steps of the gazebo, with the band behind them, and sang like a barbershop quartet. Angelo sang the solo part, of course. They were all good, but Angelo’s pure tenor voice sent chills down Blade’s spine.
He and Cassie, Cara’s cook, sang several songs together and separately, and sometimes people sang along. Blade stood behind Maria, his arms around her shoulders, listening to the music. He leaned down and kissed her cheek, and the warm kiss lifted her spirits. Molly had been deeply hurt by her father, but hurt or not, Maria couldn’t allow her daughter to drive a wedge between her and Blade.
Mom walked over with two plates of birthday cake. She handed one to Maria and one to Blade. “I was wrong about you,” she said to Blade. “You have my blessing.”
Blade, cake in one hand, wrapped his arms around Mom and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you, Sophia. Thank you.”
“So you can come home now?”
Maria shared a look with Blade. “Not yet, Mom.”
“But I thought the trouble was over.”
“I’m afraid it’s just coming to a head,” said Blade.
The three of them found a remote table and sat down to talk. “I won’t take a chance with Maria’s life or the lives of the kids. Until I know who hired the man who killed Sunny, it isn’t safe for them to go home.”
“What about Molly?” asked Mom.
“Molly should be okay there,” said Maria. “She’s not in the house, and as long as the guard takes her to school and picks her up, I don’t think anyone will bother her.”
She prayed her daughter would be okay. Being fourteen and having your mother gone was hard enough all by itself.
<>
Blade went upstairs to check his e-mail and found a report from Lonnie.
Blade,
I met with Matthew’s childhood friend, Chip Barlow, and his wife, Gen, today. According to Chip, Matthew didn’t have much to do with Michael and John. The two of them were always conspiring about something. They had a big fight about one of Michael’s schemes to get money from their parents. John moved out to California, and Michael moved to France, where he immediately got himself into trouble. He called Matthew for help, and Matthew told him he was on his own. They never spoke again.
Matthew knew that Michael hadn’t become a priest, but he couldn’t convince his mother. She believed in all her children and wanted to believe the best. Chip remembered the memorial service the family held for Father Michael. Matthew knew he wasn’t dead, and he didn’t want anything to do with him after the way he’d treated their parents.
John died a few years later. Matthew was there when he died, and so were his parents. Before John died, he told them he had a son and that he’d left him with Sunny in Los Angeles. After they buried John, Matthew and his parents looked for you, but Sunny gave them the run-around. They finally concluded that she didn’t know where you were. It was a huge let-down, especially for your grandparents. They’d lost two sons and couldn’t find their only grandson.
Gen described Matthew as a handsome flirt who never let himself get attached to any woman. He was everyone’s friend, a nice guy that everyone liked. They dated off and on, but they never got serious. When his plane went down off Fire Island, his mother fell apart. She thought all three of her children were dead.
I checked with the Catholic Missions Board and there is not and never has been a mission called Wanamaka in Angola. I assume there’s also no Sister Bernadette.
Lonnie
Just as Blade suspected. Michael didn’t die in Angola, and he probably wanted the family fortune, something Blade wouldn’t give up without a fight. Was Michael behind Sunny’s murder? Had he manipulated Colin Jacobs into helping him? If so, Blade’s uncle wasn’t just a con artist and thief. He was a dangerous man. A killer.
He sent an e-mail to Lonnie asking him to check into Hans Belzer’s background. Belzer had worked for De Beers in South Africa at one time. Had Michael also been involved in the mining industry there? Were Michael and Hans Belzer working together?
He made a note to himself to call the accountant in the morning. He also needed to call Paul Phillips to see if he’d sold any more of those diamonds. They were probably stolen, but Blade didn’t really care where they came from. He needed money to pay taxes, and he didn’t want to have to sell any of his company stock. He may have to sell it at some point, but he didn’t want to do it when there was a threat of a company take-over looming over them.
Edward’s children had betrayed him, but Blade wouldn’t. The old man had given him more respect than anyone else in the family, and he owed him for that.
Blade went back outside, where the party was winding down. Little kids fussed or slept in someone’s arms, leftover food had been carried inside, and the clean-up had begun. Maria’s and Vinnie’s kids were all picking up litter, and they were making a game of it. Whoever picked up the most won a prize. With Nick in charge of the game, Blade suspected that every one of the kids would win something.
He helped Angelo and members of Cara’s staff fold chairs and load them on a cart to be put into storage until next year. The tables went on the next load, and before long there was nothing left but cooling barbecues, which wouldn’t be put away until morning.
<>
Maria took the boys inside for baths. Robbie showered in her bathroom while Jimmy and Andy got in the tub. Jimmy got his knee wet and cried. He wanted Blade to fix it, so she finished bathing the boys and went outside to find Blade. “Jimmy needs Doctor Blade. Apparently he’s too grown up for Mommy to kiss it and make it better.”
He pointed to his lips. “I got a boo-boo right here. Will you kiss it and make it better?”
Nick laughed, and Maria smacked his arm. “You’re no help at all.”
“Aw, c’mon Maria. Kiss him already.”
So she did, while her brothers and cousin hooted.
I like your family.
They like you, too, Blade.
All but Molly?
Molly is fourteen. Her hormones are so mixed up, she doesn’t like anyone.
You mean it’s not just me?
No, it’s not just you.
Does that mean you’ll sleep with me tonight?
Her lips curled up in a quiet smile.
We’ll see.
Mom had been so sure that Blade wouldn’t fit in with the family, that he wouldn’t get along with the kids, and that he wasn’t the right man for her daughter. But Mom was wrong. Her story about her and Dad sharing thoughts touched Maria’s heart and confirmed what she already knew. Blade was the right man for her.
If only he could admit that he loved her and promise to stay forever. The kids would grow up and move on, and Maria didn’t want to live alone like Mom. She wanted a lifetime companion, and she wanted Blade to fill that role.
Blade had handled himself well with her family. For a man who’d spent most of his life alone, he’d adapted well to the noise and camaraderie. Mom had given her approval, and so had her brothers and Nick. The only holdout was a fourteen-year-old with an agenda of her own. Maria prayed her daughter would change her mind, but if she didn’t, so be it. Molly’s selfish attitude wouldn’t stop Maria from being with Blade.