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Speak Low (Speak Easy 2)

Page 70

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“This is the weird thing. I thought for sure he was going to say something about killing the man who shot him, tell me not to do it or something. But he didn’t.”

“He didn’t? What did he say?”

“He said, ‘Teach them about stars.’”

“Teach who about stars?”

“Well, at first it wasn’t clear who he meant, and I was confused. The dream ended there, but ever since I woke up, I’ve been thinking about it, and I think I know what he meant.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.” His voice caught, and he turned in my arms to face me. Brushing my hair back from my face, he said, “I think he meant my children. Our children.”

I couldn’t have spoken even if I wanted to.

“And I got to thinking, if anything were to happen to me…” He struggled to finish the thought. “Anyway, I understood better what you meant when you talked about Vince and your sister. I don’t want that to be us.”

“Me either.”

“I haven’t made up my mind completely yet, but that promise I made to myself seems less important today than it did yesterday. And I know I gave up all that money just to find out who it was, but you know what? It doesn?

?t matter. What matters is you.”

I smiled up at him. “You mean it?”

“Yeah. I do. I can’t promise to get out of the business right away, but I’ll do everything I can to make things right with Angelo and get out clean. It’ll be hard, and I’ll miss the money, that’s for sure—”

“I don’t care about money.”

He smiled. “You don’t want a nice ring?”

“No.” I pursed my lips. “Wait, yes I do.”

Laughing, he hugged me close. “Don’t worry. I’ll find a job that makes decent money. Who knows, maybe my sisters are right and I should stay here take over this place.”

My heart thumped happily. “You should! You should!”

“I’ll think about it. Right now I should take you home and then settle up with Angelo.” I couldn’t see his face, but I heard the dread in his voice. “God, I wish I’d never hijacked that stupid shipment and stolen those drugs.”

“No sense thinking that way.” There were plenty of things I wished I hadn’t done either, but regrets never helped anybody. “Let’s look ahead, OK? We’ve got a lot to do.”

We finished the breakfast dishes together before Joey drove me home. We were quiet on the way, each of us thinking about the conversations we had to have today and dreading them. But I wasn’t one to wait around chewing my fingernails when there was something unpleasant to be done. I wasn’t looking forward to turning down Enzo’s offer and explaining the sudden existence of a fiancé in my life—especially since I’d made such a big deal about his—but it had to be done. No use putting it off.

And maybe he wouldn’t even be that angry. After all, he didn’t love me. Ours had not been an affair of the heart, only of the body. We barely knew each other. Certainly, we had enjoyed each other physically, but he could have any woman he wanted—it wasn’t as if I was the only one who could please him. And half the time I drove him crazy anyway. By the time Joey kissed me goodbye and promised to call me later, I was certain I could explain things to Enzo in a way that would have him positively glad to be rid of me.

#

The house was empty when I got home, and I skipped up the stairs to my bedroom humming a tune. As soon as I was cleaned up, I walked down to Bridget’s. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d walked with a spring in my step, but I practically bounced along the sidewalk toward the store. It was sunny and hot, and even though I knew the humidity would do awful things to my hair, I didn’t care. I was still wearing my navy blue dress, which was perhaps a bit wrinkled from spending the night on Joey’s bedroom floor, but I had clean undergarments on and anyway, each little crease in the skirt reminded me of him. I started humming again.

When I turned the corner into the alley, I noticed Daddy’s sign above the garage door was gone, the one that read Jack’s Auto Repair. I saw no sign of activity and wondered if the Prohees that had questioned him had given up on the case or still lurked around town trying to investigate. It was an impossible job. Nobody I knew obeyed the dry law, and I was certain there were very few people who wanted to risk the ire of the big mobsters who now bootlegged most of the booze around here. Too many stories in the papers these days about where you might end up if you ratted on them.

Spying a produce truck behind the store, I grinned like an idiot. The day I’d first heard Joey was back in town, he’d helped Bridget unload produce at the store. He often helped her out if Martin wasn’t available, and for free too, or maybe just for a sandwich or bowl of soup. Bridget said he wouldn’t take money from family. At the time I’d rolled my eyes and declared him a dope, but now I understood him better. Family meant everything to him.

I’d be his family soon.

I may have squealed just a little at the thought.

Letting myself in the back door, I headed through the stock room and into the front, where Molly was teaching Mary Grace to use the cash register, and Bridget’s boys were stacking candy behind the counter. “Good morning, everyone,” I chirped gaily, stopping to ruffle the dark hair on my nephews’ heads.



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