Sempre (Sempre 1)

“What’s away from here?”

“A lot,” she said. “There’s a whole world out there.”

“Is Miss Martha going out there to the world?”

“No, Miss Martha’s gone to Heaven.”

“What’s Heaven?”

Her mama sighed. “Heaven’s the greatest place you can imagine. People don’t hurt anymore when they go to Heaven. There’s peace there. It’s beautiful. Everyone’s beautiful.”

Haven smiled excitedly. “Will I get to go to Heaven?”

She nodded. “Someday an angel will come to take you away.”

Suddenly the darkness erupted in blinding light. Haven shielded her eyes. She could feel the sun burning her as she ran, air fanning her sweaty skin. She pretended to fly, like Miss Martha did to Heaven the night before, and slammed into something in her path.

Falling to the ground, she could barely make out the form in the blinding light. She was confused until a soft voice shattered the silence. “You’re awfully dirty, little one.”

The blindness cleared as the form knelt down to look at her. Sheer beauty, love, and compassion. Up until then, Haven hadn’t seen an angel, but she was sure one had come.

28

The room was encased in bright light when Carmine woke up. His head pounded, his eyes burned. He blinked a few times as he sat up, realizing he was alone.

Stretching, he popped two Tylenol to squelch the hangover before strolling out of the room. As soon as he reached the second floor, his footsteps wavered when Haven stepped into the hallway with his father. Her eyes met his the same time Vincent noticed him. “Do you need laundry done again?” he asked.

“No. Why?”

“Two days in a row you’ve walked around with barely any clothes on.”

He looked down at himself. “My, uh . . . goods are covered.”

“Well, I’m glad at least that much sank in over the years.”

He chuckled. “What, you think you’re too young to be a grandfather?”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” he said. “I’m only forty-one. But frankly, I’m just as worried about you picking up something as I am about you impregnating someone. For a while, every time you said the words, ‘what’s this?’ I feared you would expose yourself to show me something suspicious.”

Carmine laughed. “Well, thanks for the concern, but I assure you my dick’s in fantastic shape.”

Vincent shook his head as he glanced at Haven. “You’re excused, child. I’m sure you have things to attend to.”

She practically bolted for the steps as Vincent turned back to Carmine. “Go get dressed.”

“Why? It’s not like I’m indecent.”

“I didn’t say you were indecent, but I have a free day, so I thought we’d go shooting like old times.”

He gaped at him. “Vincent DeMarco cleared his schedule to spend time with little ol’ me?”

Vincent sighed. “Go before I change my mind.”

Chuckling, Carmine headed upstairs and threw on some clothes. He was in the bathroom brushing his teeth when Haven walked in. “Are you and Dr. DeMarco going away?”

He nodded, rinsing out his mouth. “We’re gonna go play with our guns.”

“You’ll be safe, won’t you?”