At Peace (The 'Burg #2)(174)

“That’s Dane,” Keira announced to the room unnecessarily when the sliding door closed. “He’s Kate’s boyfriend and he’s in the dog house.”

Vinnie chuckled in the direction of Gary who was pressing his lips together.

“I need more coffee,” Theresa declared. “Bea, do you need more coffee?”

“Yes, yes, I think I do,” Bea said softly.

“I’ll make another pot,” I offered.

“No, cara mia, you sit, relax or better yet, find a place to eavesdrop.” Theresa’s eyes went to the back deck. “I’ll make it.”

“I’ll help,” Bea moved with Theresa to the kitchen.

“I can make it, that’s okay. I don’t eavesdrop on the girls,” I told them and Theresa and Bea stopped dead and turned to me.

“You don’t?” Theresa asked, her voice horrified.

“I trust my girls,” I said carefully, not wanting to be insulting by intimating she hadn’t done the same with her children.

“Well,” Theresa threw a hand out, “I guess I can see that, bein’ girls and all. My Carmella was an angel but I also had three boys. Three hot-blooded Italian boys with more hormones than the Chicago metropolitan area could contain. If they weren’t gettin’ in trouble with girls, they were fightin’ with boys. Bloody knuckles. Bras in their beds. Did my head in.”

Bea just stared at me, knowing that hormones weren’t exclusive to hot-blooded Italian boys. Hormones went both ways and they didn’t discriminate by culture, they just ran rampant through teenagers as a whole.

“It’ll be okay, Bea,” I assured her. “I had a talk with Kate and Joe had a talk with Dane.”

“Yeah,” Keira put in, “and Joe scares the crap outta Dane.”

I watched as Gary came forward and clapped Joe on the shoulder. “Saw that,” he muttered. “Liked it,” he went on, looking at his wife not at Joe and my heart turned over with happiness. Joe had Gary’s seal of approval or at least it was heading that way. “Hon, could seriously use another cup,” he said to Bea.

“Right, love,” Bea whispered and moved to the kitchen, Theresa on her heels.

Joe was looking out the sliding glass doors, seemingly oblivious to everything going on around him, his mind on what was happening on the back deck. I walked to him, put my hands on his chest and pressed him down in the armchair. He resisted but not much, especially when I climbed into his lap once I got him seated. Maybe sitting in his lap was a bit too much but I figured since we’d already had a variety of dramas, the best way forward was just to be ourselves.

If Bea and Gary didn’t like it, I couldn’t help that.

Then again with all the dramas, I reckoned they wouldn’t have any problem with it.

“We don’t eavesdrop,” I told him as his arms came around me.

“Don’t have to, buddy.”

I cocked my head to the side. “We don’t?”

“Dane isn’t stupid. He’ll do right by Kate. He doesn’t, Kate isn’t stupid. She’ll dump his ass,” he paused before finishing, “again.”

I got closer to his face and whispered, “You ready for at least four straight years of teenage girl boy drama?”

Joe’s face shifted to tender then his eyes moved to Keira and I saw humor light them.

Then he looked at me. “Keira’s up next so we might need to talk to Doc about Valium.”

“You think you’ll need Valium?” I asked, surprised.

“Was thinkin’ for you.”

“I’ll be all right.”

“Keirry’s a bit wild, baby.”

I got closer. “That’s okay, I’ve got you to help me deal.”

The humor left his eyes and they went intense. I held my breath because I was certain he was going to kiss me and do it hard. I was certain of this because he’d looked that way before, right when he kissed me and did it hard.

To stop Joe kissing me hard in front of Gary and Bea (and Theresa), something I figured they might have a problem with (especially the way Joe did it), I continued. “And to scare the bejeezus out of any boy who gets ideas.”

Joe grinned at me right when we heard Gary ask, “What in the hell?”

I looked in his direction. He’d moved to stand at the back of the couch by Keira but he was looking out the window.

“Granddad!” Keira shouted and jumped off the couch as I stared through the window at my father walking along the front of the house.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, my body solid, hoping my mother wasn’t with him and also wondering what was next. The sky falling? The earth standing still? Perhaps a meteor would crash into the Atlantic Ocean and a tidal wave would wash half of the continental United States into the sea.

“What the f**k?” Joe muttered tersely but his body was not solid. He was not thinking of meteors. His thoughts were something else entirely.

He surged up, his arms still around me taking me with him. He planted me on my feet, let me go and stalked to the door.

By the time he got there, me hot on his heels, Keira had it open and she was giving my father a big hug.

“It is a family reunion!” she cried with excitement then asked, “Did you bring Mel with you?” and she looked beyond my father out the door. I noted she didn’t ask if Dad brought my Mom but instead she asked after Mel. My girls weren’t big fans of my mother. No one was, of course, since my Mom was a bitch. But Madeline Riley had been a cold, hard, disapproving mother and she was no less of any of those things as a grandmother – even not having been around very often.