Page 52 of The Holy Ghost
“He’s right,”I added. “Frankie will sneakout if she has to, in order to continue her friendship withRobbie.”
“Not if you forbid herto,” he dared me.
Luca let out adeep sigh. This was a touchy subject as we all had valid points.“Look, Robbie lives in Cedar Creek. Is very unlikelythat Frankie will even havetime to go visit her, much less hang out.” Ciro was listening, butyou could tell he was still on edge. “Between going to school tofinish her degree, living an hour away from Cedar Creek, andbeginning her job as my accountant, she’s going to have very littletime to offer Robbie.”
“Yeah, Ciro.There’s a goodchange thefriendship might fizzle out slowly on its own,” I added. “But ifyou, or rather,Iforbid Frankie fromseeing Robbie, it’s going to cause problems. That’ll be the onlything Frankie ends up focusing on.”
“Give Robbie achance to prove herself, Ciro,” Luca suggested. “You don’t have to like her, but youdon’t have to hate her either.”
“Have you twolost your minds?” he asked. “She almost got my fuckingsisterkilled!”
“She made amistake,” I corrected. “She made a mistake, and she paid for it, Ciro. You saw the damage theyinflicted on her just as we did.”
“How do weknow that wasn’t just part of the plan, huh?” he countered. “Wedon’t know anything about the woman’s character. Her injuries could have just been hersacrifice in their ten-million-dollar scheme.”
“Andthat’s why we’re waiting, Ciro,” Lucareplied. “We’re waiting to see what she does and how she handleseverything.”
“Christ,Mancini, we’re not invitingher over for Thanksgiving,” I added dryly.
Ciro shook hishead. “I don’t like it,” hemuttered. “I don’t fucking like it.”
I stood up andwalked over to my brother-in-law. “I get it, Ciro,” I told him.“Believe me, I do. But when my wife has conceded to everything else, I have to grant her thisone concession. I don’t just want her, Ciro. I want herhappy.”
“Robbie willbe watched, Ciro,” Luca mentioned. “Their friendship will be monitored. I promise,Francescawillbe safe.”
Ciro lookedbetween me and Luca. After a few seconds, he finally said, “Ifanything else happens to my sister because of that women, I will kill her myself. Agreed?”Ciro didn’t relish killing women, so we knew he was serious withthat condition.
“Agreed,” Lucareplied.
I nodded my head.“Agreed.”
“I mean it,”he stressed. “Frankie gets hurt again because of her, Iwill fucking killher.”
It wasn’t toohard to agree because I choseto believe Frankie. I chose to believe Robbie hadn’t takenpart in the kidnapping scheme. “Agreed,” I repeated.
“She’s allyours,” Luca remarked. “Now let’s call it a fucking day and getsomesleep, boys.” Lucaunleashed one of his rare smiles. “We have an empire that needs ourattention.”
Indeed, we did.
Epilogue
Phoenix– (One MonthLater)~
Helasted longer than any of us thoughthe would, but then, Massimo has always done the most with the oddsstacked against him.
His funeralwas this Saturday at St.Peter’s Church, followed by his burial at the Morgan City Cemetery.Luca spared no expense, and only those who arrived early would begetting a seat in the church. Every neighborhood kid from the lastforty years would be attending and those who couldn’t attend wouldbe sending flowers. The church was going to be packed.
However, rightnow, it was just the six of us in the private room Lucapaid for; Luca, Ciro, Frankie, me,the priest, and Massimo’s peaceful, pale body. All hospital staffwas absent from the room and guards stood outside.
I held Frankiein my arms as she quietly sobbed into my chest, still not wantingto believe he was gone. Hell, none of us wanted to believe it. Buthis unresponsive body on thebed and the father’s words of faith and loss were hard to arguewith. Massimo was gone and hundreds of future neighborhood kidswere going to suffer for it.
I stood withmy arm around Frankie and remembered all the times I’d run toMassimo as a young boy andasked for his advice. Having worthless drug addicts as parents,Massimo had been my only real paternal influence and, often, theonly person who fed me. Up until their deaths, I hadn’t feltcomfortable intruding on the Mancinis because, while Mattia Mancinihad a kind heart, Vincent Mancini never would have given mepermission to date or marry his daughter if he believed I wouldn’tbe able to take care of her. And I wouldn’t have blamed theman.
WhenFather O’Patrick finished his sermon,we followed him in the blessing and prayer of the deceased. We allfollowed the sign of the cross and said farewell amens to Massimo.Father O’Patrick shook Luca’s hand first, then Ciro’s, and thenmine. Frankie managed to let go of me long enough to give him ahug, but as soon as he let go, she was back in my arms. He walkedout of the room without a guard, but priests were common sights inthe hospital, so we weren’t overly concerned with someone seeinghim.
“I can’tbelieve he’s gone,” Frankie whispered brokenly. “So many kids still need him.”
“He’sirreplaceable, that’s for sure,” Ciro added. “There’ll never beanother Massimo.”
