Page 48 of The Doctor's Promise
Noemi wasn’t happy about it, but she let it go, knowing Rafa could hardly go chasing her sister through the hospital. Instead Joan helped her clean up the scanning gel, then Noemi slid from the bed, thanking her friend. She took Bepi from Rafa, wanting to hold the little boy and get some comfort. Rafa put his arms around them both. “Look, I’ll stay here with Zani, try to get him to agree to rehab. Why don’t I get a driver to come pick you and Bepi up to take you home? Both of you need some sleep.”
21
Chapter Twenty-One
Bepi was fast asleep by the time he and Noemi arrived back at the mansion. Noemi put him to bed, stroking his little head. “I love you, little one.”
Downstairs she cleared up the mess from earlier, then sat down, waiting to hear from Rafa. It was a little after midnight and she longed to try to call Leonora, wanted her to yell at her or something just so she could feel less… what did she feel? When it came down to it, Noemi hadn’t gotten pregnant by design, especially not to torture Leonora. So why did she feel so guilty?
She remembered Lazlo telling her how hard it was for anyone to persuade her not to feel that guilt—maybe it was just in her genetic makeup. God, what a freakin’ mess. Exhaustion set in then, and she curled up on the couch to wait for Rafa to come home.
Rafa satin the chair at the side of his brother’s bed and waited for him to wake. To his relief, Zani was responding to treatment and had been awake and cognizant for a few minutes but had fallen back asleep.
“Better for him to sleep,” the doctor had told him. “When he’s asleep, he’s not jonesing for a fix.”
“Right.”
Zani stirred now and opened his eyes. He saw Rafa sitting by him and pulled himself up against the pillows. “Rafa.”
“How do you feel?”
Zani smiled ruefully. “Dumb. Stupid.”
“No arguments here.”
“Is Noe okay? I feel terrible.”
“She’s fine. The babies are fine.” Rafa watched his brother’s reaction. “You knew?”
Zani nodded. “I overheard. Sorry. I don’t sleep so good.”
“That would be the coke and God knows what else. What the fuck did you think you were doing using in my house, Zani? Where my son sleeps?”
“I am sorry, brother. I truly am. God, Rafa… do you know how hard it is to be as good as you are? I fucked up.”
“You’re always fucking up, Zani, and don’t turn this around on me. Jesus, you’ve had everything, every chance, and now…” Rafa stopped, taking a deep breath, calming himself.
“Have you called Dad?”
Rafa shook his head.
“But you’re going to?”
Rafa nodded. “Unless you get treatment. Here. Now. You stay here and go through rehab. Then afterwards, you can live with us but with weekly drug testing. You work for me. You straighten out your life.”
Zani had a strange look on his face. “If only it was that easy, man.”
“What does that mean?”
Zani just shook his head. “Look… Okay. I’ll do it. Do you think I want to live like this? No. Fine. Rehab.”
Rafa didn’t know whether to believe him but decided to take him at face value. “Good. I mean it—you miss one session, fail one drug test, that’s it. Is there anything else you want to tell me, Zani?”
“Like what?”
“Like what happened in Europe? Like the reason you came back? It wasn’t just running out of money, was it?”
Zani looked away from him. “It doesn’t matter now.”
