Dane heard the door swing closed then hesitated and looked around. “There won’t be any more ghosts from the past dropping in here, will there?”
His uncle’s eyes filled with pity. “No, son, there ain’t. Your daddy’s long gone now.”
A mirthless smile escaped him. “Where? Living it up in the tropics?” Dane said sarcastically.
“Gone as in dead gone, son.”
Dane felt the blood drain from his face.
Fred took the chair to his right.
“It’s been twenty-three years now.”
He made a mental calculation. Twenty-three years means I was fourteen – the last year I saw him.
“Mom said he left us. He didn’t want us.”
“Your mother was a woman scorned, Dane. Your father died doin’ the wrong damn thing. He was fixin’ ta have a bit of fun with some hussy he met at one of them beef production companies he worked with.”
“That’s impossible. My father didn’t condone adultery.”
Uncle Fred grabbed his wrist and hooked his gaze. “Yer dad was a man, son. He had a heart attack in the motel room. He was butt-naked. The girl panicked and called management. Management called the ambulance but it was too late. Then the police came. It was a cluster fuck like you never wanna see. Your mother couldn’t take it, God rest her soul.”
Dane blinked. “So she made up that he’d abandoned us to continue to hate him, to make me hate him.” He swallowed the bile that rose to his throat. Memories came back – Mom selling the ranch afterward and moving them from Smiley, Texas, to Birmingham, Alabama where her sisters lived. His stomach clenched and rolled and he had to beat that wave down so he could speak. “She ruined my life.”
“Let that go, boy,” he said sternly. “She’s dead, too, now and she can’t defend herself. You will respect her and you will respect your father. Everyone makes mistakes in this crazy world.”
Uncle Fred had moved to Houston a few months after his dad… died. He had to get used to thinking that. His mother died four years later, leaving him enough money to finish college and get the hell out of Dodge. He’d never seen his other family since then – his three surviving aunts, his cousins and their children. He’d lost a whole family through hate and regret and practically messed up his own life, too.
His mother had felt something else apart from resentment – the humiliation of knowing her husband died while having sex with another woman.
“How did I never find out?”
“They hushed it up, like they often do with these things.”
“And my mother made sure I’d never look for him. By the time she died, I hated the bastard.”
Uncle Fred’s fist came down hard on the table. His eyes glittered with rage; his face turned an even brighter purple than it naturally was.
“Don’t you ever call your father that again or I’ll tar and feather you, ya hear?” he roared as he pointed a finger at him.
Dane flushed with embarrassment and lowered his eyes. “Yes, sir. I’m sorry,” He felt every bit the scolded kid.
“I don’t care how much you went through, it’s never good to dirty your folks’ name like that.”
“Agreed, sir.” He hadn’t seen his uncle for over two decades but that feeling of deference remained. Uncle Fred was his dad’s older brother, always considered a bit of an oddball because he never followed the leader. Dane had always secretly admired him. He was more like him than his own father.
“So what got you here? I mean, Italy is a long way off from our neck of the woods.”
“Says the kettle to the pot. Son, I heard you been all over the place.”
“Seriously,” Dane laughed.
“Well, I met this lady in Houston. Her father invested in a hotel chain and she joined him there for a while after her husband died. She’d been married sixteen years and he left her this place. She hated the thought of selling it, so I offered to help that pretty thing,” he said with a grin. “And the crazy woman accepted my offer. Been married a long time now.”
“Any kids?”
“You betcha. Triplets, two boys and a girl. One of the boys and the girl are in college in Rome and the other one wants to dee-jay.” He sighed but his voice rang with fatherly pride. “Only God knows how I did it without losing it upstairs.”
Dane asked the question that had been nagging at him. “Why didn’t you try to contact me?”
“Oh boy, I was so much into my life back then. I guess I needed to grow up, even though I was a man in age, I wasn’t in my head, ya know. My wife, Simona, had her work cut out for her, then the kids came, running my place… I thought yer mama cared for you well, and as much as I hate to say it, my brother and I were never that close.”
They continued to speak until the hour had passed. Uncle Fred told him about his life in Italy, how he adjusted to a lifestyle that was so different from what he was accustomed to. Dane talked about his work and marriage and how he was working on turning things around.
“You must bring yer wife to my place tonight, son. Our specialty is lamb and it’s a winner.”
“Can do, sir. I’m sure Lissy won’t mind. After dragging me this far to see you and managing to hide it from me, she has a lot of explaining to do.”
“Coming to think of it, I’m not sure how she found out about me, either. Only thing she said was that it’s a long story.”
The men said their goodbyes and Dane headed to the end of the street. The air was fine, fresh, but the sun was out. It was the sort of weather he’d take any day over the sweltering heat of Texas or the gray London days.
He spotted Lissy across the road, leaning by a stylish storefront with a gray canopy above the display window, her booted foot against the wall. When she saw him, she straightened and waved.
He made it past the middle of the street. It took a split second for him to register the sound of a motor and the look of horror on Lissy’s face as she yelled, “Dane!” with her hand outstretched.
She rushed forward and pulled him toward her to get him out of the way, but the mad motorcycle driver had already turned onto Via del Trivio, and made right into him.
Lissy’s scream as he blacked out should have shattered glass.
***
The emergency department of Ospedale Mazzoni teemed with activity, agonized expressions, and assorted moans and groans. Lisbeth barely acknowledged these predictable sights in a state hospital.
“You are lucky, Signor Marsh. It is just a leg sprain and will heal fully in a few weeks. You’ll have swelling and you will feel some pain on the outside of your ankle. Please see your doctor when you return home. Try to keep your leg raised on the trip back.”
Dane winced as he moved his leg and slipped off the stretcher. “Fly first class? Will you guys arrange that for me?” he joked, but the bespectacled, straight-faced doctor didn’t seem to be one for a sense of humor.
It was fortunate that the driver of the motorcycle had good reflexes. Upon seeing Dane, he swerved to the right into a parked car, causing some damage but no major injuries. Luckily, he’d also avoided the scaffolding constructed to the side of a building nearby. There may be some legal repercussions for the man, though. For one, his insurance would have to pay for damage to the car, as well as possibly compensate theirs for hospital and related expenses.
Dane had twisted his foot inward, stretching his ligaments. Lissy was relieved to hear it was only a minor sprain, and he would be able to walk without the need for crutches.
Finally, after hours at the hospital for routine tests and paperwork, they left the ward in a surreal haze. Lissy had her reality check – she could have lost her husband today.
The thought was beyond horrific.
Dane had told her all about his conversation with Fred. He put his arm around her and took slow steps to the entrance where Fred would be waiting to drive them to the hotel. He’d have left his wife in charge by herself to welcome the first covers for dinner and he said over the phone when they called him t
hat the other chefs were good enough to handle the heat. He promised he’d have food delivered to their room when they got back – enough to leave them full for days.
“I could get used to this,” he said, referring to this quaint Italian city.
“So could I,” she said with conviction.
“Seriously? I thought you were set on Richmond.”
“One never knows. Life is full of surprises,” she offered.
“Hmmm, good point.” Dane faltered and grimaced in pain.
“Lean on me,” Lissy urged. “I’m not a delicate flower, you know.”
“Nothing but the truth,” Dane laughed. Then his expression got serious.
“What?” Lissy asked, pausing in the hospital reception area. She turned to face him and held his hands in hers. People walked by them at a mile a minute, but she paid them no mind.
“You were right about everything.”
“I always am,” she quipped.
He squeezed her hands, his eyes crinkled at the corners. “I’ve always told you I had a happy childhood. And I did. My dad tended cattle all his life, and he wanted me to get an education. He said that if I did the right thing and aimed high, everyone would respect me.”
“Don’t all parents wish that for their children? To have a better life than they had?”
She didn’t miss how his whole body shook with the force of the emotions that seemed to come free from inside of him.
“He drove me hard, too hard. He taught me the value of hard work, wouldn’t take shit from me, and he made it plain that everything I did in my life would reflect on him, on the whole family. And then he left. After preaching to me, he died betraying Mom, and I never knew.”
Lissy put a hand to his cheek. “Dane, honey, why do you torture yourself about this? Why not put it behind you?”
“I never told you this, but when you came along…well, let’s just say you weren’t in my plans.” He gulped. “Since I first met you, I couldn’t let you go, and I convinced myself I could have it all. That I could keep you and climb the ladder at the same time. It was in me, the need to succeed. He’d hammered it in good. I was dead terrified of the prospect of having a child, of getting off my path, and I lost you in the deal.”
Mixed emotions strangled her heart as comprehension dawned. She understood why he hadn’t trusted her enough.
“You didn’t want to be like him…”
“I kept putting it off, year after year, thinking I could just keep things the way they were ’til I got to the top. Then I realized it was impossible because each time I reached a goal, I wanted something more. I thought of my dad and I couldn’t stop. I was so confused, I thought the easiest thing was to push you away. If a man is not strong and determined to succeed, he is no man, he told me. I kept on believing that even through the hate. But now I know…I messed it all up because I allowed you to think I didn’t care. I’ll never forgive myself for that.”
She rose on tip toes and kissed his vulnerability away. He was a tough man – but inside, he was still the young, insecure boy who lost a father too early.
“If a man has no love and kindness in his heart, he is no man,” she countered. “And in my heart and mind you are very much a man. The man I love more than anything.”
His forehead bumped hers. “Forever my Lissy.”
They walked out into the evening, the stars bright as if cheering for them. Lissy leaned into her husband and contemplated how life’s surprises unfold and hopefully, in the end, teach us a lesson. And hers was clear – without the love of her husband, she was like a snail without its shell. A woman with everything to lose.
It was a lesson well-learned.
About the Author
Natalie writes stories of mixed genre, especially contemporary, historical, paranormal, and fantasy romance, as well as romantic suspense. She likes to set her stories in exotic locations. Brooding or light-hearted, capable or daring heroes and heroines – love is a flame that brings people together and sometimes burns in the unlikeliest of situations. Occasionally, she does have her dark moments, which is when she drums up the odd horror piece. Her strong belief is that writers should not feel compelled to write only one type of story as creativity shouldn’t be put in a neat little box. All writers should write what’s in their heart, as long as they give it their best and please their readers.
A lawyer turned writer, Natalie sold her first story to an e-publisher in 2007. Since 2006, she has also worked as a freelance editor. She loves to meet other authors and readers and swap writer jokes and ten minute recipes.
Natalie has been married for 12 years and has one son. Since 2009, she calls the beautiful island of Malta home. When she isn’t working or writing, she enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, watching a good movie and most of all, reading.
Website: www.nataliegowens.com
Facebook profile page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=563297082
Facebook author page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Natalie-G-Owens-Author/24911987111)
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Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4527498-natalie-g-owens
Everything to Lose (Moonlight Dating Series #2) Page 6