“Hi, I’m Lily.” I gave them a little wave and got no response. “Where are the other brothers?”
“They have day jobs.” Uncle Johnny studied me closely, trying to figure me out.
“And wives,” said Uncle Danny with a laugh.
Uncle Johnny wasn’t laughing. About my height, he was burly and muscular and didn’t look happy to have me around. “What do you know about Dominick?”
I straightened my spine. “He told me his name was Nick. Which is why there was some confusion initially with Mr. Bambi.”
Uncle Danny chuckled. “Mr. Bambi. Funny.”
Uncle Johnny put a hand on his forehead and winced. “Oh, God. Are you pregnant?”
Nick and I answered in unison. “No.” I looked at Nick in shock, and he rolled his eyes. I pointed to my flat stomach encased in the leather pants and bustier. “Do I look pregnant?”
“No, but I’m trying to figure out why you’re here.” Gone was the charismatic performer I’d seen on stage. Uncle Johnny’s tone and demeanor were now stone cold and serious. “How long have you known Dom?”
“Two weeks.”
Uncle Johnny barked out a laugh, but there was no humor in it. He looked at the ceiling, shaking his head. His long, dark curls hung well past his shoulders. His hair was shiny and so bouncy. Under better circumstances, I would have asked him about hair products, but this was not the time.
“Not possible.”
“Why?” I asked. I was failing here. I knew it. Which meant I was failing Nick too.
Uncle Johnny moved a step closer to me. “Why are you doing this? Are you some kind of sicko?”
I stared at him, unafraid. I didn’t have time to be afraid. I had to do this for Nick. “I’m telling the truth and I can prove it.”
“How?” Uncle Johnny looked ready to leave. I had to stop him, so I stepped in front of him.
“Ask me any question you want, something only Nick would know, and I’ll answer it.”
“Oh. This sounds like a game,” said Uncle Danny with a smile. “It’ll be fun.”
No one else smiled. “And why would we play along?” Uncle Johnny’s dark eyes, so much like Nick’s bored into me. My own filled with tears.
“Because he needs your help, and so do I.”
Uncle Johnny looked around the room and sighed. “Okay, Red. I’ll give you five minutes. And I’ll start the questions.”
He sat on a low couch near the wall, crossing an ankle over one knee, and indicated a chair for me. Zoe stayed back against the wall with Blobby by her side. I sat on the edge of my seat, hands folded neatly on my lap, with Nick right next to me. Uncle Johnny brushed his hair off his shoulders in an impatient gesture and glued his eyes on me.
“Why kind of underwear does Bambi like to wear?” he asked.
“Hey,” said Bambi. Uncle Danny collapsed into a fit of giggles. I looked at Nick, and he smiled.
“Red satin boxers. He doesn’t like chaffing. He buys them from a catalogue. I found it behind the bar once.”
I repeated what he said, and they froze, shocked by my words. After a few more questions, mostly about undergarments, the Fortunas started to believe I might be telling the truth.
“How do you know all this stuff?” Uncle Johnny had a spark of excitement in his eye. He didn’t trust me yet, but he was getting close.
I looked at each of them, and I could tell how much they cared about Nick. They were his family and obviously loved him as much as he loved them.
“I’m going to tell you a story, but you have to keep an open mind.”
Uncle Danny clapped his hands together. “We opened for Van Halen over two hundred times in the ’80s. We are all about open minds, sweetie.”
“Good,” I said, “You’ll need it.”
It took about twenty minutes for me to get the story out. Zoe, although a little star struck by the Fortuna brothers at first, relaxed and told her part of the story too. Blobby floated above our heads, looking happy and oblivious as always.
Uncle Danny had a lot of questions for me. “You thought Little Dom was a ghost? Does he look like a ghost? Is he here right now?”
I answered the questions one at a time. “I thought he was a ghost, but he looks like a person. A shadowy person. Zoe can’t see him, but I can. He’s right here.” The Fortunas and Bambi looked to where I pointed.
“Little Dom is here?” Uncle Johnny’s lip quivered. “In this room? This can’t be happening.”
“I’m sorry, but this is why we need your help. We don’t understand what’s going on either. He is stuck somehow, and we need to fix him.”
Uncle Johnny put his head in his hands. “We can’t.”
I wanted to cry. Not a good thing. Zoe had put a great deal of eyeliner on me, and it was going to run all over my face.
“Why not? You’re his family. You love him.”
Uncle Johnny came to sit on the edge of my chair. “We want to help him, Lily, but we can’t. His spirit might be in this room, talking to you, but his body is lying in a hospital bed. He’s in a coma. He’s been the same way for a month. There’s nothing anyone can do for him, even us.”
“A coma?” Relief wash over me in a giant wave. Although a coma couldn’t exactly be considered good news, it was better than dead.
“Told you so.” Nick gave me a small half smile, but he looked pale and scared. “I knew I wasn’t dead.”
I turned back to Uncle Johnny. “How did it happen?”
He sighed. “Dom is my sister Maria’s boy. She got sick last year with cancer and they moved back so they could be closer to us.”
My words caught in my throat. “Did she…?” I couldn’t bring myself to say the words.
Uncle Johnny shook his head, making the sign of the cross. “No, she’s fine. She’s in remission. Just a little weak. Dom works here on weekends. He was driving home a few weeks ago on his motorcycle, and a drunk driver hit into him. The jerk took off, leaving Dom on the side of the road. When you came in here tonight, I hoped you might know something about it.”
“How bad is he?” I swallowed hard, and so did Nick.
“He had on his helmet, thank goodness, or it could have been much worse. Physically, he’s not too bad, other than a broken leg and a few scrapes and bruises. Mentally, it’s a different story. He fell pretty hard, and they don’t know what damage may have been done to his brain.” Uncle Johnny shook his head sadly.
“Well, his brain seems fine to me. He tutored me in calculus on Tuesday and I aced my quiz.”
Uncle Danny strummed his guitar, smiling. “He always was a math whiz.” Uncle Danny appeared to be the kindest and gentlest person I’d ever seen, and the opposite of what I’d expected. There was something so pure and innocent about him, like he had the spirit of a small child in his fifty-year old body.
“I read about the accident. It was terrible.” Zoe rose to her feet, a funny look on her face. “Wait. Your Nick is Dominick Fortuna?”
I nodded, unsure about why she hadn’t figured it out sooner. I guessed the combination of Josh’s hotness and the Fortuna brothers’ coolness had thrown her off a little this evening.
“But he’s your sister’s son.” Zoe’s eyebrows drew together in confusion. “Why is his last name Fortuna?”
“My parents weren’t married,” said Nick. “I don’t know my dad.”
I explained this to Zoe, and Uncle Johnny and Uncle Danny agreed with what I’d said. “Maria is a nurse and a single mom. His dad didn’t hang around long enough to give him a last name, but it doesn’t matter,” said Uncle Johnny. “He’s a Fortuna through and through. He’s a great musician too. He goes to the School for the Performing Arts in Middleton.”
“Let me guess…. drums?” I asked.
“Strings,” said Uncle Danny. “As in cello, violin, and viola, although cello is his favorite. The boy has skills.”
“He’s a great guitarist, too,” said Zoe. “I’ve seen him perform here. Nick, you’re awesome.”
“Uh, thanks.” Nick looked a little embarrassed at Zoe’s newfound adoration.
“Do you know what this means, Lily?” Zoe grabbed me by the shoulders.
“Nick is even cooler than I suspected?”
“Yes, but there’s something else too.” Zoe looked around the room, with a huge smile on her face. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
“How do you know?” asked Uncle Danny. “Is it a psychic thing? Because I’m not feeling it.”
Zoe shook her head, looking me dead in the eye. “I know because Nick’s last name is Fortuna. Fortuna means lucky in Italian. Nick is ‘Mr. Lucky.’ He is your destiny.”
Chapter 14
A dog, in desperation, will leap over a wall. ~ Chinese Proverb
Uncle Johnny scratched his chin. “We still have one little problem, ladies. Why is Dominick’s spirit or essence or whatever here? Why isn’t he in his body?”
I stood and put my hands on my hips. I caught a glimpse of myself in one of the mirrors in the dressing room and nearly gasped in shock. No longer little Lily Madison of Mockingbird Lane, I was Tiger Lily. Powerful, strong, and a bit like a dominatrix. Kind of scary too.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. I need to get out of these clothes, and I’ll meet you at the hospital.”
“We’ll have to wait until tomorrow, sweetness. Visiting hours start at 10:30. I’ll call my sister and meet you there. Are you sure about this, Lily? Do you really think we can help him?” I could see the faintest glimmer of hope in Uncle Johnny’s eyes.
Nick stood right beside me with his hands shoved deep into his pockets. When I looked in the mirror, though, I couldn’t see him. Disconcerting, but in a hospital room somewhere, he had a body, and he was my destiny. We only had to get his spirit to go back inside his body, and we’d be all set.
“We’re getting close,” I said. Determination shone in Zoe’s eyes, and I knew Josh, Mr. Wan, and Mrs. Chang would help us too. Even Blobby seemed to bounce in encouragement. Not exactly the dream team, but good enough. “We can do this. We’ll meet you guys tomorrow at the hospital. Now, as the Fortuna brothers would say, let’s rock and roll.”
Uncle Johnny and Uncle Danny shook their heads. “Even in in a leather outfit, you can’t get away with that one, kitten,” said Uncle Danny.
“Oh, yes, I can,” I said, and sauntered out of the room. Something about wearing tight, black leather pants gave a girl confidence. I’d never sauntered in my life.
It was almost two a.m. by the time we piled into my car and headed home, quiet, tired, and subdued. Zoe started snoozing in the backseat with Blobby on her lap. I should have been exhausted, but felt wide awake, torn between excitement at seeing Nick’s actual physical form tomorrow and dread because I knew his spirit wasn’t in it.
“It’s going to be okay, Lil,” he said softly.
“You’re a mind reader now?” I couldn’t look at him. I kept my hands firmly on the steering wheel, and my eyes on the road. It was after midnight, and I hadn’t turned eighteen yet. If I got pulled over, it could mean trouble. Our town had a twelve o’clock curfew for anyone underage.
“You face is pretty easy to read.”
“I’m an open book? No mystery at all?” I wrinkled my nose at him.
“I didn’t say that. There’s still a lot I want to know about you, so much I need to learn. I wonder what your skin will feel like when I touch it. What your lips are going to taste like when I kiss them. How your body will fit against mine when I hold you.”
Nick’s eyes held as much heat and desire as his words. No one had ever talked to me this way. No one had ever looked at me this way either. I almost drove right off the road. I swerved the car to right it just in time.
“Whoa, Nelly. What are you doing?” asked Zoe. She seemed fully awake now.
“Sorry. Nick…distracted me. Zoe, are you sure it’s okay you’re out this late? My parents would be freaking out right now.”
“Mine are extremely unconcerned. As long as I don’t go to jail or get pregnant, I can do whatever I want.”
I could hear the thin strain of sadness under her bravado. “I’m sure it’s because they trust you.”
Zoe glanced away, her expression unreadable. “Or it’s because they don’t care. Either way, a curfew isn’t an issue for me.”
“Consider yourself lucky.” I’d never had a reason to break curfew before, and I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I still felt guilty. The work of my mother, who relentlessly instilled guilt in all things. “Thanks for helping us tonight.”
“It wasn’t awful.” Zoe’s eyes went to the window, and I knew she was thinking about Josh.
“He likes you, you know.”
“Who?” I could see her face in the rearview mirror, all blue-eyed innocence.
“Playing dumb. That means she likes him too.” I gave Nick a questioning look, and he shrugged. “It’s true.”
I leaned forward, hugging the wheel. “You know who, Zoe, and I have a feeling you like him too.”
Zoe bit her lip. “It wouldn’t work. Can you imagine me hanging out with him and his friends? They would hate me on sight.”
I felt sad for her all of a sudden, because I knew she was right. I’d judged her before I knew her, and so would they. “But you had fun with us tonight.”
She frowned. “You guys are okay, but you don’t know what it’s like. I guess you’ll get a taste of it when Nick is back in solid form.”
I hadn’t thought so far ahead. I’d gotten used to the way Nick looked, his tattoos and his clothing, but it would still be a shock for my parents and my friends. I’m sure his buddies wouldn’t be delighted with me, either, but he was worth the trouble.
I met Nick’s eyes across the seat. “If you care about someone enough, nothing else matters.”
Lily Madison, the girl who never rocked the boat, never made waves, never created problems, was willing to do whatever it took in order to be with a boy. A sobering revelation.
I felt a little distracted as we pulled onto Mockingbird Lane, so it took a few minutes for my mind to process the fact that all the lights in my house were on and my parents’ cars were in the driveway.
“Uh, oh,” I said as they burst out of the front door and marched toward us.
“Understatement of the year.” Nick winked at me. “It could be worse, princess.”
“How?” My dad’s face had turned so red it nearly looked purple.
“At least they can’t see me in the car. You dad would have a heart attack for sure.” Nick glanced at my boobs popping out of my bustier. “But I suppose this is bad enough.”
My parents let Zoe go home, but I endured a complete interrogation in our formal living room while sitting on an antique sofa covered in champagne colored silk. It was hard to sit comfortably on this sofa in regular clothing, and even harder in skin-tight leather. I kept sliding off.
Nick sat next to me for moral support. Blobby bounced back and forth between my parents, snuggling against my mom and sitting on my dad’s shoulders. It proved extremely distracting and made it hard to focus on what my parents were saying.
“When Mrs. Petties called, and the neighbors, and then Jess and Maura’s parents, I couldn’t believe it. And we come home to find you like this. Are you on drugs?”
My mother had a large network of spies in place. She tapped the toe of her ivory colored pump against the oriental carpet. Her auburn hair, pulled into its usual chignon, looked a bit disheveled. They’d probably been sitting here for hours, worried I may have accidently driven into Lake Eugene again. I hadn’t checked my cell phone, but I’d bet I had about a hundred messages from them, and they probably hadn’t expected me to come home resembling a biker chick. My mother looked nothing like a biker chick. She wore Yves St. Laurent and an extremely peeved expression.
I shook my head, my long, dangly earrings swinging back and forth. “Of course, I’m not on drugs.”
My dad, still in his golfing clothes, had a
hard time looking at me. He kept his eyes at a point somewhere above my head as he ran a distracted hand through his short, brown hair. When he glanced at the bustier, he cringed, grabbed his martini glass, and chugged the contents.
“Are you a prostitute?”
My mother and I both answered at the same time. “No!” Nick found it hard not to laugh.
My mother grabbed a cardigan sweater from our hall closet and handed it to me. “Cover up and explain yourself.”
I pulled on the sweater and buttoned it to my chin. Afterwards, my father looked slightly better. He poured himself another martini, slumped into a chair, and stared at me.
“What’s going on, Lily?” he asked.
I sighed. There was so much to explain. My parents would never understand the ghosts and Nick and everything else. I decided to keep it simple. Not exactly lying, but not burdening them with the whole truth either.
“I went to an Under Twenty-One dance party at The Zone tonight. We saw the Fortuna Brothers perform and lost track of time. We dressed like this for fun. As a joke. I’m sorry.”
“The Fortuna Brothers?”
My dad looked confused, but not my mother. She perked right up. “You remember them—Johnny, Danny, Tony, Frank and Beetle. They were popular around here when we were in high school. I saw them in concert…well, quite a few times.”
As my mom fangirled over the Fortunas, I turned to Nick. His shoulders shook in silent laughter. I had trouble containing it myself.
“Mom, were you a groupie?” As soon as I said it, Nick laughed out loud. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from giggling.
She patted her hair, looking embarrassed. “I wouldn’t say groupie…”
“Iris, could we stop talking about your own teenage hijinks and discuss the issue at hand? Lily Anne. You broke curfew and went out dressed like a…” He studied my outfit, including the leather choker, and tried to find words to describe it. He couldn’t. “The point is, you are grounded. For one month.”
Tiger Lily (Dark Blossoms Book 1) Page 12