Tess's Tale (The Chanel Series Book 3)

by Donna Joy Usher

  ‘The Sicilians aren’t idiots,’ Liss said. ‘When their boys don’t come home they’re going to come looking for answers.’

  That made far more sense to me than what Jim had said.

  ‘We can’t do anything at the moment,’ I said. ‘Besides,’ I leant closer to the phone receiver and whispered, ‘now is not a good time to let Harry know he’s going to be a daddy.’

  I heard Liss sigh. ‘You’re right about that,’ she said.

  Dr Roberts had left by the time I got back to the room. Rosella and Harry were back in their seats.

  Harry held his finger to his lips when he saw me. ‘Shhhhh. He’s sleeping.’

  It made me wonder what the difference between being unconscious and sleeping was.

  The rest of the day continued the same. Jolly Jim would wake for a few minutes at a time, try to talk, and then fall asleep again. It wasn’t until the doctor assured us that Jim was out of the woods that Harry let me convince him to come home. We grabbed some uninterrupted sleep, showered, ate and then headed back to the hospital.

  Rosella was exactly where we’d left her. She looked shattered.

  ‘Give me the car keys,’ I said to Harry. ‘I’m going to take Rosella home.’

  It took us a few minutes to convince her to go with me, but eventually she let me lead her from the room. She was silent the whole way. Not that I could have understood her anyway, but I was used to her chattering away. I think she had finally begun to realise the seriousness of Jim’s condition.

  I had wanted to leave her at her house for a few hours to get some sleep, but when Harry had suggested that, she had flat out refused. So I sat in her little kitchen watching as she bustled around preparing a light meal and tea. As soon as she had finished eating, she showered and changed. The whole thing took less than an hour. She packed her knitting into her handbag and I followed her back out to the car.

  When we got back to the hospital, she fluttered over Jim like a mother hen over a chick, until she was sure he had gotten no worse while she was gone.

  Then she pulled out her knitting, holding the piece she was working on over Jim’s arm. It was a sleeve for a sweater. She was knitting him a sweater and he would probably never even know about it. For the first time I began to pray that he would get better.

  ***

  We were at home the next day when Lou the Brain knocked on the front door. He was one of the only of Jim’s men who hadn’t started coming to our house when Jim had been in hospital, so finding him on my doorstep gave me quite a shock.

  ‘Tell me it’s not true.’ His face was pale and his hands were trembling.

  ‘Harry’s down there.’ I pointed toward our living room, stepping out of the way as he pushed past me through the door.

  ‘Please Harry,’ Lou grabbed on to Harry’s shoulders and shook him, ‘tell me it’s not true. Tell me he’s not dead.’

  ‘He’s not dead,’ Harry asked.

  ‘Thank God.’ Lou slumped into the chair next to Harry.

  ‘What’s this about?’ Harry said.

  ‘We found Paddy and Johnny,’ Lou said.

  ‘Dead?’ Harry said. We hadn’t even known Paddy and Johnny were missing. The last 48 hours had been totally devoted to Jim.

  ‘Bullets to the head.’

  ‘Execution style?’

  ‘They were holding their weapons.’ Lou pulled out a packet of cigarettes, took one out and put it to his lips.

  ‘Don’t even think about it,’ I said. Nobody was allowed to smoke in my house, but especially not him.

  He sighed and returned it to the packet.

  Harry’s mouth had a ghost of a smile playing around it. It was nice to see after the last two days. ‘Not an execution.’ He sat back in his chair and, linking his fingers, placed his hands behind his head. ‘So somebody who knew them.’

  ‘Had to be that Giuseppe.’ Lou’s hands trembled as he pushed his hair out of his eyes. He had good cause. I knew if I had been torturing people to find out the whereabouts of the missing money, he’d have been right at the top of my list. He was the book keeper responsible for its safe keeping.

  ‘Not Giuseppe’s style.’ Harry’s eyes flicked to mine as he said it. ‘We think it may be an attempt to start a gang war.’

  ‘This has got to end.’ Lou’s hand touched his chest. ‘I don’t know how much more of it I can take. ‘When’s your Dad coming home?’

  ‘Lou,’ Harry paused before continuing. ‘We’re not sure.’ I was sure he had been going to say something else. Something worse.

  ‘But…,’ Lou’s mouth moved soundlessly for a couple more beats and fear took up residence in his eyes. ‘He has to come home.’ A desperate man’s words.

  ‘He’s had a major stroke. Even if he comes home he won’t be running the show any more.’

  Lou stood and began to pace the carpet. ‘If JJ don’t come home, I’m a dead man. A dead man, you hear?’ His voice raised and his face went red and suddenly I was staring at the Lou the Brain of old. This was the man who had battered my mother and made my childhood a nightmare.

  I gasped and moved to the other side of the table, putting it between him and me.

  Harry reached out and grabbed my hand. ‘I think it’s time for you to go.’ He pointed toward the door just in case Lou missed the message.

  ‘I’ll go when I’m good and damned-well ready.’

  I cowered against the far wall as he yelled. No longer a grown woman, just a child again. Gibbering terror bubbled up, but before it could consume me, Harry was there. For every speckle of fright I had, he had anger.

  He grabbed Lou and shoved him back, forcing him to the hallway. ‘Get… out… now.’ The words were forced out between clenched teeth.

  Lou shoved back, his face contorted with anger. A vein bulged on his forehead, pulsing wildly. ‘Don’t you tell me what to do. You’re not my boss.’

  ‘I may not be your boss, but this is my house. And in this house what I say goes.’ Harry accentuated his words with shoves to Lou’s chest.

  Lou clenched his fist and for a second I thought he was going to attack. But then he uncurled his fingers and stalked off towards the front door. ‘You’re not worth it,’ he yelled over his shoulder.

  ‘You okay?’ Harry pulled me into his arms.

  ‘I may have over-reacted.’

  ‘Is that what it was like when you were growing up?’

  I nodded. ‘Thankfully.’

  He spun me around to face him and peered into my eyes. ‘Thankfully?’

  ‘Well if it hadn’t been like that I wouldn’t have left home and moved into Liss’s. And if I hadn’t done that, I may never have met you.’ I smiled up at him.

  ‘You’re right.’ He touched me on the tip of my nose. ‘We’ll have to name our first-born child after him.’

  It was the perfect opening to tell him, but I paused for a second too long. He looked at his watch and said, ‘Got to get back to the hospital. Dad will be wondering where we are.’

  I tried to maintain my smile as I nodded my head, but inside I was kicking myself. I doubted another opportunity like that was going to present itself.

  Boy, I hate it when I’m right.

  ***

  ‘How’s Jim?’ Liss reached over her kitchen table and took the file from me. We were doing our nails before the evening’s show.

  ‘Better. I guess.’ It was hard to tell what good was. He was awake more often now and seemed more alert, but his speech and movement had not improved at all.

  ‘When do you think he’ll come home?’

  I knew what she was really asking. When were Harry and I going to get the hell out of there? My passport had turned up the day before and was sitting in her top kitchen drawer.

  ‘The doctor said probably next week.’ I filed a rough edge off one of my nails. ‘But then he’s going to need full-time care.’

  Liss picked up a bottle of fire-engine red polish and shook it vigorously. ‘Who’s going to look after him?’r />
  ‘Rosella. And we’ll have to hire a nurse and some therapists.’

  Just talking about it made me feel claustrophobic. So many reasons to stay, and none to go. Well none that Harry knew of. I put a hand on my stomach. A tiny bump bulged under my fingers.

  Liss nodded her head at my hand and said, ‘When are you going to tell him?’

  ‘It never seems to be the right time.’

  ‘There may never be a right time.’ She put the polish back on the table and held her hands out to inspect her work. When she was sure they were perfect she turned serious eyes to me. ‘Tess. You need to leave, soon.’

  ‘They haven’t identified the bodies yet.’ I repeated Harry’s words.

  ‘It’s been three weeks. You don’t think they will have worked out something happened to their boys by now?’

  I stared harder at my fingernails but I could feel worry creasing my brow. ‘Italy’s a long way away.’

  She stared at me, her eyes wide and her mouth making a silent O. Then she shook her head. ‘Christ Tess. It’s only a day away by plane.’

  She was right.

  She was so right.

  Hot, prickly panic swept over me and all of a sudden I thought I might faint. I pushed back from the table and put my head between my legs. Liss’s hand rubbed my back as I took deep breaths.

  They were coming. They were coming for me. It wouldn’t take much to get Mickey and Riley to talk if the going got tough. Then it would be too late to flee.

  ‘What should I do?’ My voice came out in a wail.

  ‘You have to leave.’

  ‘Without Harry?’

  ‘If need be.’

  Go without Harry? The thought had never occurred to me. I would risk death to stay with him. My love for him trumped everything.

  I looked back down at my stomach. If I died, so would my unborn child.

  I put my shaking hands back on the bulge. A little heart beat in there. A little being that depended on me for safety. In my head it was a little girl. A little me.

  I wanted to stay with Harry with all my might but fear for my unborn child was growing. Her needs were becoming more important than my own.

  Hormones are a powerful thing.

  I stared up at Liss through the window of my tears and considered her words. If I went, I couldn’t come back. I couldn’t tell anyone where I was. The risk was more than it was worth.

  The pain that set up in my heart had my head back in between my legs. A deep, tearing ache. Life before Harry had sucked. Life after Harry would be a miserable wasteland.

  ‘I’ll talk to him,’ I said. ‘I’ll tell him. He’ll come with me. He will.’ But my words sounded hollow.

  ‘Soon,’ Liss urged.

  ‘Yes, soon.’

  I would tell him that night, and by tomorrow we would be on a plane. I just had to hope the Sicilians didn’t find us before then.

  ***

  ‘Dad’s coming home tomorrow.’ They were Harry’s first words to me when I got home from work that night.

  I put my plans to tell him about Junior on hold. It would be much better to tell him once Jim was settled and he could see that he was cared for properly. What sort of wife would expect him to leave before then?

  ‘That’s great.’ I really was happy about it, and not just because it was one less thing holding us here. Rosella had brightened considerably over the last few days as Jim’s speech got clearer and his need to sleep diminished. She was going to be delighted to have him home again.

  But my sleep was disturbed by dreams of faceless men seizing me and Harry. We knelt in front of them, our newborn babe in my arms. Her plaintive cry as thin as a reed as I watched them kill Harry. They turned the gun on me and the sharp echo of its bark woke me with a start. Sweat streamed down my body and soaked the sheets beneath me.

  In the end I hopped up and made a pot of peppermint tea. I sat in the courtyard, enjoying the cool air and waiting for the day to begin. Gradually the night melted away as the sun crept over the horizon, its light banishing the remnants of the nightmare from my soul.

  I was on my third cup of tea by the time Harry found me.

  ‘I missed you.’ He pulled me into his arms, wrapping them tight around me.

  I rested my head against his chest, inhaling his scent. He felt so good and so right. Could I live without this in my life?

  ‘Dad’s getting picked up by ambulance at nine.’ He kissed me on the top of my head and I turned my face up to him. He gave me what I wanted, bending to take my mouth with his.

  Desperate for reassurance, I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him passionately. Imprinting him on my heart and soul.

  He had to come with me, he had to. But I knew, after that dream, that if he didn’t, I would go alone.

  ***

  The penthouse at the Pink Flamingo was a buzz of activity. The ambulance had brought Jim and moved him to his bed. Now a physiotherapist and occupational therapist were working out a therapy program. The plan was to fill his large office with the equipment necessary for his rehabilitation.

  Harry was on the phone ordering what was needed.

  I sat uselessly, staring out over Las Vegas. I should have been listening to the therapists, but in my heart and mind I was already gone. I wouldn’t be here to see Jim get better. I would be setting up a new life, a new identity, and having a child.

  The therapists finished and organised to come back the next day to help set up the equipment. I walked them out and returned to Jim’s bedside.

  His dark brown eyes bored into me. Could he tell what I was planning? That I wanted to rip his son away from him when he needed him the most? Guilt washed over me as I sat beside him and took his hand.

  He would never know his grandchild. Never know of his grandchild. Was that fair? Was there another way? Perhaps if I told them, about the child, about my fears, they could come up with another plan. Some other way to keep us all safe.

  And if there wasn’t, what then?

  The bell rang as Rosella bustled in with Jim’s lunch. All he could manage at the moment was soup, and even then he had to be spoon fed.

  Harry was still on the phone so I left Rosella to her feeding and went to open the door. A group of Jim’s ‘business associates’ stood there. Lou was one of them.

  ‘Heard JJ was home.’ Sam the Suit held a bright bunch of flowers. They looked ludicrous in his hand.

  ‘Come through.’ I took them to the lounge and then went back to Jim’s office. Harry hung up the phone and turned to face me. ‘Got the walker.’

  ‘Excellent.’ Personally, I thought it was a bit pre-emptive to buy a walker for Jim, but Harry thought it was important. If Jim knew we all thought he would walk again, then he would.

  I felt another jab of guilt.

  ‘Some of Jim’s friends are here. I put them in the lounge.’

  ‘Sam?’

  ‘And Lou and a few others.’ I recognised their faces from our wedding reception but couldn’t put names to them.

  He nodded his head and rubbed his hands together. ‘Didn’t know if they would come.’

  ‘Why wouldn’t they visit Jim?’

  ‘I called them. Asked them over.’

  Huh. ‘What for?’

  ‘Want to talk about some plans I have for the casino. The Bellagio finally received their permit for that landscaping they had already started.’

  I stared at him. What was he talking about?

  ‘Remember where we stayed the night of our wedding?’

  I blushed. Things Harry had done to my body for the very first time had swept all memory of the earthworks out the front of the hotel from my mind. I nodded.

  ‘I’m thinking we need to update our gardens.’

  His use of the word ‘our’ struck me as odd and suddenly, I was bone tired. ‘I might head home.’

  He kissed me on the cheek but I could tell by the look in his eyes that he wasn’t thinking about me. He was thinking about the meeting. I was torn be
tween wanting to know what it was really about, and not wanting anything to do with it.

  ‘Take the car.’ He straightened his tie and styled his hair with his fingers. ‘I’ll get someone to drop me home.’

  I nodded, picked up my handbag and went back to Jim’s bedroom. Rosella was still feeding him lunch. He had a frustrated look on his face and soup dribbling down his chin. I understood that frustration. It was awful being trapped in a situation you didn’t want to be in.

  When I got home I went straight up to bed. I’d read that pregnancy made you tired. I wasn’t sure if it was that or the dreams, but I was exhausted. And guilty.

  Who would have thought it would be so hard to leave? My initial dislike for Jim had been replaced with grudging affection. I suspect it was to do with the fact he had been sick. It’s hard to care for someone without developing some sort of bond.

  I climbed onto the bed, groaning with the relief of lying down. Even with that, I wasn’t sure I would sleep, but it quickly took me.

  The front door bell woke me. I blinked at the bedside clock – a wooden contraption that Jim had chosen for us. I’d been asleep for three hours.

  The doorbell rang again.

  Harry!

  The house keys were on the car keys. He was locked out.

  I raced downstairs and threw open the front door but it wasn’t Harry standing on the other side. It was Lou the Brain.

  ‘Where is he?’ He pushed past me through the door before I could shut it.

  ‘Harry?’ I know it sounded like a stupid question – I mean who else could he have been talking about? – but as far as I knew, Lou had been with Harry.

  ‘Your husband.’

  The vehemence in the words stunned me. ‘As far as I know he’s still with Jim.’

  My plan to get rid of Lou had been to stay next to the front door, but I could hear him clattering around in the kitchen. Sighing, I closed the door and trotted down the hall to see what he was up to.

  When I rounded the corner to the kitchen, Lou was holding a half-finished bottle of red wine with one hand and a wine glass with the other. As I watched, he yanked the cork out of the bottle with his teeth.