Daring Hearts: Fearless Fourteen Boxed Set

by Box Set

  “Oh, my gosh, this is amazing,” Kate gave him an appreciative nod.

  “Thanks. That’s my favorite, too. I work at my other uncle’s store on the other side of town. Bellini Bagels. Tito watches out for me, and I watch out for him.”

  “That’s cool. Do you all live together or something?” Ellie asked.

  He laughed again. “No.”

  She was making a mess out of this. He would cut her off soon.

  “Oh. I thought since you were so close maybe you lived together.”

  “We do both live in Jersey, but not in the same house or block or anything.”

  “The Marconis are good people, then?” Kate thought Ellie was asking all the wrong questions.

  “Of course.”

  “I’ve never known a Bellini or a Marconi, being from Texas and all.”

  “You’re looking at a Bellini right here.”

  “Besides you, I mean. And I do have to say I like what I see. Do you have a girlfriend?” Ellie was out of control.

  “Sorry,” Kate said. “Ellie doesn’t know how to keep her mouth from places it shouldn’t go.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll answer. No.” His eyes lit on Kate. She forced herself not to look away. As they stood bantering, people started trekking up to the truck, interrupting their conversation as they ordered and paid for their food.

  Kate stepped back and wanted to strangle Ellie. She was flirting when she should have been working hard to find out about the Marconis. They should leave. Duran loved the attention, she could tell. He had to be a player. Perhaps she shouldn’t feel bad for playing him. Soon Kate couldn’t even hear what was being said. Instead, she people watched and worried about not finding her parents on this trip. Ellie needed to stay on point and stop thinking of herself. They only had today and tomorrow to find her parents and things weren’t looking very good. She punched more words into the search bar of her phone, hoping to find all the Marconis in Jersey.

  Again the Nobel Prize winner and all his accolades filled the screen. She tried with New Jersey zip codes and the screen populated with the names of hundreds of Marconis. How could she narrow them down? She pulled up the names. She’d use a birthdate range to narrow the results. Now she was down to only a hundred names. She glanced up at Ellie and over to the cab. Seriously, they should get going. She could flirt at the hotel and not have to pay a driver to wait on them.

  Kate pushed through the crowds and gave Ellie a look that said they should go.

  “So, you really want to show us around?”

  Kate’s face flashed hot as the bagel boy stared down at her. “Maybe.” She couldn’t understand why she was reacting this way. “If it’s both of you.”

  “Give me your number and I’ll call you.” Ellie bit her lip again. Argh! Kate shifted her feet.

  He scribbled on a napkin and handed it to her. Crazy. Kate felt her jaw slacken and then she clacked her teeth together. He smiled at her before turning to the next customer.

  “Toodles,” Ellie said, giving a flirty wave.

  “Bye, Kate,” he called after them.

  Kate pulled Ellie close. “Bye!” she called back.

  Ellie said, “He’s in love with you, and I was the one doing all the talking.”

  “What the heck was that?” Kate asked.

  “That was me getting the information we need.” She looked smug.

  “And what information was that? The color of his underwear?”

  “Didn’t you hear? His uncle could be your dad.”

  Kate stopped in her tracks, taking a quick glance back at Duran. “How did you get that from that conversation?”

  “It’s not like you can jump into personal questions. You have to take time with all kinds of questions and sprinkle the important ones in here and there. Then the conversation feels natural and not contrived. There are a lot of Marconis in the East, but only six families near the Jersey Shore. And they’re all close. All have children but one. One whose wife and child were killed in an accident.”

  Kate raised her eyebrows.

  “You. You are that child. He’s never remarried and—”

  “I didn’t hear any of that.”

  “You walked away too soon. He really started spilling once he got busy with the other customers. He had to drop his guard and couldn’t pay close attention to me. Most of the Marconis live right by the beach.”

  We climbed into the cab and she pulled out her phone. “To the beach please. Seaside.”

  Ellie’s fingers flew over the buttons on the phone, and she pulled up some addresses of Marconis and even some pictures. “We need to find one that has your nose.”

  “Very funny.” Acid bubbled up in Kate’s gut.

  “We’ll go to the area they live and ask around until we find him.” She pulled up some pictures. “Whoa. Hold on.”

  Kate leaned in. “What? What did you find?”

  “A picture of that fancy dude at the church, I think.” She pulled up both pictures side by side and sure enough, they matched. “I knew he was someone important. It says his name is Rinaldo Marconi. He was arrested for embezzling. Great.” She continued to read. “But, it says he got off. Sounds like he gets himself into trouble quite often, but he’s always innocent. I can’t wait to get to the beach and check these guys out.”

  “Hold on,” Kate hissed. “You’ve got to take a step back.”

  “What? Why? We’re so close.”

  “The priest said I was in danger. We can’t go asking around about my parents. What if it puts us in danger? They were hiding me, remember?” She pulled out the journal and looked at the signature on the notepaper.

  “That sounds like the ramblings of an old senile man. Besides, it’s been forever.”

  “I don’t think Father Cremashci was senile at all—he was faking it. You told me to start listening to my gut and that’s exactly what I’m doing. Something is not right. We need to be careful. And we can’t go badgering everyone in the neighborhood for information.”

  Ellie sat in silence staring at Kate, but also through her. “You’ve got a point, but what if you are a Marconi, and all we need to do is ask the right person?”

  “Let’s be strategic about this. It won’t do us any good to stumble upon the wrong person and end up dead.”

  “Dramatic much?” She gave Kate a whimsical look. “Fine. Tell me what to do.”

  “I think we hang out down there, get a feel for things and then call our new friend to show us around, maybe even introduce us to his family.”

  “Scary.”

  Kate paid the cab fare when they got to the beach. “Cabs are so freaking expensive.”

  Ellie pushed on her, indicating that she should get out of the cab. “It’ll be worth it in the end.” Kate did know that, but it made her feel uncomfortable to blow that much money and not even get a receipt.

  They looked out over the boardwalk to the beach. People milled about everywhere. There were no high rise buildings or big apartment buildings that they could see. Small businesses and large amusement park rides lined the boardwalk. Kate turned to Ellie, whose eyes were wide.

  “Uh,” Ellie said, “We definitely better call Duran.”

  12

  “We found ourselves out on the Seaside Boardwalk. You should join us.” Ellie said to Duran over the phone.

  “Kate and I. Uh, huh. It’s pretty incredible, but maybe you could give us the insider’s view…Sure. We can wait. We’ll kick it on the beach or something.”

  Ellie squealed. “He’ll be here in half an hour.”

  “I can’t believe you pulled that off. I bow to your brilliance.”

  She bowed to Ellie, but a fire lit in her gut and she wondered if she’d be able to keep her cool around Duran. “Our hotel is about half a mile down that way. We don’t want him to take us that way. I’ll let him know we came from that direction.”

  Kate nodded and hugged herself, trying to calm her nerves. “Let’s get a drink.”

  They sat on a b
ench watching the waves and sipping on sodas while they waited. It seemed like the half hour only took a few minutes to tick by. Duran walked up and Kate felt like she was on a movie set. He wore a slightly rumpled deep blue button up, unbuttoned to the second button, his sleeves pushed up past his elbows. His shirt was tucked into khakis with a dark brown belt. His flip flops smacked as he walked toward them. She took in a sharp breath, her heart pounding wildly.

  “Yo.”

  “Hey.”

  Kate couldn’t help it, she said, “You look great.” Heat prickled up the back of her neck.

  He chuckled and stroked his scruffy chin. “Thanks. You do too. I should have told you that earlier.” He looked at Kate for an extra beat before turning to Ellie. “You, too. What do you want to see?”

  Ellie shook her drink cup, the ice crunching inside. She turned and tossed it into the trash. “You grew up here. Take us on a trip down memory lane. We could start at your house and work out.”

  “My place is kinda far, but we could start at my uncle’s. I was there a lot after school.”

  “Perfect.” They were going to a Marconi house.

  “You’re going to have to fill Kate in on the whole family tree. She didn’t hear most of that, and I couldn’t remember it all.”

  He nodded. “We’re going to my uncle Rinaldo’s house, he’s the head of the family. He has five brothers, Benito, Antonio, Armand, Andre, and Stefano. They all live near here. They’re always together. Work and play. Family is super important to us.”

  Kate’s mind automatically pulled up the signature in the journal. It could have been any of those A names: Antonio, Armand, Andre. Certainly, one of those names had to be the right length. As soon as she got the chance, she’d check the names against the signature.

  “What do they do? Does each brother own a bagel shop or something?” Ellie asked.

  “Uh,” he looked away. “No. There’s only one Marconi bagel shop, but they also own a few clubs and do stuff with the market.”

  “Hard workers, huh?” Kate asked, lips pressed together.

  “Yup. Anyway, they’re the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Seriously.” He didn’t say anything else, and Kate didn’t know what else to ask.

  They walked several blocks until they came upon a house that took up almost half of the block. Its sun-bleached tan exterior screamed money. “No way!” Kate said. “This is your uncle’s house? It’s huge.”

  “Big family. Lots of kids.”

  “So he’s not the brother that lost his wife?”

  “No. That’s Andre. He and my cousin Tito moved in here, though. Family isn’t just wife and kids for us, you know? We don’t lose track of our extended family like the rest of America. We care for our own.”

  She nodded, imagining Andre’s name on the green notepaper. Was the name long enough to fit there? If so, he could be her dad—and the person who had saved her as a baby. Duran’s family sounded nice, but a bit creepy too, like the mafia. She wouldn’t say that though. Kate laughed instead and said, “Must be nice to have someone always have your back.” His eyes widened, but then he looked at his feet and chuckled while kicking at a piece of wood.

  “Can we go inside?” Ellie asked.

  “Uh,” he looked at Kate. “Not sure that would be a great idea. They had a baptism today, and they’re probably still celebrating.”

  Kate’s head shot up. “Wait a minute. That was a baptism at St. Catharine’s church?”

  He frowned. “Yes.”

  The memory of the serious processional raced across her mind. “We wondered what was going on.”

  “Yeah,” Ellie broke in. “A baptism is supposed to be a celebration. That seemed like more of a funeral.”

  He clasped and unclasped his hands. “Well, the baby’s mom, uh, she, uh, well, she died in child birth, so while it should have been happy and all, it was a bit sad, too, being reminded about her mom’s absence and all.”

  Kate nodded. “Sorry. I didn’t know.”

  “It’s okay, there was no way for you to know.” He sucked in his top lip.

  “Who were those goons at the door? They wouldn’t let us go inside until this woman and man came out.” Ellie had to ask.

  “My uncle Rinaldo and my aunt Patrizia. They own this house. One of the guys at the door was my uncle Andre and the other was Tito, his son. The Marconis are a bit more formal than the Bellinis, but they’re still great people. They loosen up when they’re home.”

  “Really? I can’t picture it,” Ellie said. “I thought those guys were body guards.”

  Kate tried to remember details about the two men. All she could remember was that they seemed to scowl, were tan, tall and bulky. Not fat, but totally beefy strong. Her father and brother? Andre and Tito?

  “Well,” Duran started, but didn’t finish because people started filing out of the house laughing. A man with dark grey hair combed back from his face with a couple-day-old beard with patches of white, turned their way and smiled. He wore his blue and white checkered shirt with the arms pushed up to his elbows just like Duran. He lifted his shiny sunglasses up to his forehead and squinted in their direction. “Duran? Is that you?”

  They were at the opposite end of the house, but Kate thought Duran looked nothing like him, even though he was quite handsome.

  “Hey, Uncle Vinny. I finished with the truck and returned it. I met these nice girls from Texas, and I’m showing them around town.”

  “Lucky them. I hope you have fun. There’s no better guide than Duran. But Duran, don’t take too long, your aunt’s expecting us for dinner at seven.”

  “Where you going?” Duran asked the guy.

  “I’ve got some things to take care of. I’ll be back.” There was a gentle roar in the tone of his voice. Kate liked him immediately.

  “Okay. See you after a while.” Duran raised a hand goodbye.

  “Was that your dad?” Kate asked, hoping the nice man was.

  “No. That was Vincenzo.”

  “Let me guess,” Ellie said. “Your uncle.”

  He laughed loudly and took a step back. “Yup. My uncle.”

  “Another Marconi?”

  “No. Bellini. I work at his shop. Come on, I’ll show you around town.”

  For the next hour they went up one street and down another with him telling them all about how it used to be while they explored interesting places and met some of his friends. When they got back to the beach, he took them straight for the roller coaster.

  “Are you sure that thing’s safe?” The coaster was half in the water on stilts. Kate’s stomach did flip flops thinking about getting near it.

  “I’ve been on this beast over 100 times, and I’m still here. The idea of it hanging out there over the water without much support makes it more fun. Kinda scary even.”

  “Yeah, uh, maybe you two should ride it and tell me about all about it,” Kate said, stopping in her tracks. “I’ll watch from here.”

  “No way. I’m not letting you miss this, you’ll regret it. I’ll hold your hand the whole time and you won’t even have to watch. But, I’ll warn you that it’s better when you do.”

  “Yeah, Kate, you’re not missing this one. It’s going to be epic. I’ll take pics while we’re flying around the track. It’ll be awesome.” She grabbed Kate’s hand and hurried to the short line. Duran paid for the tickets and joined them. Ellie and Duran chatted great rollercoasters while they waited their turn and Kate tried to regulate her breathing so she wouldn’t pass out.

  Duran helped Kate into her seat and then took her hand. It was warm, on the brink of being hot, and her chest swelled with what felt like tiny birds twittering away. “The first time I road this baby was when I was five. I’d wanted to ride it before then, but I wasn’t tall enough. I wouldn’t let my dad hold my hand. I told him I was a big boy and wasn’t scared at all. Sure, I screamed as we went down the hill. . .” Kate knew Duran was trying to get her mind off what was about to happen, but as soon as the car began
to move, sheer terror filled her mind, and she didn’t hear the rest of the story. She didn’t even see Ellie turning and taking pictures of her terror.

  Ellie laughed with delight as they exited the ride and started showing them pictures. Kate couldn’t focus quite yet. Duran tugged on her hand, and she realized he was still holding it. “You okay?”

  “Look at your face, Kate! You looked like you were being chased by a thousand human-sized spiders.”

  She took a couple of deep breaths. “Yeah. I’m okay.” She looked at Duran’s concerned face. “You were right, it was great with my eyes open.”

  He busted up laughing, swinging their held hands behind them and then back to the front a couple of times. “You hated it. Admit it.”

  “Well, I might like the dentist more than that.”

  “Aw, I’m sorry.” He turned to her, a goofy smile on his face. “Just because I love the ride doesn’t mean everyone will. You deserve a treat. Ice cream on me.”

  “Yeah, I think she needs the pick-me-up.”

  It was close to six, and Ellie ramped up the assault as they walked on the boardwalk eating their cones. “I don’t get your family tree. How exactly are the Marconis and Bellinis related? By marriage?”

  He snorted. “They aren’t, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be family.”

  She gave him a what-the-heck look.

  “It’s like this. The Marconis and the Bellinis came to America at the same time. Things were different way back then. It wasn’t easy to survive. The two heads of the houses came together and made it work. They became successful together. Ever since then, the families have been inseparable. Yeah, they have their moments, but what family doesn’t? To be totally honest, I’m not actually a true Bellini, either.”

  That was shocking news. “What does that mean?” Kate asked.

  “My folks, they were murdered, and I was alone.

  Kate and Ellie stopped walking at the same time and openly stared at him. He moved off to the side of the boardwalk and the girls followed him, weaving through the crowds of people.