by Helen Spring
'Because I asked him. Why else?'
'I see. You allowed us to trade in peace for all these years. Thanks Paolo,' Anna said bitterly.
'Don't be silly. It's not like that.'
'Isn't it? Isn't it? Do you know what a fool I feel?' Anna cried. 'All these years Clancy and I have been congratulating ourselves on how clever we were to build such a good business, and now I find out we were successful only because you allowed us to be.'
'It's not like that at all, your business acumen is obvious, it's never been in question and you know it.' Paolo said. 'You're just upset about Clancy.'
Anna's eyes blazed. 'Yes, I am! And you're right about the business. Clancy and I do have business acumen, and we've worked hard to build something to be proud of. I'm damned if any tin pot gangster is going to help himself to a slice of it.' She pulled on her gloves. 'Paolo, I came here to beg you to tell me where and how to pay the money. I see now that Clancy was right, he said we mustn't pay a penny. I'd sooner close the whole lot down than give in to those bullies.' She stood up. 'I wish I didn't have to rely on you Paolo, but I do. I don't know how you can stop them but... but I'm grateful to you, for Clancy's sake.' Her lip trembled. 'He insisted the shop was closed until he was better, in case they came back. For the first few days, when he was so ill, I didn't understand what had happened. I only got the full story yesterday when he came home from hospital. I thought... I thought if Peters found the shop closed he might come to the house...'
Paolo came around his desk and gripped her shoulders firmly. 'What is this? Where is my strong, brave Anna?' He kissed her forehead gently. 'Leave everything to me. I promise you will have no more trouble. Best not to let Clancy know you came here.'
Anna looked uncomfortable. 'Alright.' At the door she stopped. 'Paolo, the roses you send me every year on my birthday... They are lovely, but... perhaps you should not send any more.'
Paolo's smile lit up his handsome face. 'Clancy is jealous?'
'No of course not. But perhaps it is not a good idea.'
'I think it is a good idea.' He took her hand and raised it to his lips gently. 'I shall always send you roses Anna, every year on your birthday until the day I die. Remember Anna, we are best friends. Always.'
Anna looked into the smiling eyes and could not help but respond. 'I remember Paolo. Best friends.'
~
When Paolo returned to his office, after escorting Anna down stairs and out through the laundry, he found Vittorio waiting.
‘You heard?’ Paolo asked.
‘Yes.’
‘You didn’t have to listen.’ Paolo said shortly. Vittorio sat down at his nephew’s desk. ‘If you didn’t want me to hear, you shouldn’t have bundled me out of sight next door when your unexpected visitor arrived.’ He took a cigar from his top pocket and bit off the end. ‘You could have allowed me to pay my respects to Mrs Sullivan and then make my apologies and leave. You create your own problems if you attempt to hide me.’ He struck a match. ‘Slow to change am I?’ he asked.
‘I said nothing I haven’t said to your face plenty of times,’ Paolo said, reddening.
‘I think you did. One or two things,’ Vittorio said. He puffed slowly at the cigar. ‘You know nephew, we have had so many arguments about business lately, that I was beginning to believe you had forgotten your roots, forgotten what we were all about. I was wrong.’ He looked at Paolo, and a slow smile spread over his face, and for once it reached his eyes. ‘Yes, I’m glad to say I was wrong. You’ll be alright.’
Paolo leaned across the desk. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you were having problems, that someone was trying to muscle in?’
‘You’re always telling me you don’t want to know about the rackets. Anyway, I wasn’t having problems. Nothing I can’t handle.’
‘They’re not Capone’s men?’
‘Heavens no! Capone and I have an agreement. He doesn’t want my bit of territory, he’s got his hands full already. No, these are a new group in from Chicago, big on muscle and low on brains.’
‘And you’re sure they are not a problem?’
‘Of course not. It’s just unfortunate they picked on the Sullivan’s deli as one of their first attempts.’ Vittorio took a long pull at his cigar. ‘You want me to deal with them?’
Paolo was looking at the ground. ‘Yes,’ he said, stony faced.
Vittorio heaved his bulk out of the chair. ‘Then it’s done, my boy,’ he said. ‘The old fashioned ways do come in useful sometimes, don’t they?’
~
Two days later Clancy was sitting up in bed reading the paper when he saw the photographs. After staring at them for a moment he dragged himself painfully across the bed and pulled the bell cord.
Anna answered it herself, still in her dressing robe. 'What is it dear? More toast?'
'Look at this,' Clancy said, pointing to the article. 'It's them. Anna, it's the men who beat me up.'
Anna took the paper, transfixed by the two faces which stared out at her. A fleshy looking dark man, and a thin faced man with shifty eyes. The caption said 'Two Men Found Shot,' and Anna read the short paragraph with mounting horror. It said the men had been identified as Joseph Peters and William Sedgewick, who had recently arrived in New York from Chicago. Two eyewitnesses described how the victims were gunned down by someone in a passing car, and the murders were attributed to rivalry by underworld gangs.
Anna sat down on the bed, trembling violently. 'How dreadful!' she said.
'Yes, I suppose it is, but I'll bet they asked for it,' Clancy said. 'Do you suppose Vittorio Vetti had something to do with it? They said they were taking over from him, it's obviously some kind of gangland war ...'
'I don't know, and I don't want to hear about it.' Anna snapped. She picked up the paper and pulled out the page, tearing it into shreds and flinging it in the waste paper basket. 'I don't want to hear about it!' she said again, and burst into tears.
Clancy was all apologies. 'I'm sorry darlin', I shouldn't have showed it to you, I know you have been upset about all of this. I'm a thoughtless brute sometimes, so I am. Come and give me a kiss, but carefully, mind the bruises...'
Anna kissed him gently and assured him she was alright. She went into her dressing room and sat down before the mirror. Her face stared back at her, guilt ridden and red eyed. Was it her fault? In spite of what they had done to Clancy, and she hated them for that, they were dead, because she had asked Paolo for help. Perhaps it was not that, she reasoned, clutching at the thought. Perhaps Vetti had them killed because they were trying to take over his territory. Surely not, it was unthinkable. Not that nice man who had showed her his rose garden and talked about fragrance...
Anna buried her face in her hands. 'Oh Paolo,' she whispered. 'Oh Paolo... how can we be best friends? Do I know you at all?
PROHIBITION
1920 - 1922
Lunch at the Plaza was always a treat, and Anna's spirits lifted as she was shown to her table and saw that Jennie had already arrived. They kissed, and Jennie handed Anna a menu. 'I've already chosen, I'm having the sole and the souffle,' she said.
Anna glanced at the menu, made up her mind quickly and ordered Bisque d'Etrilles to start. 'I'll have the souffle as well,' she informed the hovering waiter, 'And something to drink. What do you suggest?'
'We are recommending our freshly made lemon drink at lunch time Madam,' the waiter replied. 'It would be admirable with your choice of menu.'
Anna sighed. 'That will do.' As the waiter turned away she caught Jennie's eye and they both began to giggle. Anna pulled her face into a haughty expression in mock imitation of the waiter. 'We are recommending our freshly made lemon drink,' she mimicked, and collapsed into giggles again. 'Admirable indeed! Whatever they like to call it it's lemonade. It makes one feel like a child. Oh Jennie, I'd love a nice glass of Chablis with this lunch, or a dry Vouvray...'
'You won't get that at the Plaza,' Jennie said, still laughing. 'Oh Anna, it is good to see you. Did you enjoy your birthday?'
'Yes, although it's hard to believe I'm thirty three, and James is fourteen.' She smiled. 'Paolo's roses were beautiful, as usual, and Clancy and I took a trip to Boston. It was a surprise. I think he was trying to mend fences between us.'
'Are you still having problems?' Jennie's face was full of concern.
'Not really, no more than usual anyway. He's always felt strongly about law breaking, especially since he was beaten up a few years ago. It took him months to get over it. He still hasn't forgiven me for continuing to serve liquor in the restaurants. We had a blazing row about it.'
'I know. Paolo said he thought you were upset when he met you a few months ago.'
'Paolo has been marvellous.' Anna said. She leaned across the table and said in a low voice. 'He has seen to it that we get our supplies delivered each week with the laundry, and no-one is the wiser. Our regular customers have been coming to us for years, and I don't see why they should be deprived of a drink with their dinner just because the government has decided to go back to its Puritan roots.'
Jennie agreed. 'I can't imagine how they think Prohibition can work', she said. 'Already people are finding so many ways to get round it. I'm surprised Clancy can't see that.'
'Oh, he's against Prohibition,' Anna explained. 'When the Volstead Act was passed he was furious, he thinks it will lead to all kinds of trouble.'
The waiter arrived with the lemon drink in a glass jug. He poured it into their wine glasses, and as he drifted away Anna took a sip.
'Lemonade,' she said. 'They have added something...' She sipped again. 'A little ginger and mint I think, but it's still lemonade. Anyway, Clancy doesn't agree with Prohibition but says everyone should obey the law. He says you can't choose which laws to obey and ignore the others.'
'But it's such a stupid law.'
'I know, but Clancy says we have to get the law changed if we don't like it. He thinks it will be, eventually.'
'You sound as if you're coming round to his point of view,' Jennie said, smiling.
'No, I'm not, but I understand his argument and I always have. To be honest I think I would have agreed with him if it wasn't for the restaurants. We sell very little liquor in the catering business apart from beer, and none at all in the deli's. But we have always served wines and spirits in the restaurants, and I was not prepared to lose most of our best customers. If they can't buy a drink at Sullivans they will simply go elsewhere.'
The first course arrived and they ate for a few moments in silence. 'The sole is very good,' Jennie said, and Anna smiled.
'Did I ever tell you about the first time I lunched here? I was trying to collect menu's, it was when James was small. I used to go to the best places, choose a specialty, then send for the chef to congratulate him. They would be so flattered they usually gave me the recipe.' She laughed. 'The chef here rumbled me, it was most embarrassing.'
'What happened?'
'I invited him to dinner on his day off so I could convince him I was a serious cook, on condition that if he was sufficiently impressed he would give me the recipe.'
'And did he?'
'Yes, and several others too.' Anna's expression changed and she added, 'Those were good days really. It seems we were happier when we were struggling to build the business than we are now we are successful.'
Something in her tone made Jennie look up sharply. 'Come now Anna, it can't be so bad. Clancy is a lovely man, you know he is. You have just been telling me how you defied his wishes...' She lowered her voice. 'I mean about the liquor. In most marriages you wouldn't have got away with it. He would have put his foot down and that would be that.'
'He tried to,' Anna said, 'But I would not allow the restaurants to go under. I admit I dug my heels in, after all I am an equal partner. In the end we agreed Clancy should have his way with the catering business and the deli's, and I should do what I wanted with the restaurants. He...' she bit her lip. 'He hasn't set foot inside a Sullivans restaurant since that day.'
'Oh.' Jennie said, hardly knowing what to say. She knew Clancy had always been fully involved in all aspects of the business, and this seemed serious.
'He still does our accounts.' Anna continued. 'As we don't officially sell drinks any longer we enter all the income from them under "puddings and desserts". Last week over breakfast he told me he was pleased to see we had made three hundred and twenty per cent increase on "puddings and desserts" already this year.'
They both began to giggle again. 'I know it sounds funny but it's not like Clancy to be sarcastic,' Anna said.
Jennie considered. 'I don't think he was being sarcastic,' she said. 'I think he was trying to point out that you should put the income under other headings too, so it isn't queried when your books are audited. Anyway,' she said, seeing the look of surprise on Anna's face and wanting to change the subject, 'Tell me about your birthday treat, your trip to Boston.'
'We had a lovely time' Anna said. 'It was something Clancy promised me years ago when we first arrived in New York. We were very poor, and one Sunday afternoon we walked across the Brooklyn bridge and Clancy told me that when we were rich, he would take me on one of the steamships. We would have a stateroom, he said, and a wonderful dinner, and wake up in the Falls River and get on the train to Boston to see the sights. You know, Jennie, at the time it seemed like an impossible dream, but we did it all, last weekend. I enjoyed every moment, especially Boston, and we didn't speak about business once.'
'There you are then. I told you Clancy is a lovely man. How romantic that he remembered, and made your dream come true.'
'Yes,' Anna said. 'Clancy is considerate, and was trying very hard, but somehow it didn't work. We studiously avoided mentioning the business, or Prohibition, and it all became stilted and false. We have always been able to talk things over together, and suddenly we can't.'
'He knows you are getting supplies from Paolo?' Jennie asked.
'We haven't discussed it, but I expect he's guessed,' Anna said. 'And I'm afraid he's never had much time for Vittorio.'
'Neither have I, to be honest,' Jennie said, as she watched Anna's face cloud with worry. 'Give it time Anna, it will be alright, you'll see,' she sympathised.
'Of course it will.' Anna said, a little too brightly. 'And here's the souffle, doesn't it look good?'
She waited until the waiter had served them and then prompted Jennie. 'Now for your news. I want to hear about you and Paolo. Is love's young dream still alive?'
Jennie blushed. 'Yes, it is,' she whispered. 'Oh Anna, you have no idea. He is so kind, and so good to me.'
'And so passionate and so handsome and such fun...' Anna interrupted laughing. 'I know, I've heard it all before, I never knew two such love birds. Paolo said just the same about you last time I spoke to him.' She pulled a prim face. 'It's hardly proper Jennie, to be so much in love after being married for almost five years.'
As their laughter ended Jennie said seriously, 'You remember surely Anna, what it is like to be in love? You must have felt like this at one time?'
Anna had a momentary vision of the beach at Locquirec. Two children were playing, and she saw Robert's face above her, his eyes filled with love and desire... She found her voice. 'Oh yes, Jennie,' she said softly, 'I know what you mean.'
'Well then,' Jennie said happily. 'Try and concentrate on that time, how you felt. I know you and Clancy are having a difficult time, but thinking back to the beginning may help.'
Anna smiled and murmured that she would try, and then asked quickly, 'Is Paolo getting on any better with Vittorio?'
Jennie nodded. 'Yes, and we have to thank Prohibition for it. Six months ago things were almost at breaking point. You remember I told you Paolo had refused to have anything to do with... the... shall we say the more controversial side of Vittorio's business?'
'Yes. I know Paolo runs the legitimate side.' Anna said.
'He does help with the gambling too,' Jennie admitted, 'He says that doesn't hurt anyone... well not much. Six months ago Vittorio was really p
utting the pressure on Paolo, it became very difficult. When Prohibition came in Vittorio wanted to run bootleg liquor, and Paolo agreed to do it. Vittorio was overjoyed, he felt that Paolo had come back into the fold, so to speak.'
'Why did Paolo agree so readily?' Anna asked. 'After all, he's running a great risk.'
'Risk never worried him,' Jennie said. 'He just feels that some of his uncle's activities are morally wrong and he doesn't want to be part of them.' She lowered her voice. 'The rackets, and the girls,' she said quietly. 'Paolo has never had anything to do with those things. If he hadn't been Vittorio's nephew he would never have dared to defy him. But Prohibition is a different matter. Paolo feels that people should be free to decide for themselves what they drink, he sees himself as helping them to have a choice.'
'I agree, but that's not how the law sees it,' Anna said, 'And the same applies to me if they catch me serving it.'
'I don't think the law is the main problem as far as Paolo is concerned,' Jennie said. 'It's the rivalry between the bootleggers which worries him.'
'You don't think it will get really bad?' Anna asked.
'Perhaps not, now that Al Capone has gone to join Torrio in Chicago.'
Anna shuddered. The newspapers had been full of the gangland murder of Big Jim Colosimo in Chicago, which had been attributed to Capone. 'I'm sure there's no real risk,' she said reassuringly. 'I've never had the slightest problem so far.'
'But you aren't typical Anna,' Jennie reminded her. 'Your order is mainly for the higher quality wines and spirits which are quietly smuggled in from Europe. The trouble comes from the bootleggers running booze from Cuba, and moonshine from the distilleries for the speakeasies and beer flats.'
'But Paolo isn't involved in that is he?' Anna asked.
'I think so. You must remember he has a huge transport fleet at his disposal, so it seems to make sense to him.'
'I see.'
Anna felt a strange premonition, as if she had heard some bad news, but Jenny appeared unconcerned. 'We have one thing to be thankful for Anna. You and I cannot be blamed for any of this. As we are just silly women we could not possibly understand what is going on. It is a good defence, one which most men would believe even now we have the vote.'