Silent Whisper

by ANDREA SMITH

  In fact, the few times I tried to get her talking, it seemed to make her clam up all that much more so I figured she’d been with the family business for a while. She was in her mid-thirties, very dark hair and emerald green eyes. She was striking in fact, and built like a brick shit-house to boot. I considered asking her to model some of the power suits I had designed that were going to be the first garments out of production as prototypes. Who knows? Maybe she’d be flattered enough to warm up to me a little bit.

  I had managed to get a letter off to Lana, asking her what the hell I had done to deserve to be written off by her. I let her know how hurt I was that she had cut me out of her life. I asked her to please write back or call me. I guess the ball was officially in her court now.

  My thoughts were interrupted by Sherry. “Karlie, the pattern maker has the first three designs finished in five different sizes. I’m going to run over and pick them up and pay him. Do you want me to drop them off at the fabric cutters before end of business today?”

  “That’d be great, Sherry,” I said with a smile. “I dropped the bolts of material off to Lorenzo yesterday. He promised to work the weekend so that we have something on Monday morning to start sewing.”

  “Great,” she said, picking up her handbag. “If you’ll sign the check, I’ll pay the cutter and see you on Monday.”

  I signed one of the ledger checks that bore my company name, ‘DBK Enterprises, LLC.’

  “Have a great weekend,” I called after her as she left the office.

  I felt a true sense of pride and accomplishment as I closed up shop on this sunny Friday afternoon. The sewing machines would be busy come Monday, magically seaming together my fist creations. I opened the box on my desk and pulled out one of the silk embroidered labels with the beautifully scrolled lettering that spelled ‘DBK Creation’ and fingered it gently, loving the way the gold lettering popped against the black silk background.

  A year ago I couldn’t have imagined just how radically different my life would become. And it was because of Dominic. I owed all of this to him.

  As I drove from Camden to Cherry Hill, I thought about how much I’d grown to love Dominic and how far off course from my original plan I had veered. I no longer felt the need for revenge; in fact, I’d grown indifferent about the situation with his family. I had no inclination whatsoever to come in contact with any of them. Those rare occasions where Vinnie or Little Sal came by the office were unwelcome reminders that it would never be just Dominic and me. As much as I tried to create that world for us, they were the intermittent reminders that it was not the reality by any means.

  When I got to my condo, I saw that his car was parked in the garage. It was odd that I hadn’t heard from him this afternoon. I wondered if he had plans for us this weekend, or maybe he was here to tell me we wouldn’t be seeing each other this weekend. Sometimes family obligations trumped any weekend plans.

  Once inside, I knew immediately that something was wrong. He was sitting in a living room chair, his tie loosened, sleeves rolled up and I saw that he’d poured himself a bourbon on the rocks. He didn’t seem pleased to see me.

  At all.

  “Hey you,” I said, kicking off my heels and walking over to where he sat. I leaned down to give him a kiss, but he turned his head away from me abruptly.

  “Sit please,” he ordered, taking a swig of his drink.

  Puzzled, I took a seat on the sofa, tucking my legs up underneath me, trying like hell to figure out the reason for his mood. And then I saw it.

  The round, beige-colored plastic disk that contained my birth control pills had been placed on the glass coffee table in front of the sofa.

  I looked quickly over at him, and his eyes had darkened in anger.

  “Would you care to explain, Karlie?” It was a hoarse whisper, but it resounded in my ears as if he’d shouted it. I felt a chill run up my spine because he was angry, and he’d never been angry—with me.

  “Dominic…” I started, fumbling for the right words. There should’ve been plenty of them to say, because there were all kinds of valid reasons as to why bringing our child into this world was not a good idea. At the moment, they all escaped me. “It’s just that…I’m afraid,” I mumbled like a true idiot.

  “Afraid?” he asked, his voice like steel. “Tell me exactly what it is that you’re afraid of?”

  I squirmed a bit, biting my lower lip, trying to articulate my reasoning. “I’m afraid because…I wouldn’t want a child of mine…to…”

  God—I’m a bumbling idiot.

  “To what, Karlie?” he bellowed, hurling his now empty glass across the room where it smashed against the stone hearth of the fireplace, shattering into pieces.

  I jumped and he was on his feet, coming over to the sofa like a panther ready to snare his prey.

  “To be the next generation Mafioso!” I blurted out hastily.

  He was standing in front of the sofa now. He bent down and rested his weight on his hands that were now balled up into fists, and resting on the cushion of the sofa where I sat, one on each side of me.

  His face was only inches from mine. I could smell the bourbon on his breath and wondered exactly how many he’d had before I’d gotten there.

  “You know nothing about how family—my family operates and even less about me or you never would’ve said that,” he growled.

  I tried to scoot back from him, but there was nowhere to go. I was pinned beneath his unrelenting gaze.

  “And it’s obvious that you doubt the promises that I made to you on your birthday, isn’t that right, cara mia?”

  I didn’t dare speak because I knew he wasn’t finished. My eyes met his now, and I waited.

  “You think that I don’t know who you are, don’t you? You think that I don’t know why you agreed to come with me? Do you have a score to settle with me, Karlie?”

  I remained silent. What could I say?

  “Answer me, dammit!”

  “No,” I squeaked, feeling my cheeks flush. “I don’t have a score to settle with you.”

  “Do you have a score to settle with my family?” he demanded, his eyes flashing darker.

  I tilted my chin upward. I wasn’t going to let him intimidate me. The truth was all that I had. “I do - did,” I corrected. “It’s what I set out to do…but it’s different now,” I murmured. “It wasn’t a good plan.”

  “Wasn’t a good plan,” he repeated, his tone was sprinkled with mockery. “You bet your goddamn ass it wasn’t a good plan! But now I want to know why you’ve deceived me?” he asked, nodding towards the pills he’d found.

  “First can I ask why you were here snooping, Dominic?” And then something took over my better judgment as I spat the last part. “You don’t fucking own me!”

  I saw the color drain from his face as he straightened up. For a moment, I thought I’d gone too far; I braced myself for some form of physical punishment.

  He ran his hands through his thick, dark hair and then turned back to look at me.

  “I wasn’t snooping,” he shrugged. “I was looking for aspirin. I had a headache. I found them in your medicine chest. Now I’m waiting for an answer.”

  “I gave you an answer,” I replied.

  He shook his head in exasperation, and then took a seat next to me on the sofa, steepling his hands under his chin, mustering up the patience I knew that he needed to get through this with me.

  “My mother’s name is Elizabeth. Her maiden name was Matteo. She was born and raised Jewish,” he said quietly. “For generations, the small population of Jews in Italy was accepted as valuable and important members of a society that was predominantly Catholic. When Mussolini came into power he tried to change all of that. He encouraged the Italian people to turn on their Jewish neighbors. Some of them did. It was during the Italian Holocaust that my mother’s family was stripped of their wealth. They took refuge at my grandfather’s estate in Sicily. The families had been friends for many years. It’s how my parents had met
and fallen in love. My mother converted to Catholicism because she knew just how important that was to my father’s family. My mother has always devoted herself to my father, and in her world, he comes first.”

  I wondered where Dominic was going with this. I was about to find out.

  “There was a night more than eleven years ago that I was home from college for spring break. Vinnie and Sal hadn’t gone to college; they’d gone directly into the family business. I wasn’t sure that was what I wanted to do,” he smiled sardonically.

  “I guess that was because I was under the false impression that I had a choice. Still, my mother had encouraged my father to allow me to pursue a degree just the same. I was the youngest in the family and I think we had a special bond perhaps. I had a disposition more similar to hers than that of my father. She argued on my behalf that it would only help the family business in the long run if I obtained my degree.

  “That spring night, my first night home, I overheard a conversation between my father and my brothers. Some stubborn farmer wouldn’t listen to reason and sell out to them. He had to be taken care of and plans were being made to do just that the following night. My father insisted it be handled within the immediate family. It involved traveling to West Virginia. The man had a wife…and a young daughter.”

  Oh God.

  “They never knew that I followed them,” he continued, gazing down at his hands now. “They never knew it was me that went into that house and found you, wrapped you up in a blanket and took you outside so that you’d be spared. The next day my mother came to me. She somehow knew. I don’t know how, but she did. And she took me aside and said, ‘Dominic, the Jewish Talmud states that if you save a life, you must take responsibility for it.’ And that was it. That was all she said. We never spoke of it again, and she never told my father.”

  “Oh Dominic,” I said, “It was you?”

  He nodded, and then continued. “Over the years, those words my mother spoke have haunted me. I mean, I had to know that your life was better because it had been spared. So I had a P.I. find you. That’s what first brought me to you—to that whorehouse in West Virginia. And I wondered then if I’d done you more harm than good when I saved you.”

  He stood up now, and turned to face me. “I presumed you meant it when you said you loved me, Karlie. I have no marriage. Anna Maria stays with me for the comfortable life she’s always had. Our marriage was arranged –yes, that still happens within the LCN.

  “She and I are no longer sexual. We haven’t been for quite some time, but I’m not bringing shame to the family by divorcing her. It’s the one thing we won’t do as crazy as I know that sounds. I thought it would be different with you and me. I thought there would be honesty, because you see, I’ve been as honest with you as I possibly can be. I thought there would be trust as well.”

  He reached down and picked up the case containing the birth control pills and tossed it over to me. I somehow managed to catch it while not taking my eyes off of him.

  “It’s your decision, Karlie,” he said, “And I want it now.”

  I got up and walked to the kitchen, popping each unused pill from its place on the dial, and letting them fall into the sink. I turned the water on, and watched them go down the garbage disposal.

  I flipped the switch so that Dominic would know they were being ground into dust.

  Afterwards I turned to face him. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I should’ve told you how I felt. I don’t want to lose you.”

  I thought he would be pleased with my decision, but his face still wore a mask of coldness. It was as if he felt I’d betrayed him. Hell, maybe I had. I knew that Dominic was a slow burn, which meant he was slow to cool.

  “I’ll be back in two weeks,” he said. “The family is vacationing at Fire Island until mid-July. I’ll see you then.”

  And just like that, he was gone. Leaving me standing there confused, hurt, and duly punished for my deception.

  Two weeks.

  chapter 12

  To say that the two weeks without Dominic sped by would be a total lie. They should’ve flown by because I was busier than shit getting the first introductory designer originals finished.

  The seamstresses were working feverishly and after the first week, I had a total of twenty completely finished, ready-for-the-rack power suits. At the end of week two, I had evening wear, casual wear, and even some lined boyfriend jackets in bright, colorful geometric designs that were sure to be a hit.

  On Friday of the second week, Sherry and I were putting together some ensembles that had leggings, along with long tunic blouses to go over them.

  “I must say,” I gushed, looking at the splashy designs and colorful prints, “We’ve done well.”

  At last I got a smile out of Sherry.

  “So on Monday we start stocking the boutique, right?” she asked.

  “Yep. I was there this morning and all of the fixtures are in place. The window decorator will be there first thing Monday morning to help us set up. The sign is to be delivered Monday afternoon.”

  “Uh, would it be okay if I came in a little late Monday? Like maybe lunch time?”

  I could tell that Sherry wasn’t comfortable asking me.

  “Sure,” I said, puzzled that she was obviously acting sheepish about something. “I can get started without you. No problem.”

  “It’s just that, well you know, the family will be getting back late Sunday from Fire Island and I haven’t seen Vinnie in two weeks…” she broke off, turning a deep crimson. “And you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, do you?”

  “I was pretty clueless, but I guess I get it now,” I replied.

  How anyone could look forward to seeing Vinnie or Little Sal was totally beyond me. They gave me the heebie-jeebies. But what the hell? Maybe she thought the same of Dominic although I couldn’t possibly see how because he was nothing like his older brothers.

  “I just figured Dominic might’ve mentioned it,” she continued, and I really would’ve preferred it if she’d drop the whole subject.

  “Dominic and I don’t talk about his family,” I retorted, checking the shoulder pads on some of the jackets. “It’s a sore subject.”

  “Oh,” was all she said, marking off the inventory list.

  The thought of seeing Dominic again made my belly tingle, but only slightly because I wasn’t sure where we stood. I hadn’t heard a thing from him. It was exactly two weeks ago that we’d had the showdown at my place.

  My mood didn’t improve hearing that they weren’t even getting back until late Sunday.

  Maybe he would surprise me by using his key and crawling into bed with me. I was definitely missing him more than I ever thought I could.

  Friday evening at home my phone rang. I leapt off the sofa to grab it, my heart skipping a few beats because my calls were generally only from Dominic.

  “Hey,” I said, trying to sound sexy.

  “Karlie?”

  Oh.My.God.

  It was Lana.

  “Lana?”

  “Is this a good time?” she asked.

  “Oh yeah. It’s perfect timing. I was beginning to think that I’d never hear from you again.”

  “Well, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to talk to you again. I was really hurt by what you did, Karlie. I’m not gonna lie.”

  Okkayy.

  “I’m not following you, Lana. You’re pissed because I had an opportunity to get the hell out of there? I thought friends only wanted the best for one another?”

  There was a brief pause.

  “No. I’m pissed because I didn’t think you and I had secrets or lies between us. You forget that I was the person who knew you when you were orphaned. I can’t believe you’re fucking a Castellano! My God—you’re sleeping with the man responsible for murdering your parents.”

  I felt my adrenaline shoot up a few notches.

  “Wait one minute,” I hissed. “It’s not like that with us. First of all, I didn’t set out t
o fall in love with him, I promise you that. I wanted revenge. That was my reason for going.”

  “So now you’re in love with the son-of-a-bitch?” she asked; the disapproval obvious. “Why didn’t you tell us his real name? I mean you could’ve been upfront about what you were doing if you truly started out with the intention of seeking revenge.”

  “Because,” I faltered, “I was afraid that Belle, or you, would talk me out of it. How did you find out who he was anyway?”

  “Walter, my husband, recognized him in passing at Belle’s. They happened to be in the lobby—waiting for us—the last time Dominic visited. And then you were gone. Just like that. Walter’s a judge you know? He occasionally runs into the scum of the earth that he hasn’t already had the opportunity to put away.”

  “Okay, Lana. Just stop, please? I don’t want to have this argument with you. I admit that I maybe should’ve filled you in, but I had my reasons at the time. I’m sorry that you felt I had somehow betrayed our friendship. I seem to be getting that a lot these days.”

  “What?”

  “Never mind,” I said. “I do appreciate your not telling the others though. Thank you for that.”

  “Whatever.”

  “Why are you being nasty? I didn’t fall in love with the murderer of my family. I fell in love with Dominic and he wasn’t responsible for it. In fact, I recently found out that it was him who saved me.”

  I filled her in on the conversation that Dominic and I had two weeks prior.

  “So, you’re basically telling me that he was a witness to their murder? I mean he had to be if he got there in time to save you, right? And do realize there’s no Statute of Limitations on murder?”

  Oh shit.

  “Look,” I said, “Nothing will bring my parents back. I only told you this stuff so you’d understand how it was possible for me to fall in love with him without making me feel like some traitor to my folks. It’s complicated, okay? Please just leave it alone.”

  “He still comes from that bloodline,” she replied, “I think you need to consider your long term well-being.”