Awaken My Heart

by Maria K. Alexander

  “What?” Joey said. “I don’t get it. I think Sean’s a nice name.”

  Gina gave Joey a nasty look before swinging her gaze back to Nick.

  “Explain,” Nick said.

  “Sean is a geek. He’s in all the advanced classes, has the personality of a pin, and no friends.”

  “You’ve only been there a month. Isn’t it a little early to be judging him or anyone?”

  “Oh please. There’s plenty of talk about it. No one likes him.” She held up a hand. “Correction, only the teachers like him. He actually tutors some of the students, including upper classmen.”

  Nick swelled with pride. “And weren’t you raised not to be swayed by other people’s opinion?”

  “You don’t understand about being a kid.”

  “Because I was never a teenager.”

  “You weren’t a teenage girl.”

  Thank God. “Your point being?”

  “It’s different for a girl. If you make friends with the wrong people, you’ll be unfriendable for the rest of high school.”

  Heaven forbid. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but you should be choosing your friends based on who they are, not their popularity level.”

  Gina wiped at her tear-stained face and stood. “You don’t get it, Dad.” She ran into the bathroom and slammed the door.

  Well, that was a cluster-fuck and a half.

  Nick sighed and dropped into the chair Gina vacated. “You mad at me too, bud?”

  “You know what a drama queen she can be.” Joey shrugged when Nick raised an eyebrow. “That’s what Grandma says. I’m not supposed to call her that, but Grandma says she can because she loves her.”

  It sounded exactly like something his mother would say.

  “I think it’s kinda cool, Dad,” Joey said. “Having a half-brother.”

  The vise around Nick’s heart loosened. “Glad you think so.”

  “What does Sean look like?” Joey asked.

  Nick reached in his front pocket for his phone. “Here’s a picture.” He scrolled to one he’d taken at the park and turned the phone to Joey. “What do you think?”

  Joey stared at the screen. “Cool. We have the same color eyes and both have a dimple in our chin like you.”

  “You do.”

  “When can I meet him?”

  “I was going to see if he wanted to come to Saturday’s softball game,” Nick said. “Would you be okay with that?”

  Joey thought about it for a second before nodding. “Sure. Does he know how to play?”

  “No, he’d need help.”

  “I can bring my old glove for him to use.”

  “I’m sure he’d appreciate it,” Nick said.

  “Do Grandma and Grandpa know?”

  “I’m going to tell them this afternoon and need your help keeping it quiet until I do. Okay?”

  “Okay. What about her?” Joey gestured to the bathroom door.

  Nick was wondering the same thing.

  “Not sure. Any ideas?” Nick asked.

  “She’ll have to come out for food and when her cell phone dies, right?”

  Nick laughed. “You’d better hope that happens before either of us has to use the bathroom.”

  Chapter Nine

  On the drive to his parents’ house, Nick considered his approach for telling his parents about Sean. It would have been one thing if he’d gotten a girlfriend pregnant, as he had with Franny, but they’d missed out on fourteen years with a child he didn’t even know he had and with a woman whom they’d never met.

  His parents were cool, but Nick couldn’t predict how they’d react.

  Not to mention Gina had taken her usual mode of surliness to a whole new level. After finally coming out of the bathroom—and only because he threatened to kick down the door—she wore her headphones and refused to look at him. She’d even sat in the back seat next to Joey, which she hadn’t done as long as she was tall enough to sit in the passenger seat.

  Procrastination wasn’t his mode of operation, though, so Nick turned off the ignition and turned to the kids. “I need your help here,” he began. Joey tapped Gina on the knee and motioned for her to remove her earbuds.

  She removed one.

  “I need to tell everyone about Sean, so until I do, I’m asking you please not to say anything.”

  Joey nodded.

  Gina stared at the door handle.

  “You got that, G?”

  No response.

  He did what his mother always had done and used her whole name. “Gina Marie DiFrancesco. Answer me, dammit.”

  She nodded.

  It was better than nothing.

  “Try and act normal. You know how Grandma senses when things are bothering you.”

  “How does she do that?” Joey asked.

  “Heck if I know,” Nick muttered. “Let’s go.”

  The front door was unlocked, and Nick followed the sounds of voices to the dining room, where he found Vicky, Jamie, Vinnie, Kate, Edward, and his father. Papers were spread across the table and resembled planning for a stakeout.

  The gang’s all here.

  “Hey, guys,” he said.

  Greetings and hugs were exchanged, and the kids took off to the family room.

  “Good, now that you’re here, you can take my place,” Vinnie said, standing.

  “Place for what?” Nick said.

  “Not so fast, you.” Vicky yanked on Vinnie’s shirt sleeve and pulled him back into his chair. “We’re discussing the seating arrangements for the wedding.”

  “Glad you’re here, son. Maybe you can give us your opinion,” his father said.

  “No way. I already took my turn with this.” Nick shot a sympathetic look at Jamie. “You’re on your own. My advice is to agree with whatever Vicky and Ma say.”

  “I’m with you, man.” Jamie swiped his hand down his face. “We’ve been at this for hours, and that’s just today.”

  “Where’s Ma?” Nick asked.

  “Bringing out snacks,” Vicky said.

  “I’ll help.” Nick unzipped his sweatshirt and draped it over a chair before heading into the kitchen.

  Carmen DiFrancesco was a short, pleasantly round Italian woman whose world centered around food and family. At a couple inches over five feet, she only came up to the middle of Nick’s chest. She wore her dark brown hair short and neat.

  She was arranging strips of stromboli on a platter when he entered the kitchen.

  Her face lit up when she saw him. “Nicky. How’s my boy?”

  “Hey, Ma.” He leaned down and hugged her. It had been a trying couple days, and Nick found comfort in her strong arms.

  “I thought you were your brother asking if he could go upstairs. Again,” she said. “That boy can whine and complain worse than one of the kids.”

  “Not a chance of that. Vicky’s holding him captive in the dining room.”

  “No dinner for anyone until we finish. This wedding planning has dragged on too long, and it’s only weeks away,” his mother said.

  Withholding dinner should be incentive to get everything done.

  His mother grasped his forearms when he pulled away. “Something’s wrong.”

  Nick had been trained to disguise his emotions. He thought he did a pretty damn good job of it, but his mom always saw through him.

  “Not wrong, but there is something I need to tell everyone.”

  “All right, then. Grab the antipasto and let’s go sit.”

  With an overflowing oval platter in hand, Nick followed her into the dining room where everyone swarmed like it was their last meal. Wedding planning continued as everyone chowed down on stromboli plus a variety of cheeses, salami, prosciutto, peppers, and olives.

  “Our biggest issue is where to put cousins Rocco and Gino,” Vicky said. “They got into a big fight five years ago and aren’t talking to each other.”

  It appeared Nick was going to get involved with wedding discussion whether or not he wanted to.


  “Split them up and keep them at separate tables,” Nick said.

  “That causes other issues.” Vicky passed the seating chart across the table. “We can put one of them here.” She pointed with her fork. “But then they’ll be too close to Aunt Josephine and Uncle Frankie’s table.”

  “What’d they do to them?” Nick asked.

  “Word is they punctured the tires of Uncle Frankie’s new Cadillac because he was bragging how neither of their parents could afford such an expensive car,” Vinnie said.

  “They can’t afford it because their parents are paying off Rocco and Gino’s gambling debt,” Kate said.

  “Sounds like they shouldn’t have been invited,” Nick said.

  “That’s what I said, but I got vetoed,” Vicky replied with a glare at their mother.

  “It would have been rude not to invite them,” his mother said.

  “Why don’t you seat them with Jamie’s family, or have they damaged their tires, too?” Nick deadpanned. “Or you could make a few tables with reserved seating and let everyone else figure it out. It’s not like you’re having hundreds of guests.”

  Vicky snatched the paper. “That’s genius.” She put a star next to a handful of tables. “What do you think?” she asked Jamie and her mother.

  His mother studied the paper and gave a brief nod. “That would make things simpler.”

  “Works for me.” Jamie leaned forward to fist bump Nick.

  “Amen,” Vicky said.

  “Now that the wedding drama is settled, I have a bit of news,” Nick said.

  Anxious, he wiped his hands on his jeans. Nick had always been the responsible one among his siblings, along with Kate. When he was a teenager and since his parents were in the restaurant business, he often watched his younger siblings and got the pleasure of bossing them around. Not Kate so much. But it was fun to tell Vinnie and Vicky they had to go to bed when he and Kate could stay up a little later and watch television.

  Now, he felt he’d lose some level of credibility for being irresponsible—again.

  He took another sip of soda, wishing he’d opted for a beer.

  “Before I married Franny, back when we were broken up, I met up with someone from high school at a wedding. She took off after the weekend and shortly after, Franny and I got engaged. The girl moved to California where she learned she was pregnant.”

  “With your kid?” his father asked.

  “Yes. She never told me. I found out about him yesterday,” Nick said.

  His mother pressed her hand to her chest. “Oh, my Jesus mercy. I have another grandchild?”

  “A grandson. His name’s Sean.”

  “You got two women pregnant at the same time?” Vinnie said.

  “Don’t make it sleazy, man. It was months apart from each other,” Nick said.

  “Whatever.” Vinnie pushed away from the table. “I need to get to the restaurant.”

  “You’re not on the schedule until this evening,” his mother said.

  Vinnie shook his head. “I have the sudden urge to pound chicken breasts.”

  With a final look at Nick that was a combination of sympathy and disgust, he strode out the door.

  “Well, that was awkward,” Vicky said, rising and gathering the pile of papers scattered on the table. “We’ll go in the other room so you can talk to Ma and Dad.”

  They all filed out until Nick was alone with his parents.

  He dragged a hand down his face. “Sorry for the bombshell.”

  “Tell us what happened,” his father said.

  Nick recounted the story. By the time he was done, his mother had tears streaming down her face.

  “This is all so unbelievable. All this time, he never knew he had a family to love him,” his mother said.

  “He had his mother’s family,” Nick said.

  His mother threw her hands up in the air. “That’s not the same. That woman withheld his existence from you. She should be ashamed.”

  “She regrets her decision,” Nick said.

  “It takes a cruel person to do what she did to you,” his mother added.

  “Ashley isn’t a bad person. She was sick the first trimester. She doesn’t have a strong family like ours. Her mother abandoned her when she was six. She isn’t used to people caring or going out of their way for her.”

  “That’s no excuse.”

  “I agree. She knew I was marrying Franny and was afraid I wouldn’t have any interest in Sean when I learned of her condition.”

  “It seems as though she was trying to protect herself from getting hurt but didn’t think through the repercussions,” his father said.

  “She made a bad choice and knows it,” Nick said.

  “In my book, she’s no better than Franny,” his mother said. “That one wasn’t good enough for you, Nicky. What kind of woman cheats on her husband? Stupid puttana. It’s all I can do not to smack her when I see her.”

  Heaven help anyone who crossed his mother.

  “She’s not at all like Franny, Ma. You’ll understand when you meet her.”

  “It sounds like you’ve forgiven her,” his father said.

  He hadn’t, but like a cop, Nick was trying to separate fact from emotion. There was no judge or jury to sentence Ashley, but this secret was an obstacle between them. They would always share a bond through Sean. In time, could he look past what she’d done to the woman only days ago he wanted to know better?

  “We can’t go back and change what happened. All we can do is move forward,” Nick said. “It’s what’s best for Sean.”

  “When can we meet him?” his father asked.

  Good question. Nick hadn’t thought to ask Ashley, but he would.

  “They’ll come to next Sunday dinner,” his mother said before he could reply.

  “You want them to meet the family all at once? Won’t that be a little—” Nick searched for the right word. “Overwhelming? Especially given Vinnie’s reaction.”

  “Don’t you worry about your brother,” his mother said. “I’ll set him straight.”

  “How are Gina and Joey handling the news?” his father asked.

  “Joey was cool about it.” Nick rubbed the back of his neck. “Gina not so much. She knows Sean from school.”

  “They go to the same school?” his father said.

  “Ashley’s father is the headmaster,” Nick said.

  “So what? Sean’s a victim in all this,” his mother said.

  “True, but Gina and her friends don’t like Sean because he’s smart.”

  “That doesn’t sound like Gina,” his mother said.

  “Neither does getting busted three times for painting the wall and lockers at school, but she did.”

  “What? Why am I just hearing about this?” his mother said.

  Nick didn’t tell his mother everything that happened with the kids since the divorce. She blamed everything on Franny and while the affair was what had started the actual divorce proceedings, the marriage had been going downhill for years. Nick hadn’t noticed until it was too late.

  “She’s having issues adjusting to moving, Franny’s fiancé, and a new school.”

  “Franny’s getting remarried?” Of course his mother would have picked up on that.

  “She’s picking out wedding flowers and sporting a rock the size of a small planet. Gina won’t talk to me, which I suppose is normal for a teenage girl.”

  “Have you forgotten what it was like growing up with your sisters?” his father said with a laugh.

  “What’s Franny doing about Gina’s behavior?” his mother asked.

  “Not much. She never took accountability for her part in our divorce and coddles Gina.”

  “What’s this have to do with Sean?” his father asked.

  “Sean is smart. Brilliant. That makes him high on the unpopular list. Plus, the last time she got caught painting the lockers, Sean tried to get her to stop and they both got weekend detention. She wasn’t a fan of Sean’s, and t
hat was before she knew they’re related.”

  “Popularity is a girl thing. Guys only need a couple close friends,” his father said.

  Nick wasn’t sure Sean even had that.

  “I need to do damage control to make sure Gina doesn’t ruin his name because of something I did.”

  “How can we help?” his mother asked.

  “Make sure Gina knows you love her. She was hurting before finding out about Sean. Between the divorce, new house, school, and future stepfather, she’s on overload.”

  “She needs an outlet to channel her frustration. Franny is too easy on those kids. Maybe Gina should wash dishes or mop the floor at the restaurant?” his mother said.

  Nick had been on the receiving end of his mother’s type of therapy one too many times growing up. The result was usually aching muscles and calloused hands. But it kept him and his siblings out of trouble during their teenage years.

  “She’s going to be working on set design for the school musical,” Nick said.

  “You seem to have it covered the best you can,” his father said.

  “For now,” Nick said.

  The journey may be long and hard, but Nick was determined to do whatever it took to make things right for all three of his kids.

  ****

  Ashley blotted the page of her notebook, stained from spilling coffee for the third time that morning. She should be paying attention to the school meeting about the upcoming workshops, but after tossing and turning most of the night, she was exhausted and now had the jitters from too much caffeine.

  The sound of chairs being pushed back snapped her out of whatever trance she’d been in. Looking around, she saw the meeting was being adjourned. Hopefully, she hadn’t missed anything important.

  Ashley gathered her papers and rose with the intention of heading out.

  Patty rounded on her before she could make her exit. “Not so fast, you.”

  Ashley arched an eyebrow. “What?”

  Patty waited until everyone left before closing the conference room door. “You came in this morning right before the meeting without stopping by my office to chat. You weren’t paying attention to anything we discussed. And no matter how much cover-up you’ve applied, it doesn’t disguise the dark circles under your eyes. Something either really good happened last night to keep you up, or you couldn’t sleep.”