“What happened?”
“Nothing happened. We had coffee.”
“He didn’t try to come onto you?”
“He always tries to come onto me and every other female he knows. That’s what he does.”
“But yet you call him whenever we’re having problems.”
“Yes, I called him. He’s a friend of mine.”
“A friend that comes onto you?”
Roz lifted her head and looked at Mick. “What does him coming onto me have to do with me? I don’t come onto him. That’s all your ass need to know.”
Roz was the sassiest woman he’d ever known. “Don’t you talk to me like that.”
“I’ll talk to you any way I damn well please.”
They both stared at each other. Mick knew Roz never backed down. And he never did either. That was why they both backed down.
But Roz continued to stare at him. “Now it’s your turn,” she said.
There was still great hesitation in Mick. Which once again alarmed Roz. She searched his eyes. “What aren’t you telling me about this son of yours, Mick?”
Then Mick finally answered her. “His mother,” he said, “is Bella.”
At first Roz continued to just stare at him. It was as if her entire being had shut down. That was the last answer she expected! “Bella?” she finally asked. “Are you telling me that your son Dory is Bella Caine’s son?”
“Yes,” said Mick. “That’s what I’m telling you.”
“But . . .” Roz was so confused that she looked distressed.
Mick pulled her back into his arms. But she angrily wiggled her body out of his grasp. “I’m not playing now,” she warned Mick. “You tell me the whole truth!”
Mick wanted to fire back at her. That was his personality. That was why he was known as a ticking time bomb.
But when it came to Roz, he knew how to keep it real. She had every right to know the whole story. “Bella thought this guy who lives in Rome, a fellow by the name of Ron Toscano, was the father. There were rumors all along that I was the father, but Ron accepted him as his son and I didn’t interfere. He was a good father to Dory."
Roz just stared at Mick.
“I knew about Dory as Ron’s son. But as my son? Ron wanted him. Ron wanted Bella. Then he produced a DNA test that proved he was the father.”
“But there were rumors that he wasn’t?”
“All over Rome, yes.”
“And you never told me about those rumors?”
“What was there to tell? Bella said Ron was the father. Ron said he was the father. End of discussion as far as I was concerned.”
“And as far as you wanted to be concerned,” said Roz.
“Damn right. I had enough children to worry about. If Ron and Bella wanted to play that game, then so be it.”
That part of Mick, where he could compartmentalize even people, always concerned Roz. But his love for his family always overcame that concern. “Why didn’t you tell us about Bella Caine when you were telling us about Dory?”
“You know why. I mention Bella’s name and everybody in the family goes bananas. Why bring it up?”
