“Come on, Cee. He’s herbrother.”
“He’s part of the same family that turned their backs on her!”
That’s not fair, at least as far as the brother goes. Connie was very close to her twin, Hudson, although she moved on her own to New York. But that last night when Tino and Connie came over for dinner, she showed me picture after picture of Hudson on her Insta.
She also told me how excited she was to have a child. I didn’t really get it. But Celia sure did. Celia understood it all too well.
And now Celia has a long list of girl’s names on her phone that she adds to daily, without fail. One of the rooms in their place has been painted soft pink, and Frank set up a cot just last weekend.
I take Cee by the elbow and pull her away from the men so we can speak privately.
“He’s not going to take the baby,” I tell her in a low voice. “Luca would never allow it.Iwould never allow it.” She’s squirming around, trying to see if he’s heading back, so I put my hands on both her shoulders and make her look at me. “Celia. He’s her twin brother and he wants to see her. He won’t give up. And for all you know, Connie wouldwantto see him.” When I look her in the face, I wish I hadn’t. She’s getting teary, her lips wobbling.
She sniffs. “But what if he tries to take my baby?”
Mybaby. That’s the real problem here.
“He’s just a kid himself, what the hell would he want with a baby?” I ask, but I’m getting impatient. Today is supposed to be my day for Doing Good, and Celia’s making me feel like I’m Doing Bad. “Imagine if it were Frank lying there in that bed, and they wouldn’t letyougo in and see him,” I say, switching up my tactics. Hey, imagining Frank laid out worked on Luca, too. “You know you’d sit your butt out here until you wore them down.”
She still isn’t convinced, but I’m saved from her response by the return of Hudson, out of breath, but smelling less funky than he did when I kicked him awake.
“Here I am,” he says, his chin going up in defiance. “Well? You gonna let me in to see my sister or what?”
* * *
Connie lieswhere she always does, propped up against the pillows so that the tubes going into her don’t get kinked. I always thought ventilators were these huge machines that went up and down loudly, but no. Apparently that’s just in the movies. The cute little nurse who’d told me that giggled when she did, and winked on her way out of the room.
They like me here.
That means they like Connie by proxy, and she gets great treatment. Example: when we go into the room, one of the nurses is actually giving Connie a pedicure. “Oh,hiiiiMr. D’Amato, Mrs. D’Amato,” she says when she sees us, and gives a big, wide smile. “Connie was just saying yesterday that her feet were in desperate need of help, so I figured today we’d tackle them.”
Hudson, pushing in between us, has gone sheet-white, staring at Connie, and then at the nurse. “She—she’sawake?”
The nurse looks at him uncertainly.
“Can you give us some time, Darla?” I ask, flashing her my pearly whites. She gathers her shit and gets out, leaving Connie’s toes stuck apart with cotton balls, her toenails a garish turquoise.
Hudson rushes over to her and leans in, smoothing the hair from her forehead. “Cons, it’s me, it’s Hudson. Wake up, huh? Wake up, girl.”
Celia and I exchange a look, and she goes over to him and puts a hand around his shoulders. “No, honey, she’s not awake. She’s still—she’s still deep under. Those nurses, they talk to her a lot. It’s supposed to help. And sometimes they like to pretend that she’s talking back, but it’s stupid. We should tell them to stop.”
He stands upright again, his face changing from eager hope to despair. “When’s she gonna wake up? What do the doctors say?”
Cee glances at me again then, but I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news. Neither does she, apparently, because all she says is, “It’s a waiting game.”
Hudson looks away, trying to hide wet eyes, but they go wide when he finally takes in the rest of Connie’s body.
“She’spregnant?”
Time for a little chat.
* * *
Once Hudson isclear about exactly what will happen to him if he tells anyone about the baby, and I’m pretty sure there will be no pillow-smothering, I back out of the room with an offer to get something from the coffee machine. Seeing Celia’s pity take over during the discussion, I’m betting all she needs is some time alone with him before she fully comes around.
While I’m out there, I also do my reconnaissance work, feeling out with the nurses and reception whether there’s been any interest in Connie apart from her brother’s. He knows where she is because of a naive police liaison who informed Connie’s family after the shooting.
Before Luca stepped in to stifle any talk.
