"You're not a doctor, Tony," Enzo added, his hand still a centering presence at the middle of my back.
"Is that who we're going to have to get out here to tell us what in the actual fuck is going on with Mama?" Frankie snapped, pulling me out of my cozy little bubble. I glanced up, my eyes immediately focusing on how he was working his jaw. His lips were drawn into a tight line as his cold gaze darted between the three of us sitting in front of him. Again, I wished I'd found out sooner why Enzo was so upset when I'd called home, but it hadn't seemed prudent at the time any more than it did now. I took a slow breath and sat up straighter, reminding myself they were all as worried as I'd been, nothing more.
"They're pretty sure she had a stroke," I told them, trying to recall every bit of information the doctor had given me. Too bad my mind was a black hole right then. I couldn't remember the name of the test they were running or what he said they'd do later, only that therewasa plan of sorts. "I stayed with her until someone came to get her. They have to verify what's going on and where the problem is, then they'll do something to try and fix it."
"See, this is why Mama wanted Freddie to be in charge if anything happened to her," Frankie scoffed. "That was about as informative as I'd have gotten by asking the receptionist up front."
"Frankie, chill." There was a hard edge to Max's tone that was impossible to miss. The two of them glared at one another, seemingly daring the other to say something. "Until we got here, Tony was trying to deal with everything on his own. And now, he has all of you standing over him, expecting him to tell you exactly what's going on. You know damn well he doesn't handle that sort of pressure well. And are you honestly telling me your mind is so much of a steel trap that you'd have remembered all the technical jargon they threw your way when your mind was still trying to catch up from seeing her lying on the floor and you had to call 911?"
"No, but he could have—"
"Max is right, Frankie." I hadn't expected Teo, the quiet one of the bunch, to come to my defense. He'd always shied away from confrontation, but that was slowly changing since he'd met Levi. "And honestly, it doesn't matter what the name of the test is or what they're going to do next. The point is, they have an idea about what's happening, they're verifying their diagnosis right now, and they're going to help her. Mama would be mad if she knew the two of you were out here bickering."
"I'm just saying, if Tony wants to be the point man, he should pay attention to what's being said," Frankie argued.
I wanted to scream at Frankie that I'd neveraskedto be the one who escorted Mama to the damn hospital. I was annoyed with Enzo for not coming to the restaurant for his meeting with Frankie. Then Frankie could've come to the hospital while Enzo helped me pull my shit together. But more than anything, I didn't want to fuel the fight Frankie was trying to start. Not here. Not now. Preferably not ever. I propped my knees on my elbows, massaging my temples as I tried to pull anything useful from the jumbled jargon that'd been thrown my way. "CT. That's the test they're doing now. Then medicine. There were more letters. Shit, I'm sorry Frankie, but that's all I've got. I sort of shut down when he was talking because all I could think about was how pale and weak Mama looked. It was... I've never seen her that way."
"You did good," Max praised me, pulling me against his side. "And she's going to be fine. She's in good hands here, I promise."
"You can't go around saying shit like that," Frankie spat out. Fuck, he was in a mood today. No way was it all because of Mama. "Oh wait, I forgot. You have no problem making promises you know you can't fucking keep."
Frankie's ill-timed outburst left all of us stunned silent as he stormed out of the hospital, nearly toppling over when the door opened faster than he'd expected. No one spoke for a long minute after he was out of sight. No one followed him. It was as if we were all torn between waiting here for news about Mama while worried about Frankie too.
Max tried stilling me when I pushed off the small couch, but I shrugged him off. This wasn't the time for petty fights, and I was sure as hell going to remind Frankie why we were all here.
"I need to talk to him," I explained. "He wasn't completely wrong when he said I should've paid closer attention when the doctor was talking. Iknewyou guys were going to have questions. It was irresponsible of me to zone out."
"No, this isn't on you," Enzo argued. "Hell, the only reason he's pissed is because of earlier."
"Now's not the time to get into that, Enzo." Max jerked his head to the side, where we'd gathered quite the audience.When had Freddie and Levi come in?"I'll go hash things out with Frankie. You guys wait here and text me if you hear anything about Mama."
I fell back onto the couch, any fight I had left evaporating knowing Max would take care of everything. None of the remaining brothers batted an eye when Enzo sat on the cushion next to me and resumed the soothing strokes over my back. I leaned into his touch, resting my head on his shoulder. "What in the hell happened, Enzo?"
"It's a long story," he muttered, turning slightly so his back was to the room. "He was early for our meeting and saw me racing back to the bedroom because I didn't have any clothes or a towel in the bathroom. Being Frankie, he jumped to conclusions, and before we could explain the situation to him, you called and..."
"And then it really didn't matter anymore," I finished for him. Fuck, this was such a damn mess. "Maybe Max was right. Maybe it's better if he talks to Frankie. For now. Once we know Mama's okay, I think it's time we come clean."
"Tony, we can't do that."
"I don't meaneverything,Enzo, but I hate watching the two of you pretend nothing's going on whenever we're around the family," I admitted. I'd been trying to find a way to have this conversation with both men for weeks, but it never seemed to be the right time. Now, I'd been struck by a bad case of verbal diarrhea while sitting on a faux-leather couch that squeaked every time I shifted a centimeter in a room permeated by the scents of antiseptic, body odor, and death.No, asshole. Don't think about death right now.
"Whatever happens, I don't want to feel like we're keeping all these dirty secrets from the world." I laced my fingers with Enzo's, no longer giving a damn who figured out our truth. The only truth that mattered right now was Mama might be dying somewhere on the other side of the double doors, and she deserved to know Enzo was as stupidly in love as the rest of us. I hoped like hell she made a speedy recovery so she could see how happy Max made both of us. How happy the three of us were together, even if what we had seemed a bit unconventional to most people. "It'll all work out. Promise."
"I hope you're right."
Chapter Fifteen
Max
It wasn'thard to find Frankie. As soon as I reached the edge of the parking garage attached to the emergency department, I jogged down the hill and across the street to the smoking area. He'd quit smoking a couple years back, but with everything in a tailspin, it was a safe bet I'd find him breathing in the toxic air, trying to chase the calm the habit used to give him. My friend, if I could still call him that, didn't disappoint.
"That shit'll kill you," I scolded him as I watched him bum a smoke off someone.
"Yeah, well it's better than the alternative," he scoffed before turning his back to me. The message was clear; I was the last person Frankie wanted to talk to. That was too bad because I wasn't going to put up with him thinking badly of Enzo. In the grand scheme, I wasn't so worried if he thought I was a cheating bastard who was taking it from both of the twins, but I'd be damned if he was going to keep being a dick to them.
"We need to talk." The guy Frankie had gotten a cigarette from backed away slowly as if he could feel the tension between us and wasn't sure if we were going to scream at one another or start brawling at the edge of the road.
"No thanks, pretty sure what I walked in on this morning was pretty self-explanatory." Frankie took a long pull off the cigarette, choking from the polluted air filling his lungs. He scowled at the cigarette before smashing it out in the ashtray, muttering about how disgusting it was. I happened to agree with him but didn't figure it'd do any good to say as much. "If you came out here to tell me how what I saw wasn't what it looked like, save your breath."
