LITMIR.BIZ

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      Three

      Why wasn’t he surprised? Nick wondered. Looking down into those deep blue eyes of hers, he could see that she believed every word of what she was saying. And a quick glance at his mother told him that Jenny had convinced her, as well. But then, his mother also believed in the evil eye and that she could shorten storms by smacking two sticks together.

      Oh, he could see that Jenny and his mother were going to get on famously.

      Somehow he knew he’d regret asking, but he heard himself ask anyway. “What does your being married have to do with your grandmother staying alive or not?”

      “It’s a family curse,” Jenny said solemnly.

      Mama nodded and held up her right hand, two middle fingers and her thumb folded into the palm. Already, Marianna Tarantelli was warding off the evil eye.

      Nick sighed. A curse. Naturally, he thought. On the other hand, why shouldn’t he believe in curses? Look at how his own day had gone so far.

      “My grandmother is my only family. I have to protect her,” Jenny said quietly.

      He frowned, unfolded his arms and tossed the bathrobe he still held to Jenny. “Okay, forget the curse for a minute. Would you mind telling me how you ended up with Jimmy the Lip?”

      Even Mama looked interested in that.

      Jenny shrugged and draped the robe across her lap, being careful to keep it from touching the fresh iodine on her knees. “I spoke to the manager at my hotel and explained my situation. He gave me several names to call and Mr. Lip was the first man to agree.”

      Nick stared at her in disbelief. If Jimmy the Lip was on the manager’s prospective groom list, he shuddered to think who else she might have hooked up with. Jimmy was pretty much a lousy human being, but at least he wasn’t dangerous. Jenny was damned lucky it had been him who’d agreed to marry her.

      She turned her gaze up to his, and Nick felt a sudden blow to his middle, as though someone had thrown a punch designed to knock the wind out of him. She must have been crying while he was upstairs, he thought. Her big blue eyes were red streaked and there were small black mascara trails on her cheeks. Lord, was he glad he’d missed her crying jag. There was absolutely nothing in the world that made him feel as helpless as seeing a woman cry. Cliché, perhaps. But true.

      His gaze moved over her quickly. Her hair was tangled and windblown, the hem of her dress was torn and her hands and knees were splotched with iodine. And still, she was far too pretty for Nick’s peace of mind. Obviously the other “husband candidates” she’d spoken with hadn’t seen her in person. Nick couldn’t imagine any man turning down a marriage proposal from Jenny Blake.

      Except, of course, himself.

      One failed marriage was more than enough for Nick Tarantelli.

      “Don’t you worry,” Mama said as she twisted the lid on the iodine bottle and stashed it inside the medicine cabinet. Patting Jenny’s shoulder, the older woman went on firmly, “My Nicky will take care of this.”

      “What?” He pushed away from the door frame and stared at his mother. The glare he gave her had been known to freeze fugitives in their tracks. His mother, however, planted her feet and glared right back at him.

      “You heard me,” she said. “It’s your fault that Jenny isn’t married. Now you have to fix it.”

      “My fault? She ought to thank me for stopping that wedding!” This whole situation was nuts, he told himself. Things had started out bad enough, but they seemed to be on a downhill slide and picking up speed.

      “Thank you?” Mama chided. “For what? Getting her grandmother killed?” One hand flat against her massive bosom, she shook her head. “Is this what being the police is to you, Nicky? Killing old women?”

      “What?” Nick had been in the middle of dramatic scenes like this his whole life. And he’d learned early on that the only way to fight fire was with fire. “First off, Ma,” he noted, “I’m not on the force anymore, and you know it.”

      She waved one hand at him, dismissing irrelevant facts.

      “Second, if I was going to kill off older women—” he straightened, forcing his mother to tilt her head far back on her neck to see him “—I wouldn’t start with a stranger!”

      Mama glared at him.

      “Excuse me...” Jenny tried to speak up, but the other two people in the bathroom ignored her.

      “Thank God, your father-heaven rest him—” Mama muttered, crossing herself quickly, “isn’t here to listen to you!”

      “Pop would be saying the same thing.”

      “Pardon me...” Jenny tried again, with the same results.

      “That my own son would turn his back on a woman who comes to him for help.” Mama shook her head slowly, clearly disgusted.

      Nick felt that hill he was sliding down steepen considerably.

      “She didn’t come to me for help, Ma,” he said. “I arrested her bridegroom!”

      “If you’ll both let me talk...” Jenny’s voice was drowned out by Mama’s quick retort.

      “And this you’re proud of?”

      “Damn right,” her son snapped.

      “Please!” Jenny shouted, and both people turned to stare at her. While she had their attention, she spoke quickly. “Mrs.—” She broke off and corrected quickly. “Mama. This isn’t your son’s problem.”

      “Exactly.” Nick threw his hands wide and let them fall to his sides.

      Mama sent him one long, withering look before patting Jenny again. “Of course, it is. Nicky will find you a husband.”

      “Now wait a minute, Ma.”

      “There isn’t time.”

      “Four days,” Mama reminded her with a smile. “That’s plenty of time for Nicky. He knows lots of nice boys, don’t you?”

      Nice boys. Nick groaned silently. He wondered how his former fellow officers at the police department would feel about being called “nice boys,” and then dismissed the thought. His mother was way off base on this one. “Most of my friends are already married, Ma,” he said quickly in a last-ditch hope to end the discussion. “And the ones that aren’t, don’t want to be.”

      “Nonsense!” Mama waved one hand at him again. “All men want to get married. As soon as we tell them so.”

      “Ma...”

      He felt it. Nick felt control of the situation slipping further and further from his grasp and he was helpless to do anything about it. He looked down into Mama Tarantelli’s big brown eyes and knew that he would lose this battle. As he’d lost every argument he’d ever had with her.

      Hell, he couldn’t remember a single time when his late father, his brothers and sister or he had come out on top of Mama in a fight. Even those few times when someone had backed her into a corner, Mama had always triumphed. Maybe it was because she was so tenacious. He’d never known her to give in or give up.

      For one brief moment Nick wished that the others were there. If Gina and his brothers, Tony and Dino, were around that minute, they would at least have Mama outnumbered.

      But Gina was in New York visiting family, Dino was at the casino where he worked squiring celebrities around town. Nick frowned slightly. And no one knew where Tony was.

      “I can do this myself, Mama.” Jenny’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

      Despite his own unwillingness to get any more involved, Nick couldn’t stop himself from saying, “Oh, sure you can. You’ve done a helluva job so far.”

      Jenny

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