Carole Mortimer - Men of Power

“Thank you. He was so miserable all night.”

“It should clear it up.”

“What’s the address?”

After learning it, she hung up and ran back in the living room. “Dad? That was the doctor. Would you mind running by the pharmacy? It’s on Center Street and Wolcott. Dr. Barlow ordered a special cream for Nicky.”

“I’ll go right now.”

He gave her a hug before walking out the door. She was glad he’d left them alone. The time had come to deal with her mother. Love for Nicky had reinforced her spine.

Once her father was gone she said, “I’m not going to Hawaii, Mom. Actually I was hoping to use any money from Shawn’s insurance policy so I can stay in the town house and look after Nicky.”

“If you think you can move in here with your latest boyfriend, then you c—”

“No,” she cut her off. Anything but. “I won’t be seeing him anymore.”

“When did this transpire?”

Julie could tell her mother was pleased by the news. She’d lost Shawn to marriage, and didn’t want to lose her daughter the same way.

“It doesn’t matter. The fact is, I want to take care of Nicky.”

“We’ll do it together, Julie.”

All her life Julie’s mother had expected the world to revolve around her. Over the years the demands she’d placed on their family had driven a wedge. First their father had left. Then Shawn, who did the unspeakable by marrying without her consent. Julie moved to San Francisco after college.

Her gaze flew around the front room of the small, Spanish-style town house. Shawn and Pietra had made a happy home in Sonoma where he worked for a winery.

Everywhere she looked, from pictures to baby toys and quilts, evidence of Nicky’s angelic presence in the house surrounded them.

“Aside from the fact that it wouldn’t be fair to Lem, this is Nicky’s home,” she reasoned quietly.

Her mother’s eyes glittered. “Not anymore.”

Her mother seemed beyond reason, but Julie had to try. “Pietra loved Sonoma because it reminded her of Italy where she met Shawn and they fell in love. They planned a life here with Nicky. We can’t take that away from him. He’s lost everything else.”

“Any insurance money will be put in a fund for Nicky’s college. Your father and I are in agreement there.”

“In that case I’ll find a way to work at home so I can stay here with him.”

“Have you forgotten I’m his grandmother?”

“You just admitted you can’t do it alone. I’m his aunt, and I’m the right age to do it alone,” she declared.

Her mother gestured impatiently. “You’re only twenty-four. You don’t know the first thing about being a mother.”

No, Julie didn’t. In fact, she was terrified of doing everything wrong, or worse, not knowing what to do at all. But that was beside the point.

“Did you and dad know how to be parents when you first brought Shawn home from the hospital?”

Having caught her mother off guard, she took advantage of the silence. “I was on the phone to the baby’s doctor before you and Lem got here. Nicky finally took a whole bottle a little while ago. I’ll learn as I go. It’ll work.”

“It’s not going to happen, Julie. You might as well know the truth now.”

“What truth?” Her mother had been working up to something.

“Lem is filing papers with the court to give me custody of Nicky. That’s why I’ve planned to have graveside services the day after tomorrow, then fly right on to Hawaii with him. I want you with us. It’s a necessary precaution in case Pietra’s uncle gets any funny ideas.”

Julie frowned. “About what?”

“About wanting to claim his niece’s male child now that Shawn isn’t alive. You know how possessive Italian men are.”

“Not really.”

Italians didn’t have the monopoly on that particular trait. Julie’s mother was a case in point. This was simply another ploy on her part to manipulate Julie, but she wasn’t buying it. Not this time.

“You look tired, Mom. Why don’t you lie down while I check on Nicky.”

“If he’s awake, bring him down, will you please? I want to feed him.”

For the moment, her parent was through talking. Julie went back upstairs to the nursery, her thoughts on her mother’s comment. In truth she had no idea what Italian men were like. She’d seen some pictures of Pietra’s family, but she’d never met any of them. From what she gathered they were a pretty formidable bunch.

According to Shawn, the Di Rocche empire had a reputation for being among the wealthiest and most influential of all the old Milanese families in Italy.

Until his untimely death, Pietra’s father, Ernesto, had worked alongside his older brother, Aldo. From that point on, Aldo had raised her and her brother along with his own three sons. Today Aldo Di Rocche stood as the powerful head of the consortium which included a vast number of banking and commercial interests.

Strictly by chance Shawn had met Pietra at one of the Di Rocche vineyards. One thing led to another and they fell in love. Shawn married Pietra in secret, then told everyone after the fact. It was a brilliant move. Neither her uncle nor their mother could do anything about it.

Julie had applauded their decision. Especially when she’d learned about the tension Pietra had lived with growing up in a household with an authoritarian uncle and three male cousins who had little use for her.

The only person Pietra felt close to was her older brother whom she loved, but he lived in another part of the world. Julie could understand why. Whether families were torn apart by divorce or death, the consequences were life changing.

She stared down at the baby. Was it possible her mother was right and Pietra’s uncle would try to get custody? He had the money and the clout, but Julie couldn’t bear the thought of it.

Her fingers curled around the bars of the crib. “Let’s hope your grandmother’s wrong. You want to stay here with me, don’t you, sweetheart? I love you so much.”

He was still asleep on his back, his arms outstretched at either side of his head, his hands closed into semifists. While she stood there fighting more tears, her father came into the room. He handed her the sack from the pharmacy.

She quickly changed Nicky’s diaper, applying the cream to his little backside that was bright red.

“You’re going to make a wonderful mother someday,” he murmured.

“Thanks, Dad.” When her mother went back to the hotel, Julie would tell her father her plans. He’d be on her side.

She wrapped a fussing Nicky in a receiving blanket and picked him up, giving him a kiss on both cheeks. As she started out of the room, her father called her back.

“There’s something I need to tell you before we go downstairs. It’s going to kill your mother.”

Alarm caused the hairs to prickle on the back of her neck. “D-did you hear from Pietra’s uncle?”

“No. He’s too ill to come, but her brother, Massimo, has arrived. He checked in at MacArthur Place. I just got off the phone with him from the mortuary. He was able to give me more information about Pietra to put in the obituary.

“Honey—” He cleared his throat. “Did you know Shawn and Pietra made out a will?”

She blinked. “No, but most couples have one.”

“It’s natural of course, but apparently they appointed him the baby’s guardian should anything to happen to them.”

What?

Pain stabbed at her heart, causing her to gasp. She stared at her father. “I don’t understand—he’s a bachelor who lives and works in a primitive area of the world. He’s never even seen Nicky!” She couldn’t understand why he’d never even been to see the baby.

Her dad’s features looked gaunt. “Nevertheless that was their wish. He came for a quick visit before Nicky was born. They talked it over then.”