Love Story (11 page)

Elizabeita’s tone was happy. “He works at the Met.”

“I love the museum. What do you do there?”

“Set up exhibits. Other odd jobs.” He wondered what this accomplished family would think of a low-level worker dating their sister.

A man approached from behind her. “Flirting with Lizzie’s guy?” he chided.

“No, Clay. Never. I’m too old.”

“But so beautiful.” He leaned over and kissed Elizabeita. To Nick, he held out his hand. “I’m Clay Wainwright.”

Rattled, Nick stood and shook.
“I’m honored, Mr. President.”

“Nah, just plain old Clay these days.”

Now Nick noticed the men, dressed casually, standing on the periphery of the restaurant. The Secret Service. As a police officer, this meeting meant something to him.

When the Wainwrights left, he sat back down. “I hope I wasn’t too starstruck.”

“It was cute.”

He rolled his eyes.

A waitress approached
the table. “Hello there, sis.”

The woman was an older version of Elizabeita.

“Hi, Cat. I didn’t know you’d be here today.”

“I’m filling in at the last minute.” The girls hugged, and Nick struggled for his cool. “This is my friend Nick.”

“Hi, Nick.”

He gulped back the fear. “Hi, Mrs. O’Neil.”

Caterina studied the man with her youngest sister. He seemed familiar,
but she couldn’t place him. So she said, “Please, call me Caterina or CJ. Have we met before, Nick?”

His laugh was genuine but held a tinge of something else. “No, I’m sure I would have remembered meeting any of the Ludzecky women.”

“We are pretty special,” Elizabeita bragged.

“Stop, Lizzie. So, do you want the traditional Irish brunch/breakfast?”

“What’s on it?” Nick asked.

“Bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes and Irish tea. Mama O’Neil made Irish soda bread, too.”

“Hmm,” Lizzie said. “That’s for me.”

“Me, too, but I prefer coffee.”

Caterina headed to the kitchen, where she bumped into Aidan. “Hey, darlin’, watch where you’re goin’.”

“Sorry. I’m preoccupied.”

“Why?

She leaned against the counter, staring into blue eyes that had been her undoing.
Still were, after six years of marriage. “The guy Lizzie’s with. He seems familiar.”

“You have a real sense of recognition.” He slid an arm around her. “From your days, I shudder to think, on the line.”

“I do. But I can’t place him.”

“It’ll come to you.”

She scanned the kitchen. “Where are the monsters?”

“My
children
are upstairs with their grandparents. They said our lad could
take his nap and they’d visit with Katie, so you and I could have some time after we close.”

“Cool.”

“There’s a little hotel right down the street…”

“Honestly, O’Neil, you still act like a horny lad.”

He kissed her nose. “That I do.”

Caterina put in the orders—she was filling in for Sophie, who’d said she could waitress today, but she got called in to work. Sometimes she worried
about her friend and sister-in-law at fires. Hmm, firefighters. Had Nick been a firefighter? She might have met him through Sophie. No, she didn’t think so.

The TV droned on while she waited for the food. Nick was older than Lizzie, but her hellion of a sister needed someone more mature to handle her. If any man could.

Liam, in the corner, turned up the TV. “Hey, guys, look.”

A crowd
of policemen in dress blues filled a church. The voice-over said there had been a funeral for a fallen member.

“He’s a police officer!” Cat said aloud.

“Who?” Bailey asked as she walked by.

“Lizzie’s date.”

“She told me he worked at the Met.”

“I’m sure that’s how I know him. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Caterina delivered the food and Bailey helped.
“Wow, such service,” Elizabeita said.

“It’s almost closing time.” Bailey smiled graciously. “We let the other waitresses go home. The place is emptying out.”

“Why don’t you stay when everybody leaves and hang out with us?” Cat asked. “Sure.”

Nick shifted in his seat. “We don’t want to impose.”

When she left, Elizabeita sighed. “I know you didn’t want to meet my family. I’m shocked
Caterina’s here.”

“It’s not that. But can we not stay? We only have another hour before I have to go home for Mom and Mellie.”

“We’ll eat and go.”

By the time they finished the delicious breakfast, the place
was
empty, and she’d seen Liam lock the door. “I’m going to go pay the bill. I’ll have to insist with this crew.”

“I’ll wait here.”

Elizabeita’s heart was full, despite
what had happened yesterday. Last night, Nick had made a commitment to her, and she was delighted about the future they might have.

Through a half-open door, she saw Cat in the office. Elizabeita poked her head in and found all the O’Neils and her sister. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. This must be a family meeting. I’ll leave the money on the bar.”

“Lizzie,” Caterina said. “Come inside.”

“No, I’m paying. I insist.”

“It’s not that.”

A feeling of foreboding replaced her former joy. She sensed what was about to happen was bad, and it had to do with Nick. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

“Not like you mean.” Cat drew her to a chair. They sat while the guys hovered around them, including the former president. “No one’s hurt. But I recognized Nick.”

“Have you been to
the Met? Seen him working?” “No. What exactly does he do there?”

“He’s a… Is this about his not having a professional job? Because if it is…”

“No, honey,” Bailey told her. “Never that from us.”

“Then what do you have against him?”

“We don’t know if we do.” Cat again. “But he wasn’t always a workman.”

“How would you know that?”

“I saw him once at a police station in Brooklyn.”

“I don’t believe he’s a criminal.”

“He isn’t. He was a cop there.”

“Nick’s a cop?”

“Yes. And I remember him because it was the day his wife was killed in the line of duty. I’ll never forget the atmosphere in the precinct. He was destroyed, of course. I felt so bad for him.”

“Did he quit? To do something completely different?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him. But not
alone. I’m going with you.”

“Why?”

“I don’t like that you seem so over the moon for a man you know so little about. Something’s off. My cop sense tells me.”

“He’s entitled to his privacy, Cat.”

“Not when it could hurt you.”

“You think he’s lying to me?”

“At least, a lie of omission.”

The ajar door eased open. Elizabeita saw Nick in the doorway. Aidan, Patrick, Liam,
Dylan and Clay moved to stand near her.

“I came to find you. You were gone a long time.”

She stepped back, away from him.

Clay came forward. “If you don’t mind, Nick, we’d like to know who you are.”

Elizabeita said, “Cat recognized you. She said you’re a cop.”

“I was. Until a few months ago.”

“So you quit.” She turned to Cat. “See, he’s not lying about who he is.”

Shoulders squared, Nick came fully inside and took her hand. “I’m sorry, honey. They’re right. I haven’t been honest.”

“Right? About what?”

“My name is Nick Casella. Captain Nick Casella. I’m undercover at the Met. To try to find out who the emailer/hacker is.”

“What’s this about?” Dylan asked.

Patrick swore. “Christ Jesus.”

“Oh, fuck,” came from Aidan

“Well, that’s not
so bad,” Clay put in.

Elizabeita swallowed hard. It
was
bad. He’d lied. And she’d confided her darkest secret to him. The juxtaposition was too much for her.

She turned to the guys. “I’d like him to leave.”

“Leave? What? Elizabeita, no.”

“Honey, are you sure kicking him out is wise?” Bailey touched her shoulder. “Maybe you two should talk this out.”

“No.” Her hand went to her
mouth. “Where’s the bathroom? I feel sick.”

Caterina hurried her to the small room off the office. Behind her, she heard one of the O’Neils say, “Come on, buddy. Let’s do what she asked.”

Cat closed the door to the lav. And Elizabeita dropped to the floor, where she lost the entire contents of her stomach into the commode.

Nick didn’t want to leave Elizabeita in the state she must be in, but the men insisted he go. Because he would have done the same for one of his sisters or in-laws, he walked out of the bar. He’d planned to meet his mother and Mellie at home in an hour anyway. He’d go now, even if it meant he wouldn’t be able to talk to Elizabeita until tonight.

But his mind
whirled with thoughts of the woman he’d hurt. He should have handled the situation differently. He should have followed his first instinct and kept her home. Forced her to listen to his confession. But he hadn’t. And now this.

Mellie met him at the door. “Daddy,” she said, throwing herself into his arms. “Where
were
you?”

He held on to his child. “I didn’t expect you back this soon.”

“We didn’t hit any traffic.” His mother came to the foyer and kissed his cheek. She cocked her head. “You all right?”

“Of course. My girls are back.” Except one, who at this point, didn’t want to see him. The hurt in those amber eyes, in the face that was so expressive, haunted him.

He sat through a pizza and tales of the leaves in upstate New York, the fun time they’d had with his
aunt, only half hearing the conversation. After he put Mellie to bed, he came back downstairs to find his mother. “I have to go out, Mom.”

“Something happened to you while we were gone.”

Somehow, she always knew. “Yeah, it did. With a woman.”

“Wow. This is big news.”

“I have to go see her. We had a misunderstanding today. A big one. I need to explain things.”

“Then go do it,
honey.”

He was back at Elizabeita’s building in a half hour. He buzzed her condo. No answer. He buzzed again. On the third try, the guy behind the desk came to the outer entrance. “Hello. I saw you leave earlier with Ms. Ludzecky. I’ve been here all day and she never came back.”

Shit. “Thanks.”

“Anything wrong?” he asked.

“No. Just a mix-up.”

Nick walked back to his car, which
he’d had to leave blocks away. The September air was cool, and he put up the collar of his windbreaker. Once inside the vehicle, he pondered what to do. Where would she have gone? It didn’t take him long to figure out.

Fishing out his phone, he did another search on the Net for the Ludzecky family. They lived in Queens. He clicked into a database he still had access to from being a cop and
found the address. One way or another, he thought, starting the engine, he was going to talk to her tonight.

“What’s going on in your head, honey?” This from Nia who’d been the only one home when Cat brought Elizabeita out to Queens. Her oldest sister wanted to stay, but Elizabeita made her go spend Sunday with her family, as she’d planned.

“Caterina told you the story.”

“The surface story. I want to hear it from the beginning.”

Elizabeita shook her head. Right now, she didn’t feel anything, which was fine by her. It was a defense mechanism that she’d used often in the past. “Not yet, Nia. Please. I want to lie down for a while. I’m tired.”

“All right. Go up to one of the spare rooms.”

Like an old lady, she climbed the steps. Once inside her bedroom,
she lay down and closed her eyes. She wouldn’t let the tears come. Finally, the world began to fade.

“Honey, wake up.” The voice called her from the depths of sleep. Elizabeita opened her eyes

Nia stood over her. “You slept for an hour.”

“Why’d you wake me?” Memory set in and she remembered what had happened. Wanted to escape it longer.

“Because you have a visitor.”

For a moment,
her heart leapt. Then catapulted. “I see.”

“I can send him away. But he looks terrible and he’s determined to talk to you. For what it’s worth, it’s always best to have the whole story before you make a decision.”

“Yeah.” She sat up. “Tell him to come up here.”

Nia kissed her head. “Baby, we don’t know much about this, but you’re unhappy and he’s unhappy, so you should consider what
you’re going to say. Don’t go off half-cocked.”

As she usually would. But that person, Lizzie, seemed to have disappeared. “I promise I won’t.”

When Nia left, she slid off the bed, finger combed her hair and straightened her clothes. Sitting in one of the chairs facing the window, she was staring out at the backyard where she used to play when she heard, “Hi, sweetheart.”

Ordinarily,
Nick’s use of the endearment would have made her spirits lift. Instead, the term made her sad. She turned around. Nia was right; he looked like hell. Then again, she probably did too. Caterina had cleaned her up from the vomiting, but…

“Thanks for seeing me. I thought you might not.”

“That would be immature. I know we have to talk about this.” She gestured to the chair opposite her.

He dropped down. “I’m going to start at the beginning. Give me a chance to explain.”

She nodded. She hated seeing the pain in his eyes.

“I was in the NYPD for over twenty years. I went to the academy right out of high school. It’s where I met Angie Bottoni.”

My wife and I went to school together.

“When we graduated, we were assigned to different precincts, by request because we
were already involved. We got married before we turned twenty. We had a nice life.” His voice got hoarse. “Until she was killed five years ago. It was a drug bust gone bad, and somebody shot her through the heart. She died instantly.”

Elizabeita’s eyes teared. “I’m so sorry.”

“Mellie was only a year old.”

We moved in with my mother when Angie died.

“I was a cop for five more years,
then the crap about the police started—we couldn’t be trusted, we were trigger-happy, we should be indicted for doing our job. I knew there were bad cops, but the condemnation of us as a whole finally got to me. I’d had enough, and I’d gone into the department so young, I could retire. So I did.”