139 - Watch Your Step

Tuesday came early.  You can thank the lone husband who reads this thing. ;o) Without further adieu, Learning Patience returns....

“I’m going to speak with Petey’s parents,” Carol attempted to excuse herself from the table almost as soon as Tony left.  Dorothea had enlightened her about his recent efforts to quit smoking, ending with the fact that she would know that if she ever bothered to call her middle child.

“Carol,” Dorothea spoke in a low voice, taking advantage of Romeo’s visit to his Uncles’ – Tico, Richie, David and Obie – table to speak frankly.  Matt, Desiree and Senior would get over what she was about to say.  Or not.  It didn’t much matter to her. 

“Treat me however you like.  If you think so ill of me to believe I’m sleeping my way through your sons, then so be it.”  Without looking his direction, she tossed out a dry aside, “Don’t worry Matt, not happening.” 

Desiree’s snickering was a light spot in the otherwise tense moment. 

“Whatever helps you cope with the idea of Tony marrying me is fine – as long as you don’t push him away.  I don’t even understand why you would want to?  You’ve raised a good, good man who doesn’t deserve that from you.  Why are you punishing him for being happy?”

“Dottie, don’t judge,” her former, and future, father-in-law chastised gently.  “You don’t know everything.”

Carol chimed in with a muted, “No, you don’t.”

“What don’t I know?  I’m perfectly willing to learn, if it keeps Tony from being hurt by your behavior.”

“What you don’t know is that I’m making an effort, Dorothea,” Carol told her quietly, with an odd combination of submission and defiance.  “I don’t know why this is affecting me so strongly, but I am trying to get used to it all.  You think you have to protect him from me, but I’ve made a life out of protecting him.  Protecting them all.  So, please, back off.” 

What was intended to placate Dorothea, only made her angrier. 

Don’t act like I’m the one in the wrong here, dammit.  Your sons’ lives are not all about you.  They each deserve to live their lives without fear of judgment from their own fucking parents!

She’d seen it in Jon, too, through the years, although not to this degree.  He, more often than not, listened to and considered his mother’s input when she offered it.  After all, she had helped him manage his career in the very early days.  Dorothea understood that – somewhat, anyway.  The other two sons, however…

She would love to call Carol on the carpet, but Petey probably wouldn’t appreciate the scene.  This was what Dorothea had been dreading since she first found out about the dinner.  For appearance sake, she was going to have to let it go and keep the peace.

I’ll be damned if I’m going to acknowledge her internal struggle though. 

Biting her tongue, she swiveled in her chair, pointedly turning her attention to Desiree.  “So where are the little ones tonight?”

And where the hell is Tony?

☠ ☢ ☠

Tony took final drag on his half-smoked cigarette, stuffing the remainder of the butt into  the  sand filled pot that had been courteously provided by the restaurant management.  He couldn’t tell if the smoke coming out his mouth was actual smoke, or just his breath materializing in the cold air. 

Cold or not, the time had been well spent.  After ten minutes talking with Henry Heinz, he had some additional insight into his new sister-in-law.  He’d also given Henry some new insight of his own.

“You’re telling me she fights with him?”

The glass-panes in the exterior door rattled when Tony pulled it closed behind them.  Rubbing his hands together for warmth, he grinned at the protective oldest brother of Miss Patience Heinz.  “Yeah.  Hang on for a second, man.” 

The heat inside the restaurant’s second floor fogged up his glasses, and Tony was forced to stop,  remove them from his face and wipe away the condensation so that he could see where he was going. 

“I’m amazed that you think she’s a shy introvert.  Petey was really quiet when she first started working for me, you know?  It was all about work, and she barely spoke to any of us at the studio, but I never considered her shy.  Now I never dreamed she’d go toe-to-toe with anybody...”  He snickered, replacing his glasses and wiggling his nose until they were seated comfortably.  “Guess I never landed on the right nerve.  She sure as hell goes toe-to-toe with Jon, and comes out on top pretty often from what I can tell..  The only other woman I’ve ever seen handle him as effortlessly is his ex.”

“Whom you’re now going to marry.  I need another drink before we go back up.”  Henry shook his head in wonder, jerking a thumb toward the bar in the corner.  “Wanna grab one with me?”

Tony hated to leave Dorothea with his mother, but another beer under his belt would be great.  His girl would be fine for another few minutes.

“Sounds good, man.  Lead the way.”

Resting his weight against the bar, Henry placed his order for Glenlivet on the rocks and waited for Tony to order the beer on tap before commenting, “Not to be offensive or anything, but I hope you don’t plan to set your sights on my sister when you’re done with Jon’s ex-wife.”

Tony smiled with just his mouth.   If this guy wasn’t Petey’s brother he would have cold-cocked him without hesitation.  As it was, his eyes stayed unsmiling and, he hoped, intimidating.  “Not to be offensive, but you say that again and I’ll put your behemoth ass on the floor.  There is no ‘being done’ with Dorothea.  Don’t make me out to be a sleazy fucker when you don’t know jack about us.”

“Point taken, and my apologies.”  Henry lifted his glass with a conciliatory nod.  “Just watching out for Patience.  Lifelong habit.  Guess I might rethink it a bit since she seems to have finally come into herself.”

“Yeah, you might,” he agreed after a long swallow of the full-bodied house beer.  Between it and the two he had before coming down here, Tony was starting to loosen up, and it made him a little more forthcoming than he might have ordinarily been.  “She’s picking up two more brothers in this, too, ya know.  My younger brother, Matt, and her don’t know each other that well yet, but it doesn’t matter.  She’s family now.  We’ve got her back just like we do each other’s.”

It wasn’t the beer talking, he meant that.  Petey had done a lot for him on a professional level, but it couldn’t touch what she’d done for him – them all – on a personal level.  Tony and Jon were closer than they’d been in years, and happy.  Dorothea, the kids…  They were all happy.  Petey’s presence had played a major part in that.

“Good to hear.”  The glass hit the bar with a muffled ‘thunk’ and the ice rattled against the sides.  Mr. Heinz could drink.  His double-shot was gone.  “We aren’t as close as we once were, but Patience was the center of my world for a lot of years.  It’s hard to let that go, even when I don’t see her for months at a time.”

“That’s the way it is with family, man.”  Tony guzzled the last of his beer and pushed the empty pilsner glass toward Henry’s, taking a step back from the bar.  “Speaking of which, we’d probably better get back.  Jon and Petey were having a ‘discussion’ in the hall when I came down, and I wanna make sure everything’s cool.”

The bigger man stepped back as well, following Tony’s lead.  “Yeah, I got the feeling something wasn’t right.  Patience was wearing her social graces face and pearls.”

Chortling, both men backtracked toward the stairs so they could rejoin their families.  “Petey in pearls…  Something not right about that at all.”  Tony’s slightly scuffed black shoe had just sunk into the carpeted staircase runner when he heard the snarling voice. 

 "He… is alive only because I allowed it.  This stun gun carries twice the power of the last one.  He shan’t be walking away this time.  Oh… and neither shall you.”

Motherfucker.

It had to be that highbrow cocksucker Daniel.  Nobody else he knew could make a death threat sound so condescending.  For that matter, nobody else he knew wanted to kill Jon or Petey. 

His head snapped around to see if Henry had heard.  The dark thunderclouds swirling across his face and the clenching of his fists said he had.  “Daniel,” he mouthed to Tony.

Nodding silently, he slipped his right hand into the waistband of his jeans, glad he hadn’t agreed with Dorothea’s suggestion to leave the Glock at home tonight.  She hated him carrying it, and reminded him that there would be security, but something in his gut had told him to tuck it into the small of his back anyway. 

Thank God for that gut. 

Allowing Henry to see what he was doing, Tony released the safety and gripped firmly gripped the butt of the gun, allowing his finger to hover over the trigger as he ascended the next step.  The weapon was aimed up and to the left, toward the direction of the voice – the same side of the stairwell that Petey and Jon had been huddled into a few minutes ago. 

“Daniel, you don’t know what you’re doing.”  Despite the slight tremor to her protest, Tony was impressed with how calm Petey came across.  "I don't know how you found us, but there are men with guns within earshot.  You can’t kill us here.    One scream and they’ll be here in seconds.”

Already here, sweetheart, but feel free to scream away.

Up another step, the bulk of Henry at his back, Tony aimed the gun toward his left.  He could easily make out a figure next to the railing, but it was Jon.  His brother’s knuckles were white with the force he was exerting to grip the bannister, and he was looking away from the staircase.

Henry had caught the same thing, pointing wordlessly to the left as Daniel scoffed, “Electronic listening devices, stupid woman.  I planted them on my little visit to him the other day, in preparation for just this moment.  As for your laughable security, you presume that I care about their presence.  You’ll be dead before they realize what the screaming is about.”

Tony crept up another stair, nodding his understanding to Henry. 

“If you kill her, you won’t get the information you’ve been so determined to have.”  Jon’s voice all but hummed with fury.  Tony had been on the wrong end of that temper more times than he could count and didn’t have to see his brother’s face to know that it was set in hard, angry stone. 

“I can tell you’re not the brains in this relationship,” came the immediate and pompous scorn.    “Your whore will tell you I can figure it out if I so desire.  I’ve only been trying to make her feel useful.”

“You’re a lying sack of monkey shit who needs to learn some fucking manners.”

There was the sound of flesh hitting flesh, then an electronic ‘zap’ searing through the air followed by Petey’s stifled cry and Jon’s curse as he hit the floor.  His brother was slumped against the railing, head wedged between two of the narrow, ornamental posts. 

“Touch me again and you’ll both die without  further ado.”

Where the fuck are those security guys?