Page 109 of Lawbreaker

She sighed. She knew why he was worried, even though nobody else did. Not yet, anyway. She smiled. “Okay.”

While she was being examined, the family stood outside the building so that the hopeless smokers could have a cigarette.

“We owe you more than we can ever repay,” Cole told Tony.

“No, you don’t,” he said quietly. “The light in the world would go out if she left it. I would have done anything to keep her safe.”

“Then could we ask why you sent her home alone at Thanksgiving and told her she was just a passing fancy?” John asked solemnly.

“Sure. Go ahead,” Tony said.

John frowned. “Go ahead...?”

“Go ahead and ask. I said you could ask. I never said I’d answer you,” Tony added with twinkling eyes.

John glared at him. “Now...” he began.

“She sings like an angel,” Tony said quietly. “I’m almost thirty-eight years old. My background—well, you know about that. I may get arrested one day for some things I did when I was younger. I grew up poor, in a neighborhood where you became either a cop or a criminal. And I think we had about two cops total in our gang. She wanted to sing at the Met, and I wanted that for her.” He looked away. “I thought I was the obstacle. So I removed it.”

“So she could sing at the Met,” Cole surmised.

“Yes.”

Cole smiled. “Heather was a recording artist. She was famous. She sang like an angel, too, and she and her band played gigs all over the country. But when it came to a choice between performing and me, I won hands down.”

“You’re saying something.”

“I’m saying that there are things more important than fame and fortune. And your background doesn’t matter to a woman who loves you.” He indicated Odalie, walking toward them. “Case in point. She doesn’t even see anybody except you,” he added with a smile.

It was true. Odalie went straight to Tony without deviating a single step.

“How are you?” he asked her softly.

She smiled. “I’m fine. And he even gave me something for the nausea. Plus some high-powered vitamins. And the name of a specialist.”

He smiled back. “The baby’s okay?”

She smiled with her whole heart. “The baby’s okay.”

“What baby?!” exploded in a chorus behind them.

16

“Oh, my God,” Tony groaned as Stasia and Heather lit into him. He held up both hands. “I’m sorry...!”

“It’s okay. I’ll protect you,” Odalie said, positioning herself in front of Tony. She flushed. “It was all my fault,” she began.

“It was not,” Tony protested. “And it’s not a fault. It’s a baby.” He looked all dreamy, his dark eyes soft with wonder as he looked at Odalie.

“Whatever happened to ‘I’m too old’ and ‘I’m a bad man’?” Stasia asked, tongue in cheek.

“When the baby’s old enough to talk, he’ll take my side,” he promised.

“He?” Stasia asked.

He sighed, smiling at Odalie. “My dad had a brother, who had a son and both my grandfathers had sons. No daughters.” He grimaced. “I’d love a little girl with long blond hair, but I’m more likely to get a tough little boy with black hair. And an attitude,” he added. He grinned. “And he’ll probably be born smoking a cigar, ordering the doctors around.”

Everybody laughed.