Love to Love You Baby

  Chapter Eleven

  It’s a whole new ball game.

  — Sports saying

  Oh, this was good. Joey was giving him the Stare. Using both his “two eyes,” even keeping them looking in the same direction.

  Jack figured he was supposed to be afraid, maybe even cringe. Fat chance of that. Joey Morretti couldn’t stare down a Twinkie.

  Poor Joey. He’d inherited his martinizing father’s looks and size, which meant he was short, with a narrow, weaselly-looking face dominated by a thin, hooked nose, and his coal-black hair had already begun to fall out by the time he was nineteen. He had hair plugs now, obviously implanted by the lowest bidder, and the top of his head had the same barely reclaimed look of rows of small clumps of saw grass recently planted in a sun-bleached white sand dune down at the Jersey Shore.

  Mostly, Jack knew, Joey dressed like Sonny Corleone, in the first Godfather movie, right down to the suspenders, sleeveless undershirts, and pleated dress slacks. Except he didn’t have James Caan’s broad shoulders, so his suspenders kept falling down, and he had to be careful, use the backup of a belt or else lose his pants.

  Today, fortunately, he’d dressed more formally, in a shiny black gangster suit with white pinstripes, a black dress shirt, and a white silk tie. He looked, to Jack, like either a poor man’s Al Capone or a poor man’s Regis Philbin. Either way, the look just didn’t quite work.

  “Not working, Joey, sorry,” Jack said, following along with that train of thought as he sat comfortably on his new couch in the otherwise almost empty living room. Nice couch. Keely had chosen well. “Hey, do you remember the time Tim and I de-pants’d you? Easter, wasn’t it? We were about twelve, and you were nine? I think Sadie still has the pictures. I’ll bet she’d have a set made up for you, if you want.”

  Joey blinked.

  Well, that had taken all of about ten seconds. The guy had about the same powers of concentration as a hamster. Jack decided to go for two. “And then there was that time Aunt Flo and Uncle Guido went to Sicily and you and Cecily stayed with us for a couple of weeks. Good times, Joey. You only wet the bed twice. I guess maybe it’s time to tell you that Tim and I poured water on the mattress, and you, while you were sleeping. Get it, Joey? You only thought you’d—”

  His cousin jumped up from his seat on the kitchen chair Jack had dragged into the room for him, pointing a finger at Jack. “I could put a contract out on ya in five minutes, ya know. Five minutes!”

  “Jack?”

  Jack turned at the sound of Keely’s voice, saw the frightened look on her face. “Just a minute, Keely,” he said, then turned back to Joey. “You stay here, okay? Don’t move, don’t touch anything, and for God’s sake don’t steal anything. I’ll be right back.”

  Walking over to Keely, he took hold of her elbow and steered her toward the hallway, then into the kitchen. “Hi,” he said, once he’d pulled out a chair, motioned for her to sit down before he walked over to the counter, peeked into one of the bags. “So, what’s up? Snag any bargains? Hey, look here. Isn’t this ice cream going to melt if you don’t put it away?”

  Keely hopped up from her chair, not really having settled into it, and grabbed the half gallon of butter brickle from Jack’s hand. “Screw the ice cream, Trehan. There’s a gangster in your living room!” She opened the freezer door, jammed the ice cream inside, slammed the door, then whirled to face him. “And the Beast of Bayonne is upstairs, doing his Jolly Green Giant impression while supposedly guarding Candy! My God, Trehan, I go away for one lousy hour and this is what I come home to?”

  Jack suppressed a smile. Man, she was hot; he watched to see if steam would start coming out of her ears. “You met Sweetness? Nice kid.”

  Keely pressed one hand to her forehead, the other to her hip, and glared at him with wide, angry eyes. “I don’t believe this. I don’t believe you. Because this isn’t funny, Jack. None of this is funny. And you... you just let that idiot in there threaten you, and then you insulted him. Are you nuts?”

  Jack walked over to her, hands half raised in case he had to ward off a blow, then took hold of her shoulders, pressed her back down into the chair. “It’s Joey, Keely. He has as much chance of putting out a contract on me as he has of winning the Mr. Universe contest. He thinks he’s connected, Keely. Big difference between playacting at being a wise guy and really being one. Hell, Joey got laughed out of the local street gang when he was fourteen. Seems he thought they all should sing and dance while they were fighting, like in West Side Story.”

  Keely bit her lips together, but then her shoulders sort of shook, and she finally grinned. “That’s funny.”

  Jack nodded his head. “Yes, it is, even if I just made that one up. What’s not funny is that Joey has decided to take Candy back to Bayonne with him. That’s why he brought the Beast of Bayonne along, as backup muscle in case I said no.”

  Keely leaned back in her chair. “Yes, that’s what I was afraid of, the moment I found out your cousin was here. Sweetness says Joey owns him. Does he?”

  “In a way,” Jack informed her. “This is something new. He owns the kid’s contract. Joey thinks that having his own fighter will score points for him as he tries, yet again, to pretend he’s mob-connected. It’s all a game, Keely. Joey’s little mind game he can afford to play with himself—thanks to my aunt and uncle’s money. Just like Cecily, except she spends her share on these crazy starts of hers. The Morretti kids, they’re the joke of Bayonne. And believe me, you’ve got to go some in Bayonne to cop that title.”

  “A joke, maybe, but you said it wasn’t funny, which must mean you think Joey can take Candy. Can he?”

  Jack shrugged. “Possession is nine-tenths of the law, or so I’ve heard. But, yeah, I am concerned, which is why I’ve got a call in to Jimmy, but he’s in court. Thing is, Keely, I’m only a cousin to Candy, when you get right down to it. Joey is Candy’s uncle, and Cecily’s brother. This could get sticky if we don’t knock him down, fast.”

  “You and your lawyer, you mean?” Keely asked.

  “Okay. Him, too. But for now... well, just come with me and follow my lead. I want Joey back on the road to Bayonne before he can think up a reason to stay here overnight.”

  “He’d do that?” Keely asked nervously, her hand in Jack’s as he pulled her back down the hallway, toward the living room. “How?”

  “I don’t know. I just know he has this thing about being a part of the family or something. Hates being rejected. Once, he pretended to have sprained his ankle tripping over Tim’s leg—which Tim may or may not have put in his way. Last time it was because he had night blindness and couldn’t drive after dark. He ended up bunking in with Sadie for two weeks, which is why my aunt is probably hiding under her bed right now. I’m telling you, Keely, I’m betting he has three alligator suitcases packed and in his trunk, just waiting for some way to get himself invited to stay.”

  “You know, it sounds like maybe if you and Tim had been nicer to him when you all were kids, Joey wouldn’t be so bad,” Keely said as they approached the living room.

  “Really?” Jack stood to one side, inviting her to take a good look at Joey Morretti in action, then come to her own conclusions.

  Joey was on his feet, stuffing one of the pair of small brass elephants Keely had bought to place on the coffee table, into his suit jacket pocket.

  “Oh, okay, so he’s a little... strange,” Keely agreed as Jack grinned at her. “But don’t antagonize him, all right? This is too important.”

  “Exactly,” Jack said as he pulled Keely into the living room. “That’s why I know you’ll go along with this. Joey?” he said, startling his cousin, who had been reaching for the second elephant, “I’m sorry about the interruption. Let me introduce you to Keely.” He took a deep breath, slid his arm around Keely’s waist. “Keely McBride, allow me to introduce you to my cousin, Joseph Morretti. Joey, this is the wonderful woman I told you about, Keely McBride, my fiancée.”

  Jack felt Keely so
rt of sag beside him and held on tight to her waist. “Steady,” he whispered as Joey walked forward, chin lifted as he straightened his tie, obviously intent on stealing Keely from his cousin and making her his personal, and willing, love slave.

  Keely smiled, speaking quietly, through clenched teeth. “You lousy, sneaking son of a—well, yes, hello, Mr. Morretti,” she ended brightly as Joey extended his right hand and she—with a small nudge from jack—took it, only for an instant. “I’ve... I’ve heard so much about you. All of it flattering, I’m sure. Why, I believe Jack has told me you’re his favorite cousin.”

  Jack bent down, pretended to kiss her behind her ear. “Don’t overdo it, McBride. He’s dense, but he’s not completely stupid.” Then he smiled at his cousin. “Sorry, I just can’t seem to keep my hands off her. She just said yes last night, didn’t you, darling?”

  Keely tilted her chin and batted her eyelashes at him, and Jack knew he was in trouble. Keely confirmed this when she said, “Oh, darling, can I tell him?” Then she turned to Joey. “He cried, Mr. Morretti. He got down on his knees, said the most beautiful things to me... and then he cried.”

  She snuggled against Jack’s shoulder, gazing up at him in mock adoration. “I’ll never forget it, Jack. Never.”

  He dug his fingers into her waist, but Keely never flinched. He should have known she wouldn’t flinch. The woman was a menace. “Don’t tell all our secrets, darling,” he warned, his tone warm and syrupy. “After all, what we did after that should remain... private. Although,” he ended, looking at Joey, “I’ve got to tell you, this woman has fantastic stamina.”

  He felt Keely’s heel come down on his instep, not banging down, just sort of placed there; then the full weight of her body followed as she pretended to affectionately lean closer against him.

  “We’re going to look at rings tomorrow,” Keely went on, as Jack was too busy trying not to wince to say anything else and Joey was just standing there, not saying anything at all. “I told Jack I didn’t need a ring to know that he loves me, but he insisted. He says he’s going to buy me the biggest diamond in all of Allentown. Isn’t that sweet?”

  At last, Joey Morretti broke his silence. “I knows dis guy, Jack, ya know, back in Bayonne? Get ya a great rock, only a little warm, if ya, ya know, takes my drift.”

  Keely pressed her fate against Jack’s chest, and with his arm still around her, he could tell that she was laughing. “Well, thank you, Joey. But I think I can handle it.”

  Joey shrugged, then frowned, then reached inside his jacket, all the way to his sleeve, and gave a pull—obviously to yank his suspender back onto his shoulder. “Hey, makes no never-mind to me, ya know, where ya spend yer money. But it don’t change anything, ya know, Jack. This getting hitched crap, so the kid has both a mama and a daddy. That’s bull. Cecily would want the kid, ya know, with, me.”

  “She left her with me, Joey,” Jack said as Keely moved slightly away from him, then took his hand in hers, squeezing it in warning.

  “Yeah? Well, not forever,” Joey countered. “She’s comin’ back, ya know, sooner or later.”

  “Possible, very possible,” Jack agreed. “But, until then, Candy stays with me. So let it go, Joey. There’s no way a judge will give you temporary custody over Keely’s and my own petition. We can offer her a more stable home, a family. What can you offer her? The Bayonne Mafia Debutante’s Ball, black tie and machine guns optional? Christ, Joey, think!”

  “Jack...” Keely warned quietly.

  “Okay, okay,” Jack said, trying to keep himself from exploding. “Look, we’ll talk about this later. Right now, we should think about some supper. You hungry, Joey? I’ll bet Sweetness is. Keely—do we have half a cow in the freezer?”