Family Secrets Read online

As Linda walked up the aisle with Edward’s eldest nephew, she saw that Marina and Sal had shown up as promised, and were seated in the aisle reserved for the bride’s parents. There was no missing Marina’s perfect dress, perfect hair and perfectly made up face. It was probably childish, but she couldn’t help the thought that no tears would be ruining Marina’s perfect makeup.

  Linda was a different kind of woman, and she’d rather have raccoon eyes from tears of happiness, than a perfect emotionless face. She was glad she was sitting on the groom’s side, with Jake’s aunt and uncle. They had arrived two days earlier, and had spent most of the time with Jake, Cari, Edward and herself. Instead of a bachelor party, the six of them had gone out for dinner and had a really great time. Linda smiled as she took the seat beside Jake’s Aunt Paula and Uncle Joe.

  After squeezing Paula’s hand, Linda caught Jake’s eyes and saw the love brimming over as he waited for Cari. The next moment the music started and everyone was standing to watch the bridal procession. She smiled and turned to watch the bride's maids come down the aisle first, all looking lovely in their soft shades of green dresses.

  Soon the music changed and the actual bridal procession started. Cari’s fingers dug into her father’s arm nervously as everyone stood to turn and watch. Cari knew that all eyes were probably on her father and herself as they began the long walk up the white-carpeted aisle.

  Cari held her father’s arm tightly, consciously relaxing the death grip she had as she took the first step. Edward looked down and asked softly if she was all right. Cari nodded and tried to smile, but it was wobbly. Edward grinned.

  “Don’t worry, Cari. Just lift that pretty chin of yours and the hard part will be over in a few minutes.”

  Cari straightened her back and followed her father’s directions. The walk down the aisle did seem a little strange. As she walked along, she looked from one side of the aisle to the other. She was pretty sure her mother would be having a fit. Many times her mother had lectured her to keep her head straight and eyes lifted. She couldn’t help but remember some of their conversations.

  “Now, don’t forget Cari. Look straight ahead, towards the front of the church. Only when you reach the first aisle can you turn to look at me, and of course Sal. Next you regally turn to the other side and look at your groom.”

  “Why?” Cari was compelled to argue with her mother. “I want to look around to see who came to watch me get married.”

  “No! This is not some ‘howdy-do party’ Cari! Now, there will be no argument on this. The bridal magazines and books all stress to achieve the ethereal effect the bride must look straight ahead, as if she is above such things.”

  Cari looked at her father, letting the memories of her mother’s lecture dissolve. She didn’t think his smile could get any bigger. For a moment she followed the direction of his eyes, which appeared to be directly on Linda. Cari squeezed her father’s arm. When he turned to look at her, she smiled. “I think Linda looks beautiful, Dad.”

  Edward nodded in agreement.

  Cari knew she wasn’t supposed to be chattering either, but she asked her dad one more question. “Are you going to marry her, Daddy?”

  Edward’s smile faded as he turned towards Cari. “Yes, sweetie, I am. I felt that it would be best to keep it secret until after your wedding.”

  Squeezing her father’s arm, she shook her head side to side. “No more secrets, okay?” When he nodded his head, Cari continued. “Then sit with her today. We’ll make a place for her at the table, or if you prefer you join her with Jake’s aunt and uncle. Proclaim your love for her on the rooftops! I don’t care what people say, Dad. Your relationship is something pretty darn special and I really like her.”

  “All right, sweetheart. To hell with what your mother might think!”

  Cari grinned and then winked at Edward. “I love you, Daddy. “

  “I love you too, Cari. Now let’s pick the pace up a little or Jake will be meeting us part way!”

  They continued down the aisle, and people she or her father knew were smiling as they passed. While a lot of the people were friends of her mother or Sal, the ones she did know were not too embarrassed to grin or even chance a slight wave. When she met Jake’s eyes a few moments later, she didn’t really see anyone else. She felt her father pass her hand to Jake, and she knew she made the right responses, because Jake just kept smiling at her. Suddenly, he was lifting the veil to kiss her, and Cari realized she was now a married woman!

  Jake grinned at her. “I love you, Cari. Is it too late to elope?”

  Later at the reception, many of the guests questioned why she laughed after the groom kissed her. She wasn’t surprised that the only one who really understood the humor was her father…

  * * * * *

  “What was that, Cari? I can’t hear you over the razor.” Jake was in the bathroom, shaving for a second time on his wedding day.

  “I was just wondering if you really wanted to go somewhere right now. I know you got all these travel brochures for me to decide, but to tell you the truth, I’d be just as happy staying here and visiting with your family, and getting to know Linda better.”

  Jake came out of the bathroom and stood for a moment. He’d finished his shave a few moments earlier, and had just applied some aftershave lotion. He was taken aback for a moment as he saw Cari on the bed, dressed in the sexy white lingerie, and her soft, dark hair spilling over her shoulders. He had to pause and thank God once again for letting Cari come into his life.

  Cari was seated on the bed, wearing a present from one of her friends. It was a sexy white teddy in lace and silk, with loose lace at the hips, and very low cut in the front. It had a robe, but it was mostly filmy silk material and see-through lace. She was sitting cross-legged, and looking at some papers on the bed in front of her.

  He crossed the distance between the bathroom and the bed, and lay down across the foot of it. He saw Cari’s eyes lift and go over his half-naked body. He was only wearing a pair of silk boxer shorts, adorned with little cupids, arrows and hearts, which she had given him as a present earlier. He saw the flare of her nostrils and the narrowing of her eyes as she looked at him. He always had the same reaction when he saw her. Jake reached out and lightly stroked his fingers down her thigh, and over her knee.

  “If that is what you want to do for a honeymoon, sweetheart, then that is what we will do.”

  Cari nodded and smiled. “Of course, I will want a rain check. Maybe in a month or two, before the baby comes, we could go somewhere for a few days.”

  Jake gathered the leaflets together, as if he was looking at each one, and then he tossed them off the bed. He moved quickly and pressed Cari back into the bed, looming above her. Cari yelped in surprise, but grinned at him just the same.

  “How about we get down to the consummation of this marriage then, wife?” Jake asked her in a fake growl.

  Cari laughed. She squirmed for a moment or two, and then went limp. “Well, if you insist…”

  Jake shook his head at her and lowered his mouth to kiss the side of her neck. His hands moved over her body, exciting her with each touch. He was surprised when he felt Cari’s fingers thread through his hair and then pull until he lifted his head. His eyes met hers.

  Cari smiled slowly. “Promise you’ll ‘insist’ almost every night?”

  Jake laughed and nodded his head. He kissed Cari’s smiling lips and knew he was the luckiest man on earth!

  Epilogue

  When the last notes of the hymn had faded, the members of the congregation settled themselves back down onto the pews. An air of expectancy hovered over them as Jake and Cari, with Joshua cuddled in father’s arms, approached the altar. Smiling, the priest held out his arms toward Joshua to accept the infant. Cari pressed a quick kiss to the baby’s forehead before he left Jake’s loving hold.

  Expertly the priest gently bounced the restless infant while he conferred quietly with Jake and Cari. After a few moments, the priest turned back to the cong
regation. He presented the baby for all to see. “What name do you give you child?”

  “We give him the name Joshua Edward.”

  Jake reached over and took Cari’s hand in his. When she glanced up a moment later, he smiled at her. She looked perfect in her light pink dress. It was belted loosely at her waist, but Jake had lost track of how many times Cari had stated she was determined to be able to wear it by today.

  He remembered the day she had come back from shopping with Linda. It had been her first day out without their son, Joshua Edward, and his first day alone with him. Cari had laughed when she saw the looks on her husband’s and baby’s faces. The younger looked very hungry. Josh had refused water, breast milk in a bottle, formula and finally, breast milk on his finger! Jake knew the look on his face was sheer gratitude to have her home.

  Josh had taken bottles from him before, but it was as if the little guy sensed mommy wasn’t around the corner, just in case. So, as Cari quickly got down to feeding the angry boss of the family, Jake had looked at the dress that had taken four hours to buy. Of course, he had admired it, and complimented her on getting it on sale. The whole time he was reminding himself that next time he would remind Cari that “on sale” was not a priority.

  Today though, sunlight streaming through the church windows, he saw how the pink of the dress brought out the soft blush on Cari’s cheeks. So the four hours, and the money, were well spent after all. Little Josh might not agree, but one day he’d understand. Just like one day he would understand the complicated relationships of his grandparents.

  Cari had been almost nine months along when one afternoon, without warning, Sal had appeared, knocking on their front door. Cari had not wanted to see him alone, and so together they had met with him in the large living room.

  Immediately, Sal had begun to speak. “Carissa, Cari, I had to see you. You have turned down our invitations to dinner, to lunch, to everything. No,” he held up his hand as Cari started to reply. “Please let me finish. Your mother doesn’t know that I have come to see you. She is unhappy. I know you probably don’t believe me.” He paused and Jake saw the tears in the other man’s eyes. Jake reached over and took Cari’s hand in his, as Sal continued.

  “I love your mother, Cari. I have loved her since we were children, playing on the same street. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as strong as I should have been. My father demanded I stop seeing Marina. When I broke up with her, she was just barely pregnant with you, and neither of us knew. My father sent me away to college. I came home at Thanksgiving. I so desperately wanted to see Marina. I was willing to defy my father…”

  Jake looked from Sal to Cari. When she didn’t speak, Jake felt he had to ask. “What happened? Did you see her?”

  “My father waited until we were all seated at the Thanksgiving dinner, when he announced that my friend, Edward, had married Marina just a few weeks earlier. My father could be quite a bastard when he chose to be. I saw it in his eyes, watching me as he told his news. God! It was so hard, but I couldn’t cry and let him know how deeply I was hurting.” Sal paused to look down at his hands, twisted so tightly together now. He looked up and saw that Cari was watching him.

  “You have my mother’s eyes, Carissa. And your long dark hair is exactly like hers. She was quiet like you. As a little girl, you could always find ways to occupy yourself.”

  Cari’s voice cracked a little, as she spoke. “When did you and my mother…?”

  Sal grimaced, rubbing his hand over his eyes. “Your mother and I didn’t start our affair until several years later. I came home again that Christmas, and it was at Midnight Mass that I saw Edward and Marina come into the church. Her coat couldn’t hide her swollen belly. The feelings of loss swamped me, and I ran out of church. My mother followed me, and in the hope of making me feel better, she told me that the gossip around town was that Marina and Edward had to get married. I think she actually hoped that I would think Marina was a tramp.”

  “Did you go to my mother then?”

  “No, Cari, I did not. I was hurt, and returned to school. My father happily offered me a summer in Europe and I took it. The next school year went a little easier. I only came home for a few days over Christmas. I was sure that I was over Marina, so I came home for the summer. Do you remember how all the families would have the big parties in the street for the holidays?”

  Cari nodded. “I remember that we went most years.”

  Sal nodded. “Edward was so proud of his baby. You were a little over eighteen months. Marina had dressed you in a cute little red, white and blue outfit for the holiday, and Edward was showing you off. I’ll never forget that day, or that moment.” He looked into Cari’s eyes. “It was so hot, and my folks were sitting out in front of our house, enjoying the festivities. There was some girl there that I’d been flirting with until Edward walked up.”

  Suddenly, Sal stood as if he couldn’t sit another moment. “Edward had this huge grin on his face as he walked up, calling out to my parents, and then to me. The pride and the love on his face were evident to anyone who saw him. My parents knew the truth the same instant I did. Edward stood there with his pale skin, blond hair and blue eyes with the prettiest Italian baby I’d ever seen. Marina was Italian too, but from Northern Italy, and fair skinned as well. You could argue genes and chromosomes and all, until I heard your birthday. Edward claimed that even though you’d come early, you were a healthy baby.”

  “What did your parents say then, Sal?” Jake prodded, needing to know for himself.

  Sal gave a harsh laugh as he replied. “I got rid of the girl I’d been planning to score with and then I looked my father in the eye. ‘That is the only grandchild you’ll ever have.’ I told him, but I was so caught up in my own pain that I didn’t see the hurt in my mother’s eyes. I only wanted to hurt my father. I packed my bags and went back to school. I was still too angry with the world to think logically.

  “My father didn’t believe me, but my mother did. She wrote me lots of letters, begging me to come home. We would work something out, she promised. Just a few weeks after that she and my father were killed in an auto accident.”

  Cari’s gasp stopped Sal’s flow of words. He sat back down in the chair across from the loveseat where his daughter and her husband were seated. Taking a deep breath, he went on a few moments later.

  “I came home for good, and began running my father’s business holdings. I was settling in, content with my life, when one day I went walking in the park. You know the one, Cari, it’s just about a block from your father’s house. I saw a woman whose blonde hair caught my attention. She was pushing a dark-haired three year old girl on a swing. Your hair was long, done up in ringlets. In that moment, it all came rushing back to me. Everything I had lost, because of my father, and my weakness. If only I had stood up to him…”

  Sal looked up and tears were running down his cheeks. “I missed your growing up, your first words, first steps. Family still means a lot to me, Cari. I’m not like my father. I love Marina, but you are all the closest blood relations that I have left and I would like to be a part of my grandchild’s life, from the beginning.”

  Jake had seen the look on Cari’s face and knew she was softening her feelings. He knew she wouldn’t forgive over night, and her next words confirmed his assessment.

  “What about mother?”

  “Cari, your mother isn’t perfect, but then very few people are. She has her faults, but I love her. As soon as the divorce goes through, she and I will be getting married. I would like it very much, once the date is set, for you both to come.”

  Jake went to squeeze Cari’s hand, but suddenly she was biting into his hand with her nails very tightly. He had thought she might be a little upset…

  “It’s the baby! I know my timing sucks, and…oh shit! Now I’ve ruined the sofa!”

  “Honey, calm down. Nothing is wrong with the…”

  Sal interrupted Jake. “Holy crap! Her water broke!”

  Jake’s thoughts ret
urned momentarily to the present as he looked over at Sal, who was standing with Marina, just to the side of the christening fount. Between the two of them, they had taken Cari to the hospital. He had gone with Cari to her room, and left it to Sal to make the necessary phone calls. Things went a lot faster than he had anticipated and the next time he saw any of Cari’s family was to tell them she’d had a boy. The waiting room had seemed a little tense with Sal, Marina, Edward and Linda all in there together. But he had not waited any longer than to just deliver the good news.

  When Sal and Marina came to visit, Cari held her arms out and hugged them both. Marina cried when she held the baby, and Jake was sure that he saw tears in Sal’s eyes. A short time later, Edward and Linda arrived. The baby seemed to relax everyone, and they all wanted to hold Joshua, or Josh, as Edward immediately nicknamed him.

  Soon after he took Cari and the baby home, Edward and Linda stopped by every day. Not long after that, Sal and Marina were coming by several times a week. Sal came the first time with a video camera, the kind that showed the picture on the swing out window at the side. As he watched Sal now, he moved to get a better angle for the camera. Shaking his head slightly, he turned and saw that Cari had been watching Sal as well. She turned and they shared a smile.

  Joshua cried out. Jake looked over and saw that his son was objecting to the water being poured over his forehead. As soon as the priest was done, Linda cradled him close to her body once again. Together, she and Edward repeated the necessary words as his godparents. Jake imagined his son was also objecting to the lace he was being forced to wear to satisfy tradition. The next moment, he felt Cari thread her arm through his. Looking down, he saw Cari was smiling but she also had tears in her eyes.

  “I love you, Jake,” she whispered to him softly.

  Jake grinned at her. “I love you too, sweetheart. I’m glad we have all your family here.”

  Cari smiled back. “And yours.”

  “True, but I’ll be really glad when we can get the house back to just us.”