Still, even a brother's patience went just so far, and at last Falco decided to go for it.
"So," he said briskly, "you took the last couple of weeks off, huh?"
Dante looked up. "You got a problem with that?"
Falco's jaw shot forward. He started to answer but Nick silenced him by kicking him in the shin.
"Just asking," Nick said.
A muscle knotted in Dante's cheek. "I flew to Brazil last week. And took this week off. Okay?"
"What's doing in Brazil?"
The muscle in Dante's cheek took another jump. "I bought a ranch."
Falco and Nick looked at each other. "A ranch?"
Falco's question sounded more like "Are you nuts?" but Dante could hardly blame him. His brothers were trying to figure out what was going on. Well, hell, who could blame them? So he nodded, drank some beer, then looked across the table at the two of them.
"Correction. I almost bought a ranch. It was the old man's idea. I went down to buy it for him."
"Our old man was gonna buy a ranch?" Falco cackled. "That's a joke, right?"
"Actually," Dante said, after a beat of silence, "I ended up trying to buy it for myself."
"You were going to buy a ranch," Nick said, shooting Falco a worried look.
Dante drank some more beer. "Not for myself, exactly. For-for someone."
The brothers waited. Finally, Falco sighed. "Do we have to guess?"
"You remember a year ago? A little more than that. I was dating a woman."
"Wow," Nick said, "that's amazing. You, dating a-"
"Her name was Gabriella. Gabriella Reyes. A model."
Falco nodded. "Yeah. Tall. Hair a lot of different shades of gold. Spectacular legs. And what appeared to be one amazing pair of-"
"Watch your mouth," Dante growled.
His brothers raised their eyebrows.
"You want to tell us what's going on?" Nick said.
"No," Dante snarled …
And told them everything.
When he was done, nobody spoke.
He could see his brothers trying to take it all in. Hell, he'd have done the same in their place. A woman from the past. A baby. A ranch in foreclosure, a sneaky lawyer, an option that expired in twenty-four hours. It sounded like an old Western movie, except it was real.
Finally Falco cleared his throat.
"You're sure the kid is yours?"
"I'm sure."
"Because remember that time, years ago, Teresa Whatshername-"
"Gabriella is not Teresa Whatshername," Dante said sharply.
"No, no, of course she isn't. I only meant-"
"I know. Sorry. It's just-It's tough, you know?"
Nick leaned forward. "So, let me be sure I understand it all. You have a son."
"Cutest and smartest kid you ever saw," Dante said softly.
"But the woman who gave birth to him-"
"She has a name," Dante said, his voice sharp again. "Gabriella."
"Right. Gabriella. And she scammed you into buying this ranch-"
"Did I say that?"
"Well," Falco said, "you don't have to say it. From everything you told us, it's obvious."
"Nothing's obvious," Dante said coolly. "But, yeah, I bought the ranch for her." He gave a mirthless smile. "Thought I'd bought it, anyway."
"But you didn't."
"No."
"And the ranch is what she wanted."
Dante shrugged. "Yeah."
"So, no ranch. Instead, you brought her to New York. Moved her into your place. Accepted the kid as your own without asking for any proof-"
"The 'kid,'" Dante said, his tone plummeting from cool to icy, "is named Daniel. And I don't need proof. Gaby would never lie to me."
"Right," Nick said.
"She wouldn't. And I don't like the tone of your voice."
Nick nodded. Falco cleared his throat.
"And you took all these days off because … ?"
A little lift of the shoulders. "It just seemed the right thing to do." Dante looked at Falco and Nick. Their expressions were benign, but something was lurking in their eyes, some truth they seemed to know and he didn't. "Gabriella was new to my place," he added. "New to the city."
"No, she isn't. She lived here. She worked here. You said so. She even knows your place, from when she dated you. So, try again, bro. You spent the time with her because … ?"
Dante narrowed his eyes. "What's your point?"
Nick sighed. "I don't know, man. I mean, what could my point possibly be? You were ready to drop five million bucks on a ranch for a woman. You acknowledged her baby as yours. You brought her home, moved her in, spent every minute with her and you tell us the relationship didn't mean a thing. Have I got the details right?"
Dante shrugged.
"You've got them right," Falco said. He looked at Dante. "Then, how come each time one of us so much as hints at her being anything but perfect, you turn purple?"
"I do not turn purple."
"He's purple now," Nick said lazily.
"He is, indeed," Falco agreed. "And we haven't even touched on why the lady's leaving you."
"No ranch. That's why."
"You don't think it could have anything to do with the fact that she suddenly realized she was living her life, living her kid's life, on your terms? That she has no money, no home, no anything here or back in Brazil that you don't graciously choose to dole out, and-"
Dante slammed down his beer bottle. "You make it sound as if I trashed her life. But that's not the way it was."
Falco narrowed his eyes. "How was it, then?" he said very quietly, and Dante's face all but crumpled.
"Oh, hell," he whispered. He looked up. "I loved her. I still do. I'm crazy for her. I want to marry her. Wake up every morning for the rest of my life with her beside me."
Nick arched an eyebrow. "But?"
"But last night, before I could tell her that, she turned cold as ice. Said it was time I met with her lawyer."
Falco nodded. "Seems to me it's one of two things happening here, bro. Either she's tired waiting for her ship to come in-"
Dante lunged for him. Falco grabbed his wrist.
"Take it easy, man, unless you think you and me taking this outside will help calm you down."
Dante didn't answer, and Falco let go of him and leaned over the table. "Or the lady loves you just the way you love her but she's got her pride, she's got the baby, and she's decided she'd rather end this on her terms than wait for you to do it."
"Why would she think that?"
"Maybe," Nick said patiently, "because you haven't said a word to her about what happens beyond today."
"Maybe," Falco added, "because of what you told us about how you broke up with her last time. The diamond earrings at dinner routine."
Dante was bewildered. "That's how we all do it."
Falco nodded. "Exactly."
"I don't know. I mean, I wanted to bring her to the wedding today. Introduce her to everybody."
He gave a halfhearted laugh. "Of course, I warned her what it would be like, how rough it would be, what the old man is like, how Mama would probably go nuts learning she has a grandson, how the girls would swamp her, but before I could even finish talking, she interrupted, said she had no wish to go with me, that she wanted to discuss repaying the money she thinks she owes me … as if I'd take a dime from her."
"And how did she react to what you told her? That she'd be meeting us all at once?"
"I just told you," Dante said impatiently, "I never got that far. I just told her that-I told her that-" His face turned white. "Merda!"
"What?"
Dante shot to his feet. "I was preparing her for the big Orsini scene, but it must have sounded as if I were telling her there wasn't a way in hell I'd bring her with me today."
"The big Orsini scene?" Nick said, but Dante was already racing for the door.
Falco and Nick looked at each other. "He really loves her," Falco said.
"Sure seems like it."
"We could have left him in the dark."
"I know."
"But opening his eyes was the right thing to do."
"Still … "
"Still, another one bites the dust."
Nick shuddered and slipped from the booth.
"Man," Falco said, "don't tell me you're bailing, too?"
"I'm going to get us a bottle of Wild Turkey."
Falco nodded. "An excellent idea," he said, and decided they could wait until the bourbon was half-gone before they tried to figure out what in hell was happening to the Orsini brothers.
The beautiful morning had given way to a rainy afternoon.
New York plus rain. A simple equation that added up to no taxis in sight.