Thursday, November 23, 2017
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY
3:45 p.m.
Danny had backed the El Camino into the west side of the two car garage and watched as Joe slowly backed the Chevelle into the eastern half.
"Yo!" Danny called out causing Joe to hit the brakes.
"Perfect" Danny noted.
Joe shut off the engine and climbed out from behind the wheel.
"So, how's she run?" Danny asked.
"Like a wet dream" He grinned. "How'd you like the El Camino?" Joe inquired.
"You know, if I wear a leather jacket and jeans, I could see myself taking some babe out for dinner or maybe to a movie or bowling" Danny hypothesized.
"Dan, I know that it's only been six months, but you have to get back out there. Don't be like Dad and Pops. You're too young and your sons are growing up on you. You don't want to wind up being the third generation of widower sitting around here when you aren't on duty, wondering how life passed you by". Joe stated as he leaned against the Chevelle's fender and pointed Danny's butt at the El Camino, where upon Danny leaned against it.
"I know, it's just, I'm not like you, I can't just hit on women. Took me forever to work up the nerve to ask Linda out. I guess I'm more like Jamie, hell, he pussyfooted around Janko for four years before Dad finally told them to shit or get off the pot" Danny explained.
"No shit" Joe commented.
"Yeah, gave them each a Get Out of Jail Free Card from the Monopoly game. Told them that if they wanted to be a couple, to trade it in on their partnership. Otherwise, they were in deep shit if they kept trying to hide it". Danny replied.
Joe nodded. "So tell me, what happened with the Boy Wonder and Sydney?"
Danny took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
"You know, I never thought she was right for him" Danny began.
"You more than made that obvious to us" Joe reminded him.
"Turned out, I was right. She became engaged to a lawyer and no way was she gonna marry a cop" Danny said.
"Because of what happened to me?" Joe asked.
"I think in the back of her mind she worried it could happen to him, but truthfully, she was looking at bank account sizes, BMWs, law partnerships, and someday opening Reagan and Reagan with her most likely being the first name on the door" Danny answered.
"More like Davenport & Reagan" Joe surmised.
"See, that's exactly the way she treated him. Anyway, the day he graduated the academy, he gets approached by FBI Agent Anderson who tries to recruit him to fill your spot in the Blue Templar but something about her set off his radar. He's always been good about sensing things, so anyway, he tells her no and begins doing his own investigation into what happened to you. One night Syd's in bed and Jamie gets up in the middle of the night and starts doing research on you and Lydia Gonzalez, and it wasn't the first time. Syd wakes up in the morning, tells him that she has an offer to move to London for six months and work in a firm over there. The kid all but told her to go for it, he knew they weren't ever going to be happy" Danny concluded.
"I wonder" Joe began.
"No, if you had been here nothing would have changed. Erin and I asked Jamie a couple of years ago that if they had stayed together and gotten married, where would they be and you know what, he said either divorced or in the process of an ugly divorce and it really didn't matter whether he was a cop or a lawyer, because he'd never be able to live up to her ideal of who she wanted him to be, as a reflection of her. It's just not who we Reagans are" Danny concluded.
Just then the door to the garage opened and Henry stood in the back hallway looking out. "You've been out there for over eight years, plan on coming in any time soon?" He yelled at Joe.
Joe broke into a big smile as he jogged up to his grandfather and hugged him.
"Let me look at you" Henry smiled back. "God answered my prayers"
"Yes he did, and he answered mine by keeping you around long enough for me to get back to you" Joe stated.
"Come on, let's go eat and then you can tell me all about your adventure" Henry ordered. "Come on Danny, dinner isn't going to get eaten by itself" Henry called out.
"If Danny's there, it won't get eaten by anyone else" Joe remarked.
"First the kid and now you, what is this, pick on Danny day?" He asked.
"It is Turkey Day" Erin replied from the kitchen.
"Looks like you have your answer Mr. Gobbler" Henry teased.
"Danny went out to the staircase and called up. Jack, Sean, Nicky, dinner's ready"
"Okay Dad" Jack replied as they came down the stairs, Nicky doing her best to stifle a smile.
"Come in here" Danny called out from the kitchen.
Jack entered first and he couldn't believe his eyes. "Holy shit" he exclaimed.
"Jack Reagan, watch your mouth or I will wash it out with soap" Erin threatened.
"Sorry Aunt Erin, but, it can't be, I mean, who is this" He asked.
"Exactly who you think he is Jack" Danny said.
"I'll be damned" Sean let slip out.
"And you young man aren't too old to be turned over my knee" Erin warned.
The boys looked at Nicky. "He's really who you think he is" She confirmed.
"How do you know?" Jack asked.
"I ran into mom, your dad, and Uncle Jamie last night and he was sitting with them" She replied.
Joe just stood there amused by his nephews' inability to accept the inevitable reality before them. "Just like their father" he thought.
The boys both turned to him. "Uncle Joe?" They simultaneously inquired.
Joe walked over to his nephews and wrapped his arms around them in a group hug.
"I'll tell you all about it, but I had to fake my own death in order to protect all of you and now that we are all safe again I'm home for good" He informed them.
"Does that mean Uncle Jamie has to give the Chevelle back to you?" Sean inquired.
When everyone looked at him he shrugged his shoulders. "Saw it in the garage last week and I thought grandpa was going to surprise Uncle Jamie with it" He innocently replied.
"No Jack, that's your uncle's car, always was, I just borrowed it for a while" Jamie answered.
"Come on, let's sit down. There's a chair at the table that has missed a certain butt for the past eight and a half years" Danny stated.
"Now you know where his sons get it from" Jamie winked at Joe.
"That's one thing I have always known" Joe grinned back.
Seated at the table were Jack Boyle and Eddie Janko. Joe gave Eddie a kiss on the cheek and Boyle a hug.
"Thanks for everything Jack, sorry I had to put you through it all" Joe stated.
"Nonsense, I'm just glad you're back and in one piece too" He stated.
"Speaking of back, I didn't tell you last night, but Jack and I are back together too" Erin grinned.
"Fantastic" Joe replied as he gave his sister a kiss on the cheek before shaking Jack's hand.
Erin was seated to Frank's right followed by Nicky, Jack Boyle, Eddie, and Jamie who was seated to Henry's left.
Jack and Sean took the middle chairs on the opposite side.
Danny looked over at Joe. "Want to sit next to Dad?" He inquired.
"I'll sit next to the old tank here, I kind of missed him" Joe smiled as he sat next to his grandfather.
"Smart ass" Henry quipped.
Frank looked around the table. For the first in a long time, all four of his children were seated before him.
"At each Thanksgiving Dinner, we take the time to give thanks for that we are grateful for" He began.
"However, this Thanksgiving is bittersweet. We've lost our Linda who brought a vibrancy to this table, and to all of us, and who challenged us to be better people, not just cops, or lawyers, or students, and to always examine our humanity in how we went about our lives and in our dealings with others. I for one miss her deeply. On the happier side, Joe has returned to us and though a new wound exists from our loss of Linda, an old wound has healed by having my son back, to have all my children here with me tonight, and for that alone I am truly grateful but even more so, my daughter and my youngest son have both found love" Frank smiled "and I am so happy for them both, and to welcome Eddie to our Thanksgiving table, and to welcome Jack back to it. I hope that in the future, my other sons may find the joy and happiness their brother and sister are currently experiencing".
As they went around the table, everyone else expressed their gratitude of the day with Joe electing to go last.
"There is so much that I can say that the food will be cold by the time I am only part way through. What I will say is that the thought of this family is what sustained me during my time in the Mexican wilderness and almost every night as I sat on my back porch in Juarez, I would look not towards the north and the lights of El Paso, but northeast towards Brooklyn as I thought of each and every one of you. I am grateful to all who helped bring me in from the cold, and who have accepted me back into the warmth of this familial bosom" Joe concluded.
"Let's join hands" Frank said. "Joe, would you lead"?
"With pleasure Dad" Joe stated as he began the grace.
After dinner and dessert, Joe gave everyone a synopsis of what he had been doing for the past eight and a half years and more importantly, how he had faked his death, and Linda's help in doing so.
The boys were astounded that their mother could have done such a thing but Danny and Joe made sure that they understood she was as much of a hero in protecting their family as Joe had been, and that the secret of never being able to tell that Joe was alive had to have been a terrible burden to bear, especially on Joe's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and most of all, May 15th of each year.
Finally, the party broke up as the only football game remaining was the Giants vs the Redskins and no self-respecting Reagan, would ever watch the Giants unless they were playing the Jets.
Joe had planned to head back to Jamie's but his younger brother was taking off with his girlfriend so Joe would spend the night in his old room, and catch up with his father and grandfather.
Once Henry had called it a night, Frank pulled out two cigars and motioned towards the garage.
He opened the main door and they each picked up a lawn chair and placed them in front of the cars. Joe sat in front of the El Camino and Frank the Chevelle.
"These two cars really do look good together" Frank noticed.
"I see you still enjoy a good smoke" Joe commented as he took one of the cigars and snipped the tip.
"You do recall your Rudyard Kipling do you not" Frank inquired as he lit up.
"From his poem, 'The Betrothed', 'There are a million Maggies who are willing to wear the yoke. A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke'" Joe recited before lighting his cigar.
Frank smiled. "Danny finally gave them up and Jamie never got into them. Erin will take a puff now and then, but you and I were always the two who enjoyed this time together"
"And I look forward to many more" Joe replied, his normally cheery temperament slightly off.
"Something's on your mind" Frank quickly deduced.
"There are two things that I can think of that remain to be attended to" Joe noted.
"And those are?" Frank inquired.
"My grave for starters. I want to remove the headstone, exhume the casket, and fill in the hole. It creeps me out when I visit Mom, Grandma, and Linda" Joe replied.
"That I can understand and I will contact the M.E. on Monday. I'm sure your sister can handle the legal end of it for you, what else?" He inquired.
"Before I went into Mexico, the DEA had me take flying lessons. I obtained my pilot's license and while in Mexico, I did a fair amount of flying, both for legal and illegal purposes. Suffice to say, I'm a damned good pilot, both fixed and rotary wing" Joe explained.
"You want a transfer to aviation?" Frank asked.
"No, nothing of the sort. I was just wondering if you would like to take a flight with me this Saturday, I had planned on visiting an old friend currently housed Upstate. I think that he would enjoy seeing me face to face" Joe noted.
Frank got the gist. "Malevsky's dead".
"Sorry, allow me to clarify. I didn't mean an old friend of mine, I meant an old friend of yours" Joe noted as he stared southwest towards Juarez, the lit end of his cigar glowing a bright and angry red like the mood behind his eyes.