Dinner was ready half an hour later, and Ranger called Grant to suggest to him that he could bring Steve and Val down to the dining room. By the time they arrived, everyone was dished up and starting to eat.
Harry asked Eduardo to put his hand up and, when Eduardo did, Harry smiled at him. "Andrea Grizolli is Vito's grandson and my godson."
Eduardo grinned. "Andrea is a good kid. How is he doing?"
"Excellent. He is attending college on a basketball scholarship, he is doing extremely well in his classes, and he has found his focus and plans to take social work in school. He's in his freshman year and he is already checking out Masters' programs, and he is volunteering as a mentor to a troubled youth. The work you did with him was inspirational."
Eduardo laughed. "I didn't do anything. Andrea was always a good kid. He was just a little confused, as are many kids his age, and he was drifting, without a focus. Once he discovered a focus, he took off and did all sorts of amazing things. I'm thrilled that things are going so well. The last time I talked to him, he sounded happy and settled, and that was all that I ever wanted for him."
"Vito and I are so proud of him."
"I am too. As I said, he is a good kid who was willing to put in the work to turn his life around, and now he is reaping the rewards of that."
Val and Steve came in with their plates of food and sat down beside my mom and dad and grandmother. Steve started whispering to my grandmother, and Val started whispering to my mother. I sighed. I knew that Steve and Val were trying to change the rules, and I hoped that my mother was strong enough to fight back. I knew my grandmother wouldn't be.
Suddenly, my mother stood and said, "I'm not listening to this crap", and she carried her food into the kitchen. I excused myself and wheeled my way into the kitchen as well. My mom was standing in front of the window and looking into the courtyard, vibrating with anger.
"You okay, Mom?" I said.
My mom sounded incensed as she said, "she wanted me to ask you for money and then give it to her. She wanted me to be a middleman working against the mob."
"She knows that would be grounds for your house and cars getting torched?"
"She said they'd never do it."
"They've already done it to Val's house and Steve's car."
"She said that you are being cruel. I don't understand how you arranging for both her and her husband to be allowed to live and prosper is being cruel. True, they can't live in Trenton any longer, but that's not the end of the world. There are thousands of smaller towns in the States that would be appropriate to live in. They get to keep the million dollars to help them get set up, they don't have to make onerous payments…the only condition is that, with their fresh start, they cannot accept any help from friends or family. They have to truly do it themselves. Other people do that every day and look after themselves and their family and they don't have a million dollars in the bank! Think of any new immigrant to the country! They do the same thing without a safety net, and they might not have the education that Steve has or even the ability to speak the language, yet by working hard and having pride in what they are doing, no matter what it is, they get ahead and make a life for themselves. They might have to accept a job that is far below their skills and training and interests, but they are doing it with pride and honor. Val and Steve also have no appreciation for the predicament that they put themselves in, or how hard you had to work to come up with the solution that you did. I think you and Ranger have been able to come up with an excellent solution and, in truth, I'm surprised that the mob went for it."
"Ranger and I have worked extensively with the mob in Trenton before. They are good people and we have a lot of respect for them. In turn, they have a lot of respect for Ranger and were willing to listen to him. Because the guys are such family men, they understood that Ranger wanted to whack Val and Steve, but he didn't want to upset you and Dad, and we thought that whacking them might." My mother started to laugh as I smiled. "Ranger did it for you and Dad, Mom."
"I don't want to sit beside her again."
"Take my seat, and I'll sit beside Val."
"Do you mind?"
"Not at all." I led my mother out of the kitchen, retrieved my plate of food and, as Ranger looked at me in question, I rolled over to Val.
Hal saw what was happening, stood up, and said, "take my seat, Steph. If Val kicks me, she'd hurt her toe more than my leg would get hurt. Of course, I might break her foot in retaliation." He carried his plate over beside Val and sat down.
I smiled at Hal and whispered a thank you, and I wheeled over to Hal's seat. Eduardo got up and moved the chair out of the way for me, then sat down in his seat beside me. "Hey", he said as I pushed myself in. "I heard that an option was given to your sister and former brother-in-law."
"Yes. My mom was upset because Val was trying to wiggle her way around the option to get more money. As my mom said, the option that Val and Steve were given was more than fair. Instead of killing them, they could have asked Steve for all the money they had given him over the years. They could have required monthly payments, they could have requested all sorts of things. But the only requirements were for them to set up their lives in a town that didn't have a mob presence, and for them to do it on their own, without help from family and friends and, if they accepted help, the people who offered that help would be punished just as much as Val and Steve would. The last requirement was that they stay together. So, knowing that, what does Val do? Try to get my mother to con me into paying a monthly stipend to them, which Val expected that my mother would then hand over to her. This would put my parents and Ranger and I at risk. I'm glad my mom sees the stupidity of it, and the fairness in the original deal. I have to say that I have rarely heard my mother as angry as she was a few minutes ago. She's usually a very calm person."
"That's true. Your parents are nice people, and I hate seeing your sister give them a hard time."
"When my mom pointed out to Val that it contravened the rules that the mob laid out, Val said the mob would never enforce those rules."
"Oh boy."
"Exactly."
"Wait until Ranger hears."
I snorted. "Can you tell him, please? I don't particularly want to tell him. I have to go to bed with him tonight."
Eduardo smiled. "Nuh-uh. Your sister, your husband. That's two good reasons for you to do it rather than me. After all, he might fire me."
"He might fire me."
Eduardo laughed. "I think you're safe."
I sighed.
As dinner finished, Ranger turned to Val and Steve. "What did you decide now that you've had a chance to think about the options?"
"There is no option there", said Val. "Live or die. See? There is no option."
"Really?" I said quietly. "I think that is one of the most fundamental options there is in life."
"I don't think that we can do it without Steph giving us money", said Val.
"That's not part of your option", I said. "It's also a bunch of bull. You are two people that can both earn a salary. You have no reason not to be able to earn a salary. You have the education and the intelligence to get a job. With both of you working, you'll be able to support yourselves. If you are careful, you won't even have to go into your retirement fund for your daily expenses. Pick a small town with reasonable housing prices and you'll soon be able to afford your own house. With your retirement fund, you'll be able to afford two good used cars and still have plenty of money to spare. If you can't do it, it will only be because you aren't trying."
"You've never had to live hand-to-mouth", said Val. "What do you know?"
Ranger snorted.
"It is precisely because I have that I know you'll be able to survive."
She turned to Ranger. "You've never had to struggle for money either. Why are you setting us up so that we will? You're just being cruel."
Ranger sighed. "I, too, when I was starting my business, had times where I was praying that I had enough money to pay for the gas I needed in my car that day. I had rented a small office in a bad area and was sleeping on the floor in it because I couldn't afford an office and a room in a rooming house. Like many of the people in this room, I know what it is like to struggle and to work hard, fueled only by a dream. And I know the joy of getting ahead and seeing myself prosper."
"Fine. We'll take the life option", Val said in a resentful tone.
"Are you sure?" I said. "You aren't doing us a favor by picking the life option. In truth, we don't care which option you choose."
"Bitch. You're enjoying lording this over me, aren't you?"
I sighed. "Actually, I'm not. I feel sorry for you because you don't have a history of taking responsibility for your actions, and I know that this will be a rude wakeup call for you. I tried to help you by supporting you. I tried it your way, Val, and you failed to do your part. The consequences of that were that your funding was pulled and it will not be reinstated. You will not get another chance to do it your way and instead will do it the same way that millions of other people survive and thrive – by yourself. You are lucky in that Steve isn't having to pay back the hundreds of thousands the mob lent him, and you don't have to pay back the thousands we spent on you. Since you didn't do what you were supposed to, it says in the contract you signed that it's perfectly in our rights to ask for that back. However, we aren't going to. We're writing you off as a bad investment and letting you keep that money. The same thing with the mob. They are writing Steve off as a bad investment. You're both incredibly lucky."
Ranger looked across at me, and I guess that he could see how ticked I was. He turned to Val and Steve. "Where are you going to stay tonight?" he said.
"Here at the castle."
"Not going to happen", said Ranger. "The rules are that we cannot help you either financially or by giving you food or shelter. Because of that, this meal was the last time that we are helping you and the only reason that we are feeding you right now is because you hadn't selected which option you wanted to take. You have now selected, so our assistance ends here."
"So that means when I come to Trenton to visit my kids?" said Val.
"You'll be staying in a hotel", said Ranger. "However, the mob will be on the lookout for you in Trenton so it might not be the best idea for you to see your kids in Trenton."
Val's face turned white.
"What do you care?" I said. "You were quite happy to foist them off on Albert and Marie. Now you just have to pay child support and you don't have to see them again."
"But they're my kids."
"Val", I said gently, "for the past five years you've been too drunk to be much of a mother. Let them be with Albert and Marie, where they will get a solid upbringing with people who care more about them than alcohol."
"You're a prude, Steph. After you fucked the entire football team during high school, I never would have thought that you would become so arrogant in your attitudes. However, your holier-than-thou attitude won't fly with me. I know what you've done in your past and now that you don't drink, I know that I am still better than you. I, at least, didn't have my name splashed across the walls as the town slut."
My eyes filled with tears and Ranger looked at me in support – and I could see the smackdown coming. "I thought Joyce Barnhardt was the town slut", Ranger said mildly. "Although, after hearing how you cheated on Steve with Dickie, maybe you should be taking the title."
Val turned white, and Steve glared at her.
Grandma glowed with glee. "You cheated with Dickie?" she said with a grin. "I need my pen back, Helen, when we get back to Trenton. I have some things to announce on the bathroom walls."
"No, Grandma", I said firmly, even as I knew that I was wasting my breath. "Your days of writing on bathroom walls are over."
"Why? I can put my glasses on so that I can see the writing."
I sighed. "Yes, but it wouldn't be good for your arthritis to be writing on the wall. The angle is bad."
