I finally have the next chapter done for you. You'll soon find out what Poppa Giordano wants from House.

Can't wait to hear what you think about this chapter.

Chapter 85.

Giordano had aged since the last time I saw him. His gray hair was unkempt and his eyes red and bleary. He didn't look sick, exactly, but rather haggard, droopy.

I didn't get up when he entered my office. "Have a seat." I waited until he'd dropped into the visitor's chair opposite me before asking. "So, to what do I owe this visit?"

"Dr. House, I don't like you and I don't like your methods." Even his voice had lost that commanding tone he'd had in the past. "I hate what you've done to my family. But I'm also aware that you'll give it to me straight. Do I have any chance of winning my children's loyalty back?"

I couldn't know how much he knew at this point, and I'd avoid giving anything away that might make things difficult for Jess. The truth was, I was convinced that she and her brother and sister would never feel the same way about their father as they had when they were younger. He wanted the unvarnished truth. "No."

He collapsed even more. Peter Giordano was a big man, but at that moment he looked small and weak. Maybe if I were more compassionate, I would have thrown him a bone, but he'd asked for my honest opinion and I gave it to him.

"What do they want?" His tone was pleading.

"For one thing, they want to be out from under your domineering control of their lives, to do what they want rather than what you had in mind for their lives."

"So, why didn't they come to me and tell me so?"

I tilted my head and looked him in the eyes. "Would you have listened?"

He couldn't maintain my stare, but looked down as if the answer was somewhere in the threads of my office carpet. When he finally looked up, a new resolve was set in his face. "How do I make up for the past?"

"You don't. You can't."

He shook his head. "The story of my life, I suppose. I alienated my family back in Italy, but there was nothing I could have done for them. They can't understand that. Did you know one of my brothers came to the states and refused to have anything to do with me?"

"That's not how I heard it."

"It's true. And now, I understand, he's even more successful than I am."

I hated to say it. "Have you tried to approach him lately?"

Giordano's eyes narrowed. "No. Do you think I should?"

Before I could answer my phone rang. Ah, the irony! Of course, I couldn't let on who it was, so I grabbed the phone before that annoying mechanical voice blurted 'call from Giordano, Giovanni'. "Hello. What'd you find out?" I asked guardedly.

"Marco's been having some kind of treatment at the hospital, something called a pink noise generator? I think that's what it's called in English."

"Yeah, that's what we used on..." I stopped myself before I said 'Petey and Chris'. "...our patients here."

"Including my nephew and great-nephew?"

"Yes." I looked guardedly at his brother, who was listening to my side of the conversation but not very closely. If he only knew. "So that's why he wasn't answering his cellphone."

"Yes. I expect you'll be able to talk to him tomorrow. As I said, his English isn't very good."

"That's not a problem. I can speak...his language. Thanks. This could be a tremendous help with our study."

"Anything I can do for my nieces' friend. Ciao, for now, dottore."

"Good-bye." I closed the connection and turned back to Senior. "Sorry about that. We've been doing a study and that was about a patient outside the country who has the same problem."

Giordano nodded. "I suppose you're a busy doctor. I'm sorry to have taken so much of your time." He sighed. "I don't suppose you'd give my daughters a message from me." His eyes were pleading again.

"Depends on what it is."

"Just tell them that I still love them and I...I wish I could talk to them, that is that they'll talk to me."

"I'll tell them, but I wouldn't be honest if I promised it'll make a difference."

He nodded again. "I'm beginning to understand that." He stood and held out his hand. "Thank you for your time." It took him a lot to say that, but that didn't mean I'd shake that hand.

"If it's any consolation, Jess and Nina are going to do quite well without you. Petey, too, most likely. At least you won't have to worry that they're out on the street without a roof over their heads." No thanks to you, I added to myself. "And if there's one thing you can do for them, it's to let them have their trust funds."

His eyes opened wide. It might never have occurred to him. "OK. Tell them that, too." He let his hand drop to his side, then turned and left.

Had I convinced him? I wouldn't know until he did something about it. Five minutes after he left, my phone rang. This time it was Jess. I told her about her father's visit.

"You didn't tell him we're going to be working with Uncle Johnny?"

"Not even when your uncle called."

"He called you? Why?"

"I'd been trying to reach Marco or his doctors but no one answered. Johnny found out that Marco was in the hospital for treatment."

"Like Petey and Chris had?"

"Yes. I was careful not to let your father know who I was talking to."

"Good."

"So how'd it go today?"

"We've lined up two other restaurants. I can't believe how well this is going. But you didn't say what Daddy wanted."

"He wanted to know how to get through to you."

"And you told him?"

"I told him that he can't. He said to tell you he loves you and wishes you'd talk to him."

"He would say that."

"I did make sure he knew you'd all appreciate it if he reinstated your trust funds."

She hesitated. "And he's considering it?"

"You do want him to, don't you? I did the right thing telling him that, right?"

"Yes, of course. Thank you, Greg."

"But I didn't think the trust funds were that crucial, especially because you're both about to become very successful."

"It's the principal of the thing. Nina and I don't need the money, although having Father think we do could be to our advantage. No, but winning one, getting him to give in without resorting to legal means is very satisfying."

"I believe I can hear you grinning."

"And you'd be right." She chuckled. "Well, it's been fun talking to you, but Nina and I have another appointment in downtown Princeton in about half an hour. See you tonight."

"Yeah." I didn't hear from Jess any more that afternoon. In fact, it was rather quiet after my morning. I arrived home at five thirty, grabbed a brew from the fridge, and settled down on the couch to wait for her.

When she hadn't arrived by seven thirty, I tried calling Nina. Unsuccessfully. I tried to remember if they had another appointment for dinner, but nothing came to mind. Jess hadn't written anything down on the calendar she'd hung inside the door of the pantry.

Eight o'clock came and went, then eight thirty, but Jess didn't appear or call. I punched in Johnny's number. "Have you spoken to Jess or Nina tonight?"

"No. Why? Aren't they answering their phones, either?" A single chuckle wasn't encouraging.

I tried to laugh, too. I seemed to be relying on him to help me contact various members of his family. "I spoke to Jess this afternoon just before the two of them headed downtown for another appointment."

"How many restaurants are they lining up?"

"Last count, it had to be five or six." I tried to remember whether she'd even mentioned the names of the places they'd been to earlier in the day.

He whistled. "I hadn't realized they were going so big."

"The sky's the limit."

"And that was the last you heard from Jess?"

"Yes." I didn't have to tell him what we talked about, or that his brother, Peter, came to call.

"Who were they meeting today, she and Nina?"

"I honestly don't know." Jess rarely mentioned details about their plans, and I hadn't pressed her. I never did, but now I wished I had. "She and Nina only tell me what they think I need to know."

"Yes, I'm not surprised." Now his chuckle was genuine. "They're definitely Giordanos. And you were expecting to hear from her this evening?"

"Jess and I...we live together."

"Oh, I hadn't realized that, doctor. But I'm not surprised. My niece is a lovely woman, and very smart."

"And now she's missing, along with her sister." They weren't like Petey, who tended to run off at the first sign of trouble. Jess was usually where she was supposed to be. Except now she wasn't.