A Santini Christmas (2 page)

Leo opened his mouth but the elevator doors opened again and a Fauquier County Officer came striding in. He zeroed in on her and headed over.

“
Are you Josephina Santini?”

She nodded.

“
I’m Officer Faison. I was on the scene of your husband’s wreck. It’s being investigated as a DUI incident.”

Anger and stress had her standing up, placing her hands on her hips and going toe to toe with the officer.

“
I can assure you that my husband was not drinking.”

He actually took a step back and she realized she might have scared him. “No, not Mr. Santini. The other driver was drinking.”

“
Oh.” Her anger dissolved and she felt strangely out of sorts. She had nowhere to direct her anger.

“
Is he going to be okay?”

“
Not sure yet. He’s in surgery right now.”

As soon as she said it, the doors at the other end of the hall opened and a tired looking woman in a pair of scrubs came walking out. She stopped at the nurses’ station and the woman sitting there pointed toward Joey. The surgeon walked in their direction.

“
Mrs. Santini?”

She nodded as she felt MJ slip an arm around her waist. It was a small thing, but feeling MJ’s warmth bolstered Joey’s resolve. She knew that her daughter-in-law understood better than her son.

“
Your husband is going to be fine. He had some internal bleeding we had to get under control and we also set the fracture. He’s going to have a long road with physical therapy, but he should be fine.”

She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer of thanks. MJ squeezed her closer.

“
Can I see him?” Joey asked happy that she didn’t sound quite as pathetic as before.

“
They should have him settled in his room soon. They’ll come get you.”

“
Mom?” Vince asked from behind her. Her oldest strode down the hall like…well…a Marine. He dragged poor Jules behind him. “Is Dad okay?’

Joey nodded even as she had to keep blinking. If she didn’t, there was a good chance she would start blubbering. Vince closed his eyes. When he opened them, she saw the relief she felt.

With a sigh, Joey walked over to the chair and collapsed. She couldn’t cry yet. Not with her babies there and in front of everyone. That could come later. Just those few minutes had almost done her in.

She looked up and found both of her boys watching her with the oddest looks on their faces. Great, now they were worried about her. Joey figured it was because she wasn’t yelling at everyone. She knew that for the boys, they worried when she got quiet.

Since she knew both of them were so much like their father, Joey decided to give them a task.

“
Could someone get me a cup of coffee?”

“
Sure,” Vicente said as he led Jules over to the chair next to Joey’s. Once he had his wife settled, he motioned with his head and Leo apparently picked up on it. “

“
We’ll be back,” Leo said, leaning forward and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Once they were finally man free, she smiled at MJ. “Now, give me those grandbabies.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
Honey, I would much rather be holding life in my hands than worrying about the man in there.”

It took close to an hour before they were finally in the room with Stewart. He was sleeping and as the nurse said, he would mainly sleep through the day. They had him on some major drugs to help with the pain.

“
You can go home, Mom. Leo and I can stay here.”

She glanced at Vince then looked at Leo. “No. I’ll stay. You two go back, take care of the babies and the women. When Gee and Marco get here, bring them in.”

From the way Vince set his jaw, she knew he wanted to argue with her. Thankfully, Jules pulled on his arm. “Leave your mother with him. She’ll let us know if anything goes wrong.”

He hesitated, but Jules leaned closer and whispered in his ear, and Vince relented. “Okay, but I want updates.”

She started to chuckle at the order. Her boys just didn’t tell her what to do. But, instead, a sob broke free. Both of her boys froze. Jules stepped forward and put her arm around Joey.

“
He is always trying to order people around like that. Your mother doesn’t need that right now,” she admonished. “Do you want anything to eat?’

The thought of food had bile rising in her throat. Joey knew she was still too unsettled to deal with that right now. She shook her head.

Jules smiled. “Let’s go boys. We can grab MJ from the mother’s room.”

As they shuffled out, both of the boys gave her a kiss on the cheek. When she was finally alone, she settled in the chair next to Stewart and watched him sleep. He looked so tired, as if he hadn’t slept in weeks, although she knew that wasn’t true. He’d been beside her every night in bed. Dark circles marred the skin beneath his eyes. It had to be the wreck.

She sighed as she scooted closer, needing contact with him. She slipped her hand in his and brought it up to kiss his fingers. The tears she had been holding off came up and now she let them flow. It only lasted a minute or two. Then she dabbed her eyes and settled back in the uncomfortable chair, her hand in Stewart’s, and drifted off to sleep.

Jacksonville, NC, 1975

Joey Antonio wanted to cut off her feet. Even with the comfy sneakers she wore, her soles ached. Sharp pain radiated through them all the way up her legs. Twelve hours at two different jobs was starting to get to her.

“
You need a vacation,” Sam said. She glanced at the bartender-owner of the Hideaway. He looked ready to fall over himself. Even his regularly cherry Hawaiian shirt did nothing to brighten his pallor. He was scraggly, not getting much sleep the last few weeks. And, she knew that this time of year was especially tough on him. They had a bad time of it lately with his wife’s accident. In fact, in the last couple of weeks, he looked like he had aged about ten years.

“
I need a lot of things,” she said covering up her worry with a smile. “One of them is that order.”

His weathered face split into a smile as he did her bidding. He knew what it was like to struggle. His attention was snagged by something over her shoulder. She knew he couldn’t see that well without the glasses that he refused to wear unless he was driving.

“
You got another table, honey. Do you want Thelma to take it?”

Sam’s wife had been making noises about coming back to work, but since she’d broken her arm, neither Sam nor Joey would allow it. She was there, but in the back room and more than likely sleeping—although Thelma would never admit it. If Sam was offering up his wife, Joey assumed she looked like a freaking Mac truck hit her. When she glanced over her shoulder, she knew now why Sam offered Thelma up. A table full of jarheads. Normally, she could handle it, but Sam must have sensed that she was at the end of her rope today.

“
No. I can take them.”

She straightened her shoulders, then walked her way over to the table. Being where the bar was, and the fact that Sam was a retired Marine, they always had a lot of them in for drinks. She had gotten accustomed to handling them over the last few months, but it hadn’t been easy.

Striding over to the table, she took stock of the group, as she always did. Four of them, all in their twenties. Not new Marines. They were a little older than the newly minted recruit.

All of them were built, like most Marines, but she could tell they were friends and not family…not outside of the Marines.

“
Good evening. What can I get for you?”

The four of them immediately grew quiet and all of them smiled, except one. He looked…well stunned was the best way to put it. The others all seemed to be ready to charm her though. Great. She wasn’t in the mood for Lotharios.

The blond spoke up first. He was taller than the rest, had a bunch of freckles scattered over his face…but she wasn’t fooled. Most of the ones who looked so innocent were the worst—she had learned that early enough in life.

“
Whatcha got on tap, darlin’?” he asked, his voice heavy with Texas twang.

She named off the beers and he picked one. The other two agreed but the fourth kept staring at her. Not in a creepy way. Instead he looked shocked as if she had horns growing out of her head. She wanted to ask him what the hell was his problem, but the longer he stared at her, the more self-conscious she became. It took every bit of her control not to reach up and mess with her hair.

It didn’t help that he was gorgeous. He was definitely the most attractive of the group. Dark hair, chocolate brown eyes, and he had one of those strong jaws that attracted her.

Well, used to attract her. She pushed that thought away and decided to get on with the order.

“
And you? Do you want anything?”

Blondie glanced at his friend and laughed. “Cat got your tongue, Papa?”

He didn’t say anything to his friend, and she was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with him. “Papa?” she asked.

“
One of his nicknames.”

Like she didn’t know they all had nicknames for each other and that some of them were horrible. At least this one could be said in public.

“
So, would you like to order or should I bring whatever I feel like bringing you?”

Papa shook himself and then…a slow smile curled his lips. Dimples appeared and Joey felt the air back up in her lungs. She did her best to suppress the sigh that threatened to escape. He was attractive to begin with but he was lethal with that smile. She was suddenly hot all over.

“
Whiskey, neat.”

She nodded and turned to rush back to the bar. Sam was setting up the last of her other order.

“
Three Buds and whiskey neat for that Papa fellow.”

For a second, Sam stilled then grabbed his glasses off the shelf. After slipping them on, he peered over her shoulder. “I’ll be damned. Papa Santini, get your lily white ass over here.”

She heard a laugh and then the man approached from behind. Sam came from around the bar—something he rarely did—and pulled the Marine into a bear hug.

“
Let me look at you. Lord, I can’t believe you’re already old enough to be a Marine.”

He laughed. “Mom says the same thing.”

“
Could we get those drinks?” her customers yelled from the other table.

She grabbed her tray and headed off to the other table. By the time she returned, Papa and Sam were already exchanging memories of old times.

“
So, Joey, this here is Stewart Santini. His father and I served together. I’m still trying to find out why he didn’t call me before he came down here.”

“
I wanted to surprise you. Mom says to tell you that they’ll be down after the holidays and I’m supposed to make sure Thelma is taking it easy.”

“
She is, thanks to Joey here. Looks after her as if she were her own mother.”

Sam and Thelma had only one son, who had been killed in action three years earlier. Since her parents were off in some foreign country again saving the world, Joey had become attached to the older couple.

When Papa or Stewart, or whoever he was, looked at her again, she felt that same weird reaction as earlier. Her body went hot like an electrical spark and she felt breathless. Silly, but nothing she couldn’t handle.

“
Well, my mother thanks you. Ever since she heard about Thelma’s accident, she’s been worried.”

“
How are your brothers?” Sam asked.

Good lord, there were more of them. The thought that there were more of them at home like him was mind-boggling.

“
All fine. Dave is finishing up at Annapolis next year. Tony and Adam are still in high school.”

“
Let me get you those drinks.”