Stephanie sat down and made herself a sandwich. Her mother got some tea and sat across from her.
“Why can’t you stay for dinner?” Thea asked. “Your older brother is coming.”
“With or without his wife and kids?”
“Without,” Thea said. “He and your father have some business.”
“That sounds familiar.”
“Why don’t you stay? We hardly ever get to see you.”
“I’d like to, but I can’t. I’m going away this evening for about a month, which is why I particularly wanted to come over today. I’ve got a lot to do to get ready.”
“Are you going with that man?”
“His name is Daniel, and yes, we are going together.”
“You shouldn’t be living with him. It’s not right. Besides, he’s too old. You should be married to a nice, young man. You’re not so young anymore.”
“Mother, we’ve been over this.”
“Listen to your mother,” Anthony Sr. bellowed from the living room. “She knows what she is talking about.”
Stephanie held her tongue.
“Where are you going?”
“Mostly to Nassau in the Bahamas. We’re going someplace first, but only for a day or so.”
“Is this a vacation?”
“No,” Stephanie said. She told her mother the trip was work-related. She didn’t give any specifics, nor did her mother ask, especially since Stephanie switched the conversation to her nieces and nephews. The grandchildren were Thea’s favorite subject. An hour later, when Stephanie was about to make her exit, the door opened and in walked Anthony Jr.
“Will wonders never cease?” Tony said in mock surprise when he caught sight of Stephanie. He had a strong, cultivated blue-collar accent. “The high-and-mighty Harvard doctor has decided to pay us poor, working slobs a visit.”
Stephanie looked up and smiled at her older brother. She held her tongue like she had earlier with her father. She had long ago learned not to be baited. Tony had always derided Stephanie’s schooling, as did her father, but not entirely for the same reason. With Tony, Stephanie suspected it was more jealousy, since he’d barely made it through high school. Tony’s problem wasn’t a lack of intelligence, but a lack of motivation as a teenager. As an adult, he liked to pretend he didn’t care that he hadn’t gone to college, but Stephanie knew better.
“Mom says your boy is turning out to be quite the hockey player,” Stephanie said, to turn the conversation away from the testy subject of schooling. Tony had a twelve-year-old son and a ten-year-old daughter.
“Yeah, a chip off the old block,” Tony said. He shared Stephanie’s coloring and approximate height, but he was built more squarely, with a thick neck and large hands like their father. And also like their father, Tony projected in Stephanie’s mind an unflattering, chauvinistic male animus, which made her feel sorry for her sister-in-law and worry about her niece.
Tony kissed his mother on both cheeks before stepping into the living room.
Stephanie heard the rustle of the newspaper as it was thrown aside, a slapping of hands that she could picture as a handshake, and an exchange of “How’s it going? Great! How’s it going for you? Great.” When the conversation switched to sports talk involving the various Boston professional teams, Stephanie tuned them out.
“I’ve got to be going, Mom,” Stephanie said.
“Why don’t you stay? I can have the dinner on the table in no time.”
“I can’t, Mom.”
“Dad and Tony will miss you!”
“Oh, yeah, sure!” Stephanie said.
“They love you in their own way.”
“I’m certain they do,” Stephanie said with a smile. The irony was, she believed it. Stephanie reached across and squeezed Thea’s wrist. It felt fragile, as though if she pressed too hard, the bones might break. Stephanie pushed back her chair and stood up. Thea did likewise, and they hugged.
“I’ll call from the Bahamas as soon as I get situated and give you the details about where we’re staying and the number,” Stephanie said. She gave her mother a peck on her cheek before sticking her head back into the living room. The cigarette haze was denser with both men smoking. “Goodbye, you two. I’m on my way.”
Tony looked up. “What’s this? You’re taking off already?”
“She’s going on a trip for a month,” Thea said over Stephanie’s shoulder. “She has to get ready.”
“No!” Tony said. “You can’t go. Not yet! I got to talk with you. I was going to call you, but since you’re here, face-to-face is better.”
“Then you’d better come in here on the double,” Stephanie said. “I really have to be on my way.”
“You’ll wait until we’re finished,” Anthony said. “Tony and I are talking business.”
“It’s okay, Pop,” Tony said. He gave his father’s knee a squeeze as he stood up. “What I have to say to Steph won’t take long.”
Anthony grumbled as he reached for his discarded newspaper.
Tony walked back into the kitchen. He sat down backward on one of the kitchen chairs and motioned for Stephanie to sit in one of the others. Stephanie hesitated for a moment. Tony had become increasingly peremptory since he’d assumed more of his father’s roles, and it was irksome. To avoid making it an issue, Stephanie sat, but as a compromise with herself, she told her brother he’d better be quick. She also told him to put out his cigarette, which he did grudgingly.
“The reason I was going to call you,” Tony began, “is because Mikey Gualario, my accountant, told me that CURE is about to tank. I said that’s impossible, because my kid sister would have told me. But he says he read it in the Globe. What’s the scoop?”
“We’re having financial difficulties,” Stephanie admitted. “It’s a political problem that is holding up our second round of financing.”
“So the Globe wasn’t making this all up?”
“I didn’t read the article, but as I said, we are in rather a bind.”
Tony screwed up his face as if in thought. He nodded a few times. “Well, that’s not such great news. I guess you can understand that I might be concerned about my two-hundred-thousand-dollar loan.”
“Correction! It wasn’t a loan. It was an investment.”
“Wait a minute! You came to me crying that you needed money.”
“Correction again! I said we needed to raise money, and I certainly wasn’t crying.”
“Yeah, well, you said it was a sure thing.”
“I said I thought it was a good investment, because it was based on a brilliant and fully patented, newly discovered procedure that promises to be a boon to medicine. But I said it wasn’t risk-free, and I gave you the prospectus. Did you read it?”
“No, I didn’t read it. I don’t understand that kind of crap. But if the investment was so good, what’s the problem?”
“What’s happened that no one anticipated is the possibility of a congressional ban being enacted on the procedure. But I can assure you we’re working on it, and we think we have it under control. The whole thing has been a bolt out of the blue for all of us, and proof of that is that both Daniel and I have invested every penny we have in the company, including mortgaging Daniel’s condo. I’m sorry that at the moment the investment looks less than rock-solid. I might add, I’m sorry we took your money.”
“You and me both!”
“What’s going to happen about this indictment of yours?”
Tony batted the air as if shooing a fly. “Nothing. It’s a bunch of nonsense. The DA is just trying to drum up publicity to get reelected. But let’s not change the subject. You said you think you have this political problem under control.”