Ben had glanced at his brothers as he spoke the last sentence, just to be sure they understood. Joey nodded. Yeah, he understood, but he also knew Jess was fluent. Something he had sworn, under oath, to keep secret. He had convinced her that when the two of them were alone, he could speak Italian to her. Of course, they hadn’t been alone together since the day he’d left her at her condo over six weeks ago. He’d promised to call her and he had, but they both had busy schedules and they hadn’t managed to break free at the same time. It was the main reason he’d cleared his schedule to come to Kansas for Thanksgiving. Yet, what had she done? She’d brought a guy home with her. Where the hell does that leave me? He wondered.
Chapter 18
As usual, Ben was awake at 5:30 a.m. and dressed for his run. To his surprise, as he walked out of the bedroom, Gabe Greer was waiting in the kitchen, suited up in thermal running gear and a pair of lime green Saucony running shoes.
“Hope you don’t mind company since I don’t know the routes.”
Ben smiled, as he replied, “As long as you can keep up. I’m doing the ten mile route today.”
Gabe laughed. “If I can’t keep up, feel free to leave me in your dust.”
Ben ran first thing in the morning every day, rain, shine, searing heat or freezing cold. Some runners liked to listen to music as they ran, but Ben liked to use the time to clear the cobwebs from his brain while he got the kinks out of his body. He hoped Gabe wasn’t one of those runners who thought this was social hour. He smiled; the pace he kept would prevent most people from trying to carry on a conversation.
They walked out of the house and stretched in the driveway before Ben started out, heading south on Mission Road. As they crossed 99th street, Joey joined them. Ben shook his head. He’d been running this route since he bought his house five years ago and in all that time; no one had ever joined him. He wasn’t going to clear many of his own cobwebs, like how and when to tell the rest of his family about Jamie, because now he was trying to figure out what these two guys thought they were trying to prove this morning. He kicked it up to his six-minute mile pace. At least if Gabe couldn’t keep up, Joey could guide him back to the house. But, much to Ben’s surprise, both Gabe and Joey kept pace; and a little over an hour later, they returned to Ben’s neighborhood where Ben slowed to a cool down pace. Instead of peeling off to return to Parker House, Joey followed Ben home.
Ben entered the code to open the garage door and the three men went through and into the kitchen. Ben pulled three bottles of water from the pantry and handed them out. Ben finished his water and put the bottle in the recycling bin.
“I’m going to change before I go to the gym.” He looked at Joey. “You need sweats or something?”
Joey nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”
Gabe finished his water and followed Ben’s lead, putting his empty bottle into the recycling bin. He went to his room and changed into workout clothes. Last night, when Jess had shown Gabe where the room was, he’d seen a treadmill, a stair climber, an elliptical trainer, a rowing machine, a Bowflex, a couple of punching bags, free weights and two weight machines, one with a leg press. When he got to the gym this morning, Jamie was on one of the weight machines and Ben was on the other. He looked at them and, after seeing them side by side, he wondered why it had taken Jess three years to figure out they were father and son. Sure Jamie was blonde and fair while Ben had dark hair and an olive complexion, but their facial expressions and mannerisms were practically identical.
Gabe adjusted the settings and sat down to do leg presses on the machine attached to Jamie’s weight machine. In L.A., he had a personal trainer who came to his house to workout with him three days a week. When they were in Italy, he and Jess would have a personal trainer on site. Today, though, he was on his own. Joey came in and went straight to the punching bag. Interesting. He wondered what message Joey was trying to send. He had no doubt for whom Joey intended it.
There was a 60-inch flat screen on the wall opposite the weight machines and the local, early morning, news anchors were providing the background banter. The sports guy came on and talked about the championship football game.
Three sets of Bellini eyes kept glued to the screen until the reporter signed off, “This is Shane McGuire reporting from Rockhurst High School.” The newscast was obviously pre-recorded the day before.
The news anchors immediately went into a story about the head football coach being found dead Tuesday afternoon by a student, “whose name was being withheld because he was a minor.”
Ben and Jamie looked at each other. “It’ll be fine, Bambino.” Ben said.
Jamie smiled. “Hey, I’m a Bellini, what’s there to worry about?” However, his face was incongruent with the words.
The punching bag went still and Joey moved to the free weights, putting him directly in Ben’s eye line. Gabe saw the two exchange a glance, but neither spoke. He knew that if he hadn’t spoken Italian to Dante Bellini at the restaurant yesterday, the brothers would be deep in conversation right now. He’d done it to be respectful, but right now, he regretted having done it.
Jamie looked at Gabe. “Gabe, could we trade places now?”
Gabe nodded and got up to trade machines with Jamie.
Ben finished his workout, got up and nodded to Gabe. “I’m going to go shower and dress. We’ll have breakfast around nine o’clock.”
Ben quietly opened the door to master suite and, as usual, paused to watch Lane sleep before going in to shower and shave. They’d been married about eight weeks and he still marveled at how lucky he was. He was married to the love of his life, he considered the Parker Kids his children from the moment Lane had said, “I do.” Even before that, if he was honest. He had set up testamentary trust accounts in his will for all three Parker kids over two years ago. After the wedding, he’d changed his will a bit naming Lane as heir. He’d added that clause about his issue and now he needed to talk to his cousin Daniela about adding Jamie by name. So much, change in such a short amount of time.
Lane murmured, stirred, and opened her eyes. She smiled and patted the bed inviting him to join her. He walked closer to the bed.
“I’m sweaty and smelly.” He said as he bent and kissed his wife.
She lifted the covers. “I don’t care. Hurry, you’re letting all the warmth escape.”
He stripped out of his workout clothes and climbed in next to her. He lay on his back and she snuggled next to him nestling her head on his shoulder as he put his arms around her and kissed her head.
“How’s Jamie this morning?” She asked.
“He’s fine. I left him in the gym with Joey and Gabe.”
He glanced at the bedside clock. It was nearing eight o’clock and he still needed to shower, dress, and get breakfast started, but he’d lay here holding his wife for as long as he could. He stroked her hair with his right hand and gently kissed her as she fell back asleep.
Ben quietly and carefully eased out of bed, picked up his workout clothes and went into the bathroom.
After he showered and dressed, he paused again to watch Lane as she slept. The first trimester of the pregnancy had worn her out, and while Dr. Sennette had told them on Tuesday that Lane should start getting some energy back now, he planned to let her sleep as long as she could.
He gently closed the bedroom door and headed toward the kitchen. He found Joey and Gabe already there, each cooking. Joey had set the electric griddle on the island and was making pancakes. Gabe was standing at the stove, frying bacon and taking orders for omelets. Each had a cup of coffee and they seemed to be getting along. Jess was hovering near Gabe trying to get a slice of bacon, but he was playfully slapping at her hand with the tongs.