Ben returned to his seat and checked on Lane before looking at Sal and inclining his head toward the sofa across the aisle from the ladies. Ben leaned down and kissed the top of Lane’s head before he and Sal moved across the aisle. Lane smiled; the truth was that Sal and Ben would most likely carry on their conversation about the trial in hushed Italian, not because they didn’t want anyone to know what they were discussing, after all, there were five other Italian speakers on the plane. They’d speak in hushed tones because it was about the trial and in Italian out of habit.
Evie was reading quietly as Lane leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes. She’d felt worn out most of the time during this pregnancy and while Dr. Sennette had said the fatigue should begin to subside soon, Lane was beginning to have her doubts. She felt a blanket, as it was gently placed over her, and she opened her eyes. She was surprised to see Jess tucking the blanket around her.
“I’m awake.”
“Are you really all right?” Jess had never seen her mother so tired.
“I’m fine, just tired, and as I keep saying, the Doctor assured us that I’ll have more energy soon, since I’m moving into my second trimester.” She laughed. “I’m so tired of being tired.”
Jess reached over and took her mother’s hand, “So, you and Ben are going to get away for an overnight trip. Where are you going?”
Lane knew that of her three children, Jess’s relationship with Phillip had always been the most fragile. Yet, she was determined that she wasn’t going to breathe a word of Phillip’s wedding plans. Fragile relationship with his daughter or not, it was Phillip’s responsibility to break the news to the kids.
“Just a quick overnight together in Chicago. You know we haven’t had much time alone.” It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either.
Jess was sure there was something her mother wasn’t telling her, but she was willing to let it go. “Not since your wedding night, I guess.”
Lane gave Jess’s hand a little squeeze, “You know we’ll be back Sunday evening. You don’t leave until Monday morning, and I had planned to take the morning off to take you to the airport, so we’ll still have some time to say goodbye. Do you have any idea about your plans for Christmas and New Year’s Eve? Will you have a chance to come home I mean?”
Jess shook her head, “We’ll have a better idea once we start filming. She smiled at Lane. “You’ll know almost as soon as I do.”
He may have been discussing trial strategy with his uncle, but Ben’s eyes rarely left his wife.
Sal reached over and patted Ben’s shoulder, “Nipote, rilassarsi, L'angelo è bello.”
Sal had been a widower for more than 35 years. His wife, Guilia, had died in childbirth along with the baby girl she had struggled to bring into the world. Sal had been in his early thirties when his wife and daughter died and while he’d dated many women since, he’d never remarried always believing that Guilia had been the love of his life.
Evie Parker looked up from her e-reader and glanced across the aisle at the two men sitting on the sofa. She hadn’t heard so much Italian spoken since her childhood. Evie had grown up in the large Italian-American community in Omaha. Her maiden name had been DiGiacomo and her father, who had emigrated from Sicily in the 20’s, had been active in the Sons of Italy. Their home was full of Italian-American men, women, and children where Italian voices lilted through the air so much that English seemed like the foreign language. However, her father had died when she was ten and two years later, her mother remarried a man who wasn’t Italian. He had insisted that only English or Czech was spoken in their home. At the time, it had been an adjustment, and in the years since, she thought she’d forgotten every word of Italian. Now with the Bellini and Luciano families who spoke Italian as much as they spoke English surrounding her, it was coming back. Sal had said “Relax, nephew, the Angel is fine.” She smiled; it felt like home. Lane and Ben had been asking her to move to Kansas and somehow, it didn’t seem like such a bad idea any more.
~~~~~~~~~~
Gabe, who seemed to watch everyone on the plane as though he were observing a scene in a movie while waiting for the director to call “cut,” sat with Meg and Jake. He was holding the script for Harts in Time, making notes in the margins as he read. He caught snippets of whispered Italian conversations from around the plane. The Bellini twins sat with their parents, Dante and Teadora, talking about the football game and who, how, what, and when they had learned that Jamie Parker was Ben’s biological son. Sal Luciano and Ben Bellini were sitting on the sofa talking in quiet tones about jury selection and strategy for the trial Ben was starting Monday. His friend, Jess Parker, sat with her mother and grandmother. She was talking with her mother about plans for the Christmas holidays. He closed his copy of the script and stood, stretching by bending back and then forward touching his toes. He’d grown up an only child in Los Angeles with both of his parents in the film industry. This extended family of Jess Parker’s was all new to him and he was surprised at how attached to them he had become in the past few days. He bent to his left and then to his right before straightening and walking to where Jess sat.
Gabe flashed his movie star smile, “You ladies doing alright? Can I get anyone a refill?”
~~~~~~~~~~
Joey sat with his back toward the cockpit and watched as Gabe stood and stretched. What the hell was really going on between him and Jess? He and Gabe had come to an understanding of sorts the night before, but he still wasn’t sure he trusted the guy. Maybe Gabe was famous, but he seemed to have come into Jess’s life and consumed it. It was true that he and Jess had agreed that they’d put whatever relationship they might have on hold while she was filming, but he was still trying to sort out his own feelings. He wondered how many shoes Gabe Greer had bought for her.
~~~~~~~~~~
Dante Bellini sat in the window seat next to his son, Joey. He had been keeping a watchful eye on all three of his sons during the flight. Joey was troubled about something, but Dante had learned years ago that it was better to wait for Joey to decide that he wanted to talk than to try to pry anything out of him. Dante faced his wife and listened as she and Pauli talked. Pauli was the baby of the family, by seven minutes, and had always been closer to his mother than his brothers were. Ben was sitting with Sal and they were clearly discussing strategy for the trial that Ben was starting Monday. Dante’s eyes traveled to the other four seat grouping, where his daughter-in-law sat with her daughter Jess, and her friend Evie. He knew Ben’s eyes rarely left his wife. Dante smiled. This wasn’t Ben’s first child after all, it was his first experience with a pregnant wife. While Dante wouldn’t exactly call him a nervous expectant father; he knew that Ben kept a constant protective eye on his pregnant wife.
~~~~~~~~~~
Jake Parker sat next to his girlfriend Meg Kelly holding her hand and talking in hushed tones. They were talking about the football game, about her daughter Abbey, and about the shopping trip scheduled for Saturday morning. He’d learned from Ben the importance of having one night that was “date night,” a night that was kept for just the two of them. Date night for Ben had always been Friday, and Jake tried to keep Friday night for him and Meg too, but tonight was an exception and the whole family surrounded them. He was glad when Gabe Greer stood and went to talk to Jess, finally he and Meg could spend a few precious minutes alone. He leaned close and kissed Meg’s cheek. “I love you,” he whispered. He put his arm around Meg and she leaned her head against him. Meg turned her head and kissed Jake’s neck. “I love you,” she whispered in reply. Tonight, he’d be spending the night in a room with Gabe Greer and Jamie while Meg would be sharing a room with his sister, Jess. It might seem strange to many people, but while he had been with Meg for nearly four months, they still hadn’t had sex. It wasn’t that Jake didn’t want Meg. He did. But, he planned to marry her and even though neither of them were virgins, he planned to wait until they were married to make love to Meg.