Finally, his eyes moved to Gary who was sitting at the table comfortably sipping coffee. Gary had sat at that table a lot over the years. He was always welcome there and he knew it. Gary learned yesterday from watching Pete that he could let go the past bad blood. He saw that he’d been reaping the rewards of being a good Dad for seventeen years and Pete had been living the nightmare of being a coward for that same time, if not longer.

“Cal, son, we gotta talk about Hart,” Vinnie called from behind him and Cal turned from the door feeling his mouth get tight.

His eyes hit his uncle and he moved away from the door so even if someone looked out they couldn’t see him.

He rested a hip against the railing and crossed his arms on his chest while he watched his uncle reach a hand out to one of Vi’s pots of flowers that was sitting on the railing. Vinnie dropped his hand before he touched the bright, healthy flowers spilling up, out and down the sides of the pot and his eyes went to Cal.

“Vi’s good with flowers,” Vinnie remarked as his gaze took in the rest of the deck.

“Yeah,” Cal replied and watched Vinnie give him a look before Vinnie turned his head to look into the house.

“Keeps a nice house,” Vinnie went on.

“Uncle Vinnie –” Cal started to cut him off, knowing where this was going but Vinnie’s eyes came to his.

“Great girls she’s raised. Sweet kids. Funny. Smart,” Vinnie continued, not to be stopped.

Cal sighed and said nothing. He knew Vinnie needed to get this out so he let him.

“Care about you,” Vinnie noted.

“Yeah,” Cal repeated.

“The three of ‘em do,” Vinnie said.

“Yeah,” Cal repeated again.

“Theresa called Carm the minute we hit the hotel last night. She talked about Vi and those girls for two hours. Thought I’d never get to sleep,” Vinnie told him and this surprised Cal considering he hadn’t had a follow up call from Carm in order for her to bitch him out about never calling; not telling her about Vi and the girls; and to arrange her own trip where she could nose into his life and give Vi her personal seal of approval.

“Instead of sellin’ my place, should build a bridge considerin’ the Bianchis are gonna be spendin’ some time down here,” Cal quipped.

Vinnie’s eyes narrowed. “You think you can walk those girls into my Pizzeria wearin’ the suit you wore to take her to her brother’s funeral and lookin’ at her like she flies out the window on fairy wings and hangs the stars every night and not be right back in the Bianchi fold, you got another think comin’.”

Jesus. Fairy wings?

“Uncle Vinnie –” Cal started.

Vinnie cut him off. “Don’t think I’m stupid, boy. You walked them in for a reason, to give them some family back after they lost theirs.”

“Vinnie –”

“Been waitin’ seventeen years for this, Cal.”

“Uncle –”

“Longer,” Vinnie bit out. “You know, Theresa lights a candle for you every week. Every fuckin’ week. Been doin’ it for over thirty years. You know how many candles she’s lit for you?” Vinnie asked.

Cal didn’t respond.

“Too many,” Vinnie answered his own question.

“She doesn’t have to light them anymore,” Cal pointed out.

“You got Hart ridin’ your ass, she finds out, she’ll be at the church every day,” Vinnie returned.

Finally they were where he wanted their conversation to be.

“You talk to Sal?” Cal asked.

“First, I’ll say this once and that’s it. I’m happy for you. I’m happy for her. I’m happy for those girls. Never seen you like this. Not before, not with that other one. Not unless you were with Nicky and even then you weren’t like you were yesterday. You were always watchin’ her, guardin’, bracin’ for what that bitch would do next.”

Cal’s mouth got tight again as did the rest of his body. “That’s done and we’re done talkin’ about it.”

“Waited a long time to say this Cal, gonna say it only once and you’re gonna give me that,” Vinnie told him, Cal sighed again, forced his body to relax and leaned deeper into the railing, his eyes on his uncle.

“She’s smilin’, son,” Vinnie said softly and Cal closed his eyes and turned his head toward Vi’s yard. He opened his eyes when Vinnie continued. “Lookin’ down on you and Vi and those girls and Angie’s finally at peace.”

Cal clenched his teeth, pulled breath into his nose and looked back at his uncle on the exhale.

“Now you done?” Cal asked.

Vinnie stared at him. Then he grinned.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Good,” Cal replied then repeated, “you talk to Sal?”

“Yep,” Vinnie leaned against the railing too and said no more.

“And?” Cal prompted.

“He’s not big on avenging a cop,” Vinnie replied, Cal pulled in another breath in order to speak but Vinnie continued. “I haven’t told him your involvement, just said I had a friend in Vi and felt the waters ‘cause I been thinkin’ about this and I’m not big on you owin’ Sal a favor.”

“Not your choice to make,” Cal noted, “thought I made myself clear on that. And it isn’t a favor. It’s callin’ a marker.”

“Somethin’ this big, it’s a favor, Cal, and favors to men like Sal have a way of lastin’ a long time. Lived that with Vinnie Junior. Now got a lifetime of livin’ the consequences.”

Cal looked back at the yard and crossed one foot at the ankle in an effort to call up patience.

“You got skills, don’t think Sal don’t remember that shit. You tried to leverage it to pull Vinnie Junior out,” Vinnie reminded him and Cal’s eyes cut to his uncle.

“Took a bullet for Sal, Uncle Vinnie,” Cal had his own memories to share.

“He hasn’t forgotten,” Vinnie muttered.

“He owes me, he owes you. You remind him of that?” Cal asked.

“He don’t need reminding,” Vinnie answered.

“Then what the fuck?” Cal asked.

Vinnie took two steps toward Cal, stopped and whispered, “You’re talkin’ a hit, son.”

“Yeah, I am. I took a hit and Vinnie took the ultimate hit. Your nephew, your son. He owes you, he owes me,” Cal repeated.

“He’ll want a return,” Vinnie said.

“He’s already fuckin’ had it,” Cal replied, uncrossing his arms and thumping his fist on his chest under his shoulder where his bullet scar was and then thumping his uncle over the heart.

“You’re talkin’ a hit,” Vinnie repeated.

“You already said that,” Cal told him.

Vinnie’s brows went up. “You can live with that?”

“Yep,” Cal returned, “absolutely.”

“The cops are closin’ in,” Vinnie explained.

“They been closin’ in on Hart for the last decade,” Cal clipped.

“You’ll carry that mark on your soul –” Vinnie started but stopped when Cal leaned forward and threw an arm out toward the house.

“He put a bullet it Katy and Keirry’s father’s brain,” Cal ground out, “blew his fuckin’ head off. I was here when Vi found out he did the same to her brother and she fuckin’ unraveled. I watched it, Vinnie. I held her in my arms and fucking watched it. That’s all I could do. No control. No power. He took that from her and he fuckin’ took it from me. I stood next to her when she told her girls their uncle was gone and Keira couldn’t even keep her fuckin’ feet, man. It took about thirty seconds longer before Kate collapsed and she did it in my arms too. I was fuckin’ there, Vinnie. Hart wants her enough to take them both out. You think that asshole isn’t gonna be aimin’ at me?”

“You can take care of yourself. I been askin’ around. The brother didn’t know what the fuck he was doin’,” Vinnie pointed out. “He should never –”

Cal cut him off. “Tim was a cop, Colt says a good one. You gonna tell me he didn’t know what he was doin’?”

“I –”

“You don’t talk to Sal, I will,” Cal interrupted his uncle.

“Cal, you don’t want to owe that man,” Vinnie warned.

“He owes me. He got my blood and he got my cousin. He knows that,” Cal shot back.

“Cal –”

Cal leaned back an inch. “What the fuck is this? Why are you –?”

Vinnie’s torso moved forward two inches. “I lost one boy to him. You think I’m fired up to lose two?”

Cal shook his head angrily. “Jesus, Uncle Vinnie. I’m not gonna fuckin’ work for him.”

“He’s persuasive,” Vinnie returned.

Cal pointed to the house again. “Nothin’ would persuade me to jeopardize that.”

“Yeah, and Vinnie Junior had Francesca and he looked at her like she hung the stars and he wanted to give her everything. So he went out to find a way to do that. Easy way is Sal.”

“He was twenty-five,” Cal reminded him.

“He was in love,” Vinnie retorted, jerking his head to the house to make his point.

“Don’t pin that shit on Frankie,” Cal clipped. “You been singin’ that song way too long and you know that shit’s not right,” Vinnie pressed his lips together and looked away but looked back when Cal kept talking. “I got a business, I got money, I don’t need that shit.”

“For fuck’s sake, Cal, you nearly took her Dad down for buyin’ Keirry a CD!” Vinnie’s voice was rising. “Vi hangs the stars for you and I know you. You’re a Callahan. You’re a Bianchi. You’ll wanna hand her the moon.”

“I’ve already handed her the moon, Vinnie,” Cal told him and Vinnie jerked back.

“What?”

Cal didn’t repeat himself and he wasn’t about to explain. “And I was pissed at Pete because he’s up in the girls’ faces and he bought Keira a fuckin’ boy band CD and I live in this house. I gotta listen to that shit.”

Vinnie stared at him a second before he burst out laughing.