And I did not let her separate from me when it probably would have been prudent.

We’d stuck together.

And we’d made it through.

Looking at her beautiful face in the foyer of Ben’s home, I felt it happening, my face crumbling, as I watched it happen to her. And then we were in each other’s arms, holding close, so fucking tight, my face shoved in her neck, hers in mine.

“I’m sorry,” I cried into her neck, my voice thick and clogged, muffled by her hair.

“No, I’m sorry,” she cried into mine, her voice the same.

“I’m an idiot,” I told her, holding tight and still crying.

“I’m a dork,” she told me, holding tight and also still crying.

“No, you aren’t,” I blubbered.

“You aren’t either,” she blubbered back.

“Jesus.” I heard Cal mutter.

“Shut up, Joe,” Violet snapped but did it in my neck, not moving a centimeter away from me.

We just held on.

For my part, I held on because she felt good. She felt alive.

And we’d made it through.

Suddenly, Vi’s body jerked and she asked, “Am I hurting you?”

I lifted my head, she lifted hers, and we caught each other’s eyes.

“I’m fine,” I whispered.

“I’m glad,” she whispered back, and I knew she meant she was glad I was fine in more ways than just enduring her hug.

I smiled at her. She smiled back.

Seeing it, I felt my face start crumbling again, but I beat it back and gave her a shake. “You fine?” I asked.

“Absolutely,” she answered, then asked, “You wanna meet my girls?”

“Absolutely,” I answered.

Her smile came back and she kept hold of me with one arm but turned us toward her daughters. I swiped my hand on my face as I saw one girl was hanging on Cal. The other one was hanging on Benny. Both had eyes to their mother and me and both sets of eyes were wet.

“Katy, Keirry, come here and meet Frankie,” she urged.

They moved forward cautiously, undoubtedly knowing I was convalescing.

I threw out my free arm and they came a lot faster, but they didn’t knock me back to a foot.

What I figured was the older one, Kate, got there first. Vi let me go so she could give me a light hug and say close to my ear, “Cool to meet you.”

When she would’ve let go, I held tighter and said, “Same here, honey.”

She turned her head, looked into my eyes, and her lip quivered, but she held it together and smiled.

I let her go and Keira came forward.

Her hug was just as light, but I knew things were going to go bad when she said in my ear, “Thanks for taking care of Momalicious.”

Then her arms spasmed and I knew she’d lost it.

I tightened my arms around her and my eyes moved to Benny, who was watching us with a warm intensity that would have taken my breath away if Keira was letting me breathe.

I tore my eyes from Ben, turned my head, and whispered in her ear, “My pleasure, baby.”

Keira’s body bucked with her sob.

Kate slid in beside her mom and I heard her whimper. So I caught her eyes and grinned at her.

She, again, held it together and grinned back.

Suddenly, Cal was there, hand wrapped around the back of Keira’s neck, and he asked in a gentle, quiet voice I’d never heard from him in my life, “You wanna let me in there, Keirry?” His voice was so beautiful, if Keira was letting me breathe, again, it would have made me stop.

She let go abruptly, almost like she was embarrassed, nodding and wiping her face.

Vi claimed her and Cal claimed me. He didn’t hold on tight, but he did communicate a lot with his hug and I felt myself begin to lose it again.

I took in a shuddering breath and held it together as Cal leaned away, looked down at me, and asked in a voice meant only for me, “You good?”

I knew what he meant.

“I’m thinkin’ I need to get off my feet,” I answered because all that hugging felt great, but at the same time, it didn’t feel real great against my wound.

Then Cal, Vinnie Junior’s best friend in the world, did something weird.

He let me go but did it leaving a hand in the small of my back whereupon he gently, immediately, and firmly pushed me direct to Benny as he said low, “She’s gotta take a load off.”

That was when Benny claimed me, arm around my waist, turning me to the living room and moving us in, saying, “Let’s get settled.”

Company followed, but I couldn’t see how they did because Benny deposited me in the corner of the couch and instantly bent in, one hand to the seat beside me, one hand to the armrest, his face an inch away.

“You need a pill?” he asked.

“No, I’m gonna tough it out. It might get better when I’m not bawlin’.”

His head went back a bit, his eyes moved over my face, and he said, “Right. You need somethin’, you tell Pop or Ma.”

I nodded.

“Now, I gotta go to the store and get a fuckin’ casserole dish.”

I felt my lips quirk before I nodded again.

He watched my lips quirk before he looked back into my eyes, grinned, and winked.

Then he was gone.

But his grin and wink remained and I found I didn’t have to tough out the pain.

A grin and wink from Benny Bianchi was the best medicine a girl could have.

***

“School is awesome, the best part about it being Jasper Layne.”

It was after lasagna, which Theresa served at Benny’s dining room table after spending nearly the entire time the lasagna cooked in his dining room, shifting what looked like three years of discarded junk mail from the top of the table and attacking the old-fashioned, definitely hand-me-down eight-seater with Pledge.

We were in the living room. Vi, obviously not knowing she should leave Theresa alone, was in the kitchen with Benny’s mother, helping her do the dishes.

I was back on the couch, sitting up again but not in the corner. Benny was in the corner and I was tucked to his side, his arm around me. Kate was down the sofa from us. Vinnie Senior was in Ben’s recliner. Cal was in an armchair. Keira was on the floor and she was the one who was talking.

I was surreptitiously watching Cal, who was not surreptitiously watching Benny and me tucked into the side of the couch. He had a small smile playing at his mouth, the warm light of humor in his eyes, but with both of these, he also had a knowing look on his face.

And I did not get that. He and Vinnie Junior were the same age, close as brothers. He’d tried to talk Vinnie out of working with Sal but was one of the few who intended to take Vinnie as he came. That was how tight they were. He didn’t like that Vinnie was on Sal’s crew, but he didn’t intend to lose him because of it.

So the way Benny was holding me, which was not with brotherly affection, I would have thought would anger Cal, or at the very least perturb him.

It obviously didn’t.

He obviously liked it.

Which was strange.

Stranger, Vinnie Senior had no reaction to it either.

This was making me uncomfortable, and with all that was going on in my head, not to mention having company, I didn’t have the time to sort out why.

“Jasper Layne is hot, no doubt about that, but he’s also a dawg.”

That came from Kate, and the instant it did, Cal stopped grinning knowingly at Benny’s foot, which he’d tangled with mine in an intimate way that felt nice but I knew I should not allow (though I did, bent on earning my first-class ticket straight to hell), and his attention cut to Kate.

“He is not,” Keira snapped.

“Total player,” Kate declared.

“He is not!” Keira’s voice was rising.

“Keirry, he’s had three girlfriends already and we’ve been in school, like, a month,” Kate told her.

I quit surreptitiously watching and started openly watching, and also openly grinning (huge), as a dark, protective, dad look moved over Cal’s face.

He loved Violet. I knew that when he pulled out all the stops and made a miracle happen when he found us in the middle of nowhere in a forest and took a man’s life to save hers.

He also loved her girls.

And I loved that.

“So, he’s lookin’ for the right one,” Keira shot back.

“He’s lookin’ for somethin’,” Kate muttered.

“No Jasper Layne,” Cal decreed, and I watched Keira jerk her gaze to Cal.

“Joe!” she cried.

“No Jasper Layne,” he repeated.

I felt Benny give me a squeeze and I looked at him to see him smiling big at his cousin.

My attention went back to the scene when Keira exclaimed, “He’s cute!”

“He’s off-limits,” Cal proclaimed.

“Joe!” she repeated loudly.

Cal scowled at her. Then I stopped grinning at him and started staring at him when I saw it begin.

I couldn’t believe it might happen.

Then it happened.

He caved.

“How old is he?” Cal asked.

“He’s a sophomore,” Keira answered—Keira, incidentally, being a freshman.

“You wait until you’re older, he’s older, then we’ll see.”

I watched Keira study her “Joe.” Then I watched her face get soft and her eyes light. It was then I knew she knew she had the big, rough man who was Joe Callahan wrapped around her finger.

That had to be why she said much calmer and definitely sweeter, “Okay, Joe.”

“You do know this is hilarious,” Benny put in at that point.

“Shut it,” Cal growled.

Ben chuckled, I giggled, and Vinnie Senior laughed outright.

Cal’s face took on another dark look, this one annoyed, so I quit giggling and looked at Keira. “Sometimes, those are the best ones,” I shared my womanly wisdom.