“That’s enough!” Liam made a sudden rush forward and backhanded his wife’s face.
Athena clutched the edge of the counter that was littered with a week’s worth of copies of the Wall Street Journal. She curved both hands around the counter to keep from falling to her knees.
“Papa no!” Humphrey rushed into the kitchen and to his mother. He held the woman tight against his lean, wiry body.
Liam blinked as though he were snapping from some daze. Sorrow pooled the brown depths darkened to obsidian as blinding anger had taken hold. He raised a soothing hand to his wife and son while moving toward them.
“Get out!” Athena spat, thick waves of dark hair unraveled from the bun she wore. Her expression was pure venom. “Go back to your dirty black wenches and keep your cock out of me!” Bristling then, she pushed out of Humphrey’s embrace and left the kitchen.
Alone with his father, Humphrey turned to pin the man with an unreadable look. Liam tilted his head as though trying to decipher its meaning. Unsuccessful, he left his son alone in the kitchen moments later.
PART III~American Sons~
~1~
Mt. Pleasant, New York~1969
“Yo, Ari! Get your ass-your butt outta bed! Ma says breakfast’s ready!” Humphrey Tesano squeezed his eyes shut and waited, hoping his mother’s superb ears hadn’t heard the swear. Five seconds passed without the sound of her voice rising through the rafters. Being 29 would not excuse him from a pop across the mouth for cursing. Relieved, he rested his forehead against the smooth white wood of his brother’s closed door.
Humphrey kept his rest time brief and then twisted the knob and stuck his head in the room. “Ari?” He called in an urgent whisper. “Get up, we gotta catch the train by ten.”
An indiscernible grunt rose from the vicinity of the bed. Humphrey grinned, watching the tangle of sheets move when Aaron shifted beneath the covers. Humphrey left the door cracked open, knowing the smell of their mother’s scratch made bread and smoked sausage would rouse a dead man.
Humphrey continued his rounds, waking bodies in the order from oldest to youngest. He heard the shower running in Stone’s room and nodded approvingly on the way past. He found Gabe’s room empty and smiled. The bed was still unmade, but the housestaff would handle that. There was no sign that Gabriel was anywhere in his room. Humphrey took that to mean he was already making his way down to the dining room where the youngest of Liam and Athena Tesano’s six sons waited. Humphrey had already seen Vale at the table on his way up to wake the rest of their brothers.
Humphrey grimaced then, knowing the one he’d saved for last would be the most difficult. “What else is new?” he grumbled and moved in quickly to beat a fist against Roman’s door.
“Ro, Breakfast!”
No answer.
“Fucking guy,” Humphrey muttered, pounding on the door again. “Ro!”
Still no answer and Humphrey twisted the knob to enter. While all the doors in the Tesano’s 40 room home were equipped with locks, Athena Tesano expressly forbid their use. Where Roman was concerned, Humphrey knew ‘expressly forbid’ was often taken to mean break all the rules.
“Rome!” Humphrey called out to the tangled king bed in a far corner of the spacious room that was strewn with comic books, clothing, cleats and other athletic paraphernalia.
There was no sound or movement from the bed and Humphrey was tempted to leave. If only his father hadn’t put him in charge of getting everyone to the factory. Humphrey would be personally responsible if one of them didn’t make it. No excuses.
Humphrey stalked over to whip back the bed covers.
“Fuck off,” Roman grumbled, his face half buried in a pillow.
“We’re on the ten o’clock to the city, Ro,” Humphrey was pretty much unaffected by his younger brother’s disrespect. Such was the way conversations tended to go between himself and the brash 17 year old pain in his ass. “Pop expects you there,” he said to the mountain of covers and pillows Roman had buried himself under. “I’ll be happy to share your response to his invitation.”
Humphrey delivered the threat with relish. He wouldn’t mind tarnishing the image of his father’s favorite son. It didn’t help one goddamn bit that the little shit was the man’s spitting image, Humphrey thought. Aaron may’ve gotten all their father’s nobility, but the man’s face had gone directly to Roman.
Humphrey’s mouth tipped into a smirk when he heard the telltale shifting from the bed to signal that his words had the intended effect. The reaction was enough to have Humphrey bolting from the room and slamming the door at his back. His temper was sparked by a glimmer of disappointment. He would’ve liked to have given Roman’s crass sentiments to their father.
~~~
“Where’s Grekka?” Humphrey arrived in the dining room, the smaller of the three the house boasted. He’d expected to see two of his younger brothers at the table. He only found one.
“Left when he came downstairs-said he’d be right back,” Vale looked up from The Times morning edition. “He didn’t have his coat, didn’t sound like he was goin’ far.”
“Christ...” Humphrey muttered, having a fine idea where Gabriel had gone. He headed from the dining room, ruffling Vale’s hair on his way past. “Thanks for being the only one around here who respects time, Vay.”
Vale beamed.
“Say, would you tell Ma everyone’s up and on their way down? I’m goin’ to find Grek.”
“What do you think he wants us down there for? Pop? What do you think he wants to see us for?”
Humphrey wasn’t thrown by his youngest brother’s question. It had been on his mind too. “Obviously somethin’ to do with the business since that’s where we’re meeting,” he said.
“You think he’s gonna retire?”
Humphrey grinned at the fifteen year old. Vale was the quietest and most introspective of his brothers. “We can only hope, kid,” he said.
Vale’s interest seemed peaked. “You think he’ll bring Pitch in on it?”
Humphrey’s easy grin tightened. “We can only hope-not.”
Vale laughed.
Humphrey squeezed his brother’s shoulder and moved on toward the dining room entryway. “Tell Ma I’ll be back,” he called.
~~~
