All of You (8 page)

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T
he Ciaramitaro clan
was nothing if not warm and welcoming and it wasn’t long before Danny felt much more at ease. There were no weird silences or inside jokes and they seemed hell-bent on making sure Danny felt like a part of the family.

“Danny, we haven’t seen you in a while. What have you been up to?” Carla asked, smiling, as she passed Danny a huge platter of…

Danny studied the mound of food. They appeared to be little dough ovals covered in a red sauce. He helped himself to a spoonful and passed the platter to Nathan.

What
had
Danny been up to?

Well, the most accurate answer was drinking, fucking, sleeping, eating, pissing, shitting, working, and going to the gym, but somehow Danny thought they might frown upon that answer.

What with a bunch of kids at the table and all.

He cleared his throat. “Not too much. Working a lot.”

Danny knew they were probably all wondering why he was being so quiet. Hell, Nathan was probably surprised, too. But even Nathan couldn’t know the true depth of Danny’s dislike for home-and-hearth scenes because they really hadn’t shared that many of them over the years.

The foster homes and juvie facility they’d lived in together hadn’t exactly been the stuff of Norman Rockwell paintings. In fact, they hadn’t really been homes, at all. They’d been places to exist – eat, breathe, sleep, repeat – because no one under eighteen was allowed to live under the Hope Memorial Bridge.

Even though there were a few homes Danny would have given his left nut to trade for a space under a bridge.

In 15 degree weather. Being bitten by rats. In a tornado.

So, yeah, big family get-togethers weren’t really Danny’s comfort zone.

A room full of strangers he could bullshit, schmooze, and hit on?

All. Day. Long.

But,
this
?

He was out of his league and in over his head.

Danny accepted another platter of breaded chicken, took a piece, and passed it on just in time to receive yet another platter.

At this rate, he’d be passing the food around more than he’d be eating it. He lifted a forkful of the oval dough nuggets to his mouth.

“Nathan said you hurt your shoulder, Danny?” Gigi asked, sinking down into the chair next to Marco. She half-stood to pass Danny yet another plate of food – this time, sliced bread and rolls.

Danny lowered his fork, shot Nathan a quick glance, and accepted the plate from Gigi with a smile. “Yeah, I hurt it at the, uh, gym last week and the doctor thinks it might get worse without surgery.”

“You taking any time off work?” Nina asked from down the table.

Danny shook his head, fork mid-air. “If I take it easy, the pain’s not bad.”

“So, Danny, Uncle Nathan said I could maybe go for a ride-along with you guys soon,” Carlo, Gigi and Marco’s oldest boy, blurted, so excited he was damn near squirming in his chair. “When do you think we can set that up?”

“I-” Danny began.

“Uh, uh, uh!” Gigi said, wagging her finger. “We’ve been over this, Carlo! No police work for you!” She pointed at Danny, then Carlo. “Tell him, Danny! Tell him being a police officer is too dangerous!”

Nathan laughed. “Thank God you’re here, Danny. Now you can bear some of the brunt. Usually I’m the one having to tell poor Carlo that being a cop is too dangerous and encourage a career in public accounting or…” He shot Stella a look. “What did Gigi push for last week? Copyright attorney?”

Before Danny could shove the forkful in, Gigi turned back to him. “Is there something so wrong with being an accountant, Danny? Or an attorney?” Before Danny could answer, Gigi gestured down the table at Fi. “His
zia
is an attorney, for crying out loud. She could get him a nice, safe desk job, right, Danny?”

“Can we please let Danny take a bite of his food?” Stella interjected, laughing. “I’ve been watching the poor guy try to eat for ten minutes, but all you loudmouths keep interrupting!”

An uproar broke out, with everyone pointing and accusing Stella of being the biggest loudmouth of them all. Danny gratefully took the opportunity to shove down some of the best-tasting food he’d ever had.

“I want to be a doctor like
Zia
Kat and help people,” Nina and Carla’s youngest daughter announced amidst the chaos.

Danny stopped and stared, mid-chew.

Doctor?

Kat set down her fork and held out her arms. The little girl climbed into Kat’s lap and started picking off her plate. “You’re gonna be a fantastic doctor,” Kat said and kissed the top of her head.

“What kind of doctor do you want to be, Sam?” Stella asked.

“A genesisisist, like Kitty-Kat,” Sam answered with a mouthful of chicken. “I want to study people’s insides so I make them feel better.”

Kat gave Sam a big squeeze.

“Hey!,” Fi said, laughing. “When Sammy calls you Kitty Kat, she gets a hug and kiss, but when I call you that, I get pinched! What gives?”

“Sam’s cute and you’re not. Enough said,” Kat answered.

Pops pointed his fork at Kat. “Danny, did you know my baby was a genius doctor?”

Truth was, Danny
hadn’t
known. Apparently he was too stupid to realize that a geneticist was a fucking doctor and not just a brilliant scientist, which was probably true, too.

No wonder Kat was always looking down her nose at him. Danny was a police academy squeak-by and she was a goddamned doctor. With a huge, loving, supportive family, killer good looks, and a date with some jerkoff at work.

Danny suddenly felt like a huge asshole – well, an even bigger asshole – for ever having the balls to think of her “that way.”

“Smartest girl you’ll ever meet,” Pops said and Danny didn’t doubt it for a second.

“
Oh, my God,
” Kat exhaled under her breath. She stared down at her plate, head shaking. “Pops,
stop
.”

Pops nodded, oblivious or uncaring that he was causing an adorable flush to spread across Kat’s cheeks. “Yep. She was a doctor at twenty-five years old. Graduated early. Valedictorian.” Pops shoved a mouthful of salad in, still nodding. “Beautiful
and
smart, eh, Danny?”

Kat cast Stella an imploring look across the table.

Stella cleared her throat. “Um, so, Kat, tell us about this guy at work who asked you out.”

Kat’s imploring look took a quick turn into downright hostile. If looks could have killed, Stella would have incinerated.

And Danny was very irritated to realize he was only slightly less pissed about the topic.

Nathan shot Stella
a dirty look and then –
God bless his awkward soul
‒ made matters even worse. “Uh, Kat, Stella said whatever new medication they have you on is working out, huh?”

When Kat’s eyes narrowed, Nathan immediately dropped his gaze and focused on the chicken he was cutting into tiny pieces for Gia with an intensity mostly seen during neurosurgery.

Lovely.

So far, Kat had been embarrassingly bragged-on, her weirdo date plans had been revealed, and now her medicinal regime was up for review.

At this rate, they’d be talking about how she’d tripped in front of hundreds of people as she’d accepted her high school diploma in no time.

Normally, Kat wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but, in front of
him
?

Ugh.

Carla was wonderful enough to quickly switch topics and soon everyone was discussing some inane television show about spoiled housewives that apparently everyone but Kat watched.

A few minutes later, Kat snuck a quick look at Danny and found him involved in a sports-related conversation with Marco.

He really
was
a gorgeous man and incredibly sexy sitting there, leaned back in his chair, huge, muscled arms crossed over his chest. Danny smiled at something Marco said and a dimple appeared in his left cheek.

He
would
have a dimple, wouldn’t he? Being the perfect physical specimen of manhood, and all. And it goes so well with that subtle little cleft in his chin.

Kat pushed her food around her plate with the fork before glancing over again.

Those eyes…

They were blue-ish, green-ish and hypnotic. Women were always going on and on about men’s eyes in those stupid magazines her sisters read and, for the first time, Kat sort of knew what they were talking about.

Danny’s eyes pulled you in…made you feel
seen
. And they were the perfect compliment to the rest of his hotness.

Dear God…I sound like teenage fangirl.

Kat wished she had the capability of scoffing in her own face.

She spent the rest of dinner and dessert listening to a lively debate between Nina, Nathan, and Danny about which local firing range was superior (and watching Gigi sign the cross over her chest about a thousand times in between trying to cover Carlo’s ears as Carlo swatted her hands away).

“I’ve asked Nina a million times to teach me to shoot, but she’s always too busy,” Kat said, casting said sister a glance. “Do you think you can take me some time, Nathan?”

Nathan nodded. “Absolutely. I think you’ll really enjoy it, too.” He jerked a thumb toward Stella. “I’ve tried to get this one to go with me, but she’s too chicken.”

“Ha!” Stella finished chewing her cannoli before playfully punching Nathan’s arm. “Being chicken has nothing to do with it. It’s called trying to prevent an accidental homicide. You’d start micromanaging my technique and then I’d ‘accidentally’ shoot you.” Stella grinned up at him adoringly. “As much as you drive me nuts, I love you too much to have it end that way.”

Nathan grunted, but then wrapped his arm around Stella’s shoulders and pulled her close enough to kiss the top of her head.

It made her the worse sister alive, but Kat couldn’t help but feel insane jealousy at their loving exchange.

“I could take you, Kat,” Danny blurted out.

Surprised, Kat looked across the table at him and their eyes locked for a second before Danny cleared his throat and looked around the table. “Any of you. All of you.”

Every kid but Gia started yelling that they wanted to go, which made Danny laugh and Gigi nearly fall out of her chair.

As was the custom, the guys (and Nina) cleared the table and the women huddled in the kitchen, cleaning up and gabbing. Then the guys (and Nina) took the kids into the living room. Kat could hear them laughing and talking, with the occasional squeal and clapping from Gia.

A sharp pain suddenly shot down Kat’s right leg, stealing her breath. She gripped the countertop for support and breathed deeply until the pain subsided.

“What’s wrong, Kat?” Stella rushed over and wrapped an arm around Kat’s shoulder. When Kat leaned into her, Stella knew it was bad. “Okay, come on. Come sit down…”

“I think I’m going to go sit on the bed for a minute,” Kat said, forcing a smile. “It’s just a little stiff. No big deal.”

With four sets of skeptical, concerned eyes glued to her, Kat allowed Stella to walk to the bedroom she’d shared with her sisters growing up.

The pain was receding, but the residual electrical shocks and tingling were still present. Stella got her inside the bedroom and onto the lower bunk bed before kneeling down and going into nurse mode, gently rubbing Kat’s leg.

Kat closed her eyes and sagged backwards, finally letting her guard down.

God, I am so tired. And worried.

The doctors were fairly certain Kat had benign multiple sclerosis, but on certain days it didn’t feel very benign.

Kat would
never
complain, because she was incredibly lucky. If you were going to have MS, benign was the way to go. It meant she rarely had symptoms, and when she did, they were extremely manageable and typically short-lived. There were millions of people worldwide with MS who weren’t so fortunate and Kat never forgot it.

But the tide could turn at any moment and they all knew it. And, when it did, it would be devastating.

“I’ve been missing Mom a lot lately,” Kat said quietly.

Ever since her diagnosis, all she’d wanted was her Mama, to hold her and make her feel safe. To tell her some inane, totally irrelevant story about the Old Country that would have eventually had them both laughing and forgetting their worries for a few precious moments.

To promise Kat that she’d be there to take care of her when the inevitable happened. To assure her that, no matter what, Kat would always be safe and loved.

“Yeah, me, too,” Stella replied. “Especially since I had Gia. I can’t believe she isn’t here to see her and hold her, you know? A million times a day I wish I could call her or ask her advice.” Stella smiled sadly. “Gigi and Carla are amazing, but sometimes you just want your Mama, right?”

Exactly.

Kat nodded.

“She would have been so in love with Gia.
And
Nathan. God, it makes my whole chest ache just to think about it.” Stella slowly set Kat’s foot back on the ground and sat next to her on the bed.