Chapter 15

15

Elena sighed with happiness as she cut into the cheese enchilada and shoved it into her mouth. Cumin, red pepper, and cilantro danced over her taste buds a moment before the ooey gooey cheese hit her. She hummed in delight. She scooped up another bite. She wasn’t delicate about it. When it came to food, Elena was never delicate.

“Hungry?” Madison asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah. For some reason I’m starving.” She took another bite of enchilada. Damn, it was almost as good as her mother’s, and that was saying a lot. Marcella Santini could cook anything Mexican or Italian.

“Having huge amounts of monkey sex will do that to you,” Madison said with a chuckle.

Elena shared a smile with her friend. “Yeah, there is that. And it’s been awhile since I’ve indulged.”

“In sex or food?”

Elena laughed. “Both.”

When Madison didn’t say anything, Elena looked up at her. All of a sudden, her friend’s face went pale. She sipped at water as if it were a fine whiskey.

“Is there something wrong?” Elena asked as she cut into her enchilada again.

Madison swallowed and shook her head. “Just a little queasy.”

Charlie was sitting by her, relaxed. If she was distressed, Charlie would have known it. He would be standing and pressed up against her legs.

“Do you have a fever?” she asked, feeling like a schmuck.

Thinking back on the day, she remembered Madison had been a bit lethargic. Neither of them were big shoppers, but Madison had petered out early. Elena realized her friend might be getting sick and she hadn’t even noticed. She had been so self-involved, thinking about getting back to JT as soon as possible. She should have being paying attention to her friend.

Madison shook her head and closed her eyes. “No. Just like I said, a little queasy.”

Elena studied her for a moment and then it all clicked. The lethargy, the queasiness, the pale skin added up to one thing. Even as it stunned her, joy filled her heart. Elena waited for Madison to open her eyes.

“You’re pregnant,” she said smiling.

Madison smiled and nodded.

“I am going to be an aunt,” she said, letting out a hoot that drew a few stares, but Elena didn’t care. She jumped out of her seat and hugged Madison. “This is fantastic news.”

Madison hugged her back. Elena dropped into her seat. “How did Dante take it?”

“I thought he was going to pass out at first. Seriously, he was so pale. Afterwards, he started strutting around like he was some kind of stud.”

Elena rolled her eyes. She had been around her four cousins during their wives’ pregnancies, and they all had been horrible. “Good lord. He is going to be insufferable.”

“He already is. He did tell your folks that he should get a medal for being first, or at least get your father’s Harley.”

Elena laughed. “He can try but Nando already called dibs on it. And you know how they treat the baby. When are you due?”

“March.”

Elena started calculating it in her head, then she laughed. “Good thing y’all planned that wedding when you did. Close enough not to cause too much speculation.”

“There is that.”

Elena held up her margarita glass. “To the next generation of Santinis.”

Madison raised her water and clinked glasses with her.

“Now,” Elena said after taking a large gulp of her margarita, “what are our chances at getting another female into this mix?”

* * * *

Around two that afternoon, there was a knock at JT’s apartment door that had both he and Anthony frowning. He was going to ignore it, but there was always a chance it was Elena. He looked through the peephole and found another Santini standing on his doorstep.

He opened the door to a smiling Dante. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

“I was abandoned by my woman so she could spend time with Elena.”

JT stepped back. “We’re in the kitchen working.”

Dante followed him back.

“I see you two settled your differences,” he said, looking at Anthony.

“I don’t want to beat the shit out of him that much anymore,” Anthony said.

“According to Elena, JT beat you up.”

“Suck it, little brother.” But he didn’t really look up from what he was reading. Both of them had been working on it for hours, and now Anthony was as frustrated as JT.

Dante looked at the table then back up at JT. “What’s going on here and should I even be here?”

“The case is closed, so I guess it’s okay,” Anthony said.

“Cool.” He looked at their beers. “Got any more of that?”

“Of course,” JT said. “Fridge.”

He sat back down at the table and Dante joined them.

They continued to work, but there was a hum of something coming off Dante. He seemed to be there for a reason, but it was as if he was avoiding the issue. Apparently, Anthony felt it too.

“Why don’t you spit it out, Ant?” Anthony asked, using the nickname he’d given Dante when he was just a boy.

JT looked between the two of them, and he realized Dante had something to talk about. “I can leave if you need some privacy.”

Dante shook his head. “You’re family, JT. Plus, I have feeling, you’ll officially be family before long.”

He didn’t see a reason to deny it and nodded.

“Freaking hell, just answer the question. We have work to do.”

Anthony really didn’t have a lot of patience.

“Madison’s pregnant.”

There was a second of stunned silence, then in true Santini fashion, Anthony let out a whoop. “Hot damn!”

He stood and pulled his brother out of the chair and gave him a hug. “Can’t believe it.” Anthony released his brother. “We should have something better than beer here.”

“Naw, beer is better than any champagne we can afford,” Dante said with a laugh.

JT shook his hand. “That’s true. We should have cigars or something though.”

Dante shook his head. “I come back smelling like that, there is a good chance Madison would barf on me. I can’t take that again.”

Anthony frowned and looked at his younger brother. “She seemed fine to me today.”

“It hits her about lunch time, and it has more to do with smells than food. I have a feeling she won’t want to go out much the next few months. Just a passing scent of something turns her green.”

“Hey, why didn’t you tell me this morning?”

“You were preoccupied. Plus, we had just found out the night before and we wanted to tell Mom and Dad and the Bakers first. We figured the grandparents had a right to know first.”

He nodded then looked a little sick. “They are going to start harping on me again.”

Dante laughed. “Don’t worry, Anthony. It seems you’re younger siblings have marriage and babies covered.”

JT thought back to the ideas he had about having babies with Elena. Just thinking about watching her waddle around the house made him smile.

“Oh, lord, you’ve done it now, Dante. You have JT off in no man’s land thinking about babies. Damn.”

Dante laughed. “So, what are you two talking about here?”

“It’s the job I just finished. The person we thought headed everything is talking a deal. Which means that he has something to deal with. So, I’m going over everything. There has to be something I missed.”

“I have been over all the files too,” Anthony said looking at him. “I can’t find anything either. If it is there, it was well buried, so stop whining about it.”

Dante laughed. “Want me to look over everything?”

Anthony looked at him then back to JT. “What do you think?”

JT thought it over. It wasn’t exactly kosher and, like Anthony said, the investigation was over.

“Fresh eyes might help. Plus, he might pick up on something as active duty that we missed.”

Anthony looked at his brother. “Okay, but you didn’t see any of this. It’s still considered classified.”

“See what?” Dante asked as he took the file and started reading.

* * * *

It was well passed dinner time by the time Elena and Madison made it back to her apartment. They’d spent their afternoon window shopping for maternity clothes and baby furniture. It had been much more fun than anything girl centered like mani-pedis. At least for Elena.

She dialed JT’s number wanting to check in and see what he was up to. Plus, she was worried that Anthony might have lost his temper again. JT could hold his own as he had proven that morning, but…

“Jethro’s house of ill repute,” Dante said.

“Hey, daddy,” she said, laughing.

“Hey there, yourself. I take it Madison told you.”

“Yeah. Well, she looked like she was going to barf, and I figured it out. Then we spent the afternoon shopping for things. I am going to spoil that kid like there is no tomorrow. And, yes, I am going to be the cool aunt, so expect me to buy things you disapprove of.”

Dante chuckled. “I would be disappointed if you didn’t.”

The sound of his happiness made her happy. It was like that for all the Santinis, but for Dante and Elena, it was a little different. She was pretty sure it was the same way for Carlos and Brando.

“I’m so happy for you, bro.”

“Thanks. Dad and Mom were thrilled.”

“I bet they were. Aunt Joey’s been giving her grief about being the only grandma of the bunch.”

He chuckled. “Of course she was. What’s up?”

“I called to talk to JT.”

“We’ve been working.”

She sighed. She had too many brothers. “Just put him on the phone, idiot.”

The phone was jostled, and JT came on the line. “Hey, babe, what’s up?”

“We just got back. If you’re going to play NCIS with Anthony, we might watch some TV.” She looked at Madison, who nodded. “Yeah, that’s what we’re doing.”

“Are you at Madison and Dante’s?”

“No, we’re at the apartment.”

“Okay. We shouldn’t be too long.”

“No worries. We can entertain ourselves.”

“Talk to you later,” he said.

“Sure thing.”

He hesitated then he said, “Bye.”

“Bye.”

She hung up the phone and frowned. JT was acting like something was wrong, or he wanted to talk about something.

“Something wrong?” Madison asked.

Elena pushed her thoughts aside. “Naw. Let’s get you some tea and crackers and find something to watch.”

“So,” Madison said, as Elena went into the kitchen to put the kettle on, “what are the guys up to?”

“They’re working on something for NCIS. I guess they dragged Dante into it.”

“And that look on your face when you got off the phone?”

She could evade her friend, but she knew better than to hope for that. Looking at Madison she said, “Just a feeling when I got off the phone. Like JT wanted to tell me something.”

“And that had you worried?” she asked. “Why?”

Elena grabbed the crackers and took them over to Madison. “I think one of the things that always stood in our way wasn’t exactly a thing.”

Madison nodded. “Anthony.”

“I just worry with him back in the picture, no matter how temporarily, that he will cause JT to second guess his feelings.”

“Oh, Elena, that man is not going to be second guessing anything. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know what it was, but it just felt like the wanted to tell me something.”

Madison shook her head. “It’s because it took you so long to hook up. Longer than it took Dante and me. So, you are going to end up seeing problems or worrying over things that just aren’t that important.”

Elena sighed and nodded. The tea kettle whistled and she hurried back into the kitchen. As she poured the hot water over the tea, she tried to push her worries away. JT didn’t sound worried or upset as if he was going to be mean to her.

“Hey, do you want to watch some Always Sunny ?” Madison asked as Elena walked back into the living area with the mugs of tea.

“Sounds good.”

“Great, because Dante calls me horrible for loving this show.”

“I don’t know what you see in a man with no sense of humor.”

Madison laughed and settled back against the sofa and sipped at her tea. She looked much better than she had earlier. At least, there was that. Charlie hopped up between the two of them on the sofa and laid down.

As they both enjoyed the antics of the Gang, she tried to push her worries about JT and second thoughts out of her head. There was one thing that was for sure.

If Jethro Francis Thomas thought she was going to let him walk away without a fight, he had another think coming.