A Happy Occasion (August 1986)

The following morning Isabella and Frank went to a local jewelry store to pick out an engagement ring. Actually trying on rings made their engagement finally feel real. She was excited and happy for their future together and could not wait to tell her family. Together, they picked out a beautiful round cut solitaire in a gold setting. It wasn’t too big or too small. Isabella was a little concerned if Frank could truly afford this ring but he never batted an eye about the price.

With that settled, Isabella decided she wanted to tell her brother first. They were incredibly close and after everything that had happened she felt he deserved some happiness. She arrived at the hospital and headed up to his room. She was relieved to see that he was still being guarded. She knocked on the door before stepping in and smiling at him.

“Hey Luca. How are you feeling today?” she asked as she walked over and took a seat on the edge of the bed.

The doctors had told Luca what was going to happen. The spine damage was not reversible. After his bones in his legs were healed he’d need more surgeries and his rehabilitation would be long and arduous. His legs were spread at angles and one was higher than the other in traction. Large casts were over his legs and yet he could not feel them. He only felt a shadow of feeling in them where his mind had not yet been able to learn that he could no longer feel or control his legs.

Luca had not been a model patient. He was often quite short, rude and angry toward the nurses that changed his sheets, supplied him with bedpans and food. ‘Why on earth didn’t I just die?’ He asked himself once more as he stared out the window near his bed. The blinds were turned only half way so his vision of the outside was broken by the slats.

Laura had come to see him several times and each time he told her to leave. Find someone else, to smash the ring he gave her into powder. And each time Laura let him fume. Let him shout and blaspheme and yell obscenities to her because she would not listen to his words. She would not leave him and as far as he was concerned, the wedding was going to happen just as they had planned.

She could see that his face had shifted into an angry scowl but upon seeing his sister it changed into the sad, weary face that was his true self. “How do you think I’m feeling waking up as half a man? I swear to fucking christ Isabella, if I am asked that once more I think I’ll go crazy!” He growled and his face had contorted into a mask of rage. “Go away if all you’re going to do is ask me stupid questions!” He said angrily and turned back toward the window. “If you want to be helpful, bring me a gun with one bullet!” He said as he seethed and she would see that if he had had it in his hand right then he might just do it. Luca was feeling sorry for himself but the doctor had said this would happen. It almost always did in these situations and men who were successful were the worst of the bunch.

Isabella just sat there calmly while Luca lasted out at her. She let him say everything he needed to say but didn’t leave. She continued to sit there looking at him. She waited a few solid moments before finally speaking again. “So, is this how it’s going to be from now on? You feeling sorry for yourself. That’s not the Luca I know...that’s not my brother. The Luca I know, the one who graduated from law school at the top of his class, doesn’t just roll over and give up. He’s a fighter. You need to stop behaving as you are and appreciate the people who love you and are doing all they can to help you. Because the way you’re acting right now you are going to drive us all away. Yes, what happened to you is completely shitty but this is not the end of your life Luca. There are people out there who are suffering far worse than you are and you need to remember that. I came here to tell you something. Do you want to hear it or should I just go?”

Luca’s face contorted into profound helplessness and he looked away from her as tears rolled down his cheeks. “I’m not the brother you knew, not anymore. That man is gone. That man could stand up to the scum that he faced every day. He could ‘stand’ and address the juries he faced. That man would have danced at his wedding and played with his children,” he said. “That man doesn’t exist anymore,” he said in a whisper as he cried silently and mourned for ‘that man’ that he had known. “I can still have children...they did tell me that...though my semen have to be removed surgically. Am I even a ‘man’ anymore? Laura deserves a MAN, not a broken thing that breathes and eats!” he said as he looked into her eyes. His face was so tired, especially his eyes, they were red and bloodshot. And then his tone and facial expression changed to hope.

“You could talk to Laura, couldn’t you? Tell her I don’t want to see her anymore. You could do that, couldn’t you? Please Isabella, I can’t bear for her to look at me like this,” he said as he gestured to himself.

Isabella sighed as she looked at Luca. She hated seeing him like this. This was going to be an adjustment for them all, but she wasn’t planning on letting her brother give up. There was still so much good he could do in this world even without his legs.

When he brought up Laura she sighed again and shook her head. “I’m not going to do that Luca. Laura loves you and is determined to remain by your side. I think you would regret it deeply if you let her go.”

“Regret?” He said as if it were a question. “I can tell you a thing or two about regret! You owe me sis, you owe me and I never asked you for a god damn thing! You remember? Now I’m askin you to tell her to stop coming to see me!” he said and then something else came to him. “I cheated on her you know,” He lied. “Several times, I could never be with just one woman, you know that,” he said almost desperately. “I’ve told her the engagement is off but she acts like I’m just talking gibberish. I would have told her that I cheated but I can’t bring myself to do it. You could do it though, couldn’t you?” he asked her as he took hold of her hand. “Please Isabella, please!” he begged desperately and winced in pain. It was then that she noticed something odd about the mattress. There appeared to be a slight, bluish streak down where the mattresses of his hospital bed met.

Isabella felt her anger towards her brother grow. He had cheated on Laura? How could he have done that to her? Laura was incredibly sweet and kind and cared about Luca in a way the other girls he had dated hadn’t. She loved Laura like a sister and now he had screwed everything up.

She sighed and got up and was about to leave when she suddenly saw something blue along the edge of the mattress. She reached under there and found four pain pills. She grabbed them and shook her head at Luca.

“You’ve greatly disappointed me today Luca.”

She felt a few tears come to her eyes as she threw the pills in the trash can and then left the room. She stopped by the nurse’s station and told them not to give him any more pain pills. She then left the hospital and headed back to the apartment.

Frank was cooking bacon for BLT sandwiches. Isabella liked them and the tomatoes he had found at the market looked wonderful so he nabbed some with some nice, crisp lettuce and decided to make lunch for them. The bread was ready for the toaster and a nice, wedge of pickle was already on the plates. He made bloody mary’s...small ones and on a toothpick he set green olives and pickle slices. Once he heard her coming he smiled though he thought he might look very silly with her pink and black cooking apron on. He really needed to buy a new one more to his liking. Perhaps black? He wondered as he heard her open the door.

“Hey hey, guess what I’m making us?” he said in a very upbeat tone.As if she couldn’t smell the bacon. He looked ridiculous in her apron but he didn’t care at all.

When Frank looked at Isabella he would be able to tell that something was wrong. She dropped her purse to the ground and looked at him.

"Luca was hoarding pain pills under his mattress to try and kill himself. The man would rather die than to live without the use of his legs. He's decided that life is no longer worth living and wishes that those men who shot him had actually killed him. He's given up and not only that but he wants me to tell Laura that their engagement is off. He told me that he cheated on her...multiple times but the more I think about it the more I consider that just a bunch of bullshit that he's using to alienate himself from everyone who cares about him. He made me so angry that I didn't even get a chance to tell him about our engagement."

Frank looked at her concernedly and with a pained look. “Oh, I’m sorry babe,” he said as he came up to her. He hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead. “I wish there was something I could do,” he said but Frank’s idea of help for something like this was to give the man a gun to blow his own brains out. Why drag it out and then he wondered how Isabella found those pills? He considered that Luca ‘wanted’ her to find them and thus this was all a show to get everyone to leave him alone. Failure was easiest if no one was looking over your shoulder. Most people knew that.

“I’ll go speak to him tomorrow morning,” Frank said and he kissed her softly again on the forehead. ‘We’ll get it sorta out, he just needs to see the upside is all. Hard to do when you’re in pain every day,” he said and that was something he knew well. He had more injuries than a pro football quarterback and was about their age too. Pain pills were not in it for where he hurt he just ignored it all anyway. That and Isabella was more than enough to make any hurts he had fade away. Especially when they were having sex, which was often.

“Are ya hungry? I made lunch,” he said as he lifted up her chin for a kiss. The ring she wore looked nice on her finger. “I thought we could have dessert in the bedroom this afternoon,” he murmured as he kissed her.

Isabella and Frank enjoyed the BLT's he made and then enjoyed some 'dessert.' Isabella was glad that Frank was going to talk to Luca. Perhaps he could knock some sense into him. It pained her to see her brother like this. Luca was always the strong one. She didn't know how to be strong for him. She had never had to do that before. She decided that she wasn't going to talk to Laura and she certainly wasn't going to tell her the lie that Luca had cheated on her. She didn't believe it. Luca had never talked about any girl the way he talked about Laura.

That night Frank and Isabella dressed to go and meet her parents for dinner. They were meeting at a local Italian restaurant. Isabella was going to reveal their engagement that night. She actually felt rather nervous about it. When they walked in she spotted her parents at a table and she and Frank walked over to join them.

Frank wasn’t nervous exactly and though he was Italian, her mother didn’t much like him. She had a way of seeing inside people that Lorenzo didn’t. She saw him for what he was. A machine of violence and she didn’t want Isabella anywhere near him but had never said anything to her about it. Lorenzo stood as they arrived. He shook Frank’s hand. “Hi Frank...Hi Isabella,” he said and kissed her cheek. “Frank,” Elena said neutrally and shook his hand. “Oh don’t you look lovely,” she complimented as she checked Isabella out. “Oh my god!” She said suddenly when she noticed Isabella’s ring. Her eyes went large and her gaze shifted from her to Frank back to her again. “Whats the matter honey?” Lorenzo asked as he sat. Elena took Isabella’s hand in hers and showed it off to him. Lorenzo’s lips curled into a smile and then he looked at Frank.

“Well then congratulations are in order, we should get some champagne!” He said then looked around for their waiter. Elena’s enthusiasm was...reserved it appeared. “So you two are back together? Well, ofcourse you are...congratulations Isabella, and you to Frank,” she said but she was far from being as excited as she could have been. “You and your brother, always filled with surprises,” She said.

Isabella could tell that her mother was far from excited about her engagement to Frank. She knew that her mother thought that she should be with someone else, but she loved Frank and was going to marry him. She was happy and she wasn't going to let her mother spoil that happiness.

She took a seat and looked at her parents. "To be honest it all happened rather quickly. Frank heard that Luca had been injured and came to the hospital. He and I talked for a while and we both admitted how much we had missed each other. Frank then proposed right there in the hospital cafeteria. We didn't want to say anything because of everything that was going on with Luca."

Lorenzo only nodded thoughtfully as if she had made a shrewd decision and he smiled as he looked at Frank. “Well I don’t recall giving you permission to marry my daughter but seeing how the engagement is already done, I could see my way to allowing it,” He said with a wink. “Besides, I like a man Isabella can’t push around, she needs a strong man to lead her away from disaster,” He said as Elena raised an eyebrow at him. Frank only smiled. The champagne had arrived and the waiter popped the cork and began to fill the flutes. Once everyone had one Lorenzo raised his glass. “I wish you both a lifetime of love and happiness. And if not, well Frank, she’s your problem now!” He said and chuckled. “No seriously, Isabella is our heart, our priceless gem, our hope all rolled into one. Take care of her, take care of each other and you’ll have a long and happy marriage,” He said and then they clinked glasses and sipped the champagne.

After they had made their orders and everyone settled Elena spoke. “How did your visit with Luca go today Isabella? He was in an awful mood when we visited him this morning. He was talking all kinds of nonsense like he was giving up,” she said as she chewed a piece of bread dipped in oil.

Isabella rolled her eyes at her father's comment, but did smile. She knew he was only joking and anything he said was from love. She clinked glasses with her parents and Frank and then took a sip of the champagne. It tasted expensive and very good. She was glad that the announcement about the engagement was over and she could feel Frank relaxing beside her as well. She didn't know how her brother was going to react, but she didn't plan on telling him. She had wanted to tell him that morning, but he hadn't wanted to hear it so now he wouldn't be hearing it from her.

She took a piece of bread and dipped it carefully in the herb oil and then popped it into her mouth. She wiped her hands on her napkin and then looked at her mother after she asked her about her visit with Luca.

"Well...to be perfectly honest it didn't go well. I planned to tell him about our engagement but he wouldn't hear it. It just kept going on about how his life was over and how he wanted me to break things off for him with Laura. I tried talking sense into him, but he wasn't listening. Frank is going to go tomorrow and try to talk to him though."

Elena looked at Frank as if sizing him up. “Well, you can’t do any worse. He wouldn’t open up to us either. He’s stubborn like his sister,” she said. Frank didn’t say anything and only looked at Isabella. Lorenzo just waved it all away. “He’s just mourning the loss, ive seen it hundreds of times,” He said. “Eventually his drive for life will kick in and he’ll wake up and realize that he has a life to live,” He said. “Laura isn’t someone he can put off or ignore. The woman is determined to marry him regardless if he wants her or not,” He said. “And she acts as if losing his legs is a small thing but we’ve all read the specifics of whats wrong with him. Having children will be a challenge,” Elena said.

Isabella thought about saying that perhaps they didn't need to have children to be happy, but she thought better of it. She knew what Frank would think if she said that. Instead, she decided to make another suggestion. "Well, they could always adopt or use artificial insemination. I know it wouldn't be the situation that they had hoped for, but it would give them a child. But all of this is moot if Luca's attitude doesn't turn around. Laura may actually get fed up and leave him if he keeps behaving like he is."

The food came and Frank got a brick oven pizza. As her parents interacted with the waiter he leaned in toward her. “Try to be positive babe,” He whispered. Though he wasn’t there. He hadn’t seen how Luca was. “So, what do you do Frank? Still construction?” Lorenzo asked. “Yep, it suits me, I get to work outside and the hours make it easy for me to come home and cook for Isabella,” He said. Elena gave Isabella a look as if she didn;t approve of that at all. Isabella had been taught how to cook by her mother and grandmother. Frank noticed the look and decided to say something. “Well we usually cook together when she doesn’t work late,” He said to clarify. “My nonna taught me how to cook Italian,” Frank said and Elena seemed to like hearing that.

Frank tasted his pizza then cut off a piece so Isabella could try it. He fed her with his fingers not realizing that that wasn’t exactly something they did in front of others. He didn’t even think about that at all. “It’s good, isn’t it?” He asked as he took another bite.

Isabella had ordered the Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe (Spaghetti with Romano cheese and black pepper). She enjoyed Roman recipes and this was one of her favorites. She had made this dish and Carbonara for Frank before and he had seemed to really enjoy those recipes. There was a competitive spirit between them when it came to food and cooking, but it was a friendly one. In the end, they both truly loved food and eating and enjoyed spending time together cooking.

"My sauce is still better," she teased with a grin as she took another forkful of the Spaghetti strands.

Frank's pizza did smell delicious and she was more than happy to accept a piece from him. For a brief moment she forgot that they were at a table with her parents and she took it from his fingers as he fed it to her. The entire act was very sensual and intimate and she realized just how much she had missed moments like this.

"Yes, it's delicious."

After Frank tried her dish he agreed though he still said he liked his ‘own’ sauce better than hers. He loved how they were so competitive with just about everything. Their morning jogs usually ended up as a mad dash at the end and it was usually her that announced with they started. Though he secretly enjoyed that because he liked chasing Isabella. The dinner lasted for almost 2 hours and by the end of it it seemed that Elena had warmed to Frank to some degree but that could have been do to the alcohol. In the cab home they could barely keep their hands from touching indecent places and when they reached their apartment they couldn’t get their clothes off fast enough.

The next morning Frank left early though he did make coffee. He wanted to get to the hospital while the police were likely going through shift change. Frank had mostly avoided notice and those that did notice him thought he looked confident enough to belong where he was. The police officer on duty believed Frank’s story of being his soon to be brother in law and let him by without incident. Luca heard him come in and turned to face him.

“Oh for fuck sake, did Isabella send you? What the hell Frank, I don’t want company. Not now, not ever!” he snapped angrily. Frank stepped up to his bedside. “So what the hell are ya doin here then? Oh, I forgot, you’re a cripple and can’t go no where,” he said with a haughty chuckle. Luca’s eyes opened wide in a rage. “How ‘dare’ you!” He said in obvious outrage. “Ya know Luca, I always knew you were such a panzy ass, I never really figured out why Isabella respected you so much,” he said. “Fuck you, get the fuck out!” Luca said. “And ya know what? Imma help ya. I’d rather see ya rot in that bed but I told Isabella I’d do what I could for ya,” He said and pulled out his pistol. He ejected one bullet and removed the magazine. He left the chamber open and held the bullet up for Luca to see as he pocketed the magazine.

“No hear ya go, one bullet and your problems are over man. You can end it all right here and now and the rest of us can bury your sorry ass once and for all,” He said as Luca’s face turned from pale to red in an instant as he watched Frank load the bullet into the pistol then let the upper receiver load it though he had pocketed the bullet stealthily. He handed it to him, grip first. “There ya go, you just point this end on your ole noggin and pull the trigger. No more whinin like some pussy cuz I gotta tell ya, Laura deserves a man who’ll fight for her. Not some lil panzy ass bitch who was dealt a bad hand. I’ve seen soldiers in worse shape than you and fight every day to stay alive. When I look at you all I wanna do is spit in your face,” He said coldly.

Luca looked at the gun in his hand and Frank stopped talking. “You can leave...now,” Luca said softly. Frank chuckled again. “Are you serious? I wanna see a loser blow his own brains out. Now that’s real entertainment,” he said. Luca looked up at him and his eyes looked haunted. As if he were looking for a way out. Whether it was from his own body or his life Frank couldn’t say. “Someone else chose my fate,” Luca said finally and cocked the pistol. “Bullshit Luca, you got fucked up by some gangbangers is all. And then they tried to kill you and your family,” Frank said. “With you gone they’ll keep goin, hurtin and killin, dealin their poison to kids. This is what they want. You can just give it to em or you can get a little revenge,” He said softly as he bent down to his level. Luca looked at him, then the gun then him again. “You tell me who and I’ll get em for ya,” Frank said plainly. “Isabella has all the FBI evidence. Their whole organization is in it,” he said as his expression changed. Frank grinned as Luca handed him his gun back.