Page 20 of In It for the Long Ride

“Daisy,” he pleasantly chirped, opening the door wide. “Come in, child. Come in.”

He put his arm around me as if he sensed my troubled heart and ushered me into the chapel. I gripped my purse strap so hard that when I finally did sit down and let go, I had indents in my palm. I idly rubbed at the skin, while Father Barnetti settled next to me on the pew.

“What’s happened?” he quietly asked.

My lip quivered, and I fought to still it. My parents were long gone, such was life at my age, and shit, my sister went before they did. Father Barnetti was the closest thing to a home thatI had. He’d been there for all the funerals, all the trials and tragedies.

His hand blanketed mine and gave me a little squeeze.

“Eric has recovered from the shooting.” I whispered, trying to focus on the good.

“Praise God. Praise Him, that is excellent news.” He smiled.

I dropped my head and the tears started to gush. I couldn’t stop them.

“Hey, Daisy…” He quietly spoke and shifted to look at me. “Ah, child. I know things have been tough with the loss of Mr. Miller’s wife and daughter-in-law. You must believe there will be better days. This will pass. Everything will settle.”

“I don’t know that it will. There is more to it, Father.”

He quietly nodded. The man had been around me and Swanwick long enough to know that there usually was more to things than met the eye.

He didn’t push me for details, but instead sat in peace beside me until I felt like speaking again.

“Sophia Valentino’s–people have taken my nephew’s wife.” My face crumpled, I hadn’t spoken about any of it with anyone, and now that I was trying to all the words and details tried to fly out at once, making a huge knot in my throat that suddenly made me feel like I was choking. “They’re mobsters in Chicago.”

His eyes got wide, and he shifted abruptly, as if he might shoot off the pew and call the authorities.

“The police are doing everything they can…” I shrugged, conveying how much use that was. “This family is responsible for Anthony's death.”

“That’s who he engaged in gunfire with, the day he died?” Father Barnetti sounded as if he’d suddenly put a few pieces of the puzzle together.

I nodded and swiped at the tears that just kept falling.

“They’re involved in trafficking women. They stole her from me at the hospital when I was taking her to her nursing school clinicals. I sat in my car, and I watched it happen.” My voice cracked as I relived the horrors of that day. “By the time I realized what was happening and got my seatbelt off they were gone.”

He made the sign of the cross and empathetically shook his head. “Daisy, I am so sorry.”

“No one is safe. They’re picking us off one by one. Every day, someone is dead or missing. I tried to save Eric and Anthony from that life, and I failed.”

“Hush now, child,” he soothed, “Your sister made her choices. She made her family. She introduced them to that path. You did everything you could by them.”

“I know where I messed up.” I assured him. “I should have left Swanwick with them. Crystal has gone to Chicago with Oakland to find Eric’s wife,” I carefully explained. “I’m going to take Blaze and I’m going to do it right this time. I’m leaving with him.”

“Crystal left you with her boy?” He seemed shocked by this news.

I sniffed and nodded to confirm it. “She knows I’ll watch out for him. I’m his best option.”

“I don’t doubt that.” Father Barnetti sighed. “I just regret the fact that the boy couldn’t know his father better, and now… no mother. It is sad.”

I nodded again, not trusting myself to speak.

“You would have made an excellent mother, Daisy.” He smiled.

I tore in a rugged breath and another sob caught in my throat. He patted my hand as I battled the urge to scream.

“That’s what brought me here.” I admitted, with a tiny, awkward laugh.

“You were struggling with that again?” He had offered guidance and reassurance every step of the way, he knew what I was referring to.

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