his father the next day to answer questions that discretion and courtesy had prevented his parents from posing at their dinner. He knew he would have to give Patrick enough information about Alessa to placate his mother or she would be relentless in her quest to find out more.
“Hi, Dad. It’s me,” he said. “I know you guys have a lot of questions about Alessa and Lucy. Mom even whispered the warning, as I was leaving your place, that she would need answers.”
Patrick knew this would not be easy on his son. He suspected there was a story behind the girls.
“Son,” he said gently, “you know we worry about you, and yes, we do have some questions. I mean, we didn’t understand how Alessa and Lucy had met. Nor are we clear in our minds about how Alessa was mugged and beaten. Are you sure you can handle this?”
“I’m fine, Dad. I’m going to tell you the story, but I need you to keep some of it to yourself. I love these two, and I don’t want Mom to make this difficult for all of us. I know she only wants what’s best for me, but you both need to have faith in my judgment. Okay?”
“Sure,” Patrick agreed. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Remo took a deep breath. “First,” he began, “Alessa was mugged and beaten by four men as she told you, but she was also raped. We met when she came in as a patient for physical therapy. We spent a lot of time together, and over the months, we got to know each other. It was a mutual thing.”
“Holy crap,” Patrick breathed. “She was raped by four men? Are you sure she is capable of making the right decision about living with you? I mean, did she see a therapist after it happened? Rape can screw up a person. Stripped of everything she knows and cherishes, a lot of times, the experience can leave women hollow and confused.”
Remo expected a negative response. His father was right, and he needed to reassure him this hadn’t been the case with Alessa.
“Dad,” he went on, “there’s a lot more to her story. Alessa was abused by her uncle from the time she was a young girl. He continually violated her until she ran away from home at seventeen. She fell in with the wrong crowd and was dancing at strip clubs, where there was more abuse. To cut a long story short, she wound up living on the streets to escape all this horror, and that’s where she met Lucy. Lucy was also abused by her father while her mother stood by. They’ve been together for two years now, and Alessa has raised Lucy as if she were her own. There, now you have the bigger picture.”
There was silence on the phone for what seemed an eternity to Remo.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Patrick stated. “Those girls have been through hell. Your mother would have a damn stroke if she knew about this.”
Remo laughed. He had never heard his father so outraged before, and it both shocked and amused him now. He kept silent for a few seconds as he thought about what to say to his father. “Well, that’s why God made husbands,” he countered. “To bear the brunt of the shit their wives can’t deal with. But seriously, Dad, you have to believe me when I say that Alessa has come through all of this and remained a good and decent human being. She isn’t screwed up. I mean, she has her issues; we all do. She is the strongest person I’ve ever met, and I love her, Dad.”
“If you love her, then she must be worth loving,” Patrick assured him.
“Thanks, Dad,” Remo said gratefully. “You know I love you and Mom. It’s important to me that you can look beyond the shell and take the time to see what’s inside. Both of you always taught me to be open to anything. It’s because of you that I am lucky enough to have these two girls in my life today. You’ve raised me well. Now go treat yourself to a beer.”
Patrick laughed. “Thanks, son. I think I’ll need a couple of beers to digest what you told me. But don’t worry. I’ll handle your mother. I’ll give her an abbreviated version of what I’ve learned, excluding the go-go clubs and that bit about Alessa and Lucy living on the streets.”
They talked more, and right before they hung up the phone, Patrick said, “Remo?”
“Yeah, Dad?”
“Can you live without her?”
“I wouldn’t want to,” he answered promptly.
“Okay, then, that’s good enough for me. For the record, I did think both of them were great.”
Relieved to have his father on his side, he let out a loud breath. “They are. See you soon.”
As Patrick had promised his son, he gave Hannah only enough information to quell her suspicions about Alessa. They were planning their annual Fourth of July party at their house and had, as usual, invited all their neighbors and friends to join them. Remo, Alessa, and Lucy were invited. Remo filled them in about the Fourth of July party, which, he explained, was a big event for his parents. There would be dancing, singing, and even fireworks. All the regulars looked forward to it every year.
Alessa bought Lucy a pair of white pants with a red tank top and a sleeveless blue sweater. The child felt quite the patriot as she came into the living room, all ready to go to the party. They arrived an hour earlier than the guests to help Hannah and Patrick with their preparations. Lucy helped Hannah put food into bowls, and Alessa cleaned the lettuce—again. As she leaned over the sink to wash twelve heads of lettuce, she made a mental note about learning to cook a dish. The whole cleaning lettuce routine was a real drag.
When the guests arrived, Remo introduced them to Alessa, one by one. All of them were curious about the girl who had inspired deep enough feelings in the incurable bachelor. They were also as curious about her younger sister.
About an hour into the party, a middle-aged couple showed up. When the man saw Alessa, he froze in his tracks.
“What’s wrong?” she heard his wife ask.
Alessa turned to see what was going on. Then like a kid in a game of hide and seek, she suddenly ducked behind one of the thick pillars on the massive porch.
Remo, who had followed the developments, caught up with her. “Whatever happened, Alessa, you need to relax,” he told her softly. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Someone you know, no doubt.”
Shaken, Alessa looked back at him. “O God. Yeah, I know him,” she admitted. “I’ll tell you later.”
She pretended, as best she could, that nothing was wrong. Later in the evening, when they were getting dessert ready, Remo came in to steal Alessa from his mother.
“Okay, what’s the deal?” he asked when he got her alone. “When my parents’ next-door neighbor walked in, he almost shit in his pants, and you looked like you wanted to run and hide.”
“Oh, Remo. This is embarrassing,” Alessa said, trying to stall.
“Don’t be embarrassed. You know how I feel about these things. I don’t give a damn.”
Alessa giggled nervously. “Not embarrassing for me, but for him,” she explained. “I know him from the strip club. He used to pay me for lap dances, but he was freaky. When we went into the room, he would put an adult diaper on, hold a rattle, and have me give him a lap dance. He would insist that I say, ‘What a bad, bad boy you are!’ He would act like a scolded child, and we would repeat the routine over and over. I didn’t have many clients who were freaky, but he was one of them.”
She and Remo burst out laughing simultaneously. Alessa was amused by the memory of the man’s fetish. Remo found the visual conjured up by her account hilarious.
“Remo, it didn’t occur to me that I’d ever meet the men I had once danced for at the club at your parents’ house,” she confessed. “It’s like the time I saw your friend at the Irish pub. There are so many men I’ve danced for and in front of. I could be running into them at any time like I did here.”
“Yep, shit happens,” Remo said understandingly. “Let’s go back out to the party. They’re getting ready to set off the fireworks.”
Alessa, Remo, and Lucy sat on a blanket spread over the grass and watched the fireworks. They were beautiful without being lavish. As the girls watched, their minds went back to the same occasion a year ago, when Alessa had been attacked by the four men at Penn’s Landing.
Lucy snuggled up closer to the older girl. “You remember, right?” she whispered.
“Yeah, it’s hard not to,” Alessa admitted. “Things are different now, though.”
“I know,” Lucy said. “I love you, Alessa.”
“I love you, too, Lucy.”
