Hart to Heart
A Good Old Fashioned Family Reunion

Previously...

“Daddy always taught me never to aim a gun at anyone unless you intend to use it.” She said sarcastically. Gladys nodded and reached into the safe, pulling out a snub-nose 38.

“No, I guess there’s no harm in trying.”

On the Connecticut Turnpike some time later...

“So when were you going to tell me, Miss Hart?” Gabriella looked out the window as the scenery rushed by. They had been on the road for a while, and tempers seemed to more than just a little on edge.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said even as I hoped she was wrong. She wasn’t.

“I remember when my brother first started taking those awful shots. It was horrible; he was so moody.” I cringed.

“Don’t get me wrong, either. I guess a lot of men in your position are just like Sally, but you seem so distracted, like you’re someplace else. But you do make a nice girl, even if you didn’t start out that way. I wish I had known you before you decided to change; you must have driven the girls crazy.”

“I was a weak boy, Miss Capaldi…No…scratch that,” I pulled the old Nash over to the side of the highway and turned toward Gabriella.

“I’m a strong woman…I was weak in being a boy; like I didn’t have the strength to continue, you know? I was strong enough as a person to do my part over in France in the War, but to stay that way? I just couldn’t go on.”

“You ever think about finding a nice man to settle down with? You’re not all that unattractive…” She shook her head just like I had only moments before.

“Okay…strike that…you’re actually quite attractive; I can see why you said what you said about being a boy. It must have been rough growing up.”

“Tell me about it; if Gladys hadn’t been in my corner, half the neighborhood AND my dad would have kicked my ass or worse.” I didn’t mean to get emotional, but between the memories and the shots, it was a losing battle. I started to cry and she noticed. She turned away once again; I think she was trying to spare my feelings, but in a way, I almost hoped she was sparing her own.

“I won a Bronze Star in Ardennes and they still fucked with me when things calmed down.” Fuck wasn’t just a word because of the teasing and riding. It was from something far worse than the battle fatigue had been even if it had been almost the same thing; they didn’t even have a name for it, but it was horrible. I never told anyone about my uncle from when I was a kid, and I didn’t tell anyone about Sergeant Connolly because nobody would have believe me…Corporal Michael D. Hart returned home as damaged goods.

“I’m sorry,” Gabriella put her hand on my arm and yanked it away; I guess I was as afraid as not about falling in love, but I also still had trouble with being touched…you know, real honest affection. What happened to me had hurt me bad. Gabriella looked at me and shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Miss Hart,” she repeated; she touched her chest with her palm like she meant it.

“I know you have been through a lot; I do my homework well just like you do. I didn’t know the specifics, but I heard from others that have worked with you that you’re guarded, and I only know one reason why women like you…” she paused and breathed out.

“Women who have been hurt like us…why we’re careful. And you know exactly what Sally has and is going through. That I figured out for myself. You’re her only hope. Let’s get going, okay. You don’t have to convince me of anything. I trust you…really.” She touched my hand but pulled it away quickly and gestured toward the dash board and the road beyond.

“Drive on!” A moment later and we were driving down the road again toward what I kind of hoped would be the resolution to all the problems in the Capaldi family. And I hoped it wouldn’t come to it, but it was feeling an awful lot like someone was going to get killed before the night was over.

A farm just outside Norwalk...

It was pitch dark other than the headlights of the Nash as we pulled up the long lane to the barn. She had told me that the farm had been almost a secret kingdom for Sal and her growing up; the refuge that welcomed the kids for a few weeks every summer as they spent time with their dead mom’s parents. And in that magical place there were hidden places; secret hiding places throughout the property that made their summers times of safety. Gabriella closed the door to the car and turned on the cowl covered flashlight; a souvenir of the past that lit up like a beacon in a way. She turned it on and off in a quick sequence.

“Morse?” I tilted her head and grinned; it sort of reminded me of my time in combat, I remembered enough of it to spell out the message that she had sent.

“Dih dih dih….di dash….dih dash dih dih…Sal…okay. She watched in the direction of the barn as a light flashed in the darkness from the open barn door.

“Dash dih dih…dih dash…dash dih dih dih…dash dih dash dash….Gaby.” She repeated along with the woman next to her. Gabriella turned around and nodded. We walked toward the open door and suddenly the flashlight went on once again, this time revealing a very angry looking man with a gun.

“That’s far enough, baby girl!” Vito Capaldi laughed with a laugh that was both charming and utterly evil at the same time. The gun was pointed to a slight figure at his side. She wore slacks and a loose blouse, and a handkerchief was jammed unceremoniously in her mouth.

“Sally’s sorry he can’t talk, but I figure what I gotta say will be an answer enough for any questions. Mickey Hart? I heard about you, you fucking perv! It’s creeps like you that are what’s wrong with this country. You a fucking commie as well? I’ll bet. No mind; put your purse on the ground and step back and maybe nobody will get shot.” I wasn’t about to put Vito to a test; his reputation left no doubt that he wasn’t unwilling to kill given any chance at all. I placed my purse down and stepped back like the good soldier I used to be. Vito lowered the gun slightly and in an instant he was looking down the barrel of the gun in Gabriella’s hand.

“I should kill you right now for what you did to us. Let her go!” She waved the 45 in her father’s direction, but he didn’t budge. She raised the Colt once again, and heard a click on her right side.

“You little bitch…I’ll give you this…you were always a fighter….even in the fucking bedroom.” At his words the girl in his arms cringed, remembering her own painful childhood with her father.

“Put the Colt down, Miss Capaldi,” the voice squawked.

“I’d prefer not to shoot my employer’s daughter.” The man attached to the voice stepped out of the shadows. Captain Henry MacDonald smiled and nodded at Vito Capaldi before kicking the discarded 45 aside.

“Captain MacDonald, how nice to see you get out once and a while,” I laughed, but it wasn’t funny at all. MacDonald was the Big Apple's next police commissioner from everybody’s guess, and him being there wasn’t good.

“You’re not only a pervert, Hart, but a fucking pain in the ass as well.” MacDonald said. He walked up to me and smacked me in the mouth with the back of his hand, knocking me to the ground. I put a brave face on it and laughed.

“So you’re on his payroll? Just pimping or do you get a cut of his drug and gambling as well?” I raised my hand and wiped my bleeding lip as I got to my feet.

“Nah…pimping and prosties work just fine for me; can’t look too rich, you know? Carson over at the fifth has gambling covered and Nelson at the seventh protects the drug stuff traffic.” MacDonald laughed, but Vito snarled.

“Are you a fucking idiot? You just told them who does what!”

“Geez, Mr. Capaldi, I’m sorry. I guess we’ll have to kill them after all.” He laughed and pointed his gun at Gabriella’s head.

“Sorry, Vito. But you know, what with the second Mrs. Capaldi blessing you with your other boys, you’re set for life. What’s a little death between family, anyway?”

“And you call me sick? MacDonald…you should have been in the movies. You remind me of Burt Lancaster at the end of Brute Force!” I laughed again, but he didn’t get the joke

“That don’t make no sense at all, Hart. He gets killed in the end.” MacDonald said.

“Exactly,” I said as I pulled my backup 38 out from under my bra; MacDonald was fast and got off a shot that drilled my right shoulder even as my shot traveled the twelve feet between us and exploded directly behind MacDonald’s right eye, dropping him like a stone.

“You forget I’ve still got Sally boy here,” Vito said. He went to raise his pistol but felt the muzzle of a 38 jam into his left ear and the words,

“Put your fucking gun down, Mr. Vito Fucking Capaldi, or I will blow your fucking head right off your fucking neck.” He gazed slightly to his left to see a tall man in a blue uniform with a Norwalk City Police badge on his right breast pocket.

“You’re under arrest for the kidnapping of Salvatricia Capaldi and whatever else we can charge you with, you fucking prick.” The man spat at him before hitting him in the ear with the barrel of the gun, saying finally,

“Oh…and welcome to Connecticut, you fucking bastard!”

“So you knew that the Norwalk police would get here way before Daddy and that MacDonald man.”

“Yes,” I nodded.

“Ow!!!” I shouted; wincing as one of the Norwalk cops wiped my shoulder with a gauze pad soaked in Witch Hazel; even a graze hurts like hell, you know? She looked at me with big brown eyes like I had something important to tell her. And I did.

“I’m just glad the bastard didn’t know when to shut up. With what he said, the Norwalk Police will be contacting New York’s Finest to get the rats out of their house. And your father will end up dying in jail; not as satisfying as the electric chair, but you go with the cards you get dealt, you know?”

“Yes…I guess we all end up doing that, don’t we?” She looked over at the open door of the Norwalk Police car where her sister sat, wrapped in a blanket as she spoke with a cop with a notebook. Vito sat by himself in the back of another police car looking very put out. Gabriella turned back to me just as I put my jacket on.

“Miss Hart?” I turned and walked back to her and spoke.

“No need to worry about my fee. I trust you for the expenses, and I know that you’ll be good for the rest once you get the whole bank account thing straightened out.”

I extended my hand to Gabriella with a smile. At one time in the not so distant past, I might have waited for her to offer her own hand first; a gentleman always waits for a lady, you know. But I was a lady as well; no longer a man...never a man actually, I had finally gotten to that place where I accepted who and what I was. Maybe not as pretty, and maybe stuck with the same wrong equipment I got at birth, but I was a lady.

“Goodbye, Miss Capaldi and good luck.” I shook her hand and walked back to the Nash. She and her sister would be staying in Norwalk at her cousin’s house to recover.

“You got any gum, sis?” I said as I dropped my purse on the desk. Gladys walked into the office and handed me a pack of Wrigley’s Spearmint.

“I’m sorry, Mick, sweetie, but Goldman’s was outta Juicy Fruit. Oh…and your ten o’clock client is here, hon!” Gladys said with a wink.

“I don’t recall making a ten o’clock appointment.” I said and she laughed at me.

“Well, sweets, she’s here.” She pointed with her thumb over her shoulder at the familiar figure in the open office doorway.

“Good morning, Miss Hart. It’s good to see you again.” She smiled as she walked past Gladys, who smiled back and winked before walking out.

“I think you two will want to talk alone, okay?” She said, closing the door behind her. I stared at Gabriella Capaldi. In the weeks since they had seen each other last, Gabriella seemed to have changed…. If only a little. She walked over and sat down on the edge of my desk; her calf-length skirt parting at a strategically placed slit in the side, revealing more than a little bit of leg decorate with a dark stocking top. I sighed. Things might have gotten back to ‘normal’ in the office, but as far as I was concerned, things would never be the same.

“I wanted to thank you once again, Miss Hart. If it wasn’t for you, I might have lost my sister and maybe even gotten myself killed.”

“All in a day’s work, Miss Capaldi. I’m glad I could help.” I lied. I hated that I had gotten dragged into her life; she was more beautiful than I had remembered, even if I had no way other than my nice prose of showing it.

“You’re looking well.” I said with a stupid grin; she was more than beautiful and it was killing me. Thankfully it was only my heart that stirred. I might never lose what I was born with, but it would never again work the way things used to. She smiled at me. I turned my head and tried not to cry, and no, it wasn’t the shots at all.

“You, too, Miss Hart.” She smiled oddly before continuing.

“When I came to you for help, it was strictly business. My sister means too much to me, and couldn’t afford to get involved. But now…it’s time, like they say in the movies, to come clean.” She eased slowly off the desk and walked to the window. It was just like the movies; like she had turned her back on me for dramatic effect. She leaned against the window frame and looked out before turning back to me.

“I have a confession to make…. Confession is good for the soul, don’t you think, Miss Hart?” She laughed, but when she finally faced me, I noticed her eyes had filled with tears.

“You own me no explanation for anything, Miss Capaldi.” I insisted, but I was convinced after seeing her tears that she had something to say that we both needed to hear.

“I’m not what I seem, Miss Hart. I’m a poser… A lying bitch, my father might say.” She breathed out a sigh.

“You don’t have to say another word. I understand.” I didn’t understand at all, but a moment later it became as clear as day. Well, maybe an overcast day that was going to clear up shortly.

“My father has four children. He and my mom had two kids and he has two boys with his second wife; Rocco and Lorenzo. Thank god he….well, he’s never going to hurt them!” She choked back a sob.

“He hurt his daughter and his other son, though, didn’t he?” Of course he did; we’d gone over this almost from the beginning. She shook her head.

“NO! He didn’t!” That they were both hurt wasn’t what she meant. She made it plain a second later when she started to cry.

“My father has four children. Rocco and Lorenzo….Salvatore is now Salvatricia; you saved her. And me…Gabriella….Gabriel Vincent Capaldi.” She put her hand to her face and sobbed. I walked quickly to her and went to hold her, but she pulled away.

“I was so angry with you. I wanted to find someone who wouldn’t find out…someone I could trust to save Sally but instead I found you. And you know what Sally’s been through. You know what I’ve been through… in so many ways. I didn’t want to get involved because I was afraid that…. Something might happen!”

“And what happened, Miss Capaldi?” I tried not to be angry, but it came out that way anyway!

“I fell in love with you…. You of all people?” It was as if she hated through me what she hated about herself.

“Like I’m not good enough for you?” I shook my head; bitter angry tears filled my eyes, but I wasn’t about to fall apart and weep.

“NO! You don’t understand. I didn’t want to fall in love because I’m not real. I wanted life to be so much better. I thought that once Sally was safe and Daddy couldn’t hurt the boys, you know…that I’d feel different; maybe because you accepted who Sally was. But that means you have to accept me, and I don’t deserve you.”

“I don’t understand!” And I didn’t. I was afraid I never would.

“I didn’t protect Sally and she got hurt like me. It’s my fault she got hurt and I don’t deserve to even live, but I’m too scared. If I thought I could, I’d jump out that window, but I can’t even get the courage to end it all.”

“It takes courage to live, Miss Capaldi. I could have ended it when my uncle hurt me. I almost ended it after I came back from France after the war. But here I am…for the first time feeling good about myself, because your sister showed me I’m not alone. And you showed me that I’m not some freak that everybody gets to hurt or ignore. I deserve to be happy, Miss Capaldi, and so do you, no matter how fucked up we were and no matter how we started.” I stepped closer and grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the window. I still didn’t know her well enough that I felt safe with her so near such a temptation.

“You’re wrong, Miss Hart.” She shook her head, but I wouldn’t have any of that.

“You’ll find that I’ve grown tired of being wrong all the time, Miss Capaldi, and as far as I’m concerned, right now, I’m as right as rain, like they say!” I pulled her in and kissed her. Our lipstick smeared as we pressed together. She went to pull back at first, but I put my hand behind her neck and held her gently. She managed to get off a ‘no’ before she started to shake, gently at first, but harder until she was shaking hard in my arms. I pulled her close and stroked her hair. She looked up at me with tear-filled eyes as her sobbing subsided, blinking a few times with wet eyelashes.

“You’re …wrong, Miss Hart,” she tried to protest even as she pulled me closer for another kiss, this time with no urgency at all, her lips caressing mine softly and tenderly.

“I’m…I’m right, Miss Capaldi,” I said softly and kissed her back.

After a while, we pulled back. She looked at me and smiled through her tears before saying,

“I guess you are right, Miss Hart, except maybe for one thing?”

“And what would that be, Miss Capaldi?” I tilted my head and she said at last,

“Please….call me Gaby!”

Speak Low
Words and music by
Ogden Nash and
Kurt Weill
from the musical comedy,
One Touch of Venus
as performed by the
Incomparable Miss Peggy Lee
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKPPb9TsvMs