“It’s Teddy,” Mick said, his hearthammering. “It’s my son.”
And he and Roz, without hesitationwhatsoever, took off running.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Still in their shorts and jerseys fromtheir gym workout, Mick, with Roz by his side, drove his big, bulky Escaladealong those Philadelphia highways as if he owned the streets. By the time he made it to the docks, and wasdriving toward the explosion, Roz was holding on for dear life. Mick beat the shit out of his grown childrenif they even thought about getting out of line with him. He worked them like slaves sometimes andnever showed them anywhere near the kind of affection a father should show tohis children. But nobody was going totell Roz that he didn’t love each and every one of them as much as, if not morethan, any father alive.
Joey was already there, walkingaround with a stick for a cane. Althoughhe left his cane home again, determined to appear his old, “normal” self, Rozwasn’t surprised that he needed aide now. Stress always aggravated the arthritis in his spine from that gunshotwound. And Joey, who had been visitingone of his lady friends, could be as stubborn as his old man. He refused to even keep a cane in the trunkof his car. “Canes and the great JoeyJay,” he once said, “don’t go together!” Roz was certain, given how that stick was a poor substitute, he wishedthey had.
When the Escalade came to a faststop, Mick jumped out and hurried toward the scene, leaving Roz to get out onher own. But she understood. Somebody phoned and said there was anexplosion and his son was missing. Shewas on edge too!
By the time she made it up to thebanks of the Delaware river, Mick, along with the crewmembers who weren’t onthe ship at the time of the explosion, were assisting the coast guard as theywere bringing rescued crewmembers onshore. They unloaded the boats for the coastguardsmen so that they could getback out there to rescue more. DespiteJoey’s obvious pain, he, as dock supervisor, was helping to pull his men off ofthose boats too.
But there was no sign of Teddy. Roz saw that right off. And her heart remained heavy. And then suddenly, behind her, they heard asound.
“Mrs. Sinatra! Mick!”
Mick and Roz turned to the sound oftheir names. And that was when they sawNikki Tarver, Teddy’s fiancée and an executive in Mick’s corporation, runningtoward them. Roz had phoned her whilethey were hurrying over, and she apparently sped there too. She ran straight to Mick, grabbing both ofhis arms. And she was hysterical.
“Where is he?” she anxiously askedMick. “Is he alright? Tell me he’s alright!”
Mick would normally not allow one of hisemployees to grab him that way and be that familiar with him, but he alwaysmade allowances for Nikki. Somethingabout that full-figured dynamo that rubbed him right. She wasn’t in the family yet, thanks toTeddy’s foot-dragging, but in Roz’s view, he treated her as if she was as muchhis daughter as Glo and Jackie.
“Please tell me he’s alright,” Nikkicontinued to plead.
“We haven’t found him yet,” Micksaid. “But we will,” he added, patted herhand, and kind of handed her over to Roz so that he could get back to work.
Roz placed her arm around Nikki andpulled her back. She was like a daughterto Roz too.
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Sinatra,” Nikkisaid. “I’m not normally thisemotional. But when you told me . . . Ican hardly take it!”
“I understand,” Roz said, pulling hercloser against her. “They’ll findhim. Teddy’s a fighter, you knowthat. He’s the only one in the family toever try to kick Mick’s ass. He’s notgoing down without a fight.”
Nikki nodded. Then she quipped, “Where’s your yacht when weneed it?” and Roz smiled too. But forboth of them the levity was brief, and then they both looked back into the watertoo. All of those boats were stillfishing out crewmembers, including the boats of regular people who justhappened to be in the water at the time of the explosion. But as more and more crewmembers were beingrescued, and Teddy wasn’t among them, Mick lost all patience. His son was out there, fighting for his lifeif he was still alive at all, and nobody seemed able to find him.
And when Roz saw Mick began takingoff his shoes, and when he glanced back at her as if he wanted her blessing,she didn’t hesitate. She gave it with anod of her head. Teddy might have beenher stepson and was closer to her age than to Mick’s, but she felt he was asmuch her biological son as Duke was. Hewas in danger out there somewhere. Sheeasily gave her blessing.
And Mick didn’t hesitate. He dived into that water, causing a scaredJoey to yell, “Pop, what are you doing? Pop!” And then Joey turned to Rozwith panic in his eyes. Did she see ittoo? But Roz was looking at Mick. And Joey could tell, on her face, that shenot only saw it but sanctioned it. Andif Roz wasn’t that worried, he knew he didn’t need to be either. He calmed himself back down, and got back towork.
Mick swam far away from shore. He might not have been in the shape he usedto be in, but he was in shape. And heswam and he swam. He felt all alongthose wonderful men and ladies of the coastguard were only going after thevictims who were nearest to the explosion. Which might have been understandable since they were live bodies beggingto be rescued right there in their faces.
But Teddy was Mick’s son, his oldestson after Adrian died, and there was no way he was going to stand around whileTed might need his father’s help.
And he kept swimming. It seemed as if he was so far from shore thathe was in the middle of an ocean. Butthere was still no sight of Teddy.
He had swam so far away from theaction that he couldn’t even hear the action anymore, just a wary silence. And he was getting so tired! How in the worldwas he ever going to be able to swim
