The whole crew crowds into their place: John and Catherine, Sheila and Johnny, Cassie, Jimmy Mac and Angie, Liam and Pam, and Bernie Hughes. Danny drives down in the morning and picks up Marty and Ned. The Altar Boys drop by and bring a toy truck that Ian is far too young to use, but it’s a nice thought anyway.
They stick one candle into the Carvel ice cream cake and Terri blows it out for Ian, who proceeds to get more of the cake on his face than in his mouth. They sing “Happy Birthday” and open presents and it’s actually a pretty nice time but Danny sees that Terri is getting tired, and Cassie picks up on it and says she has to be going as a broad hint that everyone should leave.
One member of the family who isn’t there is Madeleine.
Terri invited her on the sly without telling Danny, but she reluctantly declined, not wanting to cause any problems between the couple.
Instead, she holds a little party of her own, replete with a small cake, a candle, and presents that she bought for Ian. Not gifts for a one-year-old, but for a three-year old, figuring on a two-year plan that will reconcile her with her son and give her access to her grandson.
A big toy truck.
Some clothes.
And the pony that now grazes the pasture with Manny’s Thoroughbreds.
So now Madeleine sits, looks at the cake and thinks about the phone calls she made to the best oncologist in Rhode Island and to the hospital.
“I want you to provide Terri Ryan with the very best treatment in existence,” she told them, “regardless of cost. Send the bills to me. Just one thing—neither she or her husband are to know. Just tell them that insurance covers it or something.”
“I’m not sure of the medical ethics of that,” the doctor said.
“I couldn’t care less about the medical ethics,” Madeleine said. “What’s it going to take? A contribution to the hospital? A new wing, perhaps? Do you have a favorite charity?”
Madeleine gets it done; she always does.
She only hopes that it’s enough.
She sings “Happy Birthday” and blows out the candle.
The summer moves along into September.
Danny’s favorite month. The beaches are empty, the water is still warm and the sky still blue.
And Terri is dying.
The doctors, the chemo, and the surgeries can’t stop the fucking cancer.
Danny learns another word: “metastasize.”
The cancer spreads to Terri’s liver.
The doctors give her months.
Like that’s a gift, Danny thinks, like it’s theirs to give. Like they’re little gods, handing out life and death.
September gives way to October and then suddenly it’s Thanksgiving, and a dismal family dinner at the Murphys’ with everyone trying to pretend that Terri isn’t dying. John babbles on about Christmas, makes the usual lame joke about Liam eating so much he must have a hollow leg, everyone makes out like they don’t hear Terri puking behind the bathroom door.
Cassie can’t take it.
She corners Danny in the hallway. “I hate my fucking family.”
“Nobody knows how to deal with this, Cassie.”
“So we just pretend it’s not happening?” She goes into the bathroom to help her sister.
It’s out in the backyard—what used to be the traditional touch football game is now just Danny and Liam throwing the ball back and forth—where Liam makes his approach.
“Guess who got in touch with me?” Liam asks.
Danny ain’t in the mood for Twenty Questions. “Just tell me?”
“Frankie V. He called me last night. Says he wants to sit down.”
Danny’s first thought is it’s an ambush—Frankie is setting them up. They’ll go to the sit-down and walk into bullets, and he tells Liam this.
“I don’t think so,” Liam says. “I think it’s worth finding out.”
“So go find out.”
“He’ll only come if you’re there,” Liam says. “Hey, I don’t like it either, but apparently you’re the man now.”
“What about your father?”
“Frankie didn’t ask for him,” Liam says. “Maybe we leave him out of it until we know more.”
Danny thinks it over.
Frankie could be an emissary from the Morettis, a preliminary peace feeler. If that’s the case, it’s worth the risk.
“Okay,” he says. “But he comes to us. I’ll pick the time and place and we’ll give him forty-five minutes’ notice, no more.”
“I’ll see if he’ll agree.”