Yesterday's Stardust (47 page)

If her imagination was spinning, Dani could only guess what was twirling around in the head of the man whose arm was around her and whose fingers tapped a nameless tune on her forearm. Nicky’s mouth hadn’t closed once since they’d walked into the room. While Dani snapped pictures with her phone, he’d gone from table to table, looking as if he were carrying on imaginary conversations with imaginary patrons.

Frank headed toward the stairs and she tugged at Nicky’s sleeve. “Follow the light, Nicky.”

He snapped out of his stupor and grinned. “I’m buying this building. You all know that, right? I don’t care who owns it or how much it costs or—”

“Nicky.” Frank turned and looked from Nicky to his father. “Carlo? Don’t
you
own this building?”

“N-no.” Carlo scratched his head.

“I understand your family’s superstitions, but if they’d sold it, someone would have done something with it, don’t you think?”

Furrows deepened on Carlo’s forehead. He locked eyes with Nicky. “Nonno still owns the restaurant. Property tax bills go to him. I’ve never seen one—I just write the check and mail it to his lawyer.” His eyebrows rose, exactly like his son’s. “We shovel the sidewalk for our customers, we mow the lot. We always have. I’ve never questioned it.”

The tapping on Dani’s arm turned frenetic. Nicky’s whole body shook as his head bobbed. “This could be ours. This…could… be…ours.” This time, he pulled her toward the stairs. “What’s on the main floor?”

Six pairs of feet clamored like an elephant herd back to the landing. Frank turned a clear glass handle on a yellow-painted door. It swung open. The room was long but narrow. A rectangular table took up one side. A treadle sewing machine sat next to the table. On the other end of the room stood three dressmaker’s forms. Two were empty; a sheet shrouded the third. Dani lifted it by the corners. Beneath it hung a knee-length gown. Once white. Maybe never worn.

Dani grabbed the fingers that pummeled her arm. “Francie’s shop.” She pulled the sheet away. Satin with a sheer overlay. Yellowed, but possibly salvageable.

Frank crossed the room to another door and opened it. “Whoa…”

Through the door, Dani saw tools littering the floor. A mechanic’s shop. She followed Carlo and could only nod as his “Suh-weeet” bounced off the concrete floor and was echoed by his son.

An old black car, dust caked, but appearing to be in mint condition filled half the room. She knew enough about cars to recognize it as a Model T. She left the men to drool and went back into Francie’s shop. Rena followed her. As her phone lit up lavender wallpaper, shelves still stocked with fabric, a rocking chair in the corner, she could almost see Francie stitching on the hem of the satin dress. Her light scanned the ceiling, then down along the far wall. They walked toward a dust-coated picture. Dark storm clouds, trees bent by wind, people scurrying. “Creepy.”

Rena gasped. “Lois! Lois, bring the diary in here!”

Footsteps scrambled behind them. Rena pointed to the picture, grabbed the diary, and opened to the back. Francie’s picture was loose, tucked in the back cover. She turned it over. “On the back it says, ‘Behind the storm there is always a safe hiding place.’ She looked from Dani to Nicky to her father and then to Frank. “Storm…
safe.”

Frank stepped forward. “Where’s the key?”

Dani looked from him to Nicky. “What key?”

“It was behind Francie’s picture in the back of the diary.” Nicky reached into his pocket.

Frank walked over to the picture. His hands shook as he lifted the picture…and touched the tarnished brass handle of a wall safe.

Nicky handed a skeleton key to Frank. It slid into a slot below the handle. The handle cranked, the door opened.

Frank pulled out a box about six inches long and opened the hinged lid.

Rings. Two ruby, one pearl, an emerald, and two encrusted with sapphires. And scattered along the bottom of the box…diamonds.

Rena lagged behind when everyone else went back to the restaurant. With only the light from her phone, she walked behind the stairway at the end of the tunnel. If her hunch was right…

There. Another tunnel. Narrower than the one that connected the two buildings, it led exactly where she knew it would. A metal door, painted gray. On the peeling paint, she made out a dark brown handprint.

Her great-grandfather’s blood?

“It was how a gangster made him believe in God.”

She looked at the rusted door handle. What if Jarod had found a way to open it? She shivered. All of this history, and so much more, could have been gone.

Maybe the door only opened from one side. Maybe it was only an exit.

A way out.

She positioned her palm over the handprint. A gunshot had put an end to what her great-grandfather had been doing in this building. He’d come to God because of his blood. She pictured the crucifix Nonna Renata, the woman she was named for, had brought from her hometown in Italy so many years ago.

Because of His blood…

She traced the outline of the handprint with her fingertip. As she did, the letters Dani had scribbled on a napkin scrolled through her mind. TRKOTULU. The real King of the Universe loves you.

She turned and followed the passageway back to the stairs.

The cinnamon rolls were half gone by the time Nicky and Dani finished telling about T and about Francie’s job at the jewelry store. Dani looked up from Nicky’s laptop. “Walbrecht’s Jewelers is no longer in business. If the jewelry store was covered by insurance, the insurance company would probably have a legitimate claim, but if they no longer exist, it looks like it’ll probably be a case of finders-keepers.”

Nicky raised his coffee cup. “To your future, Frank.”

Frank laughed. “I don’t need it where I’m going, and I’m certainly not going to keep stolen property, but our mission board could probably find a use for some of it.”

Dani lifted her cup. “Francie raised you well.”

“She did. I’m still trying to process everything you’ve told me. I remember so little about living here and nothing from Chicago. I still can’t believe she was involved with organized crime. She was such a godly woman.”

“She and Theo ran an orphanage?”

He nodded. “And much more. She met Amy Carmichael and was inspired to teach young women to sew. By learning a trade, they could stay off the streets. That mission is still going.”

Nicky smiled at the goose bumps dotting Dani’s skin and put his arm around her. “Your aunt was a very brave woman. It’s a good thing her husband stood out of her way and didn’t interfere with what God was calling her to do.”

“You two—stand over by the wall.”

Evan’s breath crystallized in the chilly April air as he barked orders.

Dani laced her gloved hand with Nicky’s and dragged him toward the freshly painted wall between the two garage doors. She waved at Zip and Broom. “You guys get in on this, too. Have to give our artists some PR.” The boys ambled over. Though they tried to hide it, pride oozed from every pore.

Dani smiled for the camera and pointed at the swirling design surrounding their logo. She’d watched Scope paint it. He’d outlined and filled in a five-foot-high 7 then stopped, pointed one finger to the sky, and added the two extensions that formed a cross like the one on his arm. Next to the cross, block letters proclaimed S
TREET
L
EVEL.

Evan snapped two pictures then turned as Rena walked up to him with a steaming cup. He let the camera hang on its strap, took the cup, and brushed Rena’s cheek with the back of his other hand.

“When did that start?” Dani whispered.

Nicky shook his head. “I have no idea.”

“Hey! A little help here.” China waddled across the street carrying a massive vase of flowers in front of a belly that couldn’t get much bigger. She was a week past her due date. Rena grabbed the flowers, and Evan helped the mother-to-be up the curb. “Happy grand opening.” She leaned awkwardly toward Dani and kissed her cheek.

“Daisies. Thank you.”

“Thank
you
.” She patted her belly and looked at Nicky. “Did Dani tell you I’m naming the baby after her?”

Nicky shook his head. “No.” His voice was low and rough. “Danielle is the perfect name.”

China rolled her eyes. “Not Danielle.
Cerise.”

“Uh…” Nicky’s eyebrows rose and he laughed.

She’d never get tired of that sound.

An unfamiliar car pulled up and the back door slowly opened. She and Nicky gasped in unison. Frank, a good twenty pounds thinner than when they’d met him in the summer, stepped out. Lois walked around the back of the car. Dani hugged Lois, dampening the collar of the woman’s coat with her tears. “We had no idea.”

“We couldn’t miss this,” Frank answered, his voice as strong as ever.

Nicky wrapped his arms around the man. “None of this”—his voice cracked—“could have happened without you two.”

Frank laughed. “Lois is wearing the only ring she wants, and what would I do with the money where I’m going?”

“I don’t mean just the money. You’ll never know how much our talks have meant. I’ve learned so much from you.”

“And you’ll never know how knowing you has kept my mind on things above rather than the failings of this temporal body.” He gripped Nicky’s arm. “Now give us the grand tour.”

“Venus!” Nicky called to the girl handing out their brochures at the door. The girl who had proven she wasn’t afraid to talk to anyone. “Come here and do your thing.”

Bracelets jangling, she sidled over and gave Lois the pamphlet that Dani had sacrificed three nights of sleep perfecting. “Welcome. The mission of Street Level is to provide a Christ-proclaiming environment for teens in our community, to discover and develop their talents, and to make the products and services they create available to—”

“Frank!” Carlo strode toward them from Bracciano. He held up one finger. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

As Venus picked up where she’d left off, Dani watched as, behind Frank’s back, Carlo returned. He was not alone.

“Franky.” The soft, emotion-filled voice belonged to Luca.

Frank turned, stared, and broke into tears. His thin frame bent over the wheelchair, and the two old friends embraced.

Her vision blurring, Dani could hardly see the woman who stepped up and hugged her from behind. Lavinia kissed her on the cheek. “I told you I had a feeling the night you came to dinner. So I was a little off.”

Dani laughed through her tears. Lavinia reached out and pinched Nicky’s cheeks then nodded toward the building. “You two did it.”

“God did it. All of it.” He winked at Dani then shook Vito’s hand. “Welcome to our grand opening.”

“When do we get to come for dinner?” Vito pointed to the second story.

Nicky gave a comical bow. “The Stardust Room will be open for your dining pleasure in six weeks. Our grand opening will be May 18. Would you like to reserve a table now?”

“You bet.” Lavinia pinched his cheeks and followed Vito through the open garage door just as Todd walked out.

He grabbed Nicky and gave him a bear hug.

Nicky pulled away, looking like he’d just swallowed a lemon. “What’s
that
for?”

“I just spent the last half hour talking to Scope. Did you know that kid wants to be a missionary?”