Jake shook his head.  There was a look of utter confusion on his face. “I’ve never seen her wear a ring, so I’m flying in the dark.”

Ben offered an encouraging smile, “But she wears other jewelry.  Earrings, a watch, a necklace.  Something.  What do those look like? Your Mom wears classic jewelry.  Jess wears either bold and modern or vintage jewelry.  What does Meg’s jewelry look like?”

Jake thought about it for a few minutes.  “More like Mom’s than like Jess’s, that’s for sure.”

The salesman, Evan, took them to a private room and began by showing Jake the shapes:  round, princess, pear, heart, emerald, asscher, oval, marquise, cushion, and radiant.  He laid a one-carat stone in each shape on the velveteen pad in front of Ben and Jake.  Jake quickly eliminated the heart, pear, and emerald shapes.

“How do you choose something classic and still get something that she won’t see on every other woman’s hand?”  He asked, struggling with self-imposed pressure to pick the perfect ring.

“Round and princess are the two most popular shapes.”  The salesman had told him.  “They will never go out of style.  The oval is classic and yet has a little edginess.  It accentuates the hand and creates a slenderizing affect.”

Jake had eventually narrowed it to the oval or the cushion.  All he had to do now was look at settings.  They’d spent the better part of Sunday afternoon looking at stones.  Jake had eventually settled on a cushion cut and had chosen a stone just over one carat.  Evan had shown him settings and he’d chosen one that had small round diamonds around the center stone and had more small round diamonds on the shank.  Evan hadn’t asked what Jake’s budget was, and Jake hadn’t spoken of it.  When the total had come to nearly thirty thousand dollars, Jake hadn’t batted an eye; he’d held out his credit card and made the purchase.

Ben had promised Jake that he wouldn’t tell Lane.  Perhaps it was another case of a lie of omission, but he planned to honor his promise to Jake.  Ben didn’t know when Jake was planning to pop the question, but until he did, Ben wasn’t going to say anything to anyone about that shopping trip.

*****

Lane wasn’t surprised to see Jake standing next to his Chevy Silverado truck as they pulled into the parking lot.  She also wasn’t surprised to see Meg and Abbey Kelly with him. Ben parked the Escalade, walked around the SUV, opened Lane’s door, and helped her get out.  Little Abbey broke free from her mother and ran toward Lane.  Ben scooped her up and held her so she could kiss her MizWane.  Abbey who would soon be three years old was talking better every time they saw her, but she still had a little trouble with her L’s. Lane smiled remembering how shy Abbey had been when they’d first met almost four months ago.  She’d come a long way since then.

Abbey squirmed and looked at Ben.  “I walk now.” She said, and Ben let her down.  She immediately reached for Lane’s hand.

They walked into Papa’s where Ben’s father, Dante Bellini, greeted them, hugging Lane, and kissing her on both cheeks.  He tucked Lane’s arm in the crook of his elbow and walked the group back to the Board Room, which was the private dining room for the members of the Bellini family and their guests.

Although Meg had attended Ben and Lane’s wedding reception in the Ballroom at Bellini’s, it was her first time in the Board Room.  She’d grown up in Kansas City and had heard the whispered rumors about the Bellini family being part of the mafia for as long as she could remember.  The rumors didn’t fit with the family, as she knew them.  Sure Jess Parker had called Ben’s cousin Daniela a couple of months ago, and asked her to handle the situation with Meg’s ex-boyfriend.  Daniela had come with her father, Vincenzo Luciano.  They’d wanted to take DNA samples, and when Meg had confessed that Scott Coyle was the only man she had ever had sex with, it seemed to be beside the point.  Uncle Vinnie had told her, “You’d be surprised what DNA tests might show” as he’d taken a cheek swab from Jake and had Meg do the same with Abbey.  He’d given the samples to Ben’s youngest brother, Pauli who was a doctor, and spoken something in Italian.  A couple of days later, Daniela had called Meg’s ex, and gotten him to believe that Abbey was Jake’s daughter and that he needed to leave them alone.  At the time, Meg’s only thought was keeping her abusive ex-boyfriend away from her daughter and she really hadn’t cared how it came about.  It had worked and she had neither seen nor heard from Scott Coyle since.

Jake scooped Abbey up as they walked toward the Board Room.  Meg glanced from her daughter to Jake.  Abbey was a blonde haired, blue-eyed, cherub who easily could have been the child of the tall, blonde haired, blue-eyed man who carried her, except for two small things.  First, she hadn’t even known Jake when Abbey was born and second, she still hadn’t had sex with Jake.  She might have had a child “out of wedlock” but she was far from what anyone could call promiscuous.

Chapter 9

As everyone else took seats around the table, Ben excused himself and went into the kitchen.  His brother Tony was the head chef at Bellini’s.  It was common knowledge that Tony bet on sports.  If anyone had information on the sports betting and the odds on the state championship game, it would be Tony.  The kitchen was full of people and as usual when others were around, the Bellini brothers communicated in Italian.

“Hey, Bro.  Qual è la linea della partita di campionato?”  Ben asked.

Tony continued to direct the kitchen staff as he turned to face his brother.  “È rockhurst u. a 2 touchdown perché ciò che sta accadendo?  Sì desidera fare una scommessa?”

Ben knew Coach Ferguson’s death would be on the news at six and again at ten, but he knew Tony would still be in the kitchen long after both airings.  “Non hai sentito che l'allenatore di calcio è stato ucciso oggi?  Sarà che cambia nulla?”

“Che potrebbe cambiare le cose.” Tony said as he continued to point and yell to his kitchen staff.

“Grazie, I’ll let you get back to work.”  Ben turned, left the kitchen, and walked back through the door into the Board Room.

Tanner looked at him gauging Ben’s face hoping to see if he could figure out what Ben had just learned from Tony.  Ben gave his head a slight shake as he sat next to Lane.

Dante Bellini stopped by the table again after their food was served to see if everyone was doing all right.  He didn’t usually stop by the tables in the Board Room the way he did in the main dining room, but he could tell there was something going on, even before he’d gone into the kitchen and talked to Tony.  Tony had told him about the football coach’s murder, and Dante had gone into his office and turned on the television to catch the news.  It was reported that Coach Ferguson had been found by one of his students.  Dante didn’t have to be a detective to know the student who found him was sitting in the Board Room right now. He’d called his brother-in-law Sal Luciano and they’d had a conversation about Ben getting the call and dropping everything to go protect his son.  Dante smiled; pleased about the way Ben had stepped into the role of father to the Parker Kids after his marriage only a few weeks earlier.  Dante inclined his head toward the kitchen and Ben excused himself from the table and followed his father.

They slipped into Italian.

“The boy found the body?” He asked Ben as soon as the door to the kitchen closed.

“Yes, and yesterday someone poisoned one of the players.  It was lucky that Jamie found him when he did.  The boy’s alive and he’ll be fine.”  Ben replied.

Dante nodded.  “What can we do?”

Ben smiled.  “Jamie’s not happy about it, but we have Tanner on protection detail when I can’t be with him.  I’m sure school is cancelled for tomorrow, and I can work from home.  I don’t think it’s anything personal against Jamie, but I’m not happy that he’s the one who was first on the scene both times.  Tanner and I think it’s about the championship game Friday.  We’re both working angles to figure it out.”