Chapter Forty-Two

Mrs. DeMarco and Ruby quietly entered Frankie’s suite. “Hello,” Ruby said expectantly as she held out her hand to the man sitting beside Frankie. “I’m Ruby Spencer, Frankie’s aunt.”

“Dr. Jeremiah Hill, call me Jerry.” Jerry smiled and accepted Ruby’s hand.

“Medical resident,” Jerry qualified. “But yes, for the moment I’m at his disposal.”

“Has he been giving you any trouble? He seems to be sound asleep now,” Ruby observed as she looked down on a slumbering Frankie.

“He’s been a handful,” Jerry sighed. “He was very upset while he was awake.”

Mrs. DeMarco moved closer to the bed. “He’s sensitive,” she stated as she lightly stroked his exposed arm. “He don’t like no violence even though he’s Frank’s boy.” She looked hesitantly at Ruby. “Or he was.”

“Hm, I don’t know about that not violent part,” Jerry exclaimed. “He was talking about hit men and putting out contracts. The bloodier the better he said.”

Mrs. DeMarco colored and protested. “Dat’s da business. It’s not personal. Kill or be killed. It gets dat way even though it’s hard to take for dose dat’s left behind.” Her sad brown eyes washed over Frankie’s angelic-looking face. “Da Mafia don’t take no prisoners. He has to show force. I understand dat. I never wanted him to be with dat Frank, but dere was nothing I could do.”

“I never saw dat Frank. Never met da man in my life,” Mrs. DeMarco scowled. “He always had his men dropping off Frankie and picking him up. Dat boy was only an infant, only one year old when I first had him.” Mrs. DeMarco’s eyes looked hazy with remembrance, and she smiled. “I offered to raise him since Frank couldn’t keep him very often. But no. Da men said dey’d show up when dey wanted to.” She laughed bitterly and looked at Ruby with sad eyes. “Everybody, dey call me Mama, you know. I like dat. It’s a tradition. And Frankie, he called me dat too when he started talking. But da men, dey said Frank got real angry when his son started talking about Mama. He said his kid didn’t have no mama and besides she was only a showgirl, not much better dan a two-bit whore, so Frankie would never have a mama as far as he was concerned.”

A tear escaped from Mrs. DeMarco’s eye, and Ruby laid her hand on her shoulder for support. Mrs. DeMarco reached for the handkerchief that she always kept in one pocket of her skirt.“Next time he came back to da house, he was real quiet, couldn’t get him to talk. He was thin, too, not plump and healthy like when he was with us before. Dere were several places on his scalp where he’d pulled da hair from his head. He’d rock by himself in a corner and pull on it. It broke my heart, Ruby. After a few days, da boy would recover and start to play and smile. But den he’d have to go home. Dat boy would kick and scream, but da men would force him into da car. What could I do? I couldn’t report dis. Frank had everybody in Atlantic City paid off. It was better if I could have him with me sometimes den not at all. But after his tenth year, I never saw him again. Joseph told me he was hurt and hidden away somewhere. It killed me not to see him no more. I worried about him lots. It was good dat Johnny was his bodyguard when he turned twelve. At least den somebody could look after him. But I never saw his face again until he showed up at my door a week ago.” She sighed. “And now look at ‘em – sick in bed again.”

Frankie’s face suddenly creased into a big grin with an accompanying sigh, and both women stopped talking. “Aw, it looks like he’s havin’ a nice dream,” Mrs. DeMarco said contentedly. “He looks like a baby when he’s sleeping.”

Ruby looked the boy over and smiled. “He looks so much better with his natural haircolor. More like Luke.”

“Good dreams would be a nice change of pace,” Jerry added tensely as his forehead creased with concern. “He’s been in and out of it all afternoon. He’s not been a happy camper today.”

*** Frankie was sitting in the dark planetarium, staring up at the stars and feeling relaxed and content. He’d entered the planetarium after school, and it was deserted. No one else was nearby. He laughed as he identified the various constellations, Orion the Hunter, the Big and Little Dippers. He laced his fingers behind his head and let his mind happily wander. Frankie rested his hand on the wood-capped metal armrest and tapped his fingers in time to a song that only he could hear in his mind. Sinatra was da man.

Fly me to the moon
Let me sing among those stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars…

“Frankie,” the voice whispered into his ear with a sexy purr. He felt someone nuzzling on his ear, and his body was filled with tingling warmth.

Frankie’s bright blue eyes opened to the amazing sight of a Greek goddess or was it Maxie Jones? He blinked in delighted disbelief. She was wearing a diaphanous blue gown cut low on the cleavage, which highlighted the periwinkle hue of her sparkling eyes, and her lips turned upward into a saucy smile. Her blond hair shimmered under the gentle light of the planetarium stars, and Frankie reached out to touch it, only half believing that this special girl had come to him. His eyes moved down to her luscious pink mouth, and he trailed a finger down her cheek to caress her lower lip.

“Shhh,” she said. “No talking.” She leaned in and captured his lips into a rapturous kiss, rubbing them as if they were sweet fruit from which to drink. She parted his lips and sought out the pleasure of his tongue, and Frankie pulled her close, so close that he could feel her heart beat against his as their chests met inch by delicious inch, her soft warmth molding and melting into the sturdy platform of his firm muscles.

In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby kiss me
Fill my heart with song…

Frankie groaned as his passion caught on fire, and he reached his hand to her shoulder, sliding it down to cup her breast and move over the smooth fabric to a rhythm of his own creation. Frankie tore himself from her lips and moved forward to run his mouth up and down Maxie’s long, silky throat, pausing to suck gently over her racing pulse. When he heard her sigh, he brushed his hand under the fabric of her gown and luxuriated in the soft, warm feel of her flesh

Let me sing for ever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore…

Frankie felt the zipper of his pants lower, and he heard the metal unfasten inch by inch until Maxie rested her hand inside, caressing and squeezing him until he thought he’d lose his mind. Maxie expertly stroked him in all the right places, bringing him to the brink of an ecstatic explosion. His hips moved and thrust to the rhythm of her hand, and he moaned, “Oh, Maxie. Baby…”

In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you

Frankie’s eyes opened wide to the sound of cackling female laughter. His eyes darted to the right, and two old women came into his line of vision – Ruby and Mrs. DeMarco. His breath froze in his chest as he realized that his dream had had some very real special effects on his anatomy. Turning abruptly to the left, he moved his leg over as a camouflage and willed his exuberant parts to calm down. Frankie flushed red with embarrassment, and he squeaked out, “Mrs. DeMarco? Is dat you?”

“Sly, would you like to invite Emily to go out to dinner with us? I need to stop by my apartment, and you could use the phone there.” Alexis knew that Sly was feeling out of sorts after the events of the day, and a few hours with Emily might brighten his mood.

Luke turned around and smiled at his nephew. Light seemed to shine from Sly’s eyes in anticipation of seeing Emily. “By the way how was your date last night? You were excited about it.”

A slow smile creased Sly’s face. “It was great. I gave Emily a stuffed toy. She seemed to like it. And then we went out to dinner at the mall. We had a nice talk – we have lots in common. Her mom died when she was a kid, and the Quartermaines adopted her. I told her I was being adopted. Oh, and the movie was nice.”

Sly shrugged. “A bunch of monsters grabbed people and ate them and stuff. That’s about it.”

“It was okay. We just wanted to be with each other. The movie didn’t matter so much.”

Luke made a mental note to have sex talk round two with his nephew/soon to be son.

Silence filled the car, and Sly looked out of the window as he built up his courage for hard questions. He cleared his throat and fiddled with his seat belt. “Why does Frankie want to kill people?”

Both Luke and Alexis tensed in their seats, hit hard by Sly’s honest question, a question that deserved to be answered properly, especially since the two boys would soon be brothers and live together in the same house. The couple’s eyes met, and Alexis’ heart ripped inside of her to see Luke’s anguish over his son’s condition. “First of all, Frankie doesn’t actually want to kill someone. It’s not something that he enjoys,” Alexis explained with her attorney’s logic and semantics.

“Then why does he talk about it all the time,” scoffed Sly. “He was real anxious for somebody to die. I heard him this afternoon. Nikolas did, too.”

“You’re aware of the nature of Frank Smith’s business, aren’t you?” Luke questioned.

“I guess so. He was a mob guy. I’m not exactly sure what the mob does, though. I’ve seen the Godfather on television.”

Luke’s throat constricted at the mention of the Mafia. “It’s something like that. Frank Smith owned many businesses. Some of them, like his casinos around the world, are legitimate. Others were illegal. These mob organizations operate outside of the law. Someone is always trying to take over, so they resort to violence to keep people in line, to make them so afraid that they’ll stay in their place and be quiet. When Frank Smith was killed recently, this put Frankie in danger. He was involved in his father’s, I mean, his kidnapper’s business dealings, and because he’s so young, some people thought he’d be easy to knock out of the way. In part, that’s why he was hurt and in the hospital. The Mafia tried to kill him today. That’s why he was moved to Wyndemere.” Luke tried to be as honest as possible with his sensitive nephew, but he didn’t elaborate.

“We’re trying very hard to extricate Frankie out of the business. It’s not as easy as walking away. He’s selling of parts of the business, the underground ones, and retaining the legitimate businesses,” Alexis explained. “And Sly? We’re being honest with you because we trust you to keep this information to yourself. No one, including Emily, can know about this. It’s for everyone’s protection. Do you understand?”

“Yeah,” Sly replied morosely as he picked at a nubby spot on his jeans. “I’ve already been in damage control mode. I told Emily not to talk to her brother Jason. He’s in the mob here in town. I won’t tell anyone.”

Luke gave Alexis a surprised look as if to verify Sly’s theories about Jason. Alexis’ face tightened, and she nodded in confirmation.

Sly took in a deeper breath and held it as his emotions threatened to overwhelm him. He wiped at one tear that escaped from his eye, glad that the adults in the front seat weren’t facing him. “What’s wrong with him? With Frankie? I talked to Nikolas about it, and he said that Frank Smith was probably mean to him. What does that mean? Why would he be screaming in Wyndemere?”

Luke choked up and held a hand over his red face. Alexis kicked in immediately, sensing that Luke wasn’t up to the discussion. “Sly, we’re not exactly sure why Frankie is upset. He hasn’t talked about Frank a lot. But Nikolas was right. Frank mistreated Frankie. Involving him in a dangerous business was part of that. Sometimes when bad things happen to people, they hide it in their minds, but it can come out later if they’re reminded of it. Maybe that’s what happened to Frankie. You remember when we told you that Frankie’s kidney was ruptured, that he had to have surgery on it? Frank kicked him. That’s why his kidney was damaged.”

“Really?” Sly’s small voice asked incredulously. “My dad never hurt me, and Uncle Luke hasn’t either. That’s what he wanted to talk about. He was worried that Uncle Luke was going to beat him up. He said he didn’t want another dad because of that. He got real upset. I’m sorry that Frank hurt him.”

“We are, too,” Alexis stated. “But we need to allow Frankie to talk about it at his own pace and when he’s comfortable. So don’t bring it up to him unless he does first, okay?”

“Sure,” Sly replied. “We can talk about girls instead. Frankie’s the master.”

Alexis chuckled and glanced at Luke out of the corner of her eyes. Luke shook his head beneath the hand that still covered his face.

“Hi Frankie! How’s my boy?” Mrs. DeMarco said brightly. “I came all dis way to see my favorite boy.”

“What?” Frankie’s face was shadowed with confusion, and he looked from Mrs. DeMarco to Ruby. “Where am I?” His eyes rolled around, and he frowned and ran his hands over his blankets. “Dis place is strange.”

The medical resident looked intensely at Frankie, concerned because the boy had been told earlier where he was. “Will you let me take your blood pressure?” he asked Frankie with a light, easy tone. “I’m Jerry. We met before but you may not remember me. You’re at your mother’s house, and I’m the doctor taking care of you.”

“Where am I?” Frankie repeated. “I was at da hospital after Maxie visited me.”

“Aw, sure,” Frankie replied with a grin. “She snuck outta da house, but don’t tell on her. She made me happy. I like Maxie. She makes me feel, hmmm…”

Frankie looked at her sharply, but she just laughed, and he figured she didn’t know about his dream. He settled in the bed and said, “Mrs. DeMarco. You came all da way to see me? Dat’s nice. Thanks.”

“Johnny told me what happened to ya,” she explained. “I wanted to see you for myself.”

Mrs. DeMarco looked at him carefully and decided he was referring to his other incident when he was ten, not the recent gunfire in the hospital room.

“But I don’t hafta wait for five years dis time to see ya again. You know how much we missed having you around.”

Frankie’s face sank, and his eyes filled with tears. “I missed ya, too,” he said with a choked voice, turning his head away so no one would see the tears. He started chewing on one of his fingers. “It wasn’t my fault,” he said with a tense voice.

“I bet you’re hungry for my cookies,” Mrs. DeMarco replied happily, changing the subject when she noticed his distress with the topic.

“I can’t eat nothing,” Frankie sighed. “Dey got me hooked up.” He pointed to his IV collection.

“It won’t be too long,” the medical resident promised. “We need to get you up and around first, then you can start on a liquid diet. Tomorrow we’ll pull you out of that bed and have you walk around.”

“You should be okay. You’ll only be up for short amounts of time at first to regain your strength.”

“I’ve never been strong,” Frankie said softly as he picked at his nails. He looked at his palms and frowned. “What’s dis?” he asked as he fingered the bandages.

“You accidentally cut yourself a bit. We need to trim your nails,” the resident replied. “I bandaged the cuts so they won’t become infected.”

“Oh,” Frankie said absentmindedly, shrugging his shoulders and accepting the explanation. “How’s Mario and Vincente?” he asked curiously.

Mrs. DeMarco beamed. “Dey’re doin’ fine. Mario just finished high school. He’s in da Marines now. Can you believe it?”

Frankie laughed delightedly. “Mario da enforcer. Ya, he liked to be in charge. Used to whip my behind sometimes. But I deserved it.”

Frankie nodded seriously. “He liked da pets. Vincente, he always had some sick bird or half-dead cat dat he found. He was good at dat, nursing ‘em back to health.”

“How about you, Frankie? What do you want to be after you’re through with school?” Ruby asked.

Frankie chuckled malevolently. “Oh, I’m all outta school,” he said mysteriously. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll be a CEO like Stefan. I wanna be like Stefan Cassadine.”

“Stefan will be very pleased to hear that,” the female voice said lightly as she stepped into the room.

Frankie’s eyes moved toward the voice, and he smiled. “Mama,” he said contentedly. “Mama dis is Mrs. DeMarco. She’s everybody’s mama in da whole wide world. Dat’s her title.”

Laura laughed easily and shook Mrs. DeMarco’s hand. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.” Laura looked closely at Mrs. DeMarco, curious about the woman that had been her son’s only mother figure until recently.

“Frankie, you must be so happy. You have such a nice, pretty mama. And you look like her too. Lucky you.”

Frankie beamed, and Laura relaxed in the presence of this earthy, easygoing woman.

“What’s dat?” Frankie asked as he pointed to the board that Laura held. Laura turned it around, and Frankie was dazzled by all of the photographs and bright ribbons that held them to the fabric. “Wow.”

“Let’s check on the tea,” Ruby said quietly as she placed a hand on Mrs. DeMarco’s shoulder. She didn’t want to intrude on the mother and son moment, and she also wasn’t in the mood for Laura’s personality.

“Sure,” said Mrs. DeMarco. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Cassadine. I’ll see ya later, Frankie.”

“Okay,” Frankie replied. He redirected his attention to his mother and looked at her expectantly.

“I made you a family board,” Laura explained. She ran her fingers over the photos. “There are photos of your family and friends, something for you to look at while you’re lying in bed recuperating. I meant to give this to you several days ago. Now you’re so much better. I hope you still like it.”

“Dat’s nice,” Frankie said appreciatively. “Who’s dis?” he asked, pointing to Rick and Lesley.

“Those were your grandparents. They’re deceased now, but I loved them so much and still miss them.”

“I never had no grandparents,” Frankie replied. “I don’t know what they are.”

“You would have liked them,” Laura said, her heart breaking inside for the lonely boy who barely had a concept of family. “They would have taken you places and given you lots of attention and affection.”

Frankie nodded seriously. “But I got da aunts,” he said, his finger lingering over Bobbie and Ruby’s photos. Laura nodded and pointed to Amy. “Yes, you do. And here’s another aunt.” Laura didn’t mention that Amy had gone off the deep end about five years earlier and was working the sex industry in LA. Frankie frowned with concentration and stared at the photo of the blonde floozy looking woman with bright, red lips. Looks familiar, he thought puzzledly. Maybe she works for Frank.

“Mama, when can I see da baby?” he asked sweetly. “I wanna see my sister. I never had a sister before.” Frankie smiled so angelically that Laura made a snap decision. “You stay put, mister,” she chuckled. “We’ll be right back.”

“Oohhh,” Frankie grinned as he rubbed his hands together. When Laura left the room, he groaned and moved distractedly on the bed. His hand flew to his chest and he coughed roughly. I’m okay, I’m okay, he said to himself. He didn’t think to tell the medical resident that he tasted blood.

“We should have a machine in here tomorrow so you can administer them yourself.”

“Uh-huh,” Frankie said distractedly. He was concentrating on separating himself from the pain so he could enjoy seeing his sister for the first time.

“Here we are!” Laura announced brightly. She strolled into the room with Lulu cradled in her arms.

Frankie’s eyes lit up, and his face softened at the sight of the baby. “She’s got such dark hair,” he commented. “And lots of it. It’s as dark as mine was before I got it chopped.” He held out his arms, and Laura gently lowered the baby to his chest, careful to hold his hand behind the baby’s delicate newborn head.

“Hi baby,” Frankie said in a soft voice. “You’re a pretty baby. I like you.” He stroked Lulu’s cheek with his index finger and then let her tiny fingers wrap around it. “She’s strong!” he said excitedly. He ran his hand gently over her hair. “So soft,” he commented. “She smells good.”

Tears glistened in Laura’s eyes, and her heart warmed at the sight of her son’s happiness and tenderness toward his baby sister. He’s alive, and he can have a relationship with his sister. It’s a miracle that I never dared dream.

Sly walked with Emily down the winding front walk of the Quartermaine mansion. Life felt good. The evening air was balmy and breezy with the scent of lilacs, and Emily was cuter than ever with her snuggly fitting tie-dyed teeshirt that didn’t quite meet her hiphuggers. Her lips were red with some kind of wild fruit flavored lipgloss that Sly couldn’t help but sample when she greeted him at the door. He licked his lips and tasted the small amount of fruit stuff that Emily’s lips had rubbed onto his a moment ago. He slid his hand into hers and squeezed as his green eyes met her brown ones. Sly gave her a shy smile that Emily quickly returned.

Emily loved the feel of Sly’s hand in hers. His was soft yet slightly rough with his handyman chores. His hand felt masculine in a sexy sort of way that sent tingles down to the toes in her Nike sneakers.

“I’m looking forward to getting to know them better.” Emily felt slightly nervous at meeting the couple that would soon be Sly’s new parents, but she was glad that he wanted her to get to know them. She’d met Luke several times before, but this was the first time that she’d met Alexis.

“Hi Mr. and Mrs. Spencer,” Emily said as she entered the back seat of the car. Alexis smiled to herself. This was the first time since her recent marriage that someone had directly addressed her as Mrs. Spencer. Much to her feminist surprise, it felt kind of nice.

“Hello darlin,’” Luke replied. “I hope you like Chinese. Is that okay with you?”

“Mmmmm, I love Chinese,” Emily said appreciatively as she bounced slightly in her seat.

“But I really like Chinese,” Emily protested with her lower lip pouting and her arms crossed.

Sly leaned in and captured Emily’s pouting lips with a light kiss. “I’m teasing you,” he said gently. Emily smiled and looked into Sly’s eyes.

“What’s inside?” Sly wrapped his arm around Emily’s shoulders with a man of the world ease that didn’t escape Luke’s attention. Sly and Emily were seated side by side across the table from Luke and Alexis and had pushed their chairs especially close so that they were near one another at all times.

Emily cracked open her fortune cookie and read it aloud. “You are suspicious but have many friends. Lucky number is thirteen. What?” Emily laughed. “I don’t understand. Sly, read yours.”

Sly unfolded the small slip of paper hidden in the cookie. “The last served accomplish much. And there’s no lucky number listed. Does that mean I’m unlucky?”

“Somebody translated these Chinese phrases with a Russian dictionary,” Luke quipped as he cracked his cookie open. “You are irresistible to women and small dogs.” Alexis snatched the tiny paper out of Luke’s hands. “You cheater. That’s not what it said. Let’s see…Small minds bring great harvest. Lucky numbers 1, 2” Luke scowled. “Are they dissing me in Chinese? Sounds like they’re saying I’m a pea brain who can only count to two.”

Alexis cracked open her fortune cookie and groaned. “There isn’t a fortune in here. I’m hopeless.”

“No, they know you’re a lawyer. They don’t want to be prosecuted if the fortune isn’t correct.”

Sly and Emily looked at each other with amused expressions on their faces as if to say, “Look what we have to look forward to when we grow old together.”

Maxie tucked her feet under the covers of her bed and secretly opened the pages to her newest bodice ripper. She’d discovered Georgie “spying” in her room recently, and had taken elaborate measures to hide her racy reading material. This novel, “The Empress and the Wayward Pirate,” she’d stashed in her laundry hamper, thinking that Georgie wouldn’t be interested in leafing through her dirty clothes.

Maxie sighed deeply. She was so bored after having spent nearly five hours in bed today under the watchful eye of her mother. By some miracle, she’d made it home before her parents and younger sister had returned home from church, and she’d changed back into her pajamas, which she’d worn the rest of the day. Maxie yawned loudly as she sipped from her hot chocolate and then placed it back onto her white, painted nightstand. Being sick wasn’t such a bad deal in the Scorpio-Jones home. Felicia’s “mother radar” went into overdrive when one of her babies was ailing, and so Maxie had munched on her favorite treats all day long. Felicia, at least, was encouraged by her daughter’s returned appetite.

Maxie opened her book to page 25. She’d skipped the first two chapters of the book, which merely offered direction for the plot and background to the story. She snorted. As if I’m interested in the story. Where are the good sex scenes? This one had better pay off and not be one big tease like most of these stupid books. Maxie turned her wrist to glance at the front cover. She narrowed her eyes as she determined whether or not this couple was a good match in the sex department. The Empress was perched on her throne with a bored, disdainful look on her face and an impossibly huge, exposed bosom only accentuated by her tiny waist. Her emerald robes were trimmed with polar bear fur and bespoke her regal station. She appeared to be about twenty years old and had hair as long as she was tall. In fact, it tumbled in russet waves to the floor and over the rough boots of the pirate.

The pirate was older, maybe thirty years old, with marked distaste for clothing that didn’t reveal his massive smooth chest. He wore a thick, randy gold earring in his left ear, and a pencil thin black mustache over his generous, full, smirking lips. Frankie would look nice with a thin mustache. I don’t know about the earring. Maybe. He knelt at her highness’ feet, but the bemused expression on his face told all. He even dared to use his thumb and index finger to toy with a stray strand of the empress’ hair that accidentally fell over his dirty boot. The pirate’s long black curls had a shine and gleam as rich as the buried treasure that he promised. Yo ho ho, Maxie thought. Give me everything your highness.

“Oh, get on with it,” Maxie muttered impatiently. Her fingers quickly began flipping through more pages of her book. She paused and looked at the cover price. It’s 7.99. I paid eight bucks for this? They’d better have something good in here or I’m taking it back for a refund.

Maxie’s hand automatically flew under the bedcovers, hiding her reading material from the intruder that had entered her room. Dammit! Just when I was coming to the good part.

Maxie’s eyes narrowed. “What do you want?” she asked testily. “Get out of my room. And stay out.”

Georgie walked up to Maxie’s bed and held her hands on her hips. She smiled sweetly at Maxie, but the smile never reached her cunning eyes.

“You weren’t sick today,” she announced.

“What are you talking about?” Maxie scoffed. “Listening to all of those boy bands must have shrunk your brain.” She made a waving, “go away” motion at her younger sister.

Maxie grew wary as she listened to Georgie. How had that brat learned to be so sneaky? “You’re not making any sense,” she protested.

“There’s a chunk missing out of the side of the garage, and a scrape of paint along the back side panel of the car. You went somewhere. I checked the mileage, and you drove seven miles. General Hospital is seven miles from our house. You went to see Frankie.”

“What?” Maxie sputtered as her mind raced, trying to find some way out of the situation.

“Time to pay up,” Georgie stated with her palm held out to her sister. “I’m here to collect.”

“Blackmail,” said Georgie. “You’ve told on me and ignored me for the last time. Now, I want cash.”

“You don’t go to sleep at night,” Maxie countered with a frown and glittering eyes. “You use the flashlight to read under the covers. And, you sneak food. I saw you eating from the ice cream when you thought no one was looking. And, you spent money on candy at the store. You know Mom won’t let you buy candy. How’s that, Georgie-Porgie?”

Georgie’s hands were still placed on her hips, but uncertainty crept over her, and she shifted her feet. “I still know about Frankie, Maxie-pad. You’re seeing him. Mac would go ballistic.”

“You get into Mom’s makeup and try it on. You think I don’t know, but I’ve seen the smudges where it didn’t come off in places, and the red lips where you’ve wiped off the lipstick.” Maxie grabbed Georgie’s hand. “And you steal nail polish from me and Mom. What’s this? You’re not allowed to wear any cosmetics until you’re twelve.” She shook Georgie’s hand, which sparkled with nude colored fingernail polish that she’d thought no one would notice.

The two sisters glared at each other for a minute until Maxie got an idea. “I won’t tell if you won’t tell. It will be our arrangement.” She folded her arms and stared her sister down.

“Okay,” Georgie conceded in a small voice. “But if you tell Mom anything, then I’m going to unload all of it.”

The two sisters solemnly shook one another’s hand, and each wondered how long this temporary truce would last.