Juleen whispered a thank-you. Then she nudged her stunned brother, who also whispered a thank-you.

“Thank you, Mrs. …” Donatti paused. “I’m sorry. I don’t know your last name.”

She said, “It’s Kutiel, but you can call us Cindy and Koby.”

“Thank you for your help,” Donatti repeated. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. All of you. I’ll make it up to you.”

“Not necessary,” Cindy said. “Gabe’s our brother.”

“I see that,” Donatti said. “No wonder Gabe turned out so well.” He took out a piece of paper and gave it to Cindy. “My phone number, my office phone, my secretary’s phone. Call if you have any problems.” He turned to Decker. “Thank you. I’ll leave you all to it now.”

“Peter, go with him.”

“I don’t need help, Rina.” When she didn’t answer, Donatti said, “But if you’re offering, I suppose I could use some fresh insight. I certainly have no answers.”

Rina said, “We’d be happy to come, but you have to wait an hour, Chris. The holiday isn’t over yet.”

“My jet is waiting. If I don’t leave by a certain hour, I’ll get fined.”

“Up to you,” Rina said.

Donatti shook his head. “Of course I’ll wait. Give me a little time to settle my brain.”

“We’ll start packing, then.” Before Decker could talk, Rina took his hand and led him into the bedroom. She shut the door.

“This is a terrible idea,” Decker said.

“Probably.” Rina took down a carry-on with rollers.

“She’s left him before,” Decker said. “And she had no problem abandoning Gabe. What makes you think this is different?”

“It may not be different,” Rina said. “It could be that she’s abandoning her children again. But if something bad happened to her, I want to look Gabe in the eye and tell him that we did everything we could to help his mother.”

“That’s not up to us, Rina. That’s up to Donatti to figure this mess out.”

“You are as much a father to Gabe as Chris is.”

“That’s below the belt.”

“Maybe so, but it’s still true.”

“Fuck!” Decker whispered to himself. “If I could get away with it, I’d kill both of them.” He took down a suitcase. He was angry. “You should have at least consulted with me before you made a unilateral decision.”

A pause. “You’re right.” Rina took out some clothes. “I’m sorry.”

Decker retrieved several pairs of pants, several sets of sweats, and four polos. For footwear, he decided on two pairs of tennis shoes. He said nothing.

“I really am sorry, Peter. It was out of line.”

“You told Cindy to consult Koby. What about me?”

“Again, you’re right. I’ve apologized, and I’ll apologize in front of the children if you want.”