Kittie Capone was a Capone in name only. She had never felt particularly close to her distant relatives and regardless of her father's bragging about being related to the late great Al Capone, she had never needed to brag herself.  In fact, shortly after college she had moved away from her parents as far as she could get on a photographer's pay.  Now, in the blistering heat of August she pulled her old Plymouth into a long circular driveway and tried to fix a smile on her face before she got out of the car.  

A valet came down the marble steps that led to the front porch and handed her out of the driver's seat.  She gratefully gave him the keys and went to get her luggage when another man in a black suit stepped up and grabbed her bags.  

"Allow me miss."  She nodded and grabbed a silk handkerchief from her purse, using it to judiciously dab the sweat from her forehead.  

"Please be gentle with those, there's quite a bit of fragile equipment in there."

"Of course miss, shall I take them up to your room?"  Kittie nodded and went to tip the man but he shook his head. "No need."  She raised her eyebrows but nodded and followed him inside.  

Several hours later she had taken a cool bath and gotten dressed in a fresh outfit.  She exited her room and headed down the hall.  Although it has been almost a decade since she had been in this mansion she still remembered the layout like a map had been burned into her mind's eye.  She rounded a corner and came to a large hand carved oak door.  Although she wanted to barge in she gathered herself and knocked on the smooth wood.  

"Come in Katherine, I know it's you!"  Kittie laughed and palmed the shiny brass door knob.  The door opened without so much as a creak, and just like she remembered an oversized mahogany desk sat dead center on a priceless Persian rug.  

"Uncle Morty!" she exclaimed.  Before she could do much more than take a few steps forward a hulking man in silk suit had leapt from his chair and crossed the room in a bound.  Kittie braced herself for the crushing hug and smiled wide when her uncle's arms wrapped tightly around her, then picked her up and swirled her around.  

"Katherine, wait, what do they call you now?  Kittie?  My darling niece!"  He placed her back on the ground and patted her shoulder.  "Come in, have a drink with your old uncle.  Let's talk about the wedding!" 

"I can't believe Abigail finally met a man who can live up to her standards!"  Kittie laughed, trying to keep the tone light, but Abigail had really begun to stretch her father's patience.  Morty nodded and poured a glass of whisky for himself and ice tea for Kittie. 

"You're right of course, my little Abi has kept us all on our toes!"  Morty took a gulp from his glass and turned to give Kittie a hard look. 

"What about you, any men in your life worth talking about?"  Kittie squirmed, she had a feeling no matter what her answer was it wouldn't be up to her uncle's standards. She looked down into her ice tea and suddenly wished it were whisky.  

"Well, I met a man on one of my last trips out of the country."  She took a sip of tea and grimaced, she should have asked for sugar.  "His name is Thomas and he's a photographer like me.  Unfortunately he was on assignment for the military."  

"Why is that unfortunate?  He's working for his country!"  Kittie new her uncle Morty was deeply patriotic and tried to phrase her next sentence a little better.

"Unfortunate for me." She let out a wry laugh.  "We really hit it off and had some serious chemistry, but we were both on assignments and he doesn't know when he'll be back in America."  She sighed. "First guy in a long time I actually fell for and I don't know if I'll ever see him again!"  

Morty nodded

"I see, I see.  Well, if it's meant to be you'll see him again for sure.  Now, let's talk business." 

A few hours later they had all of the details on the wedding photos sorted, and although she had offered a deep discount for family, Morty had insisted on paying her a professional rate.  Gratified, Kittie said her goodbyes and decided to head into town to get some more film.