Sal looked at Reno. “What shit bucket?” he asked. “This is the top of the line jet, what are you talking? Uncle Mick’s plane makes yours look like a fucking helicopter.” Tommy laughed. “And a toy one at that.”
“Yeah, sure,” Reno said, dismissively.
“Yeah, sure my ass,” Sal said. “Uncle Mick and Tommy have the two best planes in the business. Mine plane ain’t bad. Yours is the oldest and the worse, Reno.”
“Mine is the oldest because I’ve been richer than all y’all asses the longest. Naturally mine is the oldest. What am I buying a new one for? And for your information, Salvatore Luciano, I didn’t call Mick’s plane a shit bucket because of the plane, but because you’re on the plane and I have to travel all the way to Philly with the likes of you.”
Tommy laughed, but shook his head. “You two need to cut that shit out,” he said as he sat in the seat beside his brother, and across from Reno. “One day you two will find nothing to argue about. One of you will be dead, but at least we’ll have some peace!”
Reno and Sal both had to smile at that.
“Any new news?” Tommy asked, as he settled in.
Reno smiled when Tommy, immaculately dressed as usual, made sure his pant seam was perfectly centered before he crossed his legs.
“What?” Tommy asked, noticing Reno’s smile.
“Dapper Tom, that’s what,” Reno said. “All three of us have been working our butts off all day long, and it shows on me, and even on Sal to a certain extent. But you? Forget about it! You look like you’re freshly showered and just got dressed.”
“It’s called showering before dressing,” Sal said. “Something you know nothing about Reno.”
Tommy laughed. Reno pulled out his cellphone.
“What?” Sal asked. “Who are you calling?”
“I’m calling my wife,” Reno said. “I’m calling Trina. I’m sure she’ll want to know that you’re spreading lies that she’s been sleeping with a funky man.”
Sal and Tommy both laughed.
“I’m sure she’ll love to make it clear to you that her man smells like roses, punk, even when he doesn’t. That’s how fresh I am.”
Sal smiled and shook his head. “That don’t even make sense.”
“I know,” Reno said, putting his phone away, “but it scared your ass.”
“Anyway,” Tommy said, exhaling. “Any new news?” he asked again.
“I haven’t heard anything,” Reno said.
“I haven’t heard anything either,” Sal said. “Mick isn’t exactly the pick up the phone and chat type. But my people have been hearing things. They’ve been hearing that Mick’s been a one-man wrecking crew. That Mick’s been doling out revenge like it was a dish best served alone.”
“Yeah, I figured as much,” Reno said. “The only reason he’s calling us in is because they nearly took Roz out. At least that’s what I heard.”
“You heard right,” Tommy said. “Mick all but told me so himself. It hit too close to home. If Roz would not have assumed that Cathleen was up to no good when she poured that drink, it could have been lights outs, not for Cathleen, but for Roz.”
“Geez,” Reno said. “If that had been my wife that would have spooked me too.”
“Yeah,” Tommy agreed.
“Yeah,” Sal agreed.
And all three men sat quietly for a good while after that. They didn’t start their conversation again until the plane had lifted up and was well on its way.
“Anybody know how Joey’s taking his mother’s death?” Sal asked.
Reno looked at him. “Why should you care? You’re still angry with him for his part in that plot to kidnap your baby.”
“I still care about him,” Sal said. “He’s still my uncle’s son. He’s still kin. Besides, Mick kicked his ass for me. He chain-whipped him so badly I heard it took him months to recover. He’s atoned for his sins. I’ll come around. But even if I don’t, I still wouldn’t have wished this on the kid.”
“He’s just in his early twenties,” Reno said, “and his mother’s dead? That’s tough.”
“Mick said he’s pretty torn up about it,” Tommy said. “He’s putting on a brave face, but Mick figures it’s tearing him up inside.”
“And Mick isn’t exactly Mister Nurturer,” Reno said.
“How do you figure that?” Sal asked. “I think Mick is a very nurturing man. Does he go around showing it? No. But it’s there. I’ve seen it. I’m sure he’s giving Joey the affection he needs.”
Reno shook his head. “You and Mick have the strangest relationship ever,” he said. “You two were once sworn enemies, but now, whenever you two get together, it’s like a bromance! He defends you, and you defend him. It’s pathetic is what it is!”
Sal and Tommy laughed.
“So what’s on our flight itinerary?” Reno asked after the laughter died down. “When do we arrive in Philly?”
“My understanding,” Tommy said, “is that we’re heading to Jericho, Maine first, to pick up Big Daddy, and then we’re heading to Philly.”
“Philadelphia,” Reno said. “The city of brotherly love. You guys ready for war in the city of love?”
“Nobody’s ever ready for war,” Sal said. “But yeah, I’m ready,” he added.
Reno and Tommy looked at each other. “Didn’t he just contradict himself?” Reno asked.
Mick and Roz sat quietly in the restaurant as they waited for Joey to arrive. It had been two days since his mother’s death and he phoned and asked if he and Roz could meet. Roz agreed eagerly. She very much wanted to talk to him and comfort him. But Mick would not allow her to go alone. Deuce would be right outside, and all of his undercover security, she reminded Mick. But that wasn’t enough for Mick. He came with her.
Now she was so nervous as they sat and waited that Mick could hear her heartbeat. He placed his arm around her shoulder. “This may be the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” Roz said.
“You did nothing wrong,” Mick said. “Just remember that. So don’t go there. Besides,” Mick added, “I told him one of my men took her out.”
Roz, amazed, looked at him. “Why would you do that, Mick? I told you what happened.”
“And I told you what I told him.” He looked at her. “What I told him is what will stand.”
But Roz knew she couldn’t do that. “Mick, I can’t lie. I can’t do that to Joey. He has a right to know how his mother died.”
“And you have a right to live,” Mick shot back. “He loved Cathleen the way a son should love a mother, despite the kind of mother she was. He’s still a kid at heart. He may start blaming you for his loss. He may want revenge for his loss.” Then a flustered look appeared in Mick’s eyes. “I don’t want to have to choose between my wife and my son,” he said. “Because if I do, it won’t be a happy ending for my son.”
Roz felt so much guilt she could hardly contain it. Her heart still ached whenever she thought about that fateful decision Mick had to make when his oldest son, Adrian, threatened to kill her. And he would have killed her if Mick had not taken him out. “Sometimes I feel as if . . .” She couldn’t continue.
Mick looked at her. “You feel as if what?” he asked.
“Sometimes I feel as if you would have been better off without me.”
Mick frowned. He couldn’t believe it. “Why would you say something like that?”
“Because it’s true! Adrian’s dead. Cathleen’s dead. All of your children and their mothers have some level of resentment towards me because of my position in your life. Then I had the nerve to birth you twins. I can feel the resentment, Mick. They feel as if I’m robbing them of something. And they aren’t wrong about that.”
“They’re very wrong about that,” Mick said.
“But they aren’t,” Roz made clear. “You just sat up here and said if it came down to your son and your wife, you’d choose your wife.”
Mick didn’t get it. “So?” he asked. “It’s the truth.”
&nb
sp; “But Mick, most people don’t think like that. Most people would choose their children over their spouse.”
“I’m not most people,” Mick responded quickly. Then he let out a sigh of frustration. “Maybe if I had been a better father to Adrian, if I had been closer to him, it would have been a closer call. But I still would have chosen you.”
But that worried more than reassured Roz. She looked at him. “Even with the twins?” she asked.
Mick knew he wasn’t a typical man. Nor a typical father. And he was ashamed that he wasn’t. “Even with the twins,” he said.
“But Mick, that’s not good. You can’t put me above our babies.”
“When I was dying in that street,” Mick fired back, “why didn’t you save our babies over me? Why didn’t you leave to protect them? Didn’t you put me over them?”
“You were in danger,” Roz said. “I wasn’t going to leave you there to die. I would do the same thing all over again.”
“Even if one of those bullets would have hit one of our children?” Mick asked.
Roz stared at him.
“You see the dilemma, darling?” Mick asked. “When Adrian had that gun to your head, I had to make a decision. It’s not theoretical then, it’s real. When I was dying in that street, it was real for you. You and I have become one flesh, Rosalind. I don’t know how I could choose any person over you.”
Roz understood exactly what he was saying, and she knew, when she was in that situation, she chose Mick too. Her situation was different. Mick and the twins got out of it alive. But it still was a choice.
Mick stared at her. “Do you regret your decision?” he asked her.
Roz was quick to respond. “No,” she said. “Not for a second.” Then she looked at him. “Do you regret yours?”
Mick knew what she meant. He knew she was talking about his decision to take out his son Adrian. “No,” he said, just as confidently as she had. “And that’s why what I said to Joey has to stand,” he added. “I don’t want to be placed in that situation again.”
Roz knew what Mick said was true. They couldn’t allow Joey to harbor resentment toward her and incur his father’s ire. They weren’t the Brady Bunch, nor were they the Huxtables. They were a messy couple with messy lives. But they had to stand together as one.
“He just drove up,” Mick said and Roz looked out of the window too. They both watched as Joey’s Dodge Charger drove under the portico. The valet hurried over to the car, and Joey, along with his sister Gloria, stepped out. He had spent the night at Gloria’s house after he learned of his mother’s death. Gloria had had a date last night, with some mysterious older gentleman, but she canceled it to hang out with Joey. They didn’t go anywhere. They just talked about Cathleen. Gloria couldn’t stand her, but she was Joey’s mother. And Joey loved her. She respected his space.
But when they entered the restaurant, they both were surprised by the view. “What’s Dad doing here?” Gloria asked.
“Protecting Roz,” Joey said. “What else? He probably thinks I blame her.”
Gloria looked at him. “Why would he think that?”
Joey didn’t respond to that, as the waiter escorted them to Roz and Mick’s booth.
Both Gloria and Joey hugged their father, and then Gloria leaned over and hugged Roz. But when it was Joey’s turn, there was an awkward pause. A telling awkward pause, Mick thought. And then Joey gave Roz a quick embrace.
“I’m so sorry about your mother, Joey,” Roz said heartfelt. “I know how much she meant to you.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Joey said as he and Gloria sat across from Mick and Roz. “I’m surprised to see you here, Dad,” he said after he sat down.
“Why’s that?” Mick asked.
“I thought it was going to be between me and Roz. I didn’t expect to see you here, that’s all.”
“I’m sure Dad didn’t expect to see me here either,” Gloria said. “But he spent all night at my house, and we talked all night. I thought he could use the moral support.”
That was why Mick was advancing Gloria faster than any of his children. She knew him. She spoke his language. “I thought Rosalind could use mine,” he said.
“Now that we know why we brought plus ones,” Roz said, looking at her stepson, “tell me how you’re doing, Joey?”
Joey hesitated, which Mick knew wasn’t good. “I’m hanging,” he said. “It kind of hit me like a ton of bricks last night. Wow, my mom is gone. I’m thankful Glo was there.”
Gloria locked her arm around Joey’s.
“But the reason I asked to meet with you,” Joey went on, “is because I need to know what happened. You were there. What happened?”
Roz felt a tingle in her throat. She understood what Mick said. But she couldn’t lie to this boy’s face. He loved his mother. He had a right to know the truth.
But she also knew Mick knew the truth too. He knew the truth of human behavior better than any person she’d ever met. She had to trust Mick’s judgment on this. “We were talking out on the patio,” Roz said. “The conversation, I thought, was going fine. Then I received a phone call. When I did, she took that opportunity to freshen our drinks. Except she added a capsule to mine. A capsule that turned out to be poison. She ended up drinking her own poison.”
Joey and Gloria both realized that Roz left out a very big part of that tale. Mainly, how did Cathleen end up drinking her own poison. But Joey was focused on a different matter. “You saw her die?” he asked Roz.
Mick and Roz both felt pain when Joey asked that question. Joey, they knew, was concerned that his mother had had a violent end. Mick was concerned that Roz had to witness that violence.
“Yes,” Roz said to Joey. “I saw her die.”
Roz hoped he didn’t take it to that next level. But he did. “Did she suffer?” he asked Roz.
Roz nodded her head. “Yes, Joey,” she said. “It was a very painful death.”
Joey looked hard at Roz. It was obvious he was fighting back tears. “Did you try to save her?” he asked.
Roz looked hard at Joey. She didn’t flinch. “No,” she said. “The bitch tried to kill me. I wasn’t saving my murderer.”
Mick exhaled. Roz got it. She understood the harsh, bitter world they lived in. He stared at Joey as Joey stared at Roz. Did he get it too? Or would he obsess on the fact that Roz called his mother a bitch? That was what a boy would do. A man in Mick’s world would face the truth.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Joey said, and they all looked at him.
“Joey, you don’t have to say that,” Roz said. “I know how much you loved your mother.”
“But I hated her too,” Joey admitted. “I know that doesn’t make sense to people. But it’s the truth. I loved her, but I hated her ways with a passion. It was amazing to me that Dad hadn’t done something about her sooner. He would have if it had been some random person. But she was my mother. I knew he spared her because he loved me.”
This was becoming a little too much sharing for Mick’s sensibilities, but for his son’s sake, and his wife’s sake, he endured it. He and Gloria, in fact, exchanged a glance. When he saw a smile cross Gloria’s pretty brown face, he smiled too. She understood him. They had a bond.
“But I also knew,” Joey continued, “that her ways were going to catch up with her. I just didn’t think it would happen like this.” Then he looked at Roz. “But I’m glad it wasn’t you. I’m glad Mom failed.”
“Why would you say such a thing, Joey?” Roz asked. She was touched but confused.
“Because I knew it would have killed Dad if it had been you. And that would have killed me.”
Gloria was so touched by Joey’s words that she placed her hand to her heart. Roz was touched too. Tears welled up in Roz’s eyes. “Oh, Joey,” she said, and placed both of his hands in hers.
But Mick was staring at his son. Nobody changed that fast. Those were wonderful words he had said. Truthful words at that. But why didn’t he ask if Roz was the one who caused
Cathleen to drink her own poison? Why didn’t Joey go there? Mick loved their Kumbaya moment. But he was careful too.
He had to be.
And without warning, he realized he should have been.
Joey jumped up from the table, pulled out a concealed gun, and pointed it straight at Roz. His empathy had turned into rage in a second flat. “Now it’s your time, Bitch!” he yelled at Roz.
The patrons in the restaurant began to scream and scatter, and Roz and Gloria were so shocked that they were frozen in place. But Mick wasn’t.
Mick jumped over that table and snatched that gun from his son’s hand before Joey could reach the trigger. Mick slapped Joey down to the ground with that gun, jumped on top of him, and began to pistol whip him with his own weapon. Gloria stood up crying. Roz stood up in sheer terror. And Mick’s men, who were invisible before the attack, ran to Mick’s rescue.
But they didn’t intervene. Nobody beat the shit out of Mick’s kids but Mick. And Mick was beating the shit out of Joey.
“She killed my mama!” Joey screamed at his father. “How can you defend her? She killed my mama!”
But Mick grabbed Joey by his oversized jersey and pulled him up until Joey’s face was within an inch of Mick’s face. “I don’t give a shit if she killed you! Don’t you ever, and I mean ever point a gun at my wife ever again! Do you hear me, boy?”
Joey was crying uncontrollably. “She killed my mama,” he said so bitterly that it seemed as if he was out of breath.
But Mick was in full voice. “Do you hear me?” he yelled at his son.
Joey was shaking his head. “I hear you,” he said, but his face was saying something opposite.
“Don’t you ever do that again!” Mick said again.
And then Joey began bawling. “I want my mama!” he cried. “I want my mama!” he cried even louder. And Roz’s heart and Gloria’s heart went out to Joey.
But Mick was taken aback for different reasons. He realized, as he held his son’s jersey, that Joey was still just a boy, just a baby, at his age. When Mick was his age he commanded a syndicate of men. And Joey was crying for his mama.
Mick’s heart could have gone out to Joey too. But how the fuck was that going to help him? He needed balls, not hugs. He needed to step up or this world was going to step all over him. Mick had a part in Joey’s lack of growth, but Joey did too. And maybe someday Joey would own up to his part the way Mick had been owning up to his. But Joey had pointed a gun at Rosalind as if he aimed to use it. That was not something Mick was going to overlook.
Mick Sinatra: Now Will You Weep Page 14
