Tommy’s heart dropped. Sal actually believed himself to be a negative for the woman who married him. This good man. The best man Tommy had ever known. He leaned forward, a worried look on his face.
“Don’t worry,” Sal said. “I’ll continue to do my job. The Gabrini Corporation, and the restaurants, and the Wingate, all of it. I’ll commute. Stay there a few days out of the week and do what I need to do. But my home will be here, with Gemma.”
“But not in this house?”
“Hell no. I’m buying her her dream home. And this ain’t it.”
Tommy smiled. Then he nodded. “I understand,” he said.
Sal looked at him. He didn’t expect him to understand any of it.
“It’ll be odd not having you in Seattle with me, however. It’ll be the first time we never lived in the same town before.”
He and Sal exchanged a glance.
“I’ll be around,” Sal ultimately said.
But the elephant was still in the room, and they both knew it.
Tommy exhaled. He decided to go there. It was the very reason he had come. “About last night, Sal,” he said. “What I did, what I said, was bullshit. I need you to know that.”
Sal considered him. “Bullshit?”
“All the way.”
“Then why did you say it? You said I didn’t deserve Gem. I don’t, but I never thought I’d hear you say that.”
“It wasn’t about Gemma. It was about you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Sal stared at him.
A look of anguish came over Tommy’s face. “Gemma is a wonderful person. And she’s right for you. She’s perfect for you. But . . .”
Sal continued to stare, to study, to size up this man he’d known and loved all his life.
“But I know how you are, Sal,” Tommy went on. “I know what you’re capable of.”
“So what are you saying? I’m not capable of love? Is that what you’re saying to me?”
“What I’m saying is that you aren’t capable of balance when it comes to Gemma.”
Sal frowned. “What the. . . What’s that supposed to mean, Tommy? That I’m some psycho nutcase when it comes to my woman? Is that what you’re saying? That I’m unbalanced? That I’m unstable?”
“No,” Tommy shot back. “You know that’s not what I mean.”
“Then what the fuck do you mean?”
Tommy exhaled. He looked at his brother with equal parts love, anger, and deep, deep concern. “When you marry Gemma, you’re going to be all-in with her. All in. There is not a doubt in my mind about that. But if anything happens to her, and if you guys have kids and something happens to your children, you won’t survive that, Sal. You’ll be so far in that you won’t be able to get out. And that shit scares me. I’ll admit it. I love you so much.”
Tommy had to stop speaking, to keep his emotions in check. Sal’s heart went out to his brother, but he had to hear him out. He had to understand why he would speak so cruelly to him last night. Fuck emotion, as far as Sal was concerned. He needed to know what was really going on inside of Tommy!
Tommy continued. “Even though we’re only four years apart,” he said, “you know our relationship has always been different. I’ve always felt a sense of responsibility for you.”
Sal nodded his head. “I understand all of that. We’ve been closer than brothers. I get that. But you need to explain to me where all of that anger was coming from last night. You need to explain to me why you don’t think I deserve happiness.”
“You deserve happiness. Of course you do! That’s not what I meant.”
“But that’s what you were saying, Tommy! Don’t talk to me about what you meant. Talk to me about what you said. Why did you say those harsh . . .”
Now Sal had to take a moment. But he quickly regrouped. “Those were some harsh words you said last night. Why?”
Now Tommy was getting animated, and passionate about his concern. “Because I know you, Sal! Because I know, if you marry Gem and something happens to her, it’s going to destroy you!”
Sal continued to stare at Tommy. “What are you blind?” he asked him.
They locked eyes. “Your point?” Tommy asked.
Sal couldn’t believe his brother couldn’t see it. “You think I’m not there yet? You think I have to marry Gemma to get to that point?”
“I was hoping---”
“You were hoping, Reno was hoping, Gem’s parents were hoping. Everybody’s hoping, but nobody’s looking at me. Look at me, Tommy!”
Tommy could see the hurt deep in Sal’s eyes.
“I’ve been madly in love with Gemma for months now. But all you guys see is the old Sal. The love’em and leave’em Sal. I tell you how much I love her and care for her, and you dismiss it. Because it’s good ol’ Sal. What does he know about love, right? I may not have received that much of it, but I know a hellava lot about it. And all that love I had that all those people rejected, from our own parents on down, I’ve given to Gem. And you think it won’t be until after I marry her that I’m all-in with her?”
Sal shook his head. The emotions of the past few days weighing heavily on him. “You say you know me, Tommy, but you don’t. Because if you think for a minute that I’m not already all-in with Gemma Jones, you don’t know me at all.”
Tommy just sat there, still staring at Sal. And then he exhaled again. “You’re already there?”
“I’ve been there months ago,” Sal said. “You just wasn’t paying attention.” Then Sal frowned. “But why wouldn’t you know that? You’re married to Grace. Wasn’t you already there before you married her?”
Tommy didn’t immediately answer. It was never that cut and dry with him. It was never that simple with him. “It grows stronger,” he said, “after you get married.”
But Sal was shaking his head. “Not possible here. The way I feel about Gemma right now, there’s no room for growth. My feelings for her are as strong as they can ever be. And you’re right, I probably will go to pieces if, God forbid, something were to happen to her. But I’m working on it. Gemma is helping me to work on it. So don’t worry about me. I have Gemma. Worry about yourself.”
Tommy was stunned by Sal’s words. Because they cut to the core of his very being. Everybody used to think that he was the fortunate one. Tommy Gabrini, they thought, was the one who had it all. His kid brother Sal was just a sourpuss to them. A mean, irascible, rough-around-the-edges tough guy to them. They were both good looking, but Tommy was great looking. They were both successful cops and then rich businessmen, but Tommy was more successful, and richer. And Tommy had their father’s love.
That father was fucking the shit out of Tommy and destroying every piece of his self-worth inch-by-loving-inch, but they wouldn’t have believed it even if he would have told them. His success as a cop was only wafer thin, promoted and pushed by that father of his, but that wasn’t the issue to them. He became rich only after he partnered with Sal, but that was beside the point to them. It was all Tommy’s doing. Tommy was the best boy in the Gabrini household. Sal was the black sheep. That was all they saw. That was all they wanted to see.
And now, Tommy felt as if he’d been behaving just like them. He wasn’t giving his own brother, a brother he loved with all his heart, credit for shit. He had to grow into his love for Grace, if he was ever to admit it, but Sal’s love for Gemma was already there. Sal was already there! Sal was their rock, and that strong arm. Sal was the strength.
Worry about yourself, Sal had said to him. He was completely in love, but he was nobody’s fool. And Tommy should have known that.
Tommy stood up. Sal stood too.
“I’d better get going,” Tommy said.
“Rome?” Sal asked.
“Rome.”
Tommy began walking toward the front door. Sal followed him. He could feel Tommy’s heaviness of heart even as he walked behind him. And even though he knew Tommy was wrong to come at him the way he did last night; even though he knew it wasn�
�t his fault that Tommy and Reno felt the way they did. It didn’t matter. Tommy was his brother. His beloved brother. Sal touched him, Tommy turned around, and Sal pulled him into his arms.
Both brothers embraced vigorously, with their eyes squeezed shut as the weight of the moment was almost unbearable. They loved each other. There was a time they had no one else but each other. Their relationship, they both knew, was no trivial matter.
“I’m sorry, Sal,” Tommy blurted out, as the tears appeared in his eyes.
“Me too,” Sal responded, refusing to point any more fingers, or do any more blaming.
They continued to embrace until both of them had their acts together again, and could face the other one. And when they did face each other, they smiled. It was better together, than apart.
Tommy extended his hand. “I want to officially congratulate you, Sal Luca,” he said.
Sal gladly shook that hand.
“And again,” Tommy said, “I apologize for not realizing a profound truth.”
“Oh, yeah?” Sal asked, enjoying this. Tommy was his old self again, and Sal preferred this Tommy. “And what profound truth is that?”
“Reno and I went to town on you last night.”
“Yes, you did.”
“We were criticizing you,” Tommy went on, “when your shit is more together than ours!”
Sal laughed. “Yes, it is,” he said.
And he slapped his brother on the back. They were back. The Gabrini brothers were one again.
And neither one of them would have it any other way.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Oh, Sal!” Gemma said as if she were admonishing him. “This is a mansion!”
“Yeah, so?” Sal parked her BMW in the circular driveway and looked at the huge home too.
“But. . .” Gemma was still shaking her head.
“But what?” he asked her. “What, you think I’m going to put you up in a hovel? You think I’m not going to want the best for you?”
“But it’s so big!”
Sal unbuckled his seat belt. “Damn straight it’s big. Nothing but the best for you.” He got out of the car to walk around to open the door for her.
And as Gemma unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car too, she couldn’t help but smile. It was still kind of unreal to her that a man would do the many things for her the way Sal did for her. And now this. It was big and beautiful and bold and ostentatious. It wasn’t just a dream home. It was a dream itself! She looked at him. She knew Sal was a wealthy man, but this had to cost millions.
“You can afford this?” she asked.
Sal stared into those sincere eyes of hers. “This and a hundred more,” he said. Then he smiled. “I’m rich, bitch! Who do you think you’re dealing with?”
Gemma laughed at his joke and then threw her arms around him. She didn’t realize that Val Gabrini and Buddy Wellstone, the owner of Wellstone Realty and Val’s father, was already there waiting for them. She had seen two African-Americans standing there, and a car, but she was so busy looking at the house, she didn’t bother to look hardly at all at them.
“Val!” she said cheerfully as they walked up the drive and then the steps of the massive home.
“Hello, Miss Jones,” Valerie said. “Welcome home!”
“Not so fast,” Buddy said with a smile. “We haven’t made the sale yet.”
“Not yet,” Gemma said, smiling too.
“Hello, Uncle Sal,” Val said.
Sal kissed her on the cheek. “Hey there.” Then he shook her father’s hand. “How are you, Buddy?”
“I’m good, Sal, and you?”
“I’m good.”
“Thanks for the business,” Buddy said. “I really appreciate it.”
“Don’t mention it! You’re family. I’m not going to hold it against you that you’re on Reno’s side of the family.” Buddy laughed. “You’re family now!”
“Miss Jones,” Val said, “I’m not sure if you know my father.”
“We’ve met before, yes,” Gemma said. “Hello, Mr. Wellstone.”
“Buddy please,” Buddy said. “I’ve heard a lot of wonderful things about you. This daughter of mine seems to just adore you.”
Gemma smiled. “The feeling is mutual.”
Sal’s cell phone began to ring. He pulled it out and looked at the Caller ID. He glanced at Gemma, which she knew meant that the call would be a private one, and then he walked back down the steps to take the call. Gemma and Val small-talked while he was gone, but Gemma kept glancing at Sal.
“Where is she now?” Sal asked his man Neeco, who was in Baltimore handling the situation and was on the other end of the call.
“We put her in a safe house,” Neeco responded. “She’s in a bad way, Sal. She’s a basket case.”
“They killed her fucking kid. Of course she’s a basket case, what are you talking?”
“He pretended to snatch the kid before, and didn’t,” Neeco said, “so now I don’t get it. Why would Rip suddenly kill that same kid he was pretending to kidnap?”
“Hell if I know. But I know we’ve got to get to the bottom of this.”
“Something’s up, Sal. We need you here.”
Sal exhaled. He looked over at Gemma. She was talking and smiling with Val. “I’m on it,” he said.
“When can we expect you?”
“What are you asking me questions for? You’ll see me when I get there. Don’t you worry about anything else. You guard Ang, and find Rip. That’s what you do!” Then Sal ended the call.
When he returned to the fold, Buddy didn’t miss a beat. He rubbed his hands together and smiled. “Ready to take a look at this jewel?” he asked the couple.
“We’re ready,” Sal said.
“Everything okay?” Gemma asked Sal as they entered the home.
“It’s . . ., yeah, it’s okay,” Sal said noncommittally.
But as soon as Gemma entered the home, she fell back against him. She thought the PaLargio was palatial. She thought Tommy’s mansion was palatial. She even thought Sal’s penthouse at the Wingate was palatial. But they all paled, she felt, in comparison to this.
Opulent in the extreme, she felt. And not just at the entrance, where the cathedral ceilings and the double staircase that was so high they looked as if they was meant for Buckingham Palace rather than a family home, took her breath away.
But as they walked around, and went from room to room to room, it was as if they were walking into another world. A part of her was terrified of this place. It was too much! But another part of her, the bigger part, was thrilled. This man loved her and was giving her the best, and she wasn’t about to be some dumb chick and tell him no, give her less than the best.
It was going to take some getting used to, she thought, as they went outside and toured the extensive grounds. And it wasn’t just the house that would take some getting used to, but the generosity of Sal, and the fact that she was no longer, in many ways, in control of her own destiny. He was in control now. She would have a say in everything about her life, she was determined to keep it so, but he would have the ultimate say. She knew that was what she was signing up for. She knew that was part of the deal. And it was as daunting and as overwhelming as the house she was now viewing. But was she having second thoughts? Any cold feet? Not for a second, she thought, as she smiled at the size of that pool!
“Wow,” she said. And she found herself saying that very word, with every turn of a corner.
By the time they made it back to the front of the house, Sal was beyond pleased.
“Where do we sign?” he asked Buddy Wellstone.
“Sal!” Gemma admonished. “What are you saying? This is the first house we looked at.”
“Yeah, so?”
“But that’s not how it’s done. It’s not good to say yes to the first house you see.”
“Why not?”
“Because! There may be better looking houses out there.”
“I’m positive there is.
But this is the one we want. What’s the problem? There were better looking dames out there when I first saw you. But I wanted you the first time I looked at you.”
“Ah,” Buddy said, touched.
“He’s lying,” Gemma said. “And you know it,” she said to Sal. “You couldn’t decide if I was pretty or ugly when you first met me.”
Sal laughed.
“You didn’t even call me after our first meeting, so don’t even try that, Sal.”
Buddy was shocked. “You couldn’t decide if a woman this stunning was pretty or ugly?” he asked Sal.
Sal was embarrassed by the man he used to be. “I was blind back then,” he said.
“You were blind as a bat,” Buddy said, “if you thought this gorgeous girl wasn’t gorgeous.”
Gemma looked at Val and her father. “We’ll keep searching,” she said. “But we’ll definitely keep this one on the list.”
“Ah,” Sal started, then he began to scratch his head. Gemma knew what that meant. He was about to unload unpleasant news. “Think you can manage it on your own for a few days?”
“On my own?” she asked. “Why? I thought you said you wanted to participate.”
I do. And I will. But I’m going to need to take care of some business for the next few days.”
Gemma considered him. “That phone call?”
“Yup.”
“Where this time? Back in Seattle?”
“Back in Baltimore.”
“When?”
“Tonight. Today. As soon as I can swing it.”
Gemma knew exactly what kind of business he had to take care of. The kind he couldn’t tell her about. But that was what she was signing up for. Life with Sal was going to be a box of chocolates. She never quite knew what she was going to get.
“I’ll manage,” she told him.
“I’ll get Tree to help you,” Sal said. “Despite marrying Reno, she generally has good taste too.”
Over the next week, Gemma diligently looked at several houses. All were beautiful. All were in great areas. All were postcard perfect. But none of them excited her the way she felt was warranted. It was by day three, with Sal still out of town and she had no idea when he would return, did she receive a call from Val. She’d found one she thought would be a great possibility for Gem, and she wanted her to take a look. Gem decided to take Sal’s advice and let Trina take a look too.
Sal Gabrini 4: I'll Take You There (The Gabrini Men Series Book 7) Page 10
