“That’s my brother, Reno!”
“That’s my best friend, Sal!”
“Brother trumps friend any day of the week!”
“Not the relationship I have with Tommy, don’t you even try that!”
“Sal is right,” Grace said quickly, before the two titans got out of hand. Everybody, including Tommy, looked at her.
“So you figure he’s closer to Tommy than I am?” Reno asked her.
“I’m sure she’s not talking about that, Reno,” Trina said. “Go on, Grace,” she added.
“Thank you, Trina,” Grace responded. Trina was the matriarch of the Gabrini family, and everybody respected her role. Fran was the only family member who had issues with Trina, and she was no longer with them.
“What do you mean, babe? Tommy asked her
“I’m talking about Sal questioning our decision,” Grace said. “He’s absolutely right to question it. I left you and Sal is afraid I’ll do it again.”
“You broke his heart,” Reno said bluntly. “Let’s not sugar coat it. You broke his heart. But if he’s forgiven you, and you’ve forgiven him for his part in it because there’s two sides to every story, what are we doing? We don’t have shit to say about it.”
“We know that,” Tommy said. “But I need the family to understand how I feel about Grace, and how I will not tolerate anybody, including you, Sal, my beloved brother, mistreating her.”
“I’ll never mistreat her,” Sal said. “What are you talking?”
“Mistreating her,” Tommy said, “or doing anything to make her feel any ill will. We got a divorce because we wanted to get a divorce. She didn’t get one by herself. We’re back together because we want to be back together. This isn’t just her doing, or my doing. It’s our doing. I need everybody in this room, my family, to understand that.”
“What’s the end game?” Gemma asked Tommy. “Are the two of you committed for life, or just for right now?”
Sal was proud of the question his wife, who was an attorney, asked. It cut to the heart of the matter, as far as he was concerned.
Tommy was glad to answer her. “Good question, Gemma,” he said. “But we are in this for life. We are going to remarry as soon as we can make the arrangements.”
Gemma smiled, and Trina stood up. That was what the ladies wanted to hear! “Well alright now!” Trina said happily and walked over to Grace. “Welcome back, Grace,” she said with the warmest smile, and she and Grace embraced. And that moment alone took the tension out of the air, and everybody, including Sal, exhaled.
But if Grace thought her re-admittance into the Gabrini clan would begin and end with one warm embrace, she was mistaken. The men stood around talking together about her, while the women talked with her. But every conversation centered on that relationship.
For the women, it was all about preparation. “The wedding is going to be at the PaLargio in the ballroom,” Trina said. “No doubt about that.”
“Wait a minute now, Tree,” Gemma said. “It’s Grace’s decision.”
“Surely you want to have it at the PaLargio too,” Trina said to Grace. “Don’t you?”
“I appreciate the offer,” Grace said. “I truly do. But I want our marriage to take place in a church. And in Seattle. That’s very important to me.”
Trina knew how important Grace’s faith was to her. “I apologize for overstepping,” she said. Then she smiled. “Tommy said you’ve changed. But I have to admit, Grace, you have really changed.”
“For the better, I hope,” Grace said with a smile.
“Oh, yeah,” Trina said. “Definitely for the better.” And all three women laughed.
The men, however, had a different discussion. About crossing that line.
“What would it take for you, Reno?” Sal asked. “What’s the one thing that would make you leave Tree? What’s the one thing she could do that would be unforgiveable to you?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” Reno said confidently. “But since it’s never going to happen, what difference does it make?”
Sal rolled his eyes. “You’re a piece of work, you know that?”
“Fuck you,” Reno said.
“Just answer the question, Reno, for once in your life,” an irritated Sal said. “Just answer the question. What’s the one thing?”
“If Tree let another man touch her, it’s over. Alright? Did I answer your little question?”
Sal frowned. “If another man touch her? Get the fuck out of here!”
“You asked me!”
“If another man touches her, Reno? How many women have touched your slick ass? Give me a break! There’s no way I’ll leave Gemma over something that ridiculous!”
“Yeah, right, Sal,” Reno said. “So a man can touch your wife, and that’s okay with you?”
“Hell no it’s not okay. But I’m not ending my marriage over it!”
“Yeah, well, you ain’t me. Nobody’s touching Trina but me. No ands, ifs or buts about it. And she knows it. I’d murder a motherfucker who touches my wife, and then I’d beat her ass.”
“And still leave her?” Sal asked.
“And still leaver her, damn right,” Reno said.
But Sal and Tommy looked at each other and shook their heads. “Reno’s full of shit,” Tommy said, and Sal laughed. Even Reno had to smile at that one.
“I knew when you and Grace walked into this house,” Reno said, “that y’all were going to announce your engagement.”
“Sure you did, Reno,” Sal said. “And how did you figure that?”
“Because as soon as I saw Grace, I said oh, snap! They’re fucking. They are absolutely fucking again. And Grace is not going to let Tommy fuck her unless he put a ring on it. I know her. She’s a lady. She demands respect.”
Tommy looked at Reno with shock. “What in the world are you talking about?”
“I’m talking you and Grace.”
“But how could you just look at them and figure they’ve been fucking?” Sal asked. “How you figure that, Reno?”
“Because Grace is glowing,” Reno said. “I know that glow. It’s the same one Trina gets every time I put it on her.”
Tommy laughed.
“Tommy’s been fucking the shit out of Grace! And she’s walking funny too. Yeah, he’s been having his way with that female.”
Sal looked at his brother and laughed too. “Leave it to Reno,” he said, “to think like that!”
But before the day was through, it was Sal who asked to speak privately with Grace. Tommy was at first a little reluctant. He knew how crude Sal could be. But he also believed Grace could handle him. He stayed out of it.
They went into Sal’s downstairs study. Sal asked Grace to have a seat in front of the desk, and he sat on the edge of the desk.
“I’ve been your harshest critic,” Sal said to Grace. “I’m sure you know that.”
Grace nodded. “I do.”
Sal looked sincere. “But I need you to understand why. It wasn’t because of what you did in your marriage, or what he did. It was because of my love for my brother.”
Sal had to hesitate, as the emotion could be heard in his voice. He was a man who did not enjoy public displays of affection. But he knew he had to set the record straight. “I love my brother and I cannot bear to see anybody hurt him.”
Grace’s heart went out to Sal. She moved to the edge of her seat, and took his hand. He squeezed her hand. “I understand,” she said. “I know how close you and Tommy are.”
“He’s been through so much.” Sal frowned when he made that statement. “From our childhood and all through his life, he’s been through a lot, Grace. When he married you, I thought there was hope for his happiness at last. I thought finally he’d found the right one. Then you couldn’t take the heat, and left him. I was devastated. And angry as hell. I wanted to pop a cap in your ass, yes, I did! I’m laying my cards on the table. I was that furious. But I couldn’t do that to Destiny. Nor you. You had a right to leave him. But I’m
telling you now: you don’t have a right to break his heart again. He couldn’t take it. And I’m not going to stand by and let my brother go through that kind of pain ever again. Anybody hurt him like that, and that includes you, will have to answer to me. And Reno. And Jimmy Mack. And Dommi. And all of the Sinatras because they love Tommy too. In other words, you fuck this up, Grace, you wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Grace smiled and stood up. She walked up to Sal. They were eyeball to eyeball. “I know you have your doubts about me.”
“Hell yeah, I do. If you couldn’t take the heat before, what makes you think you can take it now?”
“I understand what you’re saying,” Grace said. “But I can show you better than I can tell you. I’m not leaving Tommy ever again. I’m in this for life. He is my life.”
“You said those words before,” Sal said.
“All I ask,” Grace said, “is that you judge me by my works. I’ll take great care of your brother’s heart. I promise you that.”
Sal thought about it, and then he smiled. “You’d better,” he said with that charming smile Grace found infectious. “Because if you don’t, I’ll be coming for you, sister. I’ll be coming with the Calvary. There’ll be nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.”
Grace laughed and they embraced. A part of her knew he was joking. But there was that little part that knew Sal was a mob boss. A very ruthless mob boss. There was that little part that told her he wasn’t kidding at all.
Three months later, at Grace and Tommy’s wedding, seriousness took on an entirely different meaning. An ambush at the church. Reno Gabrini was down. Sal Gabrini was down. Mick Sinatra was hit. And Dapper Tom, the lover boy, the one who was supposed to make love not war, became the undisputed head of the family.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The women and children in the family were hurried out of the sanctuary and placed into a backroom of the church. Chaos reigned supreme as more and more gunshots could be heard outside. Big Daddy Charles Sinatra, and his eldest son Brent, were in charge of security, and all of the young guns, including Jimmy Mack Gabrini, were in charge of keeping the women and children as calm as they possibly could. Many of the guests that had been attending Tommy and Grace’s wedding were in other rooms of the church, but this room was for family members only. They had to treat this as an attack on the Gabrini and Sinatra family, and from the sounds of the gunfire it was a massive assault.
Everybody was terrified, with the children crying and screaming and the women attempting to calm them down. But the sound of so many bullets flying left even battle-tested Big Daddy Sinatra rattled. He’d been in some tough calls in his life, but nothing like this. This was Mick’s world. This was a long way from his hometown, his stomping ground of Jericho, Maine.
But as the women calmed the children, he had to reassure everybody that the men knew how to handle their business and that there was nothing more to be done than to wait. He also worried sick about his wife Jenay, who was not accustomed to this kind of madness. But Mick’s wife Roz Sinatra, kept Jenay reassured. She told Big Daddy not to worry. She was packing too, as Mick always insisted upon it, and would make it her personal mission to protect Jenay.
But when the shooting would not let up, Big Daddy made the decision to go and see what was going on, to make sure the men did not need reinforcements. His oldest son Brent, the chief of police of the Jericho County Police Department, and Reno’s oldest child Jimmy Mack, would take his place as the men in charge.
As Big Daddy left the room, and Brent and Jimmy assumed the command, Grace was inwardly terrified. She knew Big Daddy would not have gone out there unless he felt something had gone horribly wrong. She wanted to know if Tommy was alright so badly that her heart was squeezing with anxiety. They had just said their vows mere seconds before the shooting erupted, and the idea of losing Tommy was unthinkable to her.
But she also knew she was a Gabrini now. She had been pronounced Tommy’s wife and this was a part of being his wife. She had to keep it together. He couldn’t hold her hand and pamper her, he had to protect the entire family. So Grace got in protection mode too.
While Grace’s mother, who was also in attendance at the wedding, was complaining to her that she didn’t sign up for this, Grace was helping the other womenfolk calm the fears of Destiny and the smallest of the children. But she was also looking ahead. As CEO of Trammel, Grace had to deal with an oftentimes hostile board of directors that forced her to always think more than one way. She was always looking ahead. When she asked some of the young guns to help her move around those tall file cabinets that were in the room, she caught Trina and Gemma’s attention too. They walked over to her.
“What’s going on, Grace?” Trina asked her.
“We need to put a secondary barrier up for the children in case the shooting doesn’t stop outside, but find its way back here too. While Brent and the guys guard the room itself, we can guard the children in this secondary setup.”
Trina nodded. “That’s a good idea,” she said, and Gemma agreed too. And they got busy helping to make it so. Roz and Jenay, the Sinatra women, got busy too.
And Trina, being Trina, got on the young men. “What are you dragging around for?” she yelled. “We don’t have all day! Put some pep in your step! Get moving! You heard, Grace. Move every file cabinet in this room! We need them all!”
Jimmy Mack looked at his mother. “You sound just like Dad,” he said.
In any other circumstance, Trina would have argued with him. But not in this circumstance. She took it as a compliment.
By the time Big Daddy left the back room with his weapon drawn, and was back inside of the sanctuary, the shooting out front suddenly stopped. But instead of feeling relaxed because it was all over, he ran faster toward the front doors. The silence felt more eerie to him than the gunfire.
And when he made his way outside, and down the steep steps of the cathedral, he saw why.
“Dear Lord,” he said as he bore witness to the carnage. Mick was down, Reno was down, Sal was down. Many of their men were down. And Tommy, the only one still standing, was running up the steps toward him. He still had two smoking guns in his hands.
“Guard the scene,” he said to Big Daddy. “We don’t know if there’s more to come. The ambulances are on their way.”
Sirens were already being heard in the distance. “Did you take out any of the bad guys?” Big Daddy asked.
“Almost all of them,” Tommy said. “One of them was hit, but isn’t dead yet. My men are transporting him to one of my safe houses.”
“For questioning?”
“For questioning,” Tommy said, as he made it to the top step. “Anybody hit inside?”
“No, thank God. They’re all okay.”
Tommy looked back at his brother, cousin, and uncle. “Guard them with your life, Big Daddy,” he said.
“That’s the only way I know how to guard,” Big Daddy said, as he hurried down the steps. Tommy hurried inside the church. Big Daddy’s first instinct was to run to his kid brother, to Mick, to make sure he was okay. But he knew he had a job to do. Every one of these powerful men were at this moment their most vulnerable. He had to protect them all.
Inside the church, Jimmy Mack saw Tommy coming toward the backroom where they were hiding out. He quickly opened the door. When Tommy walked in, Grace sighed relief. But even she could tell something was terribly wrong. All of the others in the room could tell it too. Even the children went still.
When he saw that the children were okay, including his Destiny, he looked at the women.
“Are they alright?” Trina asked, her heart hammering. What she always loved about Tommy was his directness, and she was counting on it right now.
“No,” he responded without hesitation. “They’re still alive,” he said quickly. “But they’ve been hit.”
“Who’ve been hit?” Gemma asked, her heart pounding.
“Dad’s been hit?” asked Jimmy Mack, his heart pounding too.
“All of them,” Tommy said. “Reno. Sal. Mick.”
Roz gasped. For some reason she never thought for a second that Mick could be injured. He was mighty Mick to her. And he was down too? “Where are they?” she asked.
“They’re out front. The ambulances are on their way.”
All of the women began moving as if they were going where their men were, but Tommy blocked their passage.
“What are you doing?” Trina asked. “I’ve got to see Reno! I’m going to check on, Reno!”
“No, you aren’t,” Tommy said firmly. “You’re going to stay right here until my men come and transport all of you to a safe house.”
“A safe house?” Gemma asked. “But what about Sal? I’m not leaving Sal!”
“Yes, you are,” Tommy said firmly. “And Trina, you’re leaving Reno, and Roz, you’re leaving Mick.”
“You can’t keep me from my husband,” Roz asserted, moving closer.
But Tommy held her back. “Yes, I can, and I am. None of you are leaving this room until my men arrive. All of you will go to a safe house until we know the nature of this threat.”
“But what about our husbands?” Trina asked, worried sick.
“I’ll take care of them. I’ll be with them. Big Daddy will be in charge in my absence. And every one of you had better do exactly what he tells you to do or you will be answering to me. Once I’m confident that the hospital is secured, and all of our men are in place, then yes, you wives can come and see about your husbands. But until that time comes, you’ll continue to protect the children while we protect you. You have got to trust me. I will not tolerate anything less.”
They were unaccustomed to Tommy being in charge. He was usually the Brainiac they all went to, not to carry out the plan, but to plan the plan. But his threat felt as real as the fear in the air, and they all heeded his warning. Dapper Tom was gone. Backdoor Tommy was in charge.
Tommy looked at Grace. His heart was breaking for her. She hadn’t been married to him for one full hour and already she was being tossed into the fire again. It was grounds for divorce before. Was she regretting her decision already?
Tommy Gabrini: The Grace Factor Page 16
