CHAPTER NINE
Val stepped out of the shower just as her cell phone began ringing. She removed her shower cap and allowed her hair to cascade down, grabbed the towel off of the rack, and then hurried for the nightstand in her bedroom. But by the time she grabbed her cell phone off of the stand, the call had ended. She checked the Caller ID. It was Jimmy. Undoubtedly checking up on her again. She tossed the phone back onto her nightstand and sat naked on her bed, the big white towel still in her hands.
She didn’t know why she felt such animosity toward her own husband. He didn’t do it. He didn’t cause her to lose their baby. If anything, he was overly helpful. He did everything right. But she just felt such hostility whenever she was around him! She just felt such a sense of failure and anger. Trina was much older than she was when she first got pregnant, and she had two beautiful babies for Reno. And Grace was older too, and she just had a healthy baby girl for Jimmy’s Uncle Tommy. Val couldn’t help it, but she felt as if she was the only one who failed. She was the only one of the Gabrini women who let a Gabrini man down. And it was driving her nuts.
And not only that. It was the way they treated her now, and the way they looked at her. Oh, poor Val, their faces seemed to say. Look at poor Val!
But she didn’t want to be poor Val. She didn’t want to be the weak link in the Gabrini chain. They didn’t like weak women. They frowned upon weakness. And here she was, not measuring up.
She laid back on her bed. Maybe that was the worst of it for her. The idea that she wasn’t living up to other people’s expectations. Before she married Jimmy, she was very independent and self-possessed and very comfortable in her own skin. She knew who she was, where she was going, and how she was going to get there. But that miscarriage seemed to bring out into the open what had been hidden, but was festering all along: she wasn’t good enough to be a Gabrini.
Jimmy all but told her so many times before. Whenever they were all together, and she always felt like the odd girl out. He would tell her that it took time to become a Gabrini. He would tell her that she was a special person, but she had years to go before she could try to put herself on the same level as Trina and Gemma Jones. Be herself, he would tell her. Don’t try to be like them. And she used to agree with him. She wasn’t there yet and he was giving her good advice. But after her misfortune, after that awful miscarriage, it no longer felt like sage advice. It felt like criticism.
The doorbell suddenly rang. Val sat up quickly and looked at the clock on her nightstand. She knew she was moving slow, but it was a full two hours before their guests were expected. She hurried to the bedroom window and looked out. When she saw that Porsche in front of her house, and saw only one person at her front door, she actually smiled. He had apparently decided to come early. Two full hours early. And it somehow felt like fate to Val. It somehow felt perfect.
She still had dreams about that man. They used to feel innocent to her. But after that miscarriage, and after Jimmy’s inability to fulfill her, they suddenly didn’t seem so innocent any longer. She had a thing for Reno Gabrini. Jimmy once told her so himself, but she denied it to his face. Now she was no longer in denial.
It was reckless, it was wrong, it was careless in the extreme. But even all of those reasons not to do it, couldn’t overcome the only reason she had to give it a whirl: her unyielding desire to see what it felt like to know Reno Gabrini.
She wrapped the towel around her naked body, and hurried downstairs.
Reno rang the bell again, and then again before Val finally opened the door. Reno was shocked when she opened the door.
“Oh, Mr. Gabrini!” she said as if her shock trumped his. She stepped behind the door. “Come on in,” she said.
Reno hesitated, then walked in slowly. Maybe she had a coat behind the door, he assumed.
But when Val closed the door behind him, and continued to just stand there as if she was dressed in Chanel head to toe, he held his hands, palm up, confused. “What are you doing?” he asked her.
“I thought you were Jimmy,” she said with a smile.
That smile was gorgeous, Reno thought, but he wasn’t fooled by it. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked again.
“I told you. I thought you were Jimmy.”
“But as you can see I’m not Jimmy.”
“Right,” Val said with that smile.
“So why haven’t you marched your naked ass upstairs and put some clothes on?”
Val just stood there. She didn’t expect that response. She had no plan B. Given his reputation with the ladies, she never expected rejection.
“Go,” Reno ordered her. When she still wouldn’t move, he grabbed her by the arm and slung her away, to give her the momentum to move forward. But she still just stood there.
Reno frowned. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Valerie?”
Tears came into Val’s eyes. Sincere tears, Reno could tell, not like that phony-ass smile she slapped on when he walked into her house. And he suddenly wasn’t angry. He felt her pain. He felt it deep within his heart.
“What’s the matter?” he asked her again.
But Val shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said, unable to stop the flow of tears, unable to understand her own actions. “I can’t snap out of it. I’ve tried and I’ve tried. They don’t think I’ve been trying, but I have, Mr. Gabrini. I swear to you I have! But I can’t get over it. Jimmy says I’m going backwards, and I am! He’s right. I’m sliding so far back that I’m reduced to seducing my own father-in-law! What’s wrong with me? I don’t know what’s wrong with me!”
Reno immediately pulled her into his arms. His heart went out to the sweet young woman. But then he just as immediately pulled back when he felt her. He removed his suit coat, placed it around her towel-clad body, and then he held her again. She sobbed in his arms.
After allowing her as much time as she needed, he walked her over to the sofa in the living room and sat her down. He sat beside her, on the edge of the sofa, and continued to hold her hand.
“I’m sorry,” Val was saying. She looked at him. “I would never do. . .” Then she frowned. “But I did it. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Reno said, squeezing her hand. “You aren’t yourself right now, sweetheart.”
“But it’s been three months,” Val said. Then she looked at him. “You’ve lost a child before.”
Reno nodded. “I’ve lost two children,” he said softly.
“Oh. Of course! I didn’t mean---”
“One was killed, and my wife, as you know, also had a miscarriage.”
“Trina said it takes time to get through it. She said it takes time to move on. But it didn’t take her this much time. Did it?”
Reno exhaled. “When my child was killed, it took, and is still taking forever. It nearly cost us everything, including our marriage. We separated, was heading straight for divorce. But thank God, Trina wouldn’t let me go. Because I was a mess. And she knew it.”
“A mess like me?” Val asked, seeking that reassurance that there really was a light at the end of her tunnel.
“I was worst,” Reno said, giving her that light. “I was inconsolable. Nobody was going to tell me shit about how I felt and how I should snap out of it.”
Val stared at him.
“The second death, the miscarriage, brought us closer.”
“But how?” Val wanted to know. “How could such an awful thing make any couple closer?”
“Because I called Trina on her bullshit,” Reno said, and Val flinched.
“You what?” she asked.
“I called my wife on her bullshit. She was just like you. She was telling everybody that she was fine and dandy too, and she didn’t know why in the world would anybody think otherwise. But, in truth, she wasn’t just in pain, she was in agony. And so was I. But it wasn’t until she admitted how she truly felt were we able to heal, and get on with it.”
“You got over it?”
“No. We’ll never get ove
r it. But we got through it. That’s what I’m saying to you, Val. You’ll get through it. And one day, you’re going to have lots of beautiful babies with James. Mark my word.”
Val smiled.
“But as for this seductress, sex maven shit?” Reno went on. “This ain’t you. You hear me? I know it, and you know it.”
Val frowned. “I am so sorry,” she said, as the tears began to flow again. “I don’t know what got into me.”
“Lust got into you, what do you mean? You wanted some of this,” Reno said with a smile that prompted Val to smile too. “I’m irresistible. I get it.”
Val laughed. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Now your ass sound like Trina,” Reno said, and smilingly waved his hand. “Just get upstairs and put some clothes on that fine body of yours. And yes it’s fine,” Reno freely admitted. Then he turned serious. “But it’s Jimmy’s fine, not mine. Trina’s mine.”
Val understood. She nodded her head. “Yes, sir,” she said, stood up, and headed upstairs. She stopped and looked at him. “Thanks, Mr. Gabrini,” she added. Then she smiled and wrapped his coat tighter around herself, as she went.
When she left, Reno leaned forward and ran his hands through his hair. He had tented his pants, but what did she expect parading herself around like that?
And although she got a rise out of him, at least he got a smile out of her. His only hope was that she would allow Jimmy to do the same.
CHAPTER TEN
Jimmy and Trina arrived together, in Jimmy’s loud, forceful, apple red Camaro. Reno could hear that car and its loud-ass engine a block away. He was leaned back on the sofa, finishing a business call on his cell phone, when Jimmy and Trina walked in.
“Where’s Val?” Jimmy asked as soon as he entered.
“I’ll get back with you, Shell,” Reno said, and then ended the call. He looked at his son. “And hello to you too,” he said.
Trina walked up to him and sat beside him. They kissed as she rested her hand on his thigh.
“Hello, Dad, how are you?” Jimmy asked. “Where’s Val?”
Reno shook his head. “You’re hopelessly in love, you know that?”
“And you’re not?” Jimmy asked.
Reno had to give him that one. “She’s in the kitchen,” he said, and Jimmy headed in that direction.
Reno crossed his legs and placed his arm around Trina. He looked at her and began rubbing her back. “So how was your day?”
Trina had to think about it. “Exhausting,” she said. “Liz had another run-in with a customer at Champagne’s.”
“Another run-in?”
“Another one. It’s getting to the place where Gemma and I are going to have to make a move.”
“What kind of move? Buy her out?”
“We’ve been thinking about it, yeah. Or at least I’ve been thinking about it. Gemma believes Liz has a savvy business sense, and we can use her expertise. But she’s a strikeout with people. She’s awful.”
“Then keep her behind the scenes.”
“She doesn’t want to stay behind the scenes.”
“Then get rid of her. She’s not that savvy. Get her ass out of there. I’ll bankroll the buyout if you want me to.”
Trina smiled. “Thanks. And we’ll see. Gem has to agree too.” Then she looked at Reno. “How did it go?”
“With which one? Buddy or Val?”
“Both.”
“Buddy seems to think she’ll come around soon enough. He’s not overly worried.”
“Well that’s good,” Trina said. “He’s her father. He knows her better than we ever will.”
“True.”
“What about Val? When you called and told me you were coming over early and I was to catch a ride with Jimmy, I assumed you wanted to have a heart-to-heart with her.”
“And I did,” Reno said. “After she answered the door half naked.”
Trina stared at him. “She what?”
“She answered the door with nothing wrapped on her but a towel.”
“And what did you do?”
“I got a boner, what do you think?” Reno admitted. “And I talked to her, after she started crying and apologizing. I told her she was better than that. I told her about our miscarriage, and about what happened to Nicky, and how we overcame adversity.”
Trina was still reeling by the news that Val had tried to seduce her husband. She got enough of that from all of these other women around town. She didn’t need that aggravation from a member of her inner circle too. But she moved on. At least for now. “Did she believe you?” she asked.
Reno nodded. “I think so. I think she understands that it’s a process and she’s going through that process right now. She also knows she’s got to be honest about it.”
“That’s the one thing she hasn’t been.”
“That seems to be her issue, yup. She can’t seem to move past the pain.”
Trina nodded her head. “And poor Jimmy is so torn up about it. He really loves Val.”
They heard Jimmy and Val’s voices and stopped talking. Reno placed the hand that had been rubbing Trina’s back onto her waist, and squeezed it. He remained leaned back, with his legs crossed, and Trina remained snuggled against him as she crossed her legs too.
“Hello, Mrs. Gabrini!” Val said gaily as she hurried to Trina.
Trina remained seated as they hugged. When they stopped, she continued to hold Val’s hand. She looked at Val’s short, mauve-colored flare skirt and a smart smock blouse. She looked youthful and gorgeous. “Don’t you look pretty tonight,” Trina said.
“Thank-you,” Val said. “So do you!”
Trina wore a white pantsuit and black and white heels.
“But then you always have such style,” Val added.
“Thank-you,” Trina said. “Sit down, both of you,” Trina ordered.
Jimmy smiled as he and Val sat down on the loveseat across from the sofa. “Leave it to you, Ma, to order us around in our own home.”
“The privilege,” Trina responded, “of no longer being in my twenties.”
Jimmy smiled. “So when I’m thirty, I’ll get to boss you around?”
“Yeah,” Reno said, “if you want to walk around with an eternal ax up your ass.”
They all laughed.
“No thanks, Pop,” Jimmy said.
After more joking around, the gaiety died down and the conversation took a more serious turn. Toward the reason for the dinner to begin with: Val.
“I want to ask the two of you a question,” Trina started it off.
“Uh-oh,” Jimmy said playfully.
“How have things been going?” Trina asked.
Jimmy’s smile was gone. He knew exactly how things had been going, but he needed Val to admit that she knew too. He looked at her.
“Things have been going . . . okay,” she started. Reno looked at her. Jimmy and Trina continued to look at her. They weren’t going along this time. She was going to have to tell the truth.
She exhaled. “Not so okay,” she admitted. Then she frowned. “Terrible, in fact.” Jimmy moved to place his arm around his wife, but she moved ever so slightly. But he got the message and kept his hands to himself. Reno and Trina saw it too, and it hurt them to their hearts. But they couldn’t fight this battle for him. He and Val had to come together and fight it themselves.
“What has been the terrible part?” Trina asked her.
Val had to think about this. “The feeling of . . . The sense that I failed,” she admitted.
Trina hadn’t expected that response. “That you failed who?”
“Jimmy. And you and Mr. Gabrini. And . . .”
“And yourself,” Reno said for her.
Val nodded. “And myself, yes.”
“But what was the failure, Val?” Jimmy wanted to know. “You had a miscarriage. How could you have controlled that?”
“It’s not about control,” Val responded. “It’s about fate. It’s about why did Tommy’s wife have a
perfectly fine baby girl, but mine died? Why did your mother have two wonderful children, and I didn’t?”
“She had a miscarriage before.”
“But she was already . . .” Val didn’t continue.
“She was already what?” Jimmy asked her. He wanted this cancer out in the open once and for all. With his parents as his backup, he felt it could happen and happen tonight. “She was already what, Val?”
“She was already a Gabrini!” Val responded. “A true Gabrini.”
“What’s a true Gabrini?” Jimmy asked with a frown on his face. “You either are or you are not.”
But Reno and Trina knew exactly what Val meant. “Tree had crossed over, Jimmy,” Reno explained. “That’s what she means. Think about when I first found out you were my son. Remember how you would sometimes feel as if you weren’t fully entrenched into the family the way me and Sal and Tommy were?”
Jimmy nodded. “I remember it.”
“That’s what Val means.”
Jimmy looked at her. “You don’t feel like a Gabrini?” he asked his young wife.
“I feel like I was just getting started, and then this happened. Our first child . . . expired.”
“Died,” Reno said.
“Died,” Val said, and then swallowed hard.
“But what I’m saying is that Ma had a miscarriage too, and she managed to get on with it.”
“But it wasn’t her first child! She had Dommi and then she had that miscarriage. And Mrs. Gabrini was . . . And she was---”
“Old as hell when I had my miscarriage,” Trina finished for Val. “Not a kid like you two. I get that, Val. We all get that. You’re young and healthy and this was your first pregnancy. All of it makes for a terrible thing to have happened to you and Jimmy. Because he’s young and healthy too.”
“Yes, I know,” Val quickly interjected.
“And it was his baby too.”
“Yes,” Val agreed. “Yes, it was.”
“So we get that it’s been hell,” Trina continued. “Of course it has. But you can’t stay in hell. You’ve got to get the hell out of there. So the question has to be where do we go from here, Val? What’s Act Two?”
Mob Boss Eleven- The Wrong One (The Mob Boss Series Book 11) Page 7
