Gemma's Daughter Read online

  “Mine is back in Jericho running our hotel,” said Charles. “She told me to tell everybody hello and she wish she was here. Lord only knows where Mick’s old lady is,” he added, and they all laughed. They all knew how Roz Sinatra, Mick’s actress-wife, was often on the go.

  “She’s filming in Barcelona,” Mick said, “and his ass knows it. We’ll flying over there, as soon as we leave here, to check on her.”

  “Is everything alright with her?” Reno asked.

  Mick hesitated for a split second. But it was enough for everybody to know that there was apparently some problem. “We’ll see,” was all he’d say about it. And they all knew not to pursue it. The idea that Big Daddy was going with Mick meant something too. It meant whatever the problem was, Big Daddy needed to be there. And he needed to be there, not to help Mick fight any battles, but to keep Mick from going too far. Which meant, whatever was going on, might have Mick upset with Roz herself.

  “We only dropped by because I wanted to make sure Sal and Gemma were okay,” Charles said, “and to meet their new daughter.”

  “Oh, how sweet, Big Daddy,” Gemma said, and gave him a kiss for his thoughtfulness.

  “I get handshakes,” Mick said. “Charles gets kisses.”

  At first there was silence. But then Sal smiled and led them out of the wilderness. “Uncle Mick told a joke?” he asked. “I’ll be gotdamn. Mick the Tick told a joke!” And they all laughed. Even Mick gave an almost insignificant smile that they all were pleased to see.

  “Marie!” Gemma called out to her daughter. “Come and say hello to Big Daddy.”

  Charles stared at Marie as she got out of the pool and made her way to the group. “She’s gorgeous,” he said. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

  “She favors Gemma,” Mick said.

  “Yes, I see that,” said Charles.

  But Gemma was staring at Charles, and picking up on something more. “What else do you see, Big Daddy?”

  “You’re going to have to be careful with that one,” he said, still staring as Marie made her way across the patio. “Because of what she’s been through in her young life, she’s got a will of steel. It’s going to take a mighty strong man to tame that one.”

  But Sal frowned. “What are you talking? She’s a sweetheart!”

  But Big Daddy Sinatra never argued with his gut. He raised more children than any of them on that patio combined. Hell, he raised Mick! And he knew what he was seeing. He could see it a mile away on that young lady. She was going to give some very special man a fit. Or vice-versa.

  “This is Charles Sinatra,” Gemma said when Marie made it up to them. “But we all call him Big Daddy.”

  Marie smiled. When she thought of a big daddy, she thought of some fat old man. But the man standing before her looked better than every man on that patio, and every man on that patio looked good too. Unless, she thought, the big daddy part was more about his sexual equipment than about his personal appearance. She’d heard of a few men being called big daddy, with an emphasis on big, for that reason too.

  She extended her hand. “Very nice to meet you, Big Daddy,” she said.

  But Charles, being Charles, pulled her into his arms and gave her a bear hug the same way he had given everybody else.

  “See? I told you,” Mick said, as if Marie had initiated the hug. But because it was Mick trying to be casual, they all laughed at that joke too.

  Although Mick And Charles couldn’t stay very long, they did sit down for several minutes and chitchatted the time away. But then Mick stood up, which meant the party was over for him, and the two handsome brothers left.

  “They are so different,” Marie said when they left. “But kind of the same too,” she added.

  “How is that possible?” asked Reno. “Different and the same?”

  “I understand what she means,” said Gemma. “Big Daddy presents as a kinder, gentler Mick, but beneath the surface there’s a part of him that seems even harder than Mick.”

  Sal nodded. “And it’s true,” he said. “Fuck with Big Daddy Sinatra at your own risk!” They laughed, and Reno took yet another sly peep at Ed Dowdell’s blonde date yet again. But everybody, this time, was watching him as he watched her.

  “Look at that bitch again,” Trina warned Reno as soon as he turned back around, “and I’ll kick your Italian ass!”

  Reno looked terrified, as if he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and he did what he normally did in situations like that: he denied everything! “What did I do?” he asked. “I didn’t do shit. What did I do?” But then everybody broke into laughter, and Reno couldn’t help but laugh too.

  But a few minutes later, and he was checking out that blonde again. This time, Trina had had it. She decided she could show him better than she could tell him and jumped out of her chair.

  “Uh-oh,” Sal said cheerfully. “Your ass is in trouble now, Reno!”

  Reno, realizing it too, jumped up and took off running. And they all were laughing as Trina was chasing him.

  “Get him, Tree!” Sal was yelling. “Get him, Tree!”

  “Is he going to be alright?” Marie asked, a little worried.

  “Oh, sure,” said Gemma. “They do this all the time!”

  And they ran around that pool and ran around that pool again. But then Reno, tired, stopped running and turned around. And just as Trina ran up to him and swung on him, he ducked. And then he grabbed her and launched both of them into the pool. They splashed down with a hard splash.

  Tommy and Sal stood up. What in the world was going to happen next? Did they need to jump in that pool and rescue that fool? And when Reno and Trina came up for air, it wasn’t clear what they needed to do.

  Until Trina started smiling, and then she and Reno started laughing, and then before you knew it they were kissing and making out right alongside the young people. And Tommy and Sal smiled and sat back down. And the individual conversations continued.

  Sal leaned against Gemma and smiled, and they both looked out at the crowd assembled in their back yard. “The annual Gabrini fish fry,” Sal said. “Mick and Big Daddy dropping by. Marie fitting right in. Jimmy and Oprah happy. Dommi treating Mariah right. Reno and Trina fighting like cats and dogs,” he said, and Gemma laughed.

  “A war averted,” Sal added, “thanks to Uncle Mick.”

  But Sal turned serious and looked at her. “It’s good, Gemma. Life’s good again. All is alright,” he said, and Gemma nodded her agreement, and leaned against him too. It took some time for them to get there, but they got there.

  All was alright with the world again, they both felt.

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  Mallory Monroe, Gemma's Daughter

 

 

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