Tommy Gabrini: The Grace Factor Read online

  “He should be here shortly. I thought it would be easier when he went into private practice, but it seems to consume more of his time.”

  “More responsibility undoubtedly. You and I run companies. We know what that’s like.”

  Grace agreed, although Trammel could hardly be compared to the international Gabrini Corporation. But she got his point.

  “So he’s really going to go through with it?”

  “You mean running for the U.S. Senate?” Grace asked.

  Tommy nodded. “Yeah. I knew he had ambitions in that direction, but I assumed he would start locally, on a smaller scale.”

  “So did I,” Grace admitted. “But he has people in the GOP who think he can actually win this thing. He’s going all out.”

  Tommy looked at her. She smelled as fresh as those lilacs in that garden she once planted in his backyard. “And what about you? Are you looking forward to moving to Washington should he win? Are you looking forward to being a Senator’s wife?”

  Grace shook her head. “No, to be honest with you. I’m not looking forward to it at all. And I assume you aren’t going to let me move Destiny to Washington, D.C.”

  “You assume correctly,” Tommy said firmly. He would hate to see Grace move to another state also. But if she did, they would have to arrange for her to have visitation, because nobody was taking his daughter away from him.

  “That’s our biggest disagreement so far.”

  “What’s that?” Tommy asked.

  “The fact that I’m not leaving Seattle. The fact that I’m not uprooting Destiny. He hates it. Should he win, he thinks we should both be with him while Congress is in session. But I told him that’s not going to be feasible. Destiny has school, and her friends. Destiny comes first. Her home is here in Seattle. With her father.”

  Tommy’s heart swelled with emotion. Time, and undoubtedly living with an egotistical man like Ed Jefferson, had changed Grace. There was a time, early on in her second marriage, when she wouldn’t stand up to Ed. He was pleased to see that she was holding her own now.

  Grace wasn’t surprised to see that Tommy was alone. Since his breakup with Liz, he’d been alone every time she saw him. It surprised her that a man like him, who was accustomed to having a woman by his side, hadn’t hooked up with another one yet. Unless he missed Liz just that much. “Are you enjoying flying solo again?” she asked him.

  Tommy moved his head from side to side, as if he was weighing it. “Not really,” he finally admitted.

  “You miss Liz, is that it?”

  Tommy was a little perturbed that she would think Liz was the reason, although he knew she had no other reason to think otherwise. “No,” he said. “I haven’t seen or heard from her since I last saw her in Syria.”

  Grace’s big, pretty eyes expanded even more. “Syria?” She was sincerely concerned. “My goodness, Tommy. So much is going on over there right now. It’s in the news constantly. That’s a dangerous place.”

  Tommy exhaled. “I know. There was even an attempt made on her life.”

  Grace was shocked. “Are you serious? What happened?”

  “Me, fortunately. I saw it coming and was able to take care of it.”

  “But why would somebody try to kill her?”

  “I had my men look into it. The guy who attempted to take her out was in league with some radical jihadist group that wanted to prove some point by assassinating western journalists. She was on their kill list.”

  “Wow.”

  “But that’s the career she’s chosen.”

  “She’s an exceptional woman, that’s for sure,” Grace said. “But I’m sure that’s why you chose her originally. You deserve the best.”

  Tommy looked at Grace. She said it as if she wasn’t the best. She was always shortchanging herself that way, and he didn’t like it. “I had the best when I had you,” he said to her before he realized he was saying it. But he didn’t want to take it back.

  Grace was touched by his words, and a little astounded. And when they glanced at each other, they did share a moment of memory, regret, and resolve. But before they could discuss it further, Destiny had gathered all of the children attending her party into the dining room, with Destiny sitting at the head of the table ready to enjoy her gifts.

  Dominic Gabrini, Jr., Reno’s youngest son, and Reno’s baby girl Sophie, had flown in, on their father’s private plane, for the party. They’d been in town a few days. After the party, they were heading back to Vegas. “Hey, Uncle Tommy!” Dommi said as he sat down at the table. Sophie waved too.

  “Hey, baby,” he said to Sophie. “Behaving yourself, Dommi?” he asked Dominic.

  “You know I am, sir,” Dommi responded with such a sincere look on his face that anybody who didn’t know him would think he was just an angel.

  But Tommy knew him. “You’d better,” he said. “Or you’ll have to answer to me.”

  “Yes, sir,” Dommi said.

  “It’s gift-opening time,” Grace said to Tommy. “I’d better supervise.”

  “Good luck with that,” Tommy said with a smile, causing Grace to smile too as she made her way to the dining room where the loud and rambunctious children, and the pile of gifts, were assembled. He walked slowly toward the dining room as Grace handed Destiny one gift after another one. Tommy stood there, with both hands in his pockets, and watch with unbridled pride as Destiny opened each gift and thanked each giver with the same excitement and gratitude, even if the gifts were clearly not equal. But she treated the givers equally. Tommy knew that kind of excellent upbringing had a lot to do with Grace.

  He folded his arms and leaned against the archway as his attention moved from his daughter, to his ex-wife. He watched Grace do her thing. She and Liz were polar opposites. The idea of Liz surrounded by little kiddies, wearing an apron and supervising the gift opening part of the party, was hard for him to picture. Liz was a career woman first. His wishes of that happy family life, where his wife was a wife and mother first, were not going to happen with her.

  But as he watched Grace be mommy-in-chief in her cookie-cutter home, it made him realize how difficult a pill that would have been for him to swallow. Grace was an excellent mother. Nobody was going to take that away from her. He only wished he had realized what he had while he had her. He tried to keep her. But he knew he could have tried harder.

  After Destiny opened her last gift, and was looking for one more that wasn’t there, she looked at her father. “But,” she said.

  Tommy smiled. “But what, honey?”

  Her eyes were sad. “But you didn’t get me a gift, Daddy. Where’s your gift?”

  “My gift? Was I supposed to bring a gift?”

  Destiny was near tears. Dommi saw her, and became angry. “But everybody brings a gift, Uncle Tommy,” Dommi said. “It’s her birthday!”

  As much as he would love to play the game longer, Tommy couldn’t bear seeing his little girl so anguished. He pushed away from the doorjamb, walked up to Destiny, and decided to put her out of her agony. He lifted her into his arms.

  “It’s alright if you didn’t get me anything,” Destiny said. “You’re here. That’s all that matters.”

  “Ah,” Grace said with a smile.

  “No it’s not all that matters,” Dommi said. “We brought a gift. Everybody should have brought a gift. Especially you, Uncle Tommy. I couldn’t imagine my daddy not bringing a gift to his own child’s birthday party!”

  Tommy wanted to laugh, but he knew that would only encourage Dommi. “Come on,” he said to Destiny as he carried her toward the back door. All of the children, as if by instinct, quickly abandoned their posts at the table, and followed too. Dommi held Sophie’s hand. Grace brought up the rear.

  When Tommy knocked on the barricaded back door, one of his assistants opened the door from outside. When Tommy stepped out, still carrying Destiny, and Destiny saw the wonderment, the transformation that was in her backyard, her look was priceless. Grace hurried around the now
screaming kids and looked at Destiny too. She wasn’t screaming, but her eyes were. The sheer magic in those eyes warmed her parents’ hearts.

  “Daddy,” she said,” still staring at the magnitude of her gift, “this is all mine?”

  Tommy grinned. “It’s all yours, sweetheart. Every single inch of it.”

  Destiny hugged her father tightly. But she was still a child. She jumped from his arms, grabbed him by the hand, and ran with him out into what was a carnival backyard. There was a Ferris wheel. There was a petting zoo. There were bumper cars and swings and trains. There was a hot dog stand, an ice cream stand, a candy and popcorn stand. Even Dommi left Sophie to fend for herself, and ran to have some fun, when he saw that petting zoo.

  “What would you like to ride first?” Tommy asked as she dragged him into the middle of the excitement.

  “That,” she said, pointing to the Ferris wheel, and she and Tommy, along with many of her friends, got onboard.

  Grace stood back, with her arms folded, and couldn’t stop smiling. She knew Destiny would adore the gift Tommy came up with, but she never could have imagined the look on Destiny’s face. The pure joy on their child’s face was worth every expense, every person he hired, every minute of his time and attention, and Grace knew it. Because that was the kind of father Tommy was. As she watched him ride that Ferris wheel with his little girl, as she watched him have the time of his life just because Destiny was there, she knew that was the kind of man Tommy was. Kind. Devoted. Honorable. He was all those things and so much more. Grace knew it now. She knew the biggest mistake she ever made was leaving a man like him. She knew, if she had been the woman then that she was now, it would have been unfathomable. No way would she have left a man like Tommy, no matter his lifestyle. But she wasn’t that woman back then. She was terrified then. She was a new mother, she had just endured a shooting that almost took her life, she felt as if she was backed into a corner. It was either fight or flight. She took flight. She regretted that decision.

  “Wow,” a voice said behind her. “It’s something to see, isn’t it?”

  Grace turned around. Her husband Ed, the man she married after she divorced Tommy, was walking up behind her. She turned back toward Tommy and Destiny. “Yes,” she said. “It’s something to see.”

  Ed placed his arm around her waist, turned her chin toward him, and kissed her on the mouth. Tommy, who had been taking peeps at Grace as he rode the Ferris wheel with Destiny, saw when Ed walked up. He saw the kiss.

  “I miss you,” Ed said to Grace when their lips parted.

  Grace looked at him. He was an attractive man, but he was sweaty, and seemed extremely winded. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked him.

  “What’s wrong with me?” Ed responded defensively. “Why would you ask something like that? Nothing’s wrong with me. What are you talking about?”

  But Grace didn’t back down. “Why are you so sweaty? And you’re practically out of breath.”

  “Oh, that,” Ed said with a charming smile, although he knew he had to tell a tall one. “I’m running for the Senate, remember? That requires a lot of work, a lot of jujitsu. Not just mentally, but physically too. So I’ve been working out at the gym.”

  But Grace wasn’t buying it. Working out would explain his sweatiness, and even his windedness. But it wouldn’t explain that wild, almost manic look in his eyes. He only got that look when he was deeply troubled. “What else is going on, Ed?” she asked him.

  “Nothing else is going on,” he said with some irritation in his voice. “Why do you keep harping on that? Nothing’s up. Okay? Knock it off.”

  “I will not knock it off,” Grace responded. “You waltz up in here looking like some wild man on my child’s birthday, and I’m not supposed to be concerned? You look like you’re high on something.”

  Ed wanted to lash back at this stupid cow, but he didn’t. He smiled instead, and pulled her closer against him. “I’m only high on our love,” he said to her.

  “Oh, please,” Grace said in her own irritable tone, and pulled away from him. Tommy saw that too. “Don’t patronize me,” she added.

  “Okay, okay,” Ed said. “I’m getting a little worried, to be honest with you.”

  Grace looked at him. “Worried about what?”

  “Donors. I expected the GOP to get behind me by now and provide the funds I’ll need to mount a successful campaign. But they aren’t making that move yet. They say they’re still weighing their options. Weighing their options, as if any of those other bums in the GOP primary could compete against a man of my stature? But they aren’t ready to back me yet. If I don’t get the backing of the Republican Party, if I’m not seen as their guy, I’m going to need damn near a miracle to win. Tens of millions of dollars. It’s troubling, Grace, I admit it. It’s bothering me.”

  That at least made more sense to Grace than his high on our love explanation, but it still seemed like he was telling her only part of the truth. But the full truth would come out eventually she knew. With Ed, it always did.

  After the ride was over and Destiny ran over to the ice cream stand to get ice cream with her friends, Tommy made his way toward Grace and Ed. Ed watched Grace as she watched Tommy. She still had a thing for lover boy, he didn’t care what she said. He’d heard how Tommy knew how to put it down on the ladies, with some joking how they couldn’t walk for days after he did his thing, and Ed believed it. He had one of the largest penises around, and Grace enjoyed getting some from him, but there was always that disconnect. There was always that sense, whenever they made love, that she was thinking about somebody else. About how Dapper Tom used to put it on her, no doubt.

  “Tommy, hey,” Ed said with a grand smile as he extended his hand. “It’s great to see you again.”

  Tommy smiled and shook his hand. “How are you?” he asked. They were cordial with each other, but hardly friendly. Mainly because Tommy just couldn’t get there. Mainly because, although his people could find nothing in Ed’s background that would give him any pause, there was something about the man that just rubbed Tommy the wrong way. It bothered him to such an extent that he once told Grace that he did not ever want Destiny to be left alone with Ed. Grace wanted to object vehemently. Ed was her husband and she trusted him. But because it was their daughter, their precious baby, she knew she couldn’t take any chances. There were just too many horror stories out there of men who women trusted with their lives, but that trust ended up costing their babies their lives. She agreed to the restriction and never allowed Destiny to be alone with Ed, or any other man, besides Tommy.

  “Great spread out here,” Ed said. “I’m sure our little girl loves this set up.”

  Tommy still felt a twinge of something whenever he referred to Destiny as his little girl too. But he was her stepfather. “I think she likes it,” he responded.

  “What kid wouldn’t?” Ed asked. “She’s spoiled rotten, but who am I to say?”

  “Exactly right,” Tommy said, staring Ed in the eye with such a chilling stare that Ed almost flinched. But he knew Tommy. He knew that Tommy had a zero tolerance policy when it came to anyone questioning how he handled his own daughter. Ed backed off.

  “So,” Ed said, “been on any good golf courses lately?”

  “Not lately, no,” Tommy responded. “I’m overdue.”

  “Maybe we could join forces one day,” Ed said. He still had unfinished business. He still had to figure out a way to get rid of this waste of space so that he could gain control of all of his money. Maybe if he could lure him somewhere? “Maybe we can play a round of golf together?”

  But Tommy wasn’t exactly a fan of Ed’s either. “I doubt if that’s going to happen,” he said bluntly.

  Grace looked at Tommy. She could understand the friction between the two men, but sometimes Tommy took it to another level.

  “Well,” Ed said with a smile, playing off the insult, “if you change your mind let me know.”

  Tommy agreed to that. “How’s the
campaign coming along?” he asked.

  “It’s coming along,” Ed said. “We plan to put it in high gear within the next few weeks. You know what would help an awful lot, however?”

  Tommy and Grace both looked at Ed. “What’s that?” Tommy asked.

  “An endorsement from Tommy Gabrini. Now if I got a hold of your endorsement that would open a lot of doors for me. Donors, and I mean deep-pocket donors, will be lining up to give me their money. That’s the kind of weight your name pulls around this state. What you say? You wouldn’t have to campaign on my behalf, or anything like that. Just lending your name to the cause will be enough.”

  Tommy looked at Grace. He wasn’t about to lend his name to any such thing, but he was curious. “What say you?” he asked with a smile. “Think I should endorse this joker?”

  Ed smiled too. In his mind, Tommy was considering the possibility. That would be genius. Nobody would suspect him of anything if Tommy endorsed him. He could get away with murder if Tommy endorsed him. He would be home free, and the very man he would destroy would be the very man to set him free!

  But Grace, to his shock, wasn’t going along. “No,” she said to Tommy.

  Tommy was shocked too, but pleased. He looked at her.

  “No?” Ed asked, looking too. “What are you saying, Grace?”

  “I’m saying no, he shouldn’t endorse you.”

  “Why the hell not?” Ed spoke in a strident voice, but he smiled to blunt the force of his anger. But Tommy was watching him. He wasn’t fooling Tommy.

  “I’m going to vote for you because you’re my husband,” Grace said, “but that doesn’t mean I think you should win. You and your Party want to repeal Obamacare. You and your Party want to defund Planned Parenthood. You and your Party are climate change deniers. You and your party want to privatize Social Security. You and your Party want to do everything it can to disrupt the social contract the government have with its’ people. That’s why,” Grace said.

  Ed knew he had to act fast. He smiled. “Oh, don’t listen to her, Tommy,” he said dismissively. “What does she know? She’s a bleeding heart liberal.”