Reno's Gift (Mob Boss Series) (15 page)

“Aren’t
you Reno’s wife?” she asked her.

Fran
and Gemma both looked at her.
 
Trina
smiled.
 
“Yes, that’s right.”

Belle
gave a weak, tight smile.
 
“Thought so,”
she said.

The
look that was now on her face surprised Trina.
 
“You know him?” she asked.

“Yes,”
Belle said, staring at Trina.
 
Trina,
Fran, and Gemma waited for more of an explanation, but none came.
 

Finally
Belle had put her card and receipt away and was now ready to go.
 
“Good afternoon,” she then said, grabbed her
bag, and left.

Fran
looked at Trina.
 
“What was that about?”
she asked her.

Trina
was staring at Gemma as she walked across the sidewalk and got into her
Lamborghini .
 
“Don’t know,” Trina said,
and meant it.

The
stairs to the private plane dropped down and Tommy practically ran off of the
plane into the Seattle night breeze.
 
Sal, looking flustered, was waiting by the limo, but he rushed toward
his brother to meet him halfway.

“She’s
okay,” he said, to reassure Tommy.
 
He
knew how his brother could be.

“Where
is she?” Tommy asked as they continued to hurry toward the limousine.

“I
took her to your place.
 
I figure she’d
be better off there.
 
Some of those
nosy-ass reporters were surrounding her apartment asking for a comment.
 
I almost told them to go fuck themselves
bugging her like that, but I didn’t.
 
Grace is a lady.
 
I didn’t wanna,
you know, mess up her reputation by being myself.
 
So we both agreed she’d be better off at your
place.
 
They know not to pull that shit
with you.”

“What
about Cameron?
 
Is he dead yet?”

“Not
yet,” Sal said.
 
“But he’s on life support.
 
The bastard.”

When
they arrived at the limo, his driver Albert greeted him.
 
“Where to, sir?” he asked as he always did
whenever Tommy returned to town.

“Home,”
Tommy said.
 
“And fast.”
 

And
he and Sal hurried inside.

Grace
showered, put on one of Tommy’s big dress shirts, and was now in his bed
fielding phone calls from members of her board of directors and her closest
friends.
 
Everybody wanted to know if she
was okay.
 
Everybody wanted to know if
Cam was still alive.
 
And everybody, to a
man and woman, wanted to know what in the world was that fool thinking.

And
that summed it up for Grace, too.
 
What
was he thinking?
 
She was sorry that his
life had become so unbearable that he felt a need to end it, but the way he
tried to end it was what concerned her.
 
And angered her.
 
It was as if he
was going to get his revenge for the rest of her life by forcing her to witness
the end of his.
 

When
all the phone conversations were over, she just lay there, smelling Tommy’s
sweet cologne scent, and thought about Jillian.
 
Her life revolved around that troubled son of hers.
 
What, Grace wondered, would become of Jilly?

The
front door could be heard opening as she pondered her former boss.
 
And then she heard Tommy calling her name.

“I’m
upstairs,” she yelled back.
 
She could
hear him taking the stairs two at a time.

Her
heart began to leap for joy as she heard him coming her way.
 
He’d been in Europe all week on business, and
they hadn’t spoken for a few days.
 
When
Sal told her that he had phoned Tommy, she was upset at first.
 
She knew how hectic his schedule was when he
went out of the country, and she didn’t think he should have been
disturbed.
 

But
as time went on, and the disbelief of what Cam had done began to sink in, she
was glad Sal had phoned his big brother.
 
She needed Tommy.
 
With every hour
that passed she realized just how much.

And
Tommy needed her.
 
He entered his home
and was taking the stairs two at a time.
 
He felt a sense of possessiveness about Grace that he had never felt for
any other woman before.
 
She wasn’t
anything like his previous ladies.
 
Her
entire value system, and the way she led her life, was completely different.
 
She was the one who used to admonish him for
his badly flawed open relationship philosophy, a truth that was being born out
with female he broke the news of his engagement to.
 
It was as if they were all frauds playing a
game where they could have their cake and eat it too until somebody else wanted
in on the recipe.
 
And Grace exposed the
flaws early.
 
She was nothing like the
others.

And
that was perhaps why he loved her so much and chose her above the rest.
 
She wasn’t a type.
 
She was Grace.
 
Unpretentious.
 
Sweet. Innocent.
 
Grace.
 
And he was her man.
 
He couldn’t
get up those stairs fast enough.

And
her reaction to him, as soon as he entered the bedroom, proved how much.
 
Her self-control broke.
 
Tears immediately appeared in her eyes.

“Oh,
Tommy
,” she said with feeling as soon as
he entered the room.
 
She threw the
covers off of her, and was about to run from the bed, but he got there first.

“Babe,”
he said as he threw his arms around her and lifted her off of the bed.
 
“Oh, babe.”

She
closed her eyes tightly shut as he held her.
 
She was sobbing now.
 
She didn’t
think it had affected her that way.
 
All
of those phone conversations, all of those talks with her friends, didn’t have
her the least bit emotional.
 
But all
Tommy had to do was walk into the room, and she was already boo-hooing.

He
held her for hours.
 
What she loved most
was the fact that he didn’t ask her what happened, or who did what, or what she
was going to do about it.
 
He just held
her.
 

Later,
after Grace fell asleep in his arms and he put her to bed, the phone rang.
 
The Caller ID identified the caller as D.
Gabrini.
 
Tommy moved away from the bed
and answered immediately.

“Hey,
Ree.
 
What’s up?”

“I
see you made it back.
 
Good.
 
How is she?”

“Not
great.
 
But she’ll be okay.”

“And
it was the same guy we handled here in Vegas?
 
The one who disrespected Grace that time?”

“One
in the same.”

“That
bastard.
 
I thought we took care of his
sorry ass.
 
Apparently not.”

“Ah,
Reno, guys like that lead miserable lives and hate everybody for refusing to
wallow in pity with them.
 
He knew Grace
is a sensitive woman.
 
He knew he would hurt
her more because of her good heart.”

“Is
he dead yet?”

“Not
yet.”

“Think
he needs some help along the way?”

“Don’t
think so.
 
Sal says he’s on life
support.
 
It’s just a matter of
time.”
 
Then Tommy exhaled.
 
“Poor Jilly,” he added.

“Who the
fuck is Jilly?”

“His
mother.
 
She used to run Trammel.
 
When she found out Grace was now majority
stakeholder thanks to me, she quit on the spot.
 
Cameron was supposedly meeting with Grace to find a way to facilitate
her return to Trammel.”

“Some
facilitation.”

“I
know.”
 
Then Tommy looked at Grace as she
slept.
 
“I just wonder how this will
affect her in the long run.”

“You
mean the violence?”

“And
the fact that I’m a Gabrini, yes.”

“What’s
that got to do with it?”

“She’ll
be marrying into the Gabrini family.
 
That has everything to do with it.
 
Grace is no hardened she-woman, Reno.
 
She hasn’t been in that monkey house like we have.
 
Shit still stank to her.”

“Hell,
it still stank to me!” Reno said with a chuckle.
 
“I just know how to live with the stank.”

“She
doesn’t,” Tommy said, still staring at her.
 
“That’s my point.”

And
it was obvious that Reno could feel Tommy’s pain.
 
He understood what he meant perfectly.
 
“Bring her to Vegas, Tommy,” he finally
suggested.

Tommy
exhaled.
 
“What good is that going to
do?”

“She
needs to be around us now, the people who are going to be her family.
 
She needs to get to know us better.”

“She
did get to know you guys when you were here for two months.
 
Well, not you, since you weren’t here, but
Tree and Jimmy and Dominic.
 
She loves
them.”

“But
she don’t know me.
 
And what good is
knowing the Gabrinis if she don’t know me?”

With
any other human being, such a statement would make no sense.
 
But with Reno, it made perfect sense to
Tommy.

“Besides,”
Reno continued, “the last time she was here we had to deal with that craziness
with Shanks.
 
Maybe if she comes now, on
my turf, and spend some time with me especially, I won’t be so scary to her
then.”

“She
doesn’t think you’re scary, Reno.”

“Oh,
my bad.
 
Not scary.
 
I won’t be so stank to her then.”

Tommy
laughed through his exhaustion.
 
“You
know what I meant.”

“Yeah,
I know.
 
But bring her to Vegas,
Tommy.
 
Sweet girl like that see her
former boyfriend commit suicide is serious business.
 
You don’t want your future wife messed up for
life.
 
And besides, when are you gonna
marry the girl anyway?
 
What are you
waiting on?
 
Retirement?”

“It’s
been a hectic series of months, Reno.
 
I
told Grace once everything settles back down, then we can make some decisions.”

It
sounded like vintage Tommy to Reno.
 
Even
when they were kids everything had to be just right before he would even
consider it.

“There’s
not going to be a perfect time, you know,” Reno said.

“I
understand that.
 
I don’t want it to be a
perfect time.
 
This just isn’t the right
time right now.”

“Do
you love this girl, Tommy?” Reno asked him pointblank.

Tommy
looked at Grace.
 
He looked at the
outline of her eyes.
 
The deep brown of
her skin.
 
Her nose.
 
Her eyebrows.
 
Her soft hair.
 
But none of that
was the reason.
 
“Yes,” he said.
 
“Completely.”

“Then
take time out of your busy schedule and bring her to Vegas.
 
There’s always money to be made.
 
Right now, she needs you.
 
And both of you need me.”

Tommy
smiled and shook his head.
 
“You’re one
to talk.
 
You don’t exactly hang under
Trina’s skirt.
 
Sometimes she doesn’t see
your ass for days.”

“But
you ain’t me.
 
You’re the lover, I’m the
fighter.
 
You’re supposed to love.
 
So love that woman by canceling all of your
business trips and bring her to Vegas.”

“She
has a business to run too, you know.
 
She’s the head of Trammel now.”

“Good.
 
Since she’s the boss she should have no
trouble canceling all of her appointments, too.”
 
Then Reno exhaled.
 
“Besides,” Reno began, but didn’t finish.