Fairytales (39 page)

“That’s because I always discussed problems that never offended you.”

“Never offended me? That’s an odd thing to say. Obviously, you’re trying to tell me something.”

“Yes, Papa, I am …”

“But you don’t think I’ll understand.”

“Yes, that’s right, I don’t think you’ll understand.”

“I feel badly about that… but test me.”

“I’m afraid, Papa … I think you’ll be very angry.”

“Angry … angry … Am I such an ogre? What have you done that I couldn’t understand or forgive? What is it, Gina Maria … tell me.”

“I know you’ll be very angry.”

“I’ll try not to be.”

Clearing her throat, bracing her hands firmly on the arms of the chair, she said, “Are you ready for this?”

Dominic nodded yes as he ran his fingers over his dry lips.

“Okay, Papa … I’m in love …”

“In love!”
he exploded,
“in love with whom?
”

“With a very handsome young man.”

Catherine came out of the bedroom when she heard the shouting.

“What’s this about a …”

“Stay out of this, Catherine. Now, where did you meet this handsome young man?”

“At the Doges’ Palace.”

“See, Catherine, I warned you Pam is not a chaperone. Two children alone in a foreign …”

“That’s just the point, Papa, I’m not a child … you’d like to have me be one all my life, but I’m a woman.”

“You’re not a woman.” Dominic’s voice rose higher, “You’re a girl of seventeen.”

“No, I’m a woman … Mary Queen of Scots was the Queen of France when she was fifteen.”

“I’m not interested in history. And this handsome young … this bum is not the King of France … who is he … what is he … what do you know about him? And you’re
in love!
”

“In love!” Catherine now echoed.

“Yes, in love … in love and he’s no bum. You don’t have a right to say that… you don’t even know him … he’s a count.”

“I can imagine, and I’m a cockeyed prince from Japan.”

“See, Papa, I was right when I said you only helped with problems you accepted … Papa, I’m terribly disappointed in you … for the first time …” She ran from the room and threw herself on the bed and wept.

Dominic paced the floor and ranted. “See … guide your children, give them values, try to teach them decency and honor and look what happens …”

“Stop screaming, Dominic. I’m just as upset about this as you are, but you handled it in the wrong way.”

“Sure, sure, I know you have no temper. You never raise your voice above a whisper.”

“Why are you fighting with me? In this case, I happen to be on your side, but shouting at Gina Maria when she thinks she’s in love isn’t going to solve the problem,” she said with no small amount of anger.

“So, what should I have said … Okay, fine, Gina Maria, if you want to be in love with some—”

Interrupting him, Catherine said above his voice, “You should have sat down quietly and listened, then asked to meet the boy. I’m no pushover, Dominic, and you know it, but we have to face the fact Gina Maria’s at an age where she can’t help being attracted to the opposite sex. She’s a normal girl. We should go down on our
knees
that she’s a decent, lovely girl who has never caused us a moment’s anguish. And that’s a hell of a lot more than most parents can say today.”

“I find this pretty damned strange … your attitude about this, when all you did was bitch … bitch and find fault when Dom and Tory fell in love … and what gets me is they married girls from fine families whom we knew all about. I don’t know what the hell’s come over…”

“Listen, Dominic, if you really want to have a fight with me, I’m ready … but my Mama taught me a few things among which was if you want to lose, just oppose a child.”

“Terrific, how much you learned from Mama, but her advice seems only to apply in this case. How come you didn’t use the same philosophy a few months ago with Tory … answer that.”

“Okay, I
will …
Tory’s a boy … I mean a man … a man can’t become pregnant … a girl can … that’s why I want to meet this young man. At least we’ll know what he’s like and Gina Maria won’t have to go runnin’ off to meet him in some dark corner … for God’s sake, Dominic, someone as smart as you shouldn’t have so much trouble tryin’ to figure that one out.”

Dominic poured himself a stiff drink, went to the window and looked out… stood there for a very long time, thinking. Then he turned around slowly, trying to keep his voice even, with all his discipline, he asked, “Alright, Catherine, since you’re so well versed on the subject of juvenile warfare, what do you suggest we do?”

“Not we … since it was to you Gina Maria came in the first place, I think you should go in and speak softly and fatherly and
now.”

He hesitated for a long moment, then half angry, half conciliatory, he opened the door to Gina Maria’s room. He saw her sobbing and he knew how much she must have hated him at this moment. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he took her hand and said quietly, “Alright, Gina Maria, where is this young man?”

“Downstairs … he’s been waiting for a long time.”

Dominic bit his lip. “Okay, have him paged … let him come up.”

“May I go down and bring him?”

Slowly, Dominic shook his head, “Alright, go down.”

“Oh, thank you, Papa,” she said, kissing him, then jumped off the bed, went quickly to the bathroom, washed her face as Dominic walked back to where Catherine sat.

Within seconds Gina Maria was out the door and running down the hall. As she got off the elevator, a nervous Sergio came to her. “Well?”

“My father wants to see you.” She took his hand and together they went up in the lift without a word exchanged. Entering the large sitting room, they found Catherine seated on the settee while Dominic stood with his hands behind him. His face was set and unsmiling.

Slowly Gina Maria said, “This is Sergio DiGrazia … Sergio, this is my mother, Mrs. Rossi.”

Sergio walked to her, kissed her hand and said,
“Charrrmed.”
The sound of those rolling R’s … and the kiss on the hand too … Who did he look like? A young Italian Tyrone Power dressed in white flannel trousers, a raw silk pastel plaid jacket and the yellow open polo shirt exposed his brown hairy chest. Catherine was taken with him from that first moment. But she wasn’t surprised, knowing Gina Maria would never have struck up an acquaintance with anyone less than this sort of young man. He was a gentleman … didn’t have to go to Harvard to recognize that.

Very continental … bowing from the waist … kiss on the hand … the whole bit. However, no things went unnoticed by Dominic. Very schmaltzy, as they say back home … “My father, Mr. Rossi,” Gina Maria said, leading him.

“My pleasure, Mr. Rossi,” Sergio said, extending his hand which Dominic reluctantly shook, as though … he were stroking a dead mackerel.

I think the count is already counting the money, Dominic thought as he said, “Please be seated, your
Highness.”

For a moment Sergio’s right eye narrowed, but he seated himself in a chair. Gina Maria cringed, embarrassed by her father’s rudeness, but seated herself across from him. Catherine was positively incensed by the remark, as she listened to Dominic begin the interrogation … very slowly … very poised … very sure.

“Now … your
Highness,
my daughter tells me she is in love with you.” Dominic paused for a moment, which gave Catherine the opportunity to think, no wonder he wins all those cases, he must scare the hell out of the witnesses. “But what are your feelings?” she heard Dominic ask.

Sergio answered with all the poise he possessed, “Your daughter, sir, is the only woman I’ve ever loved with such deep devotion.”

Very good … also very clever and true to form. “Alright … now, being a European, brought up in the finest traditions, I’m sure, when I ask this, you will understand … what are your intentions?”

“Didn’t Gina Maria tell you?”

“I didn’t have a chance, Sergio …” she said, avoiding Dominic’s eyes.

“Well, sir, my intentions are to marry … with your blessings.”

Pretty smart cookie … Sure, I’ll give my blessings along with my daughter and all the money that goes with it … in a pig’s ass I will. “And now, your
Highness …
how do you propose to support my daughter?”

“Before I answer that, Mr. Rossi…”

Here it comes, boys!

“I am not an
avvocato
… I mean a lawyer, but neither am I stupid enough not to know when I’m being patronized. I do not wish to be rude, sir, but my name is Sergio DiGrazia.”

Well, at least this one’s not afraid of me … “If I gave that impression, I beg your pardon,” Dominic answered, like the calm before the storm.

I accept it, sir, in that spirit.”

Very generous of you … “Now, Mr. DiGrazia, we’ve lost the question.”

“No, not at all. You asked how I would support your daughter.” Without flinching, he continued, “I regret to say not in the style to which she is accustomed because I am a poor man. But if Gina Maria loves me as much as I love her, then I think we can be happy…”

Dominic interrupted this time with obvious antagonism in his voice, “And how long do you think you’ll be happy without money … it’s fairly essential to love and happiness.”

“No one need remind me of that, Mr. Rossi … I’ve known the best and the worst of both worlds … however, I was about to say that I am a young man with a great many visions. I will not remain in my present status all my life. That I can assure you, sir.”

“Really, that’s very commendable … and how do you expect to accomplish these … visions?”

“In America.”

And my daughter’s your passport, Dominic thought, but aloud, he said, “I see. And
you,
like so many, think the streets are paved with gold and all you have to do is dig it out… Am I right?”

“You are right, sir … only in so far as many people who believe the myth about America … I, however, am not among them.”

“Oh? Then how do you propose to become rich?”

“Let me explain, Mr. Rossi… for a very long time now, I have realized that we Europeans possess a great culture, ancient and magnificent … and while Queen Isabella was counting out the money to give Columbus for the ships, your nation was inhabited by savages and in two hundred years … look what you, as a nation, have accomplished, in spite of all the dissenting voices and noises being made. Your greatness lies in the very fact that those voices can shout their dissent … but there is one word that holds the key that opens the door to that greatness … that word is called
hope.
If one has the
will
and the
inspiration,”
he said, looking at Gina Maria, “then it is quite possible for me to, say, start as a busboy and wind up owning my own restaurant … It is the last frontier … it is the last place on earth where a man can still make his dreams come true.”

Dominic appraised Sergio carefully. He was beginning to find his resentments … his defenses slowly crumbling. By God, this one had a hell of a lot on the ball. Charm … breeding … brains … but the testing had to go on and he wouldn’t stop until he was convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that Mr. DiGrazia loved his daughter whom he was not going to relinquish without a battle. “That’s well-said, but let me ask you … Mr. DiGrazia, what made you fall in love with my daughter?”

Looking at Gina Maria first, then at Dominic, Sergio answered, “If you, Mr. Rossi, can answer why a king gave up a throne for a twice-divorced woman … or why the son of a tycoon such as Mr. Rockefeller fell in love with and married a Norwegian maid, then, Mr. Rossi, I will be able to answer. It is impossible to explain the chemistry that happens when two people meet and fall in love … but I must say, Mr. Rossi, it surprises me just a little that you should put the question to me in such a way … since you surely must be aware of your daughter’s beauty … but above all, her tenderness … an understanding that goes beyond her years … her unworldliness in an age of such great permissive upheaval when all the respect for parents … for convention is a thing considered to be passé.” He paused, looking lovingly at Gina Maria, and Dominic thought, he should have been an attorney … he pleads his case damn well. He was beginning to like the challenge and the fact that Sergio DiGrazia challenged him without backing off.

Standing up, Sergio walked to where Gina Maria sat and held her hand. “But you, Mr. Rossi, were not asking what made me fall in love … you were really asking me why. I know that both you and Mrs. Rossi have questioned my reasons and motives, which I surely can understand.”

“That’s very good of you, but yes, as long as you’re being so open about it … yes, be perfectly honest … didn’t the thought cross your mind?”

Gina Maria bit her lip and Catherine put her hand up to her head and shut her eyes … she could have killed him. “Of course, Mr. Rossi, it crossed my mind and I thought very carefully about it. But, Mr. Rossi, had I been tempted by money alone, I would not be so impoverished today … it may be difficult for you to believe, but a number of very rich American ladies have shown more than a passing interest in me.”

“No, I can believe that… but how long have you and Gina Maria known each other?”

“For three days.”

“You proposed to me the first day I met you, Dominic …” Catherine said, no longer able to merely sit by and say nothing, but Dominic answered quickly.

“No, as I recall, it was you who proposed to me.” She was seething.

“It was Sergio who asked me, Papa … one can fall in love in a moment, time has nothing to do with it,” Gina Maria said, angrily.

“I’ll concede that … sit down, Mr. DiGrazia.” Now, Dominic pulled up a chair and sat down. “Tell me about your background.”

Gina Maria relaxed … if Papa wasn’t interested in Sergio, he wouldn’t have asked. Sergio told them about his mother, his family, repeating the story he had told Gina Maria, but hearing it retold a second time affected her in the same way. She started to cry. He took out his handkerchief with the crest embroidered in the corner with red, green and a gold wreath (which Catherine carefully noted) and wiped Gina Maria’s eyes.

“Don’t cry, Gina Maria
mia,
I promise never to tell the story again.”