TOMMY GABRINI 2: A PLACE IN HIS HEART (15 page)

Grace
smiled.
 
She would have expected nothing
less from Tommy, either.
 
“But I still
don’t understand why you think I need a new car when my current car is perfectly
fine.”

“It
is perfectly fine, I agree with that.
 
But I’m not about to drive around town in the height of luxury while
you, my lady, drives around town in a Dodge.
 
Nice though that Dodge may be.
 
It’s not going to happen, Grace.”

Grace
smiled.
 
“Afraid your friends will laugh
at me?” she asked.

“It
has nothing to do with my friends.
 
And
there’s nothing for them to laugh about.
 
But you get the best.
 
That’s all
there is to it.
 
No wife of mine---”

“I’m
not your wife yet.”

Tommy
smiled and slapped her on her bare rump.
 
“No wife of mine,” he continued to say anyway, “is going to have
anything less than what I have.
 
Not
ever.”

Grace
stared at him.
 
“Point blank period?” she
asked.

Tommy
laughed at such phrasing.
 
“Point blank
period,” he echoed.

Grace
snuggled closer to Tommy’s big body as the commercials ended and their movie
returned.
 
She couldn’t recall a time
ever in her life when she worked as hard, loved as well, and felt as grand.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

More
weeks came and went and their relationship continued to remain solid and
strong.
 
They continued to plan their
wedding, although it was Grace who was doing most of the planning and Tommy was
simply saying yes to whatever she planned.
 
There were spurts of female drama too, off and on, from the moment Grace
started dating Tommy.
 
But there was a
definite escalation after his proposal.

From
more than the usual phone calls, to accusations that Tommy was still sleeping
with this former lover or that one, Grace couldn’t help but notice the
uptick.
 
Tommy wouldn’t even let Sal in
on what was going on, although Sal could see for himself that it was taking a
toll on his brother.
 
But Sal was in love
by then, with Gemma Jones, and had his own drama to deal with.
 

There
were many allegations they had to deal with, and Grace knew that it came with
the territory of loving a sexually popular man.
 
But it began to take a toll on her when one allegation in particular
came up.
  
Tommy, it seemed, had just
been slapped with a paternity suit.

They
were at dinner, at Cascader, when Milton Alderman, Tommy’s longtime personal
attorney, phoned him.
 
Grace always knew
whenever a phone call was problematic because Tommy would stop whatever he was
doing, eating in this case, and lean back.
 
He would then listen far more than he talked.

When
he hung up, Grace dabbed her mouth and waited for him to tell her what was
going on.

But
instead of telling Grace anything, Tommy continued to eat, which astounded
her.
 
“Well?” she asked.

Tommy
chewed his meat, drank a sip of wine, and then leaned back again.
 
“That was Milt,” he said.

“Your
attorney?
 
What did he want?”

Tommy
ran his hand across his mouth.
 
“It seems
I’m going to have to take a paternity test.”
 
He said this and looked hard at Grace.

Grace’s
heart began to pound.
 
“A paternity
test?” she said loudly out of surprise, and then lowered her voice when others
in the upscale restaurant looked at them.
 
“A paternity test?” she asked again in a lowered tone.

“Unfortunately
yes.”

“But
that means you’re being sued, right?”

“That’s
right.
 
But I’ll take care of that.
 
I don’t want you worrying about it.”

Grace
found that the oddest thing to say.
 
How
could she not worry?
 
“But that means
somebody’s claiming that you’re the father of her child, right?”

“That’s
what it means, yes.
 
But I’ll fight it,
and it’ll be kind.”

“So
it’s not true?”

Tommy
frowned.
 
“Of course it’s not true, why
would you ask me something like that?”

“I’m
asking you because somebody’s suing you, Tommy.
 
You can’t tell me you’ve been slapped with a paternity lawsuit and
expect me to say tough luck and keep on eating.”
 
She paused.
 
“Who’s the accuser?”

That
was the part that seemed to bother Tommy the most.
 
He frowned.
 
“A friend of mine.”

“And
by friend you mean one with benefits, right?”

Tommy
was growing increasingly ashamed of his far too active past.
 
He didn’t respond to that.

“What’s
her name?”

He
frowned.
 
“What difference does that
make, Grace?”

“It
doesn’t make a difference at all,” she said.
 
“But your reaction to just saying her name certainly does.”

It
wasn’t what Grace thought.
 
It was the
fact that he viewed this lady as a longtime friend, and for her to make this
kind of allegation, was what was hurting Tommy.
 
“Cathy,” he said.
 
“Caterina.”

“Caterina?
 
She’s French?”

“No,
she’s American.
 
But she lives abroad.”

“And
you’re certain you’re not the father?”

“I’m
positive.”

“Why?
 
Because you never had sex with her?”

“Of
course I had sex. . . She’s
 
a former
girlfriend, all right?”

“So
you’ve had sex with her?”

“Yes,
Grace, I’ve had sex with her.”

“Unprotected?”

There
was a hesitation.
 
“No,” Tommy said, but
he didn’t say it as firmly as Grace would have liked.
 

She
felt torn.
 
She knew she had no right
being angry with him about it because it happened before they were even
together.
 
At least that was what she was
assuming.

“How
old is the child?” she asked him.

He
exhaled, and ran his hand across his face.
 
“I think Milt said she was three months old.”

Grace’s
heart dropped.
 
“Three months old?
 
But . . .”
 
But didn’t he just admit having sex with her?
 
She stared at him.
 
“Tommy, what’s going on?” she asked him.

“I’ll
straighten it out, all right?
 
This is
nonsense.
 
I’m not that child’s father.”

“But
you said you had sex with her.”

“In
the past, yes, I did.”

“Like
three months ago?”

“Of
course not!
 
I was with you.”

“Then
why would she claim you’re the father if there was no sexual contact?
 
It’ll be so easy to disprove.”

Tommy’s
phone rang again.
 
“Oh, for crying out
loud!” he blared.
 
He checked the Caller
ID.

“Tommy?”
 
Grace said, stunned that he would even glance
at some phone at a time like this.
 
“Did
you hear me?”

“I’ve
got to take this,” Tommy said.

“It’s
your lawyer again?”

“No.
 
But it’s business.
 
I’ve got to take this.”

“Then
take it,” Grace said angrily, grabbed her purse, and hurried up from her seat.

“Grace!”
Tommy yelled, reaching for her.
 
“Get
back here!”
 

But
his reach missed, and Grace was gone.

“Listen,
let me call you back,” he said into his phone.
 
“I’ll call you back.”
 
He killed
the call, stood up, and was about to hurry out.
 
But he remembered he had not paid for the food they’d been eating.
 
He therefore pulled out two one-hundred
dollar bills, tossed them onto the table, and then hurried out.
 
By the time he made it out, however, Grace,
who had met him there in her own car, was gone.

Tommy
was so angry by the time he arrived at her apartment that he didn’t bother to
knock.
 
He pulled out his key, unlocked
the door, and hurried through it, slamming it behind him.
 
He searched the apartment for her until he
found her, out on the small balcony outside of her bedroom, sitting on her
patio chair.
 
She’d already changed into
shorts and a t-shirt, and was sipping wine.

Tommy
walked to the rail and looked out at the busy Seattle skyline.
 
Grace watched him as he placed his hands in
his pants pockets and turned toward her.
 
He was upset, there was no doubt about that, but she was upset too.
 
And she had a reason!
 
But Tommy’s anger was always more
intense.
 

The
frown on his face made clear his displeasure with her.
 
“What’s your problem?” he asked her.

“My
problem?
 
Because I decided to come home
I’m the one with the problem?
 
Because I
didn’t feel like waiting around for you to find time to get off of that damn
phone and address my serious question, I’m the problem?”

“I
had a phone call.
 
It was a business
call.
 
I had to take it.”

“That’s
not even the issue and you know it.
 
Why
would a woman you haven’t seen in years suddenly claim you’re the father of her
three-month-old child?”

“How
the hell should I know why?
 
I can’t
answer for her!”

“And
why would you admit to having sex with her if you knew you didn’t have sex with
her in the timeframe of this paternity suit?”

“You
didn’t ask me about a timeframe.”

“But
what other timeframe would I be talking about, Tommy?
 
You tell me some woman has accused you of
fathering her three-month-old child and I’m not supposed to be a little
concerned?”

“There’s
nothing to be concerned about.
 
I’m not
the father.
 
Why would I get bent out of
shape over something I know isn’t true?
 
It’s not true.
 
It’s a lie.
 
What more do you want me to say?”

Grace
didn’t know what more.
 
But something
more than what he was saying.

Tommy
saw her agony too.
 
He exhaled. “ Come
here, Grace,” he said to her.

She
hesitated, but she then made her way over to the railing where Tommy
stood.
 
He placed
 
his
 
hands on her t-shirt, pulling it toward him.
 
He then lifted her chin up to his face.

“Do
you truly believe that I would have unprotected sex with another woman after I
committed to you, impregnate the woman, and hurt you like that?
 
Do you really believe I would do that to
you?”

Grace
wiped the singular tear that had moved down her face.
 
She looked up into those beautiful eyes of
his.
 
“No,” she said honestly.
 
“No way.”

Tommy
smiled a smile that showed every year of his age.
 
Because he knew he could always depend on
Grace.
  
She was no drama queen, and he
loved that about her.
 

“I
love
 
you, lady,” he said.
 
“And let me be clear.
 
I am not running around impregnating
anyone.
 
Not even you.
 
At least not until after we’re married.
 
Then I’m going to have you knocked up every
year.”

Grace
laughed.
 

“Got
it?” he asked.

“Got
it,” Grace replied.

It
would take several more weeks but he proved his word to her.
 
The DNA test came back negative.
 
Tommy was not the father.
 
And once again, like all the other attempts
before, this one, too, failed to shake their relationship.
 

Until
the drama reared its ugly head yet again, in ways neither one of them could
have predicted.
 
Because instead of phone
calls and scurrilous accusations against Tommy, which were taxing but
manageable, it all began to turn sideways.
 
Toward Grace.

She
had been working hard all that week.
 
So
much so that she didn’t usually leave the office until late at night.
 
This time it was even later at night, nearly
eleven, as she made her way into Trammel’s parking garage.
 
Her brand new Audi apple red RS5, bought and
pay for by Tommy, was parked in the space reserved for CEO, and she quickly
headed in that direction.
 
She didn’t
think she would ever love a car as much as she loved her Dodge Charger, but she
was falling fast for her Audi.
 
It scared
her to drive it at first, when she found out that it had cost Tommy nearly a
hundred-and thirty-thousand dollars, but as the days came and went, her fear
was replaced with joy.
 
The idea that a
man would do so much for her, and would have her so elevated in his eyes that
he would want only the best for her, was a new experience for Grace.
 
An experience, if she were to be honest, that
she now cherished.

As
soon as she sat inside her car, that smell of newness still exciting her, her
cell phone began ringing.
 
She looked at
the Caller ID and smiled.