Tommy Gabrini 3: Grace Under Fire (The Gabrini Men Series) (14 page)

“No,”
Grace replied firmly.

But
Tamara looked at her doubtfully.
 
“The
wife is always the last to know,” Tam said.

“Not
this wife,” Grace said, and she said it with a certainty she actually did feel.

But
two days later, when she made it home from work, her certainty began to crumble.
 
Henry met her at the door and handed her an
envelope that had come by courier, specifically addressed to her.
 
“Since it was addressed to you,” he said, “I
didn’t pass it along to Mr. Gabrini.
 
It
feels as if it contains photographs, ma’am.”

Grace
knew exactly what Henry was implying.
 
This wasn’t going to be an envelope filled with good news.
 
This was going to be an envelope filled with
more bullshit.

And
he was right.
 
She pulled out the photos
and looked at them.
 
And her heart
sank.
 
She looked at Henry.
 
“Where is he?”

“On
the patio, ma’am.”
 
Henry looked
especially sympathetic, which didn’t help.

“Thank
you,” Grace said, and headed in that direction.

Tommy
leaned back on the lounger and listened to Vic Damone as he crooned away on the
surround sound stereo.
 
The backyard was
quiet in the night, with only the music to compete with the sounds of birds and
crickets, when Grace came outside.

Tommy
smiled when he saw her.
 
“You’re home
before midnight.”

“You’re
home before midnight,” she said, too, as she sat at his feet on the edge of the
lounger.
 
He could tell by that sincere
look in her eyes that something was wrong.

“What
is it?” he asked her.
 
He didn’t realize
she had a small stack of photos in her hand until she handed them to him.
 
“What are these?” he asked as he accepted
them.

Grace
said nothing as he thumbed through them.
 
They were all Tommy, naked, and fondling some naked woman, and the woman
fondling him.
 
She could see his
embarrassment, and flashes of anger, but what she was looking for was regret.

She
doubted if those photos were doctored, given Tommy’s reputation with the
ladies, but she had to ask it anyway.
 
“Do you know her?”

But
Tommy was more focused on Grace’s feelings, than her question.
 
“This was a long time ago, darling.”

“Do
you know her?”

Tommy
exhaled.
 
“Vaguely,” he responded.

Grace
frowned.
 
That was not the answer she was
expecting.
 
“What do you mean
vaguely?
 
You were intimate with her,
Tommy!”

“Yes,
I was.
 
So?”

“So
how could you claim not to know her?”

“I
fucked her.
 
Probably several times.
 
But that doesn’t mean I know her.”

“Well
you left a lasting impression on her apparently.”

“Apparently,”
Tommy said soberly, as he looked at those photos again.
 
And it was only then did Grace see it.
 
She now saw regret in his big, colorful
eyes.
 

He
looked at her.
 
“She was probably a
jump-off, Grace,” he said.
 
“That was the
nature of many of my relationships back then, I’m sorry to say.
 
I wasn’t a man looking for any long term
relationships or any commitments of any kind.
 
I was a man looking for sex.
 
And
if this woman is trying to imply that this was some recent hookup, she’s not
telling the truth.”

“Whoever
she is?”

“I
don’t remember her name, if that’s what you mean.”
 
He was ashamed of himself.
 
“But these photos pre-date our
relationship.
 
That’s the truth of it.”

“I
don’t think the truth matters to them anymore,” Grace said.
 
“They think I’m so green that all they have
to do is remind me of your stable count and I’d leave you.
 
One told me so herself a couple days ago.”

Tommy
looked at her.
 
“Somebody called you?”

“Somebody
came by my apartment.
 
I was there with
Tam.”

“Did
she give a name?”

“Nope.
 
And I didn’t ask for one.
 
She was undoubtedly one of your girls.
 
Tall, super-beautiful, super-obnoxious.
 
She said if I knew what was good for me I’d
get out while the getting was good. I should leave you, she said.”

Tommy
stared at her.
 
“Any self-respecting
woman of your caliber would.”

“Not
if that self-respecting woman loves her husband, she wouldn’t.
 
Not if she knew he was the king of the open
relationship before they married.
 
I’m
not going anywhere,” she added.

Tommy’s
heart soared.
 
He threw those photos
aside and pulled her onto his lap, hugging her tightly.
 
“I love you so much, Grace,” he said with great
feeling.
 
“I don’t deserve it, but I’m so
happy to have you in my life.
 
I love
you.”

“And
I love you,” Grace said.
 
Then she looked
at him and smiled.
 
“What, in the world,
are they going to do about that?”

“Everything
they can imagine,” Tommy said.
 
“But
it’ll signify nothing in the end.”

Grace
couldn’t agree more.
 
In the end it would
all signify nothing.
 
But getting to that
end, she knew, would be the challenge.
 
She snuggled closer against him, to feel his warmth, and his protection.

ELEVEN

Three
weeks later, Grace and Jamie entered a small boutique in downtown Seattle
talking about pets.
 
He wanted one, a
Yorkshire Terrier if he had his choice, or a Labrador if he didn’t.
 
She wanted to someday be a pet owner too, but
not now.
 
She was too busy trying to be a
wife.

“Beats
having kids,” Jamie said.

“Speak
for yourself,” Grace said.
 
“I plan to
have plenty of children.”

“So
what are you waiting on?
 
You aren’t
exactly young anymore.
 
And Tommy’s
practically ancient.
 
Gorgeous, but
ancient.”

“Oh,
please,” Grace said, taking a blue blouse from the clothing rack and inspecting
it.
 
“I’m only thirty and Tommy’s . . .
not old either.”

“He’s
not young either either,” Jamie said with a laugh.
 
“That’s why you hesitated.”

“Either
either?
 
Like really Jamie?
 
Wasn’t that a tad superfluous?”

“But
it’s the truth,” Jamie said as Grace put the blouse back on the rack and kept
looking.
 
“You guys need to get with the
program.
 
Either get a dog, or get on
with getting a kid.”

Grace
put yet another blouse up against her.
 
“Like or love?”

“Hate,”
Jamie said.
 

Grace
put the blouse back up.
 
And they kept
looking.

“You
know I’m telling the truth,” Jamie said.
 
“You need to get on with it.
 
What
is Tommy waiting on?”

Grace
put another blouse up against her.
 
“You
like?”

“Like.
 
Don’t love.
 
But like.”

“Agreed,”
Grace said and put that blouse up too.

“Am I
being too busy-body?” Jamie asked.
 
“Is
that why you are avoiding answering my question?”

“No,
it’s not that at all.”

“Then
what’s the holdup?
 
And don’t tell me
anything about any low sperm count.
 
Not
in that stud of a man.”

“It’s
nothing like that,” Grace said.
 
“He just
feels he needs to perfect being a good husband first, before he can think about
being anybody’s father.”

“Oh,”
Jamie said.
 
“I never thought of it that
way.”

“Not
so crazy after all, hun?”

“Not
really, no,” Jamie admitted.
 
“You know
Tommy is always full of surprises.
 
When
I first met him at Moors, I would have declared he had one thing and one thing
only on his mind.”

“He
did.”

“He
had that on his mind, but it wasn’t the only thing.
 
The man truly loves you I think.
 
And for him to want to be the best husband he
can be before he launches into fatherhood is a plus in my view.
 
Some of these men out here could learn a
thing or two from a man like him.
 
Because anybody can be a sperm donor.”

“Amen
to that,” Grace said.
 
“I like this one,”
she added, as she inspected yet another blouse.
 
Then she headed for the checkout counter.

“You
didn’t ask if I liked it,” Jamie said, following her.

“Do
you like it, Jamie?”

“Love
it,” he said without even looking at it.

“You
are such a phony,” Grace said, and he laughed.
 
The saleslady behind the counter took the blouse and began ringing it
up.
 
A small television set was behind
the counter, and the local news was on.

“But
for real,” Jamie said, “it’s nice to know that he takes his marriage
seriously.
 
That’s a great thing.
 
But you still have to be assertive, girl.
 
You still have to tell him he can’t wait
forever.
 
He married a woman younger than
himself, but that doesn’t mean she’s some spring chicken.”

Grace
slapped him upside his head, causing him to laugh even harder.
 
Then she heard the name Gabrini.
 
They both looked at the television set.
 
A reporter was standing in front of the
Gabrini corporate headquarters building.

“And
as one of the largest corporations in Seattle,” the reporter was saying, “and
with the merger on the line, their CEO Tommy Gabrini has been caught in a
rather compromising position.”
  

Grace’s
heart began to pound as a series of photographs appeared on screen.
 
First was the photo of Tommy standing at the
door of what looked like a motel room, and he was hugging some white man.
 
And then Tommy and the man were lying across
a bed in that motel.
 
And then the man
was on top of Tommy.
 
And then, to
Grace’s shock, Tommy and the man appeared to be kissing!

“These
photos,” the reporter was saying, “shows the newly married CEO appearing to
have some rendezvous in a local motel room with another man.
 
The man, identified as Peter Harpton, could not
be reached for comment.
 
Mr. Gabrini’s
office is also not accepting our phone calls at this time.
 
It has been rumored that Mr. Gabrini was
being groomed to run for public office, possibly for mayor.
 
Given these photographs, I doubt seriously if
that is an option anymore.”

“Grace,”
Jamie said, stunned by the report, but she could not even look his way.
 
She was so discombobulated that she grabbed
her purse and took off out of the store, leaving her friend, and her blouse,
behind.

“How
much is it?” Jamie asked the saleslady, pulling out his wallet.

“Ninety
dollars,” the saleslady said.
 
She had
just bagged up the blouse and was awaiting payment.
 
“What, does she know those people?”

“Yes,”
Jamie said, quickly paying for the blouse.
 
“But it’s all a pack of lies.
 
Tommy Gabrini and some man?
 
I’m
gay and even I’m not buying that. Now if it was a black woman in that motel,
yes.
 
I’d believe every picture.
 
But some man?
 
No ma’am,” Jamie said as he grabbed the bagged-up blouse, and took off
too.

Tommy
stood behind his desk fielding call after call from members of his board of
directors.
 
He was Chairman of the board
and Chief Executive Officer, while his brother Sal was co-chairman and Chief
Operating Officer, but their concerns paled in comparison to the concerns their
board members were expressing.
 
Not
because of the allegations directly, but because of the timing of those
allegations.

Sal
came rushing into the office unannounced, and he came in talking.
 
“Did you see,” he started, but Tommy held up
a finger.

“The
same thing,” Tommy said into the phone.
 
“No comment up and down the line.
 
Right.
 
Right.
 
No, not yet.
 
Not unless it comes directly from my office or Sal’s.
 
Right.
 
Okay, Mack.”
 
Then he hung up the
phone.

“Did
you see those pictures they were parading on the television?” Sal was now
standing in front of his brother’s desk, and he was all parts angry.

“I
saw them, yes,” Tommy said, opening his suit coat and placing his hands on his
hips.
 
He was so tired of this shit he didn’t
know where to begin to unleash his anger.
 

“What
the fuck was that about?” Sal asked.
 
“You with a man, like he was your lover.
 
What did they do?
 
Did they photo
shop that shit or something?”

Tommy
shook his head.
 
“No.
 
They were real.”

Sal’s
big blue eyes stretched even wider.
 
“Get
the fuck out of here!
 
Real?
 
What are you talking?
 
Can’t be, Tommy!”
 
Then he stared at his brother with a sidelong
look.
 
“Can it?”

The
desk intercom buzzed.
 
Tommy pressed the
button.
 
“Yes, Viv?”

“Mr.
Tannebaum is on line four, sir.”

Sal
rolled his eyes. He knew why Tannebaum, one of their investors, was calling.

“All
right,” Tommy said.
 
“Oh, and have you
been able to reach my wife, Viv?”

“I’m
still trying, sir.
 
She’s not answering
her phone.”

“Keep
trying,” Tommy ordered.
 
He released the
intercom button, picked up his desk telephone, and pressed button four.
 
“Don’t panic, Sid,” he said.
 
“Yes, I know.
 
I know exactly what it looks like.
 
Yes.
 
Of course it’s not
true!
 
I know that.
 
But looks can be deceiving.”

Then
Grace came unannounced into the office.
 
As soon as Sal saw her, he hurried to her.
 
“You okay?” he asked her.

Grace
could only nod, although her flustered face was telling an entirely different
story.
 
Sal’s heart went out to her, and
he pulled her into his arms.
 
Grace
welcomed his embrace.

Tommy’s
heart dropped.
 
The two people he felt
the most responsible for in this world, his wife and his younger brother, had
to deal with this shit too.
 
He knew they
were tired of his past constantly coming back to haunt them.
 
Especially Grace.
 
“Sid, let me call you back,” he said into the
phone, and although Sid was still talking, he hung up.

Sal
stopped hugging Grace and Tommy came from around his desk.
 
Grace hurried to him and fell into his
arms.
 

She
looked up to him, revealing such sad eyes that it broke Tommy’s heart.
 
She didn’t deserve this.
 
None of it.
 
But he wouldn’t let her go.
 
Both
of them, in fact, remained in each other’s arms, as if, it seemed to Sal, it
was them against the world.

“I
take it you saw the news,” Tommy said.
 

“I
saw it.”

“My
secretary tried to get in touch with you.”

“I
know but . . . I needed to see you and be with you.
 
I didn’t want to talk on any phone.
 
I just wanted to get here.”

He
sat on the edge of his desk, with her standing between his legs, with his arms
still around her waist.
 
He looked her
dead in the eyes.
 
“It’s not true,” he
said.

Grace
nodded her head.
 
She had a weary, but
determined look in her eyes.
 
“I believe
you,” she said.
 
“But what happened?”

“Peter
set me up.”

“The
man in the photos?” Grace asked.

“Yep.”

“You
know the guy?” Sal asked, coming up beside them.

Tommy
nodded.
 
“I know him.
 
We actually went to high school together.”

“High
school?
 
I don’t remember no fucker like
him in high school.”

“I’m four
years older than you, remember?
 
We had
graduated by the time you got there. I also used to do some business with
him.
 
We go back a long way.
 
He’s an old friend of mine.”

“Friend
my ass,” Sal said.
 
“He’s an old enemy of
yours.
 
If he’d set you up like that, he
must hate your guts.”

Grace
looked at her husband.
 
She could see the
strain in his eyes.
 
He hated disloyalty
probably above all else.
 

“Where
is he?” Sal asked.
 
“This Peter.
 
Where you think he’s hiding?”

“Last
time I saw him I beat his ass, so he’s not going to be an easy find, that’s for
sure.”

“You
fought him?” Grace asked.
 
“Why?”