Tommy Gabrini: The Grace Factor (17 page)

“Yeah, I asked her out last night
too,” Tommy said.

“How did you get her to change her
mind and go with you tonight?”

Tommy smiled.
 
“I begged,” he joked.

Shameika laughed, although inwardly
she was perplexed.
 
Was Grace out of her
ever loving mind?
 
Who in their right
mind would make Tommy Gabrini beg to be with them?
 
Then again, Shameika thought, Grace once
divorced him, and he still paid her alimony.
 
Whatever Grace had, he apparently wanted.
 
What was turning him down for a date to
Grace?
 
“Well I’m glad you begged,”
Shameika said with a smile.
 
“Grace is
worth the extra effort.”

Tommy nodded.
 
“I agree with that.”

“But take your time,” Shameika said
as she began to leave.
 
“She’s not quite
ready yet.”

Tommy thanked her for the heads’ up
and then watched as she made her way to her brand new Lexus.
 
No doubt a present to herself after that huge
divorce settlement he heard her ex had to shell out.
 
He also saw her carrying a purse he once
purchased for Grace.
 
She probably
borrowed it the way he’d always known ladies to do, which was fine by him.

But mostly he watched the way she
moved.
 
She sashayed her hips as if hips
were going out of style and she and she alone had to do everything in her power
to keep them relevant.
 
But he liked
Shameika.
 
She was a very beautiful, very
sexy African-American woman, and she flaunted her sexuality.
 
But her moral core was even stronger than her
confidence, which pleased him too.
 
He
never liked any of Grace’s prior friends.
 
They were users and abusers as far as he was concerned.
 
But he was happy to know that Grace now had a
circle of friends, a circle led by Shameika, that reciprocated her kindness.

After Shameika drove off, blowing her
horn as she did, Tommy remained in his car and made a series of phone calls
with the extra time.
 
When finished, he
got out of the car and headed for the front door.

Grace was upstairs, and was just
looking out of her window to see if he had arrived, when she saw Tommy getting
out of his car.
 
And her heart couldn’t
help but flutter.
 
Most men in a pullover
sweater and silk dress pants would appear dressed down, but Tommy looked as
elegant as he could have looked in a three-piece suit.
 
His hair was still that rich thickness, but
this time his barber framed his face in a way that made him look downright
boyish.
 
She knew Tommy had some concerns
about the fact that he was getting older, and the fact that he was much older
than Grace wasn’t helping that concern.
 
But he had nothing to worry about in her eyes.
 
She still had yet to see any guy, younger or
older, who could beat Tommy.
 
Not only in
looks, but in decency too.

But she didn’t delay.
 
She was dressed, she was ready, she made her
way downstairs and to the front door just as he was ringing her bell.

Tommy expected Grace to look
nice.
 
She always dressed beautifully to
him.
 
But when she opened that door and
stood before him, he felt a warmness in his heart, and an emotional tug deep
down within his soul that caused him to shiver.
 
Isn’t she lovely
, he thought,
as he looked down her body at her light red one-shoulder sleeveless dress that
highlighted her toned brown arms and full breasts, and with ruching at the
waist that highlighted her perfectly proportioned figure.
 
But it was her face that captured Tommy’s
imagination.
 
It was that wide-eyed look,
not of innocence per se, but of a pureness so unique to her that it made his
heart sing.
 
She was unlike any woman
he’d ever known.
 
And it was that
differentness that was drawing him right back to her again.
 
She was the woman he wanted to be his wife
forevermore.
 
In every way she was the
one.
 
He had her once and lost her.
 
He wasn’t losing her ever again.

He didn’t realize, however, that his
look, and especially the way he roamed over her body as if he was comparing
notes with his other ladies, wasn’t giving her any indication of this great
need of his.
 
Until he looked into her
eyes.
 
She knew she had him then.
 
“Hey,” she said with a grand smile.
 
“Don’t you look dandy tonight!”

“Just as long as you don’t say
dapper,” Tommy said with a smile, “I’m good.”

Grace laughed.
 
She knew how he hated his nicknames.
  
She stepped out, he locked and closed her
door, and they were off.
 
He kept his
hand in the small of her back as they walked down the steps toward his
Ferrari.
 
And just walking beside her,
and seeing her again, and inhaling her fresh scent, made him want to fuck her
again so badly his dick was throbbing.
 
But he held it together.
 
That was
the icing on the cake.
 
But spending time
with Grace, and proving to her that he was worthy of a second chance, was the
cake.
 
And from the way she had no
problem turning him down last night, it wasn’t even baked yet.
  
He had to work for this Rolex.

To Grace’s surprise, he didn’t take
her to some nice and fancy restaurant for dinner as she had fully expected he
would.
 
Tommy, instead, took her to the
marina, where they boarded a private yacht complete with captain and crew.

Tommy held Grace’s waist and assisted
her onto the beautiful vessel, and then got on behind her.
 

“Welcome aboard, Mrs. Gabrini,” the
captain said with a smile, and Grace almost stopped in her tracks.
 
It had been years since anyone had called her
by that name.
 
She looked back at Tommy.
 
It had to be all his doing.

Tommy felt slightly embarrassed by
just how much his little maneuver revealed.
 
One reason he used the Gabrini name when the captain requested the names
of all who would be onboard, was to avoid the crew treating Grace as if she was
one of his booty calls, or something even worse.
 
The main reason was because it felt
right.
 
“Less explaining,” he told her
when she looked back at him.

Grace smiled.
 
And they stepped onboard.

“It’s most attractive,” Grace said as
the crew escorted them to the cabin.
 
“Who owns it?”

When Tommy said he owned it, Grace as
surprised.
 
She stared at him.
 
“Really?”

“I rarely use it personally,” he
admitted, “but whenever investors come to town they enjoy relaxing on the
water.”

Grace smiled.
 
“A business expense,” she said.
 
“I should have known.”

Tommy grinned as they entered the
cabin.
 
Old school music, the kind of
music Grace knew they both were particularly fond of, played over the speakers,
and the cabin had wall to wall windows that looked out on the gorgeous
sea.
 
It was so beautiful to Grace that
it felt surreal.
 
She and Tommy dated
before they were married, and he treated her well, but he never went all-out
like this for her before.
 
She was
impressed.

Tommy was working hard to be impressive.
 
Because he felt he had failed Grace.
 
He felt he had taken her for granted and
should have been more attentive to her needs.
 
He knew that they ultimately broke up because of his lifestyle, but he
also knew a part of that lifestyle involved his inattention.

They sat at the table in the cabin
and relaxed as the chef staff brought in the meals.
 
Stevie Wonder’s
Overjoyed
blared out over the speakers, and Grace felt as if she
was the luckiest girl in the world. She felt overjoyed!

When the food had been served by a
James Beard award-winning chef, and the drinks poured, the entire staff left
them alone to enjoy their meal and their evening.
 
Tommy looked at Grace.
 
They were eating and smiling as if they were
kids again. But he could see her trepidation too.
 
“What’s wrong?” he asked her.

Grace decided to be honest with him
and tell him exactly how she felt.
 
If
they were ever going to make this work, they had to communicate far better than
they had in the past.
 
“There were two
weeks of nothing from you,” she said, “where I began to wonder if you were
having serious doubts about our relationship going forward.
 
And then you go all-out like this?
 
It’s a little confusing, Tommy.”

Tommy leaned forward.
 
His shoulders were broad and strong, but it
was his eyes that caught Grace’s attention.
 
They were sincere and sad.
 
“I
decided that I was going to take it slow with you,” he said.
 
“I thought I was giving you the space I felt
you needed.
 
I didn’t want to rush
you.
 
But I realized yesterday, when I
asked you out and you turned me down, that I had fallen into that same way of
thinking that created friction in our marriage to begin with.
 
I was making decisions for both of us without
communicating with you at all.”
 
He
stared at Grace.
 
His eyes were filled
with regret.
 
“I apologize for that,” he
said.

Grace felt a lump in her throat when
he apologized.
 
Tommy was a person who
rarely placed his feelings on display. Unlike his cousin Reno and his brother
Sal, he was never one to shout it out.
 
Grace knew how hard a conversation like this was for a man like him.

“I’m older than you,” he continued,
“and I know I have a bad habit of behaving as if I know what’s best for
you.
  
Even after we divorced I still
behaved that way.
 
I probably always
will.
 
But I don’t want you to
misunderstand my intent.
 
Because I
respect you, Grace,” he said, “and I respect your opinion.
 
But I didn’t communicate that to you.
 
I didn’t ask you what you thought.
 
I didn’t ask your opinion.
 
I know I have that problem, and I promise you
I’m working on it.”

Grace could feel his sincerity.
 
And was about to respond herself, but then
Tommy said something that put all of her concerns to rest.
 
“I want this to work,” he said to her.
 
A frown suddenly appeared on his face as if
he, too, understood the gravity.
 
“I want
you, and me, and Destiny to be a family again.
 
An intact family,” he added.
 
“And
I know it’s going to require a lot of effort.
 
It’s going to require a lot of work.
 
I’ll give it my all, I promise you that.
 
But I need to know that you’re all-in too.”
 
Tommy said this and looked at Grace.
 
He studied her face.
 
“What do
you
want, Grace?”

Grace took a moment to take it all
in, the way she usually did, and then she looked at him too.
 
The serenity of their surroundings, as the
peaceful sounds of the sea floated around them, only added to a sense of
rightness for her.
 
But she needed to
know something from him.
 
“When did it
click for you?” she asked.
 
“When did you
decide that you wanted us back together?
 
Was it just because you and Liz were having problems?”

“No,” Tommy said.
 
“It had been building for a long time.
 
There was always a part of me that felt I
blew the best chance I was ever going to have when I lost you.
 
But I didn’t address it.
 
I drowned myself in my work, and Liz and I
tried to do our thing, but I think we both knew I could have tried harder. It
wasn’t her fault.
 
Liz is Liz, and she
always will be.
 
She’s not the problem.”

Grace nodded.
 
She was glad to know that he wasn’t
attempting to shift blame, or act as if he didn’t know who he was getting when
he got Liz.
 
She and Liz were hardly
close, but even she could tell he had another
ShoShawna
Shanks on his hand: a woman whose career meant the world to her.
 
Which was great for her.
 
There was something masterful about a woman
who treated her career with the same gusto that a man treated his.
 
But Grace knew that wasn’t the kind of woman
Tommy wanted.

“I think I was in denial about who I
was,” Tommy continued.
 
“I was attracted
to hard-hitting, go-getter women.
 
But
the attraction, I came to realize, never lasted.
 
It was wafer thin.
 
Because that wasn’t what I truly wanted.
 
I want a wife, Grace, not a go-getter.
 
I want a woman who can balance being a mother
and having a career, but I want motherhood to rule the day.
 
I want to be a father and a husband more than
I want to be a corporate raider.
 
I’ve
only had a stable, functional family once in my entire life, and my lack of attention,
my lack of communication, made it dysfunctional.”

But Grace was shaking her head.
 
“I’m not letting you carry that burden
alone.
 
No, sir.
 
Because I did my part too, believe me.
 
I knew who I was marrying.
 
I knew what terrible things you had to do in
this life.
 
I saw it with my own two
eyes.
 
And I married you.
 
It was a dramatic change, I’ll admit it
was.
 
And that night, when I nearly died
in those hail of bullets, yes, that changed me.
 
That scared the shit out of me,” she added.

Tommy wanted to smile, but he
understood the importance of what she was saying.
 
He understood what a turning point that night
was for both of them.

“I was a mother.
 
I had a baby that depended on me.
  
The idea that she would have to lead that
kind of life was terrifying.
 
And I just
wanted out.
 
For her sake.
 
When I should have known even then that there
was no way out.”

Tommy’s heart dropped.
 
“Don’t say that, honey.”

“I don’t mean it like that,” Grace
quickly responded. “I mean we’re Gabrinis.
 
Destiny and I.
 
Because we will
always be linked to you.
 
I’m the only
wife you’ve ever had.
 
She’s the only
child you have.
 
We belong to you.
 
And you’ll protect us.
 
And when you can’t, I’ll have to be there.”

Tommy smiled greatly.
 
Because he knew she would.
 
She’d lay down and die for Destiny, just as
he would lay down and die for both of them.
 
He could hardly believe how blessed he felt.

“It’s so clear to me now,” Grace
continued.
 
“I’m glad I have a man like
you on my side.
 
Ed would have harmed me
and our child if I didn’t have a man like you on my side.
 
I only wish I had been strong enough to
understand that then.
 
But believe me,
Tommy, I understand it now.
 
You said you
were in denial about who you were?
 
Well
so was I.
 
I was in denial too.
 
But not about who I was.
 
But about
whose
I was.
 
But no more.”
 
Then she hesitated.
 
“I don’t deserve you, Tommy.”

But Tommy was shaking his head.
 
“It’s the other way around, Grace.
 
I don’t deserve you.
 
I’ve said some horrible things that I deeply
regret.”

Grace didn’t know what he was talking
about.
 
He was a complete gentleman
during their breakup.
 
“Horrible
things?
 
Like what?”

“Like when I threatened to make
Destiny a motherless child if you and Ed tried to keep her away from me.”

“Oh, Tommy, you were right to say
that!
 
Yes, you were.
 
It was the heat of the moment.
 
Ed was wrong for threatening to keep you and
Destiny apart, and I was completely wrong for going along with it.
 
That knife cuts both ways.”

Tommy smiled.
 
“But can we both at least agree that I should
have the deeper cut?”

Grace smiled.
 
“No,” she said.
 
“I’m not conceding even that point.”

Tommy laughed.

But then she returned to her original
point.
 
“I don’t deserve you,” she
said.
 
“Despite everything, I don’t.
 
But if you’re willing to give this another
try, then so am I.
 
I want you back too,
Tommy.”

As soon as she said those words,
Tommy’s heart leaped with joy.
 
He was
out of his seat and Grace was standing at hers, and they hurried into each
other’s arms with an emotional release that left them both reeling.

 
“Oh, Grace,” Tommy said with full affection as he held her, and then
began kissing her.
 

Grace stood toe-to-toe with him,
wrapped her arms around his neck, and returned his kisses with equal
affection.
 
And when he lifted her, and
carried her into the big bedroom inside their cabin, she knew she wanted to do
something special for Tommy.
 
She didn’t
deserve him, just as she said, but she was going to make certain he never
regret for a moment his decision to give her another chance.