Reno's Gift (Mob Boss Series) (34 page)

“Maude, where’s my
sister?”

Again, nothing.

Reno then put his gun to
the side of her head.
 
“You’re right,
Maude, you know that?
 
I’m a true bastard
just like you said.
 
I didn’t give a fuck
about your husband.”
 

Maude looked at him as if
he was finally admitting what she knew all along.
 

“I didn’t give a fuck
about your son or your daughter either.
 
You’re right, I didn’t.
  
So, if I
didn’t give a fuck about them, why the fuck do you think I’m gonna give a fuck
about you?
   
Where’s my sister,
Maude?
 
Tell me or you’re leave this
world this very night!”

Maude looked at him.
 
She looked at him the way Belle had looked at
him.
 
And she spit in Reno’s face.

Jimmy was stunned.
 
He expected his father to jump up and put a
bullet in her brains.
 
No man should
tolerate that level of disrespect.

But Reno didn’t jump
up.
 
And he didn’t shoot the woman.
 
He wiped her saliva away and then moved his
chair closer to her.
 
He needed more
information.
 
He needed to know where
Fran was.

“Where’s Fran, Maude?” he
asked her, his eyes staring dead into hers.
 
“You have only this one chance to get it right.
 
Where’s Fran?”

“Reno!” Tommy yelled, and
Reno
 
and Jimmy looked up.
 
Reno stood up.

“You found her?” he asked
anxiously.

“We found her,” Sal
said.
 
And Jimmy smiled and relaxed his
gun.
 
But as soon as he did, Maude Lucci
grabbed it and turned it on him.
 

But Reno hadn’t relaxed,
and he kicked the gun out of her hand as he fired his, hitting her right
between the eyes.

Jimmy was stunned.
 
He looked at the dead woman and then he
looked at his father.
 
He relaxed and nearly
lost his life.
 
If it had not been for
his father, he would have lost it all.
 
Tears appeared in his eyes.
 
He
thought, after all he’d been through, that he was ready for this.
 
But he wasn’t.
 
He was nowhere near ready.

His father opened his
arms, and he fell into them.

EPILOGUE

“Okay,
everybody, he’s coming!” Trina yelled.

“So
whatta you want us to do?” Sal asked.

“Hide,”
she suggested and everybody, Tommy and Grace, Sal and Gemma, Jimmy and Fran with
Dommi in her arms, and Trina’s parents all ran for cover.
 
They settled in the dining room, and Dommi
promised to be quiet.

When
Reno finally walked through the door, Trina was the only one left in the living
room.
 
She met him at the door.

“Hey,”
she said with an exhausted smile.
 

“Hey
yourself,” Reno said as he tossed his briefcase into a nearby chair and pulled
her into his arms.
 
“What a beautiful
sight to behold after a long day’s work.”
  
He began kissing her.

Trina
expected the hug.
 
And she expected the
kiss.
 
But she didn’t expect Reno to
suddenly turn all romantic on her and began French-kissing her.
 
It was so sensual, and so passionate, that
Trina almost forgot what was about to occur, wrapped her arms around him, and
returned the kiss with her own brand of passion.
 
Their lips moved in unison.
 
It was exactly what Reno needed, after
another grueling day of work.

“Where’s
Jimmy and Dom?” he asked her.
 
“I want to
take your clothes off and do you right here.”

Trina
quickly pulled back then, before he actually did what he wanted to do.
  
Just as she did, however, somebody, she
suspected it was Sal, made a bump sound in such a way that she knew he was
trying to force her to get on with it.

Reno
didn’t hear the bump.
 
He was too concerned
about his pull-back.
 
“What’s the
matter?” he asked her, pulling her closer.

“Let
me show you something first,” she said, removing his arms from around her
waist, putting his hand in hers, and then pulling him toward the dining
room.
 

“Show
me what?” he asked.

“Just
come and see,” she said.
 
As soon as they
arrived in the dining room, everybody jumped up and shouted
Surprise!
in a thundering voice.
 
Dommi grinned and clapped.

Reno
was completely surprised.
 
But he
frowned.
 
“But for what?” he asked.
 
“It’s not my birthday.”

“We
know,” Jimmy said.
 
“It’s your
appreciation day, Pop.”

He
looked at everybody assembled, the people he loved most in this world.
 
And he looked at Trina and Jimmy.
 
“Appreciation?” he asked.

“Yes,”
Jimmy said.
 
“Like Death of a Salesman.”

“Death
of a sales who?” Sal asked him.

“A
sales man,” Jimmy replied.
 
“It’s a play
written by Arthur Miller.”

“Who
the fuck is Arthur Miller?” Sal wanted to know.

“He’s
a, or was since he’s dead, a playwright.
 
He was once married to Marilyn Monroe.
 
But that’s not the point.
 
The
point is, at one point in the play, after the main character, an aging
salesman, kills himself, his wife says that attention must now be paid to this
man.”

“Why?”
Fran asked.

“Why?”
Jimmy asked.

“Yeah,
why, Jimmy?” Sal asked.
 
“What the fuck
he did that he deserves all of this attention?”

“He
didn’t. . . do anything, but that’s not the point.”

“Then
what’s the point?” Fran asked.

Jimmy
was now flustered.
 
He expected them to
get it right off the bat.
 
He never
dreamed
 
he would have to explain
himself.
 
“Never mind,” he said.
 

But
Reno hugged him.
 
And whispered in his
ear.
 
“I know what you mean,” he said and
kissed him. Jimmy smiled.
 
If his father
understood, then that was all he needed to know.

“But
back to Fran’s question,” Reno said to Trina.
 
“What is this all about?”

“It’s
about you,” Trina said.
 
“We want to show
how much we appreciate you.
 
Come on.”

She
escorted him to the head of the table.
 
He sat down and everybody else sat around the table.
 

And
one by one they stood up and spoke.
 
From
Gemma to Grace to Sal and Tommy, it was all about their feelings for Reno.

Gemma
talked about Reno’s smarts, while Grace talked about how much she respected his
advice and wisdom.
 
Sal and Tommy joked
about his junkyard dog meanness, and Dommi clapped and laughed when it was his
time to speak.
 
Fran and Jimmy were
equally irreverent, with Jimmy telling how his father had given him the kind of
instincts that could rival an end-of-days survivalist.
 

And
Trina . . .

Reno braced
himself and fought back tears when Trina stood up to speak.
 
Whereas everybody else were generally
humorous, Trina was completely serious.

She
looked her husband dead in his eyes.
 
And
tears appeared in hers.
 
“You’re my
inspiration,” she said to him.
 
“I’ve
never met another human being with more love, and more integrity, and more
kindness of spirit in my entire life.
 
You make me want to be the best woman I can be,” she went on.
 
“You gave me love, Reno, when nobody wanted
to give me a prayer.
 
You made me laugh
and cry.
 
You made me jump for joy, and
fall to my knees.
 
But most of all, my
Reno, you never, not ever, bored me.”

The
others laughed.
 
Reno was so touched, he
couldn’t even smile.

“So I
love you, kid,” Trina said with a smile of her own, and picked up her champagne
glass in a toast to her hero.
 
“Here’s to
you, Dominic Apollo Gabrini,” she said, and everybody else stood and lifted
their glasses too.
 
“What you’ve given to
us no amount of money could ever buy.
 
You gave us courage, Reno, and truth, and loyalty, and strength.
 
We respect you.
 
We cherish your bravery in the face of so
many horrendous circumstances.
 
All
because of your love for us.
 
I didn’t
think it could be matched.
 
I didn’t
think it was possible to match the love you showed for us.
 
Until I started loving you.”

She
hesitated, as his tears began to shed.
 
“God bless you, Reno Gabrini,” she said.
 
“You are a good man.
 
It’s as
simple as that.
 
And I love you.
  
We love you.”

Tommy
said,
here, here
, and everybody
lifted their glasses higher to Reno, and sipped their drinks too.

Then
everybody sat back down, ready for Reno to have his say.
 
But Reno fought with everything within him to
remain emotionless.
 
He even looked
puzzled.

“That’s
it?” he asked them.

Jimmy
looked at his father, a grin on his face. “Yeah,” he said.

“Whatta
you mean yeah?” Reno asked.
 
“Where’s my
gifts?”
 

Everybody
looked at Reno.

“Gifts?”
Tommy asked.

“Yes,
gifts.
 
I thought you guys appreciated
me.”

“We
do, Pop.”

“Then
where’s the appreciation?”
 

Sal laughed.
 
Nobody else got the joke.

“But
Reno,” Trina said, feeling as if a beautiful day was about to go so wrong, “our
words were the appreciation.”

“Your
words?” Reno asked, astounded.
 
“I know
better than that!
 
All talk and no
gifts?
 
Just words?”
 
Reno stood up.
 
“Oh, no.”
 
He started removing his belt.

“Reno,
what are you doing?” Trina asked, concerned.

“Somebody’s
giving up something!
 
All talk my
ass.
 
Somebody’s showing some real
appreciation!”

Jimmy
was the first to jump up and run.
 
“He
means it!” he said as he ran.
 
“He means
it!”

Tommy
and Grace were laughing so hard, they tripped over each other and fell as they
ran.
 
But like bugs in the light, every
one of them ran for cover.
 
Except Trina.
 
She knew Reno was joking.
 
She knew he was just doing it for
laughs.
 
Until that belt came within an
inch of her skin.
 
And she took off
running too.

They
ran, and Reno laughed.
 
That was his
brand of appreciation.
 
His family, whom
he loved, still could impress him.

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