Roz swallowed hard. She looked at Mick. She could tell he was ready to say no. “Where is he?” she asked Gloria.
“Right outside the gate. They wouldn’t let him through. Roz, he feels awful. He knows he was wrong pulling that gun. He wants to apologize.”
Roz began walking toward the gate, but Mick pulled her back. “What are you doing?” he asked her.
“I’m going to talk to Joey.”
“Rosalind, no,” Mick said.
“Yes, Mick. He pulled that gun on me, not you. I need to make this right.”
Mick stared at her. He was against her involvement, but he knew her. He knew when her mind was made up. Besides, he was worried about Joey too.
He walked with her, with Gloria walking with them, to the front gate. Mick signaled and the guards opened the gate. Joey was standing there.
Mick and Roz both felt pain when they saw Joey again. Of all of Mick’s children, he was the most damaged and Mick knew it.
“I’m sorry, Roz,” Joey said quickly. “I can’t believe I pulled that gun on you. I am so sorry!”
Mick felt as if he heard that song before, and he was getting tired of hearing it. Roz was too, but that didn’t stop her from pulling Joey into her arms. He was her stepson. She treated him as if he was her biological son. She could no more throw Joey away than she could throw away the twins.
Joey fought back tears as Roz held him. He loved her, and hated that he let his emotions overtake him in that restaurant. When they stopped embracing, he explained. “My mother has always dominated me,” he admitted. “Everything has always been about her, and her wants and needs. When I pulled that gun on you, it was like I was doing what I knew she would have wanted me to do. Not what I wanted to do. I would never want to hurt you.”
Roz, fighting back tears of her own, rubbed his arm.
Then he looked at Mick. “I’m sorry, Dad. I was wrong.”
Mick exhaled. What was he going to do with this little boy of his? “I’ll see you in the office,” he said.
Gloria smiled. But Joey was confused. “The office?” he asked.
“You can get your job back in the mailroom.”
“But what about working for you? In the other job, I mean.”
But Mick shook his head. “You aren’t ready,” he said. “Mailroom. Take it, or leave it.”
When Joey hesitated, Gloria hit him. “Take it, Joey, what’s wrong with you? You’ll be in the family business. With me and Dad. Take it. You better be glad he’s giving you another chance. It’s only your hundredth chance.”
Joey smiled. “Okay,” he said. “Thanks, Dad.”
“Now,” Roz said, smiling too, “let’s go into the house and have some breakfast first. Big Daddy and the Gabrinis didn’t eat all of the bacon and eggs. There’s plenty left.”
Joey looked at Mick. When Mick didn’t object, he wrapped his arm around Roz and Gloria, and the three of them began heading for the house.
Mick’s front gate security chief looked at the boss. “Joey have free reign again?” he asked.
“Not yet,” Mick said, and headed for the house.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The days came and went and life was good within the Sinatra household. Roz was still working from home, which wasn’t cool, but she knew it was the smart move. Mick was still on his dual track: he was still working full time, and still working full time searching down every lead his men uncovered for Jake. He was getting nowhere, but neither was Jake. And Joey was stepping up at S.I. He wasn’t thrilled about being in the mailroom again. He preferred to be his father’s enforcer. But after pulling that knife on Roz, and after breaking down so completely over his mother’s death, a realization hit Joey that he had to accept. His father was right. He wasn’t ready yet.
“Time for me to go earn a living,” Mick said after he and Roz kissed the twins and put them back in their cribs. He grabbed his briefcase and he and Roz began heading for the front door.
“Don’t work too hard,” she urged him. “Gloria says you’re nonstop. She sometimes will go into your office and talk to you just to slow you down a little.”
“Ah,” Mick said with a smile. “So that’s what she’s up to.”
“Slow down, Mick,” Roz said as he opened the door. “That’s the point.”
Mick turned and looked at her. “I will,” he said. “You know I will.”
“So much has gone on. You need a vacation.”
“And that will be item number one,” Mick said, “after I catch that bastard. But until then, we stay put.”
Roz nodded. “Understood,” she said.
Mick gave her a kiss just as his cellphone began to ring. “I’ll call you,” he said as he began walking out of the front door.
“Go easy,” Roz said, and closed the door behind him.
Mick looked at his Caller ID as he made his way down the steps. It was Blair Conyers. “What’s up?”
“The Monvin Group wants a meeting.”
“The who?”
“The Monvin Group. They own that strip mall that’s drowning in debt.”
“Oh,” Mick said.
As he continued to talk with Blair, a group of maids in a van, followed by the nanny in her car, drove through the gate and blew their horns as they drove past Mick. It was worker arrival time at the Sinatra estate, and Mick threw up his hand. The van and car headed toward the back servant’s entrance, and Mick headed for his own car. But when two of his men on House Security drove through the gate and was about to drive around back too, Mick lifted a hand to flag them down. The car stopped, and Mick walked over to it.
“Hold on, Blair,” he said into the phone to his senior assistant, as he leaned into the passenger side window. “Good morning, sir,” the driver said as soon as Mick leaned in.
“Good morning.”
“What can we do for you?”
“I want additional men around the parameter,” Mick said.
“Any special reason, sir?”
“My wife is still working from home.” And Mick felt, as time went on, he needed to beef up security. He was the kind of man who believed, with the passage of time, you didn’t let your guard down, you put it up higher.
“Sure, Boss, I’ll call in backup. How many?”
“Four more should do it,” Mick said, and walked away.
The two guards looked at each other. “And I used to think that guy had no heart at all,” the driver said.
“He still doesn’t,” the passenger said. “Except for her.”
They smiled and headed around back, and Mick headed toward his Maserati.
Around back, Doris Hearn, the nanny, pulled up under the carport reserved for the four rotating nannies, and parked her car. Miss Habersham, the head nanny, was scheduled to work the morning shift with Doris, but Doris was nearly an hour early for her shift. But she still was in a hurry.
The van carrying the maids kept driving around the back entrance that led into the kitchen area, and the two bodyguards in their own car headed for the guard station on the farther side of the mansion.
Nobody, as Doris expected, was in the carport area when she got out of her car and went to her trunk. She looked around, to make sure all was clear, and then she opened her trunk. Jake the Snake Vietti, lying in a fetal position, was in her trunk.
“Be quick about it,” Doris warned him as he got out of her trunk. She was still looking around. “And remember where you have to step to avoid the cameras.”
“I know already.”
But Doris stopped him before he hurried away. “I need that money,” she said.
“You’ll get paid after I take care of my business. I’ll be thrilled to compensate you if all goes according to plan. Your ass better hope all goes accordingly.”
“It will if you hurry,” Doris said. “I want it done before Miss Habersham gets here. We don’t have much time.”
Jake smiled that reptilian smile of his. She was the one who slowed his roll, he thought, not the
other way around. But he got in a hurry anyway, walked over to the entrance, and entered the Sinatra home as if he belonged there.
Out front, Mick was cranking up to drive away. Blair was still on the phone with him, telling him about a cancellation. “He wanted to know if you’d be open to a different time?”
“Today?” Mick asked.
“This morning, if possible.”
“Not possible,” Mick said. “Tell him I may be able to see him this afternoon though. Around two.”
“You can’t at two. Remember? You have an eye appointment at two.”
Mick frowned as he began driving toward the gate. “How did you know about that? That wasn’t on my schedule.”
“I overheard when you made the appointment, and I put it on your schedule. That’s what smart assistants do. They overhear, and act accordingly. That’s why I told Al no. Because I knew where you would be.”
And suddenly, as if it was a bolt of lightning, it hit Mick. How did those mob bosses know that he would be taking his twins to their doctor’s appointment on the day of that ambush? They were lying in wait for him. They were already in that parking lot when he and Roz drove up. But he hadn’t told anybody about that appointment. Nobody knew about it except him and Roz. And the nanny Doris Hearn. The nanny who all of a sudden was sick and had to go home early that day. The nanny that had just drove past him!
He slammed on brakes, shift his gear in Reverse, and sped driving backwards to his front door. His men ran toward him when they saw his wild driving, and he jumped out of his car.
Inside the home, Roz was just coming out of the Nursery when Jake suddenly appeared at her door.
Her breath caught in shock, and she was about to scream, but Jake covered her mouth. But Roz fought with all she had. She scratched his face, she kicked him in the groining, she fought as if her life depended on it. She pushed him out of the nursery and closed the door, determined to keep him away from her babies. And she fought hard. Until Jake had had enough.
He pulled out a switchblade, flipped it open, and put it to Roz’s throat. He was just about to slash it across her throat when Mick ran into the house, ran down the hall, and shot him between the eyes. He shot him pointblank even though Roz was within an inch of his bullet. But he had no time to waste. Roz was within less than a second of certain death if he would not have fired when he had.
Jake fell over dead, landing on his own blade, which stabbed him in the stomach. Overkilling himself.
And just as he dropped dead, Doris Hearn, the nanny, came running in. “Is everything alright?” she asked.
Mick turned to her. As soon as he did, she knew the gig was up. It was all for money, but she knew that bastard Mick Sinatra wouldn’t understand that kind of need for a second. She turned to run.
Mick didn’t so much as bat an eye. He shot her dead easily.
Roz, stunned, looked at Mick. “Her too?” she asked.
Mick’s heart dropped. Roz had hired Doris. But the truth was the truth. “Yes,” he said.
Then he opened his arms, and Roz ran into them.
“It’s over,” he said, as she held onto him as tightly as she could. “It’s over now.”
And for the first time in a long time, it felt that way to Roz too.
EPILOGUE
The waves lifted up and fell back down in a tumbling roar, and the Dolphins jumped up and clapped their hands. At least that was how Rosalind described it.
Mick laughed. “I don’t think they have hands to clap, my darling,” he said.
“You know what I mean. Their flippers or whatever. But they’re clapping.”
Mick pulled her closer. “I know what you mean,” he said.
They were on a sailboat off the coast of Bimini, and Mick was leaned back with Roz, sitting in front of him, leaned back against him. The skies were blue, the waters were too, and it felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted from their shoulders. They both wore shorts and sandals. They both wore shades and boat hats. And they both were thrilled beyond measure to have this time alone.
“Wonder how Duke and Jackie are faring?” Roz asked. “This marks the first time we both have been away from them for such an extended period of time. I would say they were probably crying their eyes out over our absence, but I’d be lying. They don’t sweat the small stuff, those two. They’re probably having the time of their lives.”
Mick laughed. “They’re fine. They’re with my big brother. He raised me, so I know he can handle those two.”
Roz laughed in agreement.
“Besides,” Mick went on, “between Big Daddy and Jenay and all of his children, they’re spoiled rotten already.”
“Especially Duke,” Roz said. “That little guy thrives on attention. He’s a Little Mick to his soul.”
“What do you mean Little Mick?” Mick asked. “I don’t thrive on attention.”
“Oh, yes, you do,” Roz said. “That’s why you drive a Masi. That’s why you live in a mansion. That’s why you dress as if you just stepped off of the cover of Gentleman’s Quarterly magazine every time you step out of your front door. You love it, honey. Own your shit. You love it!”
Mick laughed. “Okay, okay, I get your point. But you aren’t exactly Mother Teresa yourself, Miss Bentley.”
Roz laughed. “True that,” she said.
“But this is the kind of relaxation we need,” Mick said.
“You mean all those times you made love to me in the name of relaxation was just a ploy?”
Mick smiled. “I wouldn’t go that far. Especially since I really plan to relax you tonight. But you get my meaning. I never went on vacations before I met you. Never saw the point of them. But this is needful. And I plan to make it my business to grab you and get away as often as we can.”
“Here, here,” Roz said, raising her glass of sherry in a toast. Mick raised his glass too.
“Those fools who thought you had lost a step has to realize now how wrong they were,” Roz said.
Mick agreed. “They do. They know I’m back, and I’m stronger and better. They know what happens when they fuck with me.”
Roz smiled. “They got that memo, hun Mick?”
“And if they didn’t,” Mick said, “shame on them. But yeah, I want us to do more of this. I like this life. I want us to live life, Rosalind. We are going to live. No more lockdowns and safe houses if I can help it. We’re going to enjoy this life for a change.”
Roz squeezed his hand. “Amen,” she said. And then she thought about Joey. “Speaking of children,” she said.
“Who was speaking of children?” Mick asked.
“We were earlier, boy, stop interrupting me. I had to say that to say this.”
Mick laughed.
“Speaking of children,” Roz said again, “how’s Joey been doing?”
“He’s been okay,” Mick said. “He’s taking care of business. He’s doing what he can to earn my trust again. I’m just tired of him constantly needing to earn it again. He’ll get nowhere if he’s always starting over.”
“He’ll get it together someday,” Roz said. “At least I pray so.”
“Speaking of trust,” Mick said.
“Who’s speaking of trust?” Roz asked.
“Speaking of trust,” Mick said with a smile, “you were pretty surprised by Doris betrayal.”
“Oh. That. Yes, I was. Totally,” Roz said. “I didn’t see it coming. And poor Miss Habersham. It shocked the shit out of her.”
“I can only imagine.”
“She was really blindsided,” Roz continued. “She worked with Doris every day and didn’t see it coming.”
“But thank God we discovered Doris and her little money-making scheme before anybody got hurt. She and Jake were fatally wounded, but they brought that on themselves. But all is well. That’s what counts.”
“Yes,” Roz said. She couldn’t agree more. “All is well.”
And they both snuggled even closer against each other as the Dolphins jumped up
again, and, as if agreeing too, flapped their tails and clapped their hands.
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Mick Sinatra: Now Will You Weep Page 17