by E. R. Fallon
Catherine nodded in agreement. “Let’s wait until he wakes up, so he can sleep for a little longer.”
Catherine suggested they try to get some rest, but Violet didn’t think she would be able to sleep. She changed out of her evening clothes and waited on the couch for the sun to rise while her mother slept in her bedroom. A few hours later, she felt the warmth of the sunlight coming in through the window-blinds and turned to see the morning beginning in the city outside. She checked the time and decided to make coffee. She’d turned off Tommy’s alarm clock earlier so that he could wake up on his own since he wasn’t going to school.
Violet went into the kitchen and heard her mother rising in the other room.
“Should I make him a special breakfast or would that be strange?” she asked her mother.
Catherine rubbed her eyes. “I would just give him what he usually has.”
“Cereal,” Violet said, pouring some into a bowl and taking the milk out of the refrigerator.
She and her mother had coffee, and after a while she heard Tommy stirring in his bedroom. Catherine followed her into his room.
“Good morning,” Violet said to her son, opening the curtain to let the light in.
He rolled away from her and grumbled. “Can I sleep a little more?”
“Tommy, honey,” she said gently. “Grandma’s here.”
Tommy looked over at Catherine, who sat on his bed. “Grandma, what are you still doing here?”
“Tommy, sweetheart, your mother and I have to tell you something.”
“What is it?” he asked, sitting up in bed. He didn’t seem alarmed, and why should he be? He was only a child, after all. When she didn’t respond right away, he seemed to sense something could be going on. “Mom?” he asked.
“Your father,” Violet started to say, touching his arm and looking him in the eye.
“What’s happened with Dad?”
“He died, sweetie,” she said quickly. “I’m sorry.”
Tommy collapsed into her arms and cried, and Violet hugged him, and Catherine embraced them both.
“It’s going to be okay. We’re all going to be okay,” Catherine told them both, and while Violet wanted to believe her mother, she sensed that a storm was brewing and that what awaited them ahead would be anything but calm.
Tommy stayed home from school and Violet called them to explain why. They offered to have Tommy see a grief counsellor. Max took care of things at the pub, and Catherine spent the entire day at Violet’s apartment, helping out with Tommy. Tommy had stopped crying after the initial grief and Violet worried about him because she knew what it was like to hold in your pain, what it could do to you over time, the toll it could take on you.
A few days later a wake, which Kevin’s mother and father had planned, was held at a funeral home, and Violet and Tommy attended with Catherine. They arrived and parked across the street and outside found a long line of people waiting to pay their respects. On the other side of the street, Violet noticed that every other car was black. They started to wait in the line, but Kevin’s father came out and spotted them and had them cut the line. They met Simone, a plump, attractive woman with tears in her eyes, inside and Violet embraced her. Simone kissed Tommy’s cheek and shook Catherine’s hand.
“Catherine, I haven’t seen you in ages. How are you?” she asked her.
“I’m well, thanks. I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“You’re strong just like your father was at your age,” Simone said to Tommy as she smiled at him. “You’ll be okay.”
Violet knew that Simone was trying to make herself feel better, but she also wanted Tommy to know that it was okay for him to show emotion, so she squeezed his shoulder.
“Joe, Vito, and Billy are already inside,” Simone told Violet. “They’re staying far from the windows because of the photographers outside.”
Joe was the name of the boss of the Alfonsi crime family. The ‘photographers’ was a codeword for the FBI, who often watched mafia funerals to see who attended them and who the current players might be. Violet thought of the black cars parked outside.
Simone and her husband went to greet an older couple who’d entered, and Violet walked with her mother and Tommy into the room where Kevin’s closed coffin rested behind rows of colorful flowers. It looked like a reception would be held in an adjacent room afterwards. The three of them sat down near Camille’s stepfather, Vito, and her ex, Billy, and Violet saw the boss and his wife seated in the row opposite them.
Vito and Billy nodded at her and she smiled, but the boss didn’t see her. After a moment, Violet took a deep breath and took Tommy’s hand and led him to Kevin’s coffin. Catherine followed behind them.
Tommy refused to look despite the coffin being closed and Violet held him as he cried, which she knew wasn’t easy for him because he wasn’t a little boy anymore and public hugs embarrassed him. Violet dried her eyes because seeing Tommy so upset made her emotional. Catherine had brought a red rose with her and she placed it on Kevin’s coffin then put her arms around Tommy and Violet and the three retreated to their seats. Tommy was too young to say a few words in his father’s honor, but Kevin’s father gave a short speech while Kevin’s mother sobbed.
The three went to the reception in the adjacent room after the viewing where many people came up to her and Tommy to offer their condolences. Joe, a large, heavy man in a dark, fine Italian suit and tie, sat with his lovely young wife at the head of the room, a sign that he was a man of true importance, and gestured for Violet to come over.
Violet assumed he meant alone so she asked her mother to watch Tommy then went to him. The boss’s wife smiled at her and asked her how she was. And then she said how sorry she was about Tommy’s father. Violet thanked her. Joe gestured for Violet to sit next to him and his wife left to give them privacy.
“I have to tell you how sorry I am about this whole mess,” he told her in his deep, calm voice. His leather shoes shone in the light of the room.
“Thank you,” Violet told him. She and her mother had spoken with the boss a few times, but she’d never done so alone before and her neck stiffened and her brow dampened.
“I want you to know that I’m here for you and Tommy if you ever need anything. Kevin was like a brother to all of us. You won’t be forgotten.”
His words should have assured Violet of his loyalty, but she still had doubts. But the Italians were all about a code system and Violet knew this, and she knew that he would have to bring up the matter of Camille first, she couldn’t outright ask him.
“Would you like some coffee?” he asked her as he sipped his.
Violet nodded and the boss had the man who tended to his needs get her one. He set it down on the table by Violet and she drank some.
“I believe you are thinking about the same thing I am thinking about,” Joe told her. “Camille O’Brien,” he said, confirming her suspicion.
Violet felt relieved he wanted to discuss the matter, but she also dreaded what he would say.
“As I’m sure you know, Vito is her stepfather, and he has been good to me. He has asked me to consider her offer. Billy, who used to be with her, has told me she is a smart woman and I know he still cares about her, but at the moment he wishes our partnership would remain with you and your mother out of loyalty to his dear friend Kevin. As you can see, I am a bit conflicted.”
“I appreciate your honesty,” Violet said, putting her coffee cup down.
“The thing is,” the boss said, “Camille has offered us a better deal than the one you and your mother give us. If things were a different way, I wouldn’t even have to consider it.”
Violet sensed she knew where this was going: the boss would try to persuade her and her mother to give him a better offer, but she knew her mother wouldn’t want to decrease their percentage.
“The percentage we give you dates back to my grandfather, who brokered the deal with your organization,” Violet told him.
“Yes, but times have changed,” the boss
replied.
“I understand, but from a business point of view this percentage has worked for so many years so why change it now?” She asserted herself in a way that she wouldn’t have imagined when speaking alone to him. The situation with Camille made her tense. “Sorry if that was too blunt,” she added.
“No, no, you’re right, of course,” he said, the reasonable man that he was. “But now that Camille has come to us with this offer, I can’t forget it. She proposed something I hadn’t considered before. It made me realize that I wasn’t happy with what you give us.”
Violet clenched her fists at the thought of Camille ruining things for them. How dare she. She smiled at the boss when she really wanted to scream at the idea of him accepting Camille’s offer.
“What exactly has she offered you?” Violet asked him. “Did she ask you to help her get rid of us?”
“We declined to do that. But she offered us seventy percent if she can gain control from you, and we promised to let her operate in the neighborhood if she did.”
“She’s confident,” Violet said with displeasure. “But, boss, she’s got no one on her side. She’s on her own, there’s no way she’s getting control from us.”
The boss thought for a moment. “Perhaps she can join you?” he proposed.
Violet shook her head. “No. I’m afraid she’d never consider that. Not after what my grandfather and mother did to her father. You’re aware of the history?”
The boss nodded. “A little, yes.”
“Then you know that she’s out for revenge. This isn’t just about money or power for her. It’s personal.”
“Personal. That’s the worst kind of motivation to deal with,” the boss said, “because the person won’t give up easily.”
“Yeah, I know she’s not going away anytime soon.”
The boss sat back in his chair and touched his chin. People stared at him admiringly but didn’t come up to say hello. “I’m surprised you haven’t considered dealing with her,” he told Violet.
“We can’t. Not now. We have a dilemma,” Violet said but she didn’t elaborate.
“What is it?” the boss asked her.
“There’s this detective, he’s paying close attention to me and my mother. There’s a guy who used to work for us, and now he’s implicated us in the death of this union guy.”
“Yes, I remember that death. Unfortunate, but sometimes these things are needed, and I trust you and your mother’s judgement.”
“We thank you for that. Anyway, this detective has said that he is keeping a close eye on us. He could be outside right now for all we know. Acting on Camille isn’t a possibility at the moment, not when we’re under watch. We can’t get rid of the guy who implicated us for the same reason. We have no choice but to sweat it out.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but I don’t think there’s anything I can do.”
The Italians didn’t ‘deal with’ cops, and she already knew that.
“My mother isn’t as concerned as I am,” Violet told the boss.
“Everyone handles these things differently.”
Violet didn’t want to delay the inevitable so she said, “I want you to know that we appreciate your working with us, but I think that an increase from fifty percent to seventy would be too much for my mother to accept.”
“You’ve told me how your mother would feel, but what’s your opinion?”
He’d put her on the spot, but she didn’t want to disagree with her mother and create conflict between them. “I agree with her,” she said.
“All right,” the boss replied, not sounding satisfied. “You leave me no choice but to either betray Kevin or keep things as they are.”
“Please,” Violet practically begged. “In Kevin’s honor I ask you to remain with us.”
“Perhaps your mother would consider matching Camille’s offer,” the boss asked again.
But Violet knew that her mother wouldn’t want to accept less than what she already had. “I don’t think Camille O’Brien will succeed,” Violet said, although she had her doubts.
“If that is true then perhaps, we have nothing to discuss. I still think you should ask your mother. In the meantime, you have nothing to worry about. Tommy is Kevin’s son and so he is like a son to me. I’ll reject Camille’s offer.”
Violet wanted to hug the big gangster, but she merely smiled and thanked him.
“What’s going to happen with the guys who killed Kevin?” she asked him.
“Nothing,” he answered. “Their boss has informed me that they took care of the guy who did him in, so we are even. I think they wanted to avoid a war.”
She said goodbye and left. The boss’s wife, who had been chatting with a couple nearby, returned to sit with him.
Catherine had been watching them and she approached Violet as Tommy played with some other children nearby.
“What was that all about?” Catherine asked her.
“He confirmed my suspicions about Camille,” Violet told her mother. “She did meet with them, and she promised them a better offer than we have with the Alfonsis.”
“What did she promise them?”
“Seventy percent.”
Catherine shook her head in anger. “Is he going to accept her offer?”
“No, but he did consider it, and it would only have happened if she managed to take control from us, which she won’t. The boss says he’s loyal to us because of Kevin, but unfortunately, Camille has planted the idea of a larger percentage in his mind and he wants us to consider raising their percentage.”
“She’s going to squeeze us out,” Catherine said. “The nerve of her even thinking of trying something like that, and to think that at one time I liked her, considered her like a daughter in a way.”
Violet gulped, because her mother had never admitted that out loud before, although Violet had suspected it.
“Just Camille circling about them could cause trouble. We should consider raising their percentage,” Violet told her mother. “That way, we can secure their loyalty if anything else should happen with Camille.”
“The split has been fifty-fifty ever since your grandfather organized the partnership with them all those years ago. Why should we raise it?”
“I explained that to the boss, but Camille’s put the idea of a better percentage in his head. We might not have a choice.”
“No,” Catherine said. “We’re not giving in. Next thing we know they’ll want eighty percent then ninety, or they’ll move in on the neighborhood and take everything from us. We’ve always operated with their permission, and I don’t see why things should change, especially since Kevin was one of them.”
“Kevin’s dead,” Violet said. “They could forget about him and that loyalty after a while and we’ll end up with nothing or dead ourselves. I know you’re proud, but with Camille in the picture, everything has changed. If we agree to giving them a higher percentage then, maybe, we secure their loyalty forever and their help with dealing with Camille when the time comes.”
The boss hadn’t offered to eliminate Camille for them, but Violet sensed that if they continued to work together and Camille became a genuine problem then he might help them.
“I still think Camille could just go away. She’ll realize she can’t win and then she’ll forget about it. And the boss will forget about her offer once she’s gone. Everything will be like it once was.” Catherine spoke with confidence, but Violet found her mother’s reasoning a bit deranged.
“I have to say I don’t agree with you,” Violet said, although she knew that if she went behind her mother’s back and gave the Alfonsi family a larger percentage her mother would never forgive her. Dating back to Violet’s grandfather, the Irish had a thing about not giving into the more powerful Italian mob, and it was symbolic more than anything. The two groups were once traditional rivals but over the years had formed an unsteady alliance, where the Italians often had the upper hand much to the chagrin of the Irish.
Tommy
ran up to them and asked if he could go outside with some of the other children to play. Catherine told him it was okay, but Violet didn’t like him playing outside in the city without an adult watching.
“When you’re a teenager, you can do that, but you have another year until you are one, so, no,” she said to Tommy.
Tommy frowned and wouldn’t look at her. It wasn’t easy for Violet to be sensitive to his needs all the time, especially at a time like this, and with everything that was going on in her life.
“I’m sorry, kid,” she said, touching Tommy’s face, and he allowed her to keep her hand there.
“You should have let him go,” Catherine told her as Tommy returned to the other children.
“He’s my son,” Violet stated, not looking at her mother, but she imagined her expression.
Violet let Tommy stay home from school to mourn for a while, and a few days later there was a church service and burial for Kevin which Violet attended with Tommy and her mother. Despite the sudden death, Violet had a little more happiness in her life from knowing that the Alfonsi family wouldn’t be collaborating with Camille any time soon. Just picturing the look on Camille’s face when she found out made her smile.
15
About a week after her meeting with the Alfonsi crew, Vito phoned Camille and asked her to meet him at the café he frequented in the mornings. Vito had told Camille’s mother what Camille was trying to set up and her mother had encouraged her to pursue it. Vito had said he had some news he needed to tell her, and Camille didn’t know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. Would he have been more likely to give her bad news over the phone or in person? Camille had known Vito for many years, but she didn’t really know him. She had kept her distance.
She had some money saved, but now she was using it for daily expenses until she got her life sorted out. Part of her felt she was crazy for believing she could take the Irish mob from the McCarthys, and that she’d either end up dead, broke, or both. But she had little to lose except for Johnny.
Camille walked to the café from her apartment in her father’s favorite leather jacket despite the heat. She moved with grace as she walked, confident that her stepfather would tell her yes and that she’d secure the Alfonsis’ cooperation. After all, her stepfather would lose her mother if she told her the truth about that night when Camille was a teenager.