Big Daddy Sinatra: Carly's Cry (25 page)

Charles felt torn.
 
He didn’t know what to do.
 
He couldn’t hand his baby over to a man who
very well might be using her to get to Mick.
 
But as with many things in his life, the question answered itself when
Mick’s cell phone began to ring.

Mick pulled it out and answered it as
he drove.
 
He wasn’t accustomed to being
the driver of the group, but he knew Charles had the most influence of any man
alive over Carly.
 
“This is Sinatra,” he
said.

As Mick listened to his phone call,
Carly listened to her heart.
 
And she was
being told, as clear as crystal, that her heart belonged with Trevor.
 
They were in early days still.
 
She understood that.
 
And he very well might not want her like
that.
 
But he saved her life.
 
He took a bullet to save her life.
 
And even as he fought for his own life, he
phoned to make sure she was okay.
 
He
might be everything and more that her father and uncle declared that he was,
and she understood that.
 
But she saw him
as her chance to live.
 
She saw him as
her chance to dare to do what she wanted to do for a change.
 
She saw him as a man she could grow to love
deeply.

When Mick ended the call, he seemed
perplexed.
 
Even Carly saw it.
 
Charles saw it especially.
 
“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Mick exhaled.
 
“It’s not him,” he said.

Charles frowned.
 
“It’s not who?”

“Trevor Reese.”

“What about Trevor?” Carly asked.

“That was one of my men,” Mick
said.
 
“He said there had been a
mistake.”

“What kind of mistake?” Charles
asked.

“When I ordered them to crosscheck
any of the men I had to take out, and to crosscheck them with the name Reese,
they did that.
 
When they saw Reese, they
assumed that was the guy.
 
But it was
James Reese, not Trevor Reese.”

Charles frowned.
 
Carly didn’t understand either.
 
“What do you mean?” Charles asked.
 
“Make it plain, Mick.”

“The guy I iced,” Mick said, “wasn’t
Trevor’s father.
 
There’s no connection.
I have no connection with Trevor Reese.
 
At least, not
that
connection.”

Carly was ecstatic.
 
Charles was still confused.
 
“Then why did he want that woman to spy on my
family?” he asked.

Mick said three words he hated to
say.
 
“I don’t know,” he said.

And as the car pulled into the
airstrip where Mick’s private plane was waiting, Charles didn’t know
either.
 
But he knew he had a decision to
make.
 
He stared at his daughter.
 
This was crazy on every level.
 
How could he even think it?
 
But somehow he knew he had to let her
go.
 
She was a grown woman.
 
She had to live her life for herself.
 
He had to allow her that opportunity.

Mick knew it too.
 
That was why, when he stopped the car, he
handed the keys to Charles.
 
Charles
handed the keys to Carly.

“Live your life,” Charles said to his
beloved daughter.
 
“But when you find
that it’s too much for you to handle alone, you’d better call me.”

“And me,” Mick added.

Carly smiled.
 
And hugged her father.
 
“You know I will,” she said.

But they weren’t that trusting.
 
Mick ordered the group of men he had waiting
in an SUV at the airstrip in case he needed to call in backup, to follow her to
that hospital.
 
“Blanket her,” he
ordered.
 
And they took off too.

But what faced Mick and Charles
weren’t so cut and dry.
 
When they
thought it was a past connection, it was easier to swallow.
 
But now they didn’t even have that to hang
their hats upon.
 
All they knew was that
Trevor Reese was up to something, and it involved the Sinatra family.
 
What they didn’t know, and this was a big
lack of knowledge, was what that something was.

“We’ll find out,” Mick reassured his
brother.
 
“I can promise you that.”

“And they got the name wrong?”
Charles asked, still astounded by this turn of events.

Mick nodded with a flash of anger in
his eyes.
 
“Yup.”

“That’s some incompetent shit there,”
Charles said.

“I know,” Mick acknowledged.

Charles gave him a hard look. “But
it’s not worth killing anybody over.
 
They messed up.
 
That’s all.”

“Their fuck up almost cost us our
lives,” Mick reminded him.
 
“Their fuck
up almost cost Carly hers too.
 
That
failure will not go unpunished.”

Charles hated to hear about more
carnage.
 
But he understood.
 
Mick’s very survival depended on his
strength.
 
He touched his younger brother
on the arm, as they headed for the plane.

By the time Carly made it to the
hospital, Trevor was in the emergency room, surrounded by heavy guard.
 
When she saw him, her heart leaped with joy and
she hurried toward him.
 
But his guards
stopped her.

“Trevor!” she cried.
 
“He wants to see me,” she said, although she
wasn’t certain of that.
 
“Trevor!”

When Trevor heard her voice over all
of the noises around him, his heart went still.
 
Was he delusional?
 
But he heard
it again.
 
“
Trevor
,” he heard.
 
And he
was certain now.

He looked in the direction of the
sound, and saw Carly attempting to go around his guards. “Let her through!” he
ordered in a voice so faint his men didn’t hear him. “Let her through!” he said
again, and they heard it that time.

The men stepped aside, and Carly ran
to Trevor.

Trevor was in tremendous pain, and
was already hooked up to an I-V, but he still had enough strength within him to
pull Carly into his arms.
 
“Carly,” he
said.
 
“Carly.”

He couldn’t say anymore, but that was
enough.
 
Because Carly had already made
up her mind.
 
She was ready to sink or
swim, ride or die, with Trevor.
 
And it
felt as impulsive and spontaneous and reckless as she wanted it to feel.
 
It felt strange and different.
 
Messy for once.
 
Like life.

They sat in the family room and
watched the election night returns in a kind of resigned silence.
 
Charles, with his arm around Jenay and with
his youngest child on his lap, sat on the sofa.
 
Brent and Makayla, hand in hand, sat beside them.
 
The floor was littered with everybody else:
Tony, with Sharon Flannigan sitting beside him.
 
Robert, with his young nephew, Junior, sitting beside him.
 
And Donald and Ashley sitting beside each other.
 
But as they all watched the big screen TV
with rapt attention, the writing was already on the wall.

“It’s going to be Cruikshank,” Tony
said.
 
“There’s no way the mayor can
overtake that big a lead.”

Donald looked at their father.
 
“What does it mean, Dad?” he asked.

“It means,” Robert interjected, “that
Brent and Makayla are going to be fired from their jobs.
 
Cruikshank has been promising it since he
first started running all those months ago.
 
That’s one campaign promise I’ll bet you he’ll keep.
 
That’s what it means.”

“It means more than that,” Tony
said.
 
“Cruikshank promised to bring Dad
down too.”

Everybody looked at their father, as
if they had forgotten about that fact.
 
But Donald wasn’t believing it any way.
 
He smiled.
 
“Go on,” he said.
 
“He can’t bring Dad down.”

“For real,” Ashley agreed.

“For wrong,” Tony disagreed.
 
“He’ll be mayor.
  
He can pass all kinds of ordinances.
 
He can do whatever he wants.”

“So what does this all mean, Dad?”
Donald asked again, and everybody looked at Charles.

“It means we fight,” Charles said,
“to hold onto what’s ours.”

“Damn right,” Brent said.

“What are you talking about?” Donald
asked Brent.
 
“Cruikshank’s going to fire
you and your wife.”

“Really, Daddy?” Junior asked his
father.

“No, son,” Brent responded.
 

“What do you mean no?” Donald asked.

“I mean if the vote tally holds and
Cruikshank is nominated mayor of Jericho, he won’t have to fire me.
 
I will resign,” Brent said.

“As will I,” Makayla said.
 
“Although it’s doubtful that my position
could be placed under his jurisdiction anyway, despite that city council vote.”

“But why not fight for your jobs?”
Ashley asked.
 
“Dad said we should
fight.”

“But that’ll be the wrong fight,”
Brent said.
 
“Dad is going to need all
hands on deck.
 
Me, Makayla, all of us.”

Jenay smiled.
 
She and Charles loved it when Brent took
control.
 
“That’s right,” Jenay
said.
 
“The Sinatra Corporation is a
family business.
 
Brent and Makayla has
agreed to come to work in that business.
 
Cruikshank’s election could be a blessing in disguise.”

“Wow,” Robert said.
 
“So that means all of us will be working for
Dad.”

“That’s right,” Jenay said proudly.

“All except Carly,” Ashley reminded
them.

“But that’s where you’re wrong,” a
voice said, and everybody looked toward the entrance into the family room.
  
Carly was standing at the entrance.

“Look at you!” Ashley said.
 
“All decked down in designer everything.
 
You go girl. You don’t look like a book worm
anymore!”

“You look great, Carly,” Robert
agreed.

“Thanks,” Carly said with a smile as
she made her way toward her family.

“What do you mean Ash was wrong?”
Tony asked her.

“Hey, former boss,” Carly said to
Sharon as she walked closer.

Sharon smiled.
 
“I was your boss for about two minutes,” she
said.
 
“We still miss you at Saint
Cat’s.”

Carly smiled.
 
“Thanks.”

“We would love to have you back,”
Sharon said.
 
“Would you like to come
back?”

“No ma’am,” Carly said quickly and
Carly, along with everybody else, laughed.
 
Her family had never seen her so vivacious.

“What I meant,” Carly said to Tony,
“when I said you were wrong, is that I’m the only PR professional in this
family.
 
To beat back Cruikshank and his
plans to take Dad down will require a lot of cutting edge public relations.
 
I’ll help out every way I can.”

Charles pulled Jenay closer.
 
They were pleased to hear it.

“What about your gangster boyfriend?”
Donald asked.
 
“Is it over already?
 
I told you it wasn’t going to last.
 
It’s over, isn’t it?”

Carly smiled.
 
“Not hardly,” she said.
 
“It’s just getting started.
 
Trust.”

Her siblings laughed, and her parents
looked at each other.
 
They still had
serious issues with Trevor Reese.
 
There
was just too much mystery surrounding him and not enough information for them
to make any factual conclusions.
 
But
Carly’s happiness could not be denied.
 
Even Charles could see her glow.

And as she joined them in the family
room, sitting on the floor with her other siblings, Charles also could not deny
the challenge.
 
Things were changing
dramatically for all of them, and it was going to take a full court press to
beat back every challenge.
 
But as
Charles pulled Jenay tighter into his arms, he knew that they, as a couple and
as a family, were going to get through this just fine.