Page 51 of Gary
“We are not done.”
He stared at the man on the bed and curled his lips grimly. “Right now, we are and as I keep reminding you, I am not a goddamned child and am certainly not under your influence. Those days are done. So, uncle, let’s go..” Striding to the door, he pulled it open and left.
“Why don’t you say it?” Grant asked his brother wearily, after a few minutes of pregnant silence.
“I don’t think I need to. Are you going to spend your last remaining time pissing him off?”
Leaning his head back, Grant closed his eyes and felt every single day and hour of his sixty-five years. He felt old and ineffective.
He was sick and tired and sick and tired of being both all the time. He did not have any power. He had lost every bit of it when he lost his brother and received the diagnosis.
And he was alienating the son he wanted to get forgiveness from.
“He reminds me of you.” A faint smile played around his lips. “Stubborn and willful. As well as filled with integrity.” He turned his head to stare at his youngest brother. “He should have been yours.”
Graham gave him a mild look. “Getting soft in your old age?”
“I am soft. And old and dying. But he is young and strong and will be good for the business. He has morals, something George and I never had. The two of you together will be able to turn the company around.”
“I certainly hope so.” He stared at his brother in contemplative silence for a spell. “I think he has met someone.”
Grant’s eyes sharpened. “Who?”
His brother shrugged. “He has not told me her name, but he took her to a restaurant, I introduced him to some years ago and he is happy.”
“Find out who she is!” Grant ordered, causing his brother to give him a wry look.
“I am not playing that game.”
“We have to find out if this woman is worthy…”
“Of the Moretti’s name?” Graham’s sarcasm was thick. “I have a feeling the reason Gary has not said anything, is because he is ashamed of it. He is still using his mother’s maiden name, you know.”
Grant’s belligerence deflated like a collapsed rigging on a ship. “You are right. Our name is not one to be proud of. I just want him to be happy.”
His brother’s expression softened. “You and me both. But until he is ready to reveal her name, I am not going to press him or interfere in his affairs.” He sobered. “This thing with Gotti.”
“Yes.” His brother nodded. “He has it in for Gary since they were children growing up and I don’t think he has let it go. The man is a bully, even worse than his old man. At least Manny was upfront about his intentions. Maurice is like a snake, hiding in the grass until he is ready to strike.”
Grant stared off across the room. “If he touches one hair on my son’s head…”
“Gary can take care of himself. My problem is that you won’t see the bastard coming.”
“Then we stay one step ahead of him.”
*****
Gary was still fuming when he got to the location, his body vibrating with anger. He would never change and what the hell did he care anyway? He had never been a father to him when he was growing up and being an adult now, he certainly did not need him to be one. He wouldn’t know how.
Fighting the despair that was threatening to overwhelm him, he drove into the overgrown yard and pulled the vehicle to a stop in front of the building.
The demolition team had been coming by the past couple of days and were due to start tearing the place down in a couple of days. His gaze swung to the cottage he had assigned to Raymond and wondered where the boy was.
The day he had spent with the youth had restored his faith in what he was about to do. They had cleaned the place up from top to bottom and enjoyed two boxes of pizza washed down with coke.
He had bought the kid a phone, nothing fancy, but one would think it was the latest invention, from the incredulous look on the boy’s face. The clothes were another thing. They were not expensive, but Raymond had been so grateful that he had to turn away to control his emotions.
It was that kind of thing that made life worth a damn, that, and love. He was about to walk over to the cottage when the front door opened, and Raymond came bounding out. Gary had also bought him a bicycle so that he could come and go as he pleased. He had stocked up enough groceries to last the kid for more than a month.