The doors to the hospital slid open and Dominic, unconscious and on a stretcher, was rushed into the emergency room by the two paramedics.  Trina, who had accompanied him in the ambulance, and Kamala and Fiona, who had arrived in Kamala’s BMW, ran in behind him.  But when the stretcher was whisked off into the back, into the examining room, Trina and her friends were stopped at the door.

“You’ll have to wait in the waiting room, ma’am,” the nurse proclaimed.     

“But that’s my son,” Trina said, attempting to push past the nurse.  All she could think about was her son’s limp body.  All she could think about was if her son was going to be alright.  “I need to be with him!”

“No one allowed after this point,” the nurse said.  “You’ll have to wait in the waiting room.  They’ll need his insurance information also.  Does he have insurance?”

“Does he have insurance?” Kamala asked.  “Do you know who she is, lady?”

“Why would you ask if he has insurance?” Fiona asked.  “That sounds a little racist to me.”

“I just want to see my son!” Trina cried out.  “Just let me see my son!”

But as Trina tried to get past the nurse again, the nurse moved in front of Trina’s passage again.  “I said you can’t go in there.  Now that’s final!”

“That’s Mrs. Gabrini you’re talking to,” Kamala said. “As in Reno Gabrini?  As in the owner of the PaLargio Hotel and Casino on the Vegas Strip?”

Kamala could tell her pronouncement was having an effect on the nurse.

“And you know what they say about those casino moguls,” Kamala added.  “All of them are a bunch of mafia-owned killers.  Who in their right mind would want to get on the wrong side of the mob?”

The nurse’s entire expression changed from resolve to retreat.  “You can come in,” she said to Trina. “But just you.”

“Yeah, I thought so!” Kamala said.  “I thought you’d change your tune.”

But Trina wasn’t thinking about any of that.  Dommi was on her mind.  She hurried through the double doors, down the hall, and into the examining room.

 

It was her third try, but Reno wasn’t answering.  She stood in the hall, just outside of the examining room, and tried his office.  No answer there either.  She tried various members of his senior staff, and although they tried to track him down, nobody was able to.  He had apparently gone off campus, their term for leaving the PaLargio, to attend a meeting, they said.  A meeting they knew nothing about.  And at that time of night?  Yeah, right, Trina thought.  They said they would continue to track him down.  But by Trina’s third try, she was done.

“Ma!”

She heard the voice and turned to the sound.  It was Jimmy Mack Gabrini, Reno’s grown, biracial son from a previous relationship.  Trina smiled.  At least Jimmy came.  “Hey,” she said.

“Is he okay?” Jimmy quickly asked.

“That hellyun is fine,” Trina said with a smile.

“He’s no longer unconscious?” Jimmy asked.

“No, he’s wide awake.  They want to keep him overnight for observation, but he’s fine.  And if you think for a minute that that knot on his head changed him in any way, you can forget it.  He woke up running his mouth.”

Jimmy laughed.  “That’s Dommi!” he said.  “Nothing will ever change that boy.  But how in the world could he have fallen out of that big-ass oak tree over at Aunt Cyntel’s?”

“He didn’t fall out of that tree,” Trina said.  “That fool jumped out of that tree!”

Jimmy couldn’t believe it.  “What?”

“He jumped out, Jimmy, to show those kids how it’s done.”

Jimmy laughed.  “That’s my brother!” he said.  “Fearless as all get out!”  Then he looked around.  “Where’s Sophie?” he asked.  “I just saw Auntie Kamala and Auntie Fiona leaving the hospital.”

“Yeah, they came with me to make sure Dommi was going to be alright.”

“But where’s Sophie?  I didn’t see Sophie with them.  She’s in Dom’s room?”

“She’s still at CiCi’s.  CiCi’s going to keep her and the baby for me tonight at her place.”

“No need for that,” Jimmy said firmly.  “I’ll go pick’em up.”

“Will you Jimmy?” Trina asked with a smile and appreciation in her voice.  “I love CiCi, but I’d rather have my kids at home.  Thanks so much!”

“You know I got you, Ma,” Jimmy said. “Don’t even worry about it.” 

Trina looked at Jimmy with renewed respect.  Ever since Sal Gabrini talked his brother Tommy into hiring Jimmy as the head of the Vegas branch of Tommy’s corporation, he’d blossomed into a wonderfully responsible and caring young man.

Then Jimmy thought of something.  “But,” he asked, as if he was confused, “where’s Dad?”

An even more stressful look appeared in Trina’s eyes.  “Hell if I know,” she said.

“You can’t reach him?”

“No.  And nobody at the PaLargio knows where he is.”

“That’s typical Dad.  He’ll go off campus and don’t tell anybody anything.  It used to drive me bonkers when I worked for him.”

“Drive me bonkers too.”

“But don’t worry, Ma,” Jimmy said.  “I’ll find him.  And then I’ll go pick up your other children at CiCi’s.”

Trina smiled.  But it was hardly funny.

But before Jimmy left, he wanted to take a peep at his kid brother without exciting him.  He opened the door to the room very slightly, and peeped inside.  Dommi was not only sitting up on the bed, he was surrounded by other kids in the children’s ward.  He was telling them about how he actually flew out of that tree, and they were holding onto his every word.  Jimmy shook his head and smiled.  “That’s my brother,” he said again.

 

Reno rushed into the hospital later that night.  After being told which private room his son had been moved to, he hurried onto the elevator and made his way up to the room.  He could kick his own ass for not being there when it happened.  He could kick his own ass for not being in place when Trina was trying to reach him.  It wasn’t until he returned to the PaLargio was he told to contact his wife.  He phoned her, but she wouldn’t answer.  Then he finally realized how many times she had tried to phone him, and how many times Jimmy had too.  He phoned Jimmy.  That was when he was told that Dommi got hurt, and to get to the hospital.

He entered Dommi’s room already feeling like an ass.  And even when he entered and saw that Dommi was asleep and appeared to be just fine, he still didn’t feel great.  Because Trina was standing at Dommi’s bedside and he knew she was pissed.

He hurried over to her.  “What happened?” he asked her.

But Trina was so angry at Reno that just seeing him, just hearing his voice, took her over.  And she hauled off and slapped him so hard that it staggered a big man like Reno.

“What the fuck?” Reno asked angrily as he regained his balance.  His first instinct was to lash back and beat the shit out of Trina, but Trina didn’t give him a chance.  She began hitting him and attempting to beat his ass.

“Trina, knock it off!” he said to her.  “Knock it off!” he said again.

But Trina was still flailing away.

Reno had to grab her into a big bear hug to prevent himself from striking her, but also to get her to come back to herself and stop striking him.  “It’s okay, Tree,” he said soothingly as he held her.  He was holding her tighter and tighter as her fight began to dissipate.  “It’s okay, babe, it’s okay.”

And Trina began to sob in Reno’s arms.  “You should have been here,” she said to him.  “You should have been here.”

And instead of denying that accusation, he embraced it.  “I know,” he said, as he rubbed her long, soft hair and handed her the monogramed handkerchief out of his pocket.  “I know, love.  I know.”

Reno stared at his son, and held his angry wife.  Trina had every right to be upset.  She had every right to lash out at his sorry ass.  He was dropping the ball big time, all over the place, but knowing didn’t mean a damn thing.  He was always talking about how he knew he was fucking up.  Trina was tired of him telling her how he knew the error of his ways.  His problem wasn’t a lack of knowledge.  He knew he dropped the ball.  His problem was trying to figure out how to pick it back up again.