Tommy Gabrini: The Grace Factor by Mallory Monroe Page B

wonderment, the transformation that was in her
backyard, her look was priceless.   Grace
hurried around the now screaming kids and looked at Destiny too.   She wasn’t screaming, but her eyes were.   The sheer magic in those eyes warmed her
parents’ hearts.
    “Daddy,” she said,” still staring at
the magnitude of her gift, “this is all mine?”
    Tommy grinned. “It’s all yours,
sweetheart.   Every single inch of it.”
    Destiny hugged her father
tightly.   But she was still a child.   She jumped from his arms, grabbed him by the
hand, and ran with him out into what was a carnival backyard.   There was a Ferris wheel.   There was a petting zoo.   There were bumper cars and swings and
trains.   There was a hot dog stand, an
ice cream stand, a candy and popcorn stand.   Even Dommi left Sophie to fend for herself, and ran to have some fun,
when he saw that petting zoo.
    “What would you like to ride first?”
Tommy asked as she dragged him into the middle of the excitement.
    “That,” she said, pointing to the
Ferris wheel, and she and Tommy, along with many of her friends, got
onboard.  
    Grace stood back, with her arms
folded, and couldn’t stop smiling.   She knew
Destiny would adore the gift Tommy came up with, but she never could have
imagined the look on Destiny’s face.   The
pure joy on their child’s face was worth every expense, every person he hired,
every minute of his time and attention, and Grace knew it.   Because that was the kind of father Tommy
was.   As she watched him ride that Ferris
wheel with his little girl, as she watched him have the time of his life just
because Destiny was there, she knew that was the kind of man Tommy was.   Kind.   Devoted.   Honorable.   He was all those things and so much
more.   Grace knew it now.   She knew the biggest mistake she ever made
was leaving a man like him.   She knew, if
she had been the woman then that she was now, it would have been
unfathomable.   No way would she have left
a man like Tommy, no matter his lifestyle.   But she wasn’t that woman back then.   She was terrified then.   She was a
new mother, she had just endured a shooting that almost took her life, she felt
as if she was backed into a corner.   It
was either fight or flight.   She took
flight.   She regretted that decision.
    “Wow,” a voice said behind her.   “It’s something to see, isn’t it?”
    Grace turned around.   Her husband Ed, the man she married after she
divorced Tommy, was walking up behind her.   She turned back toward Tommy and Destiny.   “Yes,” she said.   “It’s something to see.”
    Ed placed his arm around her waist,
turned her chin toward him, and kissed her on the mouth.   Tommy, who had been taking peeps at Grace as
he rode the Ferris wheel with Destiny, saw when Ed walked up.   He saw the kiss.
    “I miss you,” Ed said to Grace when
their lips parted.
    Grace looked at him.   He was an attractive man, but he was sweaty,
and seemed extremely winded.   “What’s
wrong with you?” she asked him.             
    “What’s wrong with me?” Ed responded
defensively.   “Why would you ask
something like that?   Nothing’s wrong
with me.   What are you talking about?”
    But Grace didn’t back down.   “Why are you so sweaty?   And you’re practically out of breath.”
    “Oh, that, ” Ed said with a charming smile, although he knew he had to
tell a tall one.   “I’m running for the
Senate, remember?   That requires a lot of
work, a lot of jujitsu.   Not just
mentally, but physically too.   So I’ve
been working out at the gym.”
    But Grace wasn’t buying it.   Working out would explain his sweatiness, and
even his windedness.   But it wouldn’t
explain that wild, almost manic look in his eyes.   He only got that look when he was deeply
troubled.   “What else is going on, Ed?”
she asked him.
    “Nothing else is going on,” he said
with some irritation in his voice.