Page 35 of Trina Gabrini: Bring Him Back Home to Me

When Sal, Tommy, and Robby Yale walked around that foyer looking as if they’d been in a life-or-death struggle, Trina’s heart didn’t feel any less mortified. But when she saw Reno walk around that foyer and enter the living room too, a sense of relief came over her. At least he was still alive. And wasn’t with that woman. That was something positive, she hoped.

“Daddy!” Carmine was the first to yell as soon as he saw his father. He, Dom and Jimmy all ran to Reno and threw themselves into his arms. So much so that they forced him several steps backwards.

But Reno held on. He was as happy to see his children again as they were happy to see him. Trina saw his eyes squeezed shut as he held onto all three of his children. She wanted to cry she was so happy that he came back home. But when she looked over at Tommy, who was pulling Grace into his arms, she could tell it wasn’t as simple as that.

Especially when Grace looked up at him. “Is all okay?” she whispered to him, but Trina heard her.

She also heard Tommy’s response: “Not quite,” he said. Which was the way Tommy spoke. He was never melodramatic. Unlike the rest of the family, he always spoke in understatements.

Then Reno and his children stopped embracing. Reno looked at Carmine, and then Dommi, and then he looked at Jimmy. “Y’all alright?” he asked him.

“Yes sir,” Jimmy said as he wiped away a tear. “We’re just glad you’re back home.”

“Where you belong,” said Carmine.

Reno ruffled Carmine’s thick head of hair. They never got along on any day of the week, but Carmine, like his other children, was Reno’s heart. And Reno, like his siblings, was Carmine’s heart and soul and everything. He was a terrible father with all of his Florence Nightingale cracks at Carmine just because Carmine loved to knit, but he was a great Dad. And Carmine knew, by his actions rather than his words, that Reno loved him dearly. That was why he fell into Reno’s arms again. Everybody viewed Carmine as an adult because of his brilliant mind. But he was still just a kid.

And Trina and Reno knew it too. That was why Reno finally looked at Trina when Carmine hugged him again. He was fighting back tears too.

And in that moment he was sorry he came. Because he was getting their hopes up again, only to have to dash them again. Trina wasn’t going to want him. She was going to be the one to kick his ass out. And he wouldn’t blame her for a second.

“Anybody heard from my wife?” Sal asked.

“Her security detail chief called and said she’s still in court,” said Jimmy, “and probably will be for the next several hours. I ordered them to keep at least four men in court with her at all times.”

“Good looking out, Jimmy,” said Sal.

“Where’s Sophie?” asked Reno.

“In the back with Destiny and all the others,” said Dom. “Want me to go get her?”

“No,” said Tommy. He knew Reno and Trina had to have a conversation. “Let’s go in the game room.”

Sal frowned. “What for?”

Jimmy and Dommi looked at Sal and then motioned toward their parents. “Oh, right,” said Sal. “Sure, why not? I wanna play a . . . a game,” he said incredibly unconvincingly, as everybody left Reno and Trina alone in the living room.

Reno began to move slowly toward Trina. When he made it in front of her, she didn’t stutter. “Where’s Lydia?” she asked him.

Reno didn’t expect such directness, given the emotions of the moment, but he wasn’t surprised. Direct was Trina’s middle name. “She tried to get away,” he said, “but she didn’t.”

“What do you mean? She’s dead?”

Reno nodded. “Yes.”

Trina was floored. “What happened?”

“I told you what happened. She tried to get away.”

“To get away from what?”

Reno hesitated. “Me,” he said. “She was trying to get away from me. And I had to handle that.”

“Handle it? But I thought she was your woman. That she was the woman you wanted to leave me for.”

Reno closed his eyes and leaned his head back. If only it was that simple! “I wouldn’t leave you for another woman, Tree. And especially not that woman.”

“But you said that’s why you wanted a divorce.”