Greater Than Rubies, a Novella inspired by the Jewel Trilogy (14 page)

Once he had his GED, he would attend online and on-site classes five days a week in order to sit for tests called CLEP tests. Passing these tests meant he would earn equivalent college credits in fundamental areas like mathematics and English without having to attend the actual classes. At the end of this road, Derrick had a full blown college education and a college degree waiting for him. And once he had that pigskin, Tony assured him that the sky was the limit.

When Derrick got back to the apartment one night, he tried to talk about it with the only person there, Sarah Thomas. After Robin and Tony married, Sarah would move in to the room down the hall from his. She had planted herself in Tony’s apartment that afternoon after having met with her interior decorator. Sarah was a few years older than him but much shorter, and he felt like she was approachable like her sisters. They had gotten off on the wrong foot when they first met, but he knew he could correct that given time. Derrick started talking and she let him speak until he started feeling uncomfortable with her impenetrable silence and stoic expression.

When he finished, she had said, “Wow. You dropped out of high school? Color me surprised.”

Derrick had stared at her, not fully believing the depth of her hostility. Then he had nodded and said, “Yeah. I figured I needed the extra time to work on my tattoos, sweetheart.”

Derrick had taken Tony up on his offer. Perhaps ironically, he had taken to his new lifestyle as if born to middle class parents in the suburbs. Comparing himself to Tony Viscolli with his super sharp appearance, Derrick had made every effort to clean up his own personal grooming. Granted, some things took some getting used to for him.

Derrick no longer had to worry about where his next meal might come from. He hesitated for long minutes the first time he realized that he should just go ahead and dispose of the disposable razor that had shaved its last good shave. Now, a fresh razor and a hot shower were only ever a few minutes away. Fresh, clean, brand new clothes that fit him as if tailor made were his for the asking. And shoes – shoes that looked so very nice and felt so incredibly good on his feet – shoes that no foot but his own had ever worn before surrounded his feet in the company of thick, warm socks. For Derrick, these things alone amounted to luxuries of untold worth.

Tony’s secretary answered a quick call in her headset then caught Derrick’s eye. “He’ll see you now, Mr. DiNunzio.”

Mr. DiNunzio. Derrick had been called much, much worse in his lifetime. He felt unexpectedly nervous about seeing Tony in his office. He saw him every evening when Tony was in town, shared a meal with him if his shifts at the hotel allowed it. But they never talked business at home, always God or sports or something else.

He knew that he hadn’t done anything wrong. Intellectually, he knew that Tony would not have Derrick “tuned up” as they said in his neighborhood, or worse. He could not identify the source of the butterflies in his stomach or the feeling of apprehension that kept him checking the corners of his eyesight.

He strode into the office and Tony rose with a smile and extended his hand. “Derrick,
figlio
. So good to see you. I must say that uniform seems to suit you. How is it going? Learning the ropes?”

Derrick took Tony’s manicured hand in his own white gloved hand and they shook. “It’s fine, sir. All the guests are nice, and often tip, and all the people manning the concierge station are helping me a lot.”

Tony nodded. “Good. Good. I want you to do that for at least a few more weeks. Let me know when you are ready for a new challenge. I want you to work with the wait staff some more, too. Your speech lessons are really paying off. Your inflection is nearly perfect. Sit. Sit.” He gestured toward the couch.

Derrick reached behind him and picked up his tails with one hand before taking a seat. “Is that what you wanted to see me about, Mr. Viscolli?”

Tony resumed his place behind his desk. “Not everything. There is some more. I wanted you to know that I heard from the ed center this morning. I wanted to be the first to congratulate you on earning your GED. It seems you were a good investment on my part. I’m very proud of you.”

Derrick felt amazement and, as that feeling surfaced, a lot of his unexplained anxiety vanished. “Really? I thought we’d hear back next week.”

Tony smiled, “They have your diploma ready. You can pick it up tonight when you go in for your first CLEP class.”

“That’s awesome, Mr. V. I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much! Thank you. I never would have done anything like this without you.”

Tony put his hand up in a calming gesture, “
Non ne parlano
. Just keep working hard.”

“I will, Mr. V. I promise.”

Tony nodded, then he grew solemn and said, “Derrick, that isn’t the only reason I asked you to see me this morning. I need to ask you something very serious, now. And I want you to know that your answer can be ‘no’ and nothing will change. I want you to trust me when I say that.”

The anxiety Derrick felt suddenly returned full force. He had been waiting and waiting here in Never-never-land for the other shoe to drop. Billionaires didn’t just give people anything. They loaned. And loans came due – with interest. A good investment? Yeah. If Derrick had learned anything in his life on the streets it was that the reason rich people stayed rich is because they didn’t give anything away. Ever.

So this was when Tony would ask him to go do something that he, himself, could not be party to for risk of getting his squeaky-clean filthy-rich hands dirty. This was payback time. This was when Tony asked Derrick to beat someone up, or threaten someone, or courier some merchandise, or even kill someone. Derrick had dreaded this moment but he braced himself for what was to come. Because Derrick had no illusions about judging a book by its cover. One could never tell what the book said inside but one could always tell what the book was going to cost. He knew how much this deal could cost him when he accepted the terms weeks before. And Derrick had never, ever welshed on a deal.

His voice came out ragged and scratchy and he asked, “What is it, Tony?”

Tony grinned, “Tony, now, is it? That’s fine but not in front of any of your coworkers. Only in private. I have a public image, after all.”

“Sorry.” Derrick quickly said. He imagined that Tony Viscolli did have quite a public image to maintain. He braced himself to play his part in maintaining that public image. No one would ever know what he did to repay this man’s patronage.

Tony shook his head. “Don’t be sorry,
figlio
. You and I are like brothers. It is right that my brother address me in that way. But not so when I am the boss. Regardless, this is my question. As my brother, I am requesting that you stand beside me on the most important day of my life. You would deeply honor me if you could act as one of my groomsmen. Please set aside anything else, and just consider it.”

Of all the things in the world that Tony could have asked him to do, this was as far away from any possibility he could have predicted as the east is from the west. Derrick had no idea how long he sat there with a dumb look on his face before he blurted, “You can’t know how much it means to me that you asked me, Tony. I can’t believe it. Of course. Of course I will.”

Tony felt one corner of his mouth creep up. “Ah, well, I think you might have agreed too soon. I had not yet informed you that you will have to walk down the aisle beside Sarah.”

And so the other shoe finally dropped. Derrick nearly laughed.

OBIN
rubbed her hands together then gripped her coffee cup in both hands, trying to warm them. From the window of the little cafe, she could see the river. It looked exactly as cold outside as it felt. Chunks of ice still floated near the shore of the Charles River, but the trees had started budding as spring desperately tried to beat back winter.

Tony carried two fresh steaming cups of coffee to the table and took his seat across from her. “This is a neat place,” Robin said, admiring the comfortable interior with hard wood floors, couches, leather chairs, and bookshelves lined with eclectic reading selections.

Tony nodded. “The church runs it. It’s a nonprofit so all receipts and tips support overseas ministries. We have a lot of handmade art and jewelry that are made by girls in a pregnancy crisis center in Africa. Those are sold here, too.”

Robin looked closer at the decor and noticed the price tags. “Wow. This is incredible.”

“Coffee houses are in vogue. We’re just leveraging that popularity until it stops meeting with success. It’s all about the right marketing at the right time to the right audience.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Plus, they make excellent coffee and scones.”

She took a sip of the coffee and nodded. “That is good.”

“I come here after rowing. I keep my scull in the boat house next door.”

“It won’t be long until you can be out there.”

“I think I have another trip to Florida and some more wind surfing to do while that ice out there keeps melting.” He lifted his cup as if in a toast and she laughed.

She set her cup back down in front of her. “How did the meeting with Derrick go?”

“It went well. I have a feeling that he thought I was about to hand him a bill for services rendered and was about to ask him to do something terrible. As soon as he realized nothing has changed, he relaxed so much. I hope he trusts me one day.”

“He comes from a world where you don’t get something for nothing.”

“It isn’t for nothing. I expect him to work hard and aim for success.”

Robin laughed. “Tony, you know what I meant.”

He leaned back as the waitress brought their scones. Steam piped up from them and Robin’s mouth watered at the smell of fresh baked yumminess. “Of course I know what you meant,” he said, breaking the blueberry scone in half and moving half to his plate, then breaking the cranberry scone in half and moving half to her plate.

“You don’t mind, do you, that I asked him to move into our apartment? I know we’ll be newlyweds.”

Robin shrugged as she took her first heavenly bite of light, flaky, blueberry flavored scone. She washed it down with the amazing coffee and just let the flavors mingle on her tongue for a moment before answering. “I don’t mind. I guess we could have gotten him some apartment somewhere and done the same for Sarah, but I don’t feel right about doing that. I think we need to just live together, the four of us. Derrick needs the family structure, and I want to get to know Sarah better now that I’m not juggling two jobs and scraping a living.”

Tony finished off the half of cranberry scone then set his fork down. “I want to talk to you about something.”

“Okay.” Robin set her own fork down and picked up her cup, sitting back in the chair.

“About the interview – “

With a sigh, Robin rubbed her temple with one hand. “You’ve managed to avoid talking to me about that. I was hoping it would go away.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk about.” He placed his palm flat on the table in front of him. “People dig things up on me. It is inevitable. Who is this man slowly growing this fortune in this city with some of the biggest power players in the world? But, there was nothing to find out. I have no record, I have no paper trail. The best someone could do was to find my birth certificate, and that didn’t tell them anything.” He gestured at her with his palm. “You are a different story. You were in the system, so to speak. Your mother died as a tragic statistic. You were arrested after stabbing a foster father.”