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Duke and Jackie were seated at the breakfast table picking around their food rather than eating it while Roz, in her bathrobe and seated at the table too, was drinking coffee. She normally didn’t get up this early, but she knew what went down last night had affected her children and she wanted to make sure they were okay. Especially Duke. He and Teddy were close. He was extremely distressed last night.

But tactfulness was never Roz’s best quality. “Quit peeping up at me,” she said to her son, “and just say what you want to say.”

“I wanna go see Teddy.”

Roz stared at him. “Why?”

“What do you mean why? You saw what Daddy did to him last night.”

“And I saw what he did to Daddy last night.”

“But he didn’t start it.”

“How the hell do you know that, Duke?” Roz didn’t give a nickel to any foolishness. Not even her own children’s. “You wasn’t in that office when it happened. Or are you just assuming something you have no business assuming?”

“That’s what I told him,” said Jackie. “He always blames Daddy.”

“Because I know how he is,” Duke replied. “Teddy works his butt off for him, but he never gives him any thanks whatsoever. He just dogs him out.”

“First of all,” said Roz, “nobody dogs out Teddy Sinatra, okay? So let’s put that fantasy to bed right now. And second of all, he started that shit last night. Did Daddy have harsh words for Ted? Yes he did. And he deserved it too. But he never laid a hand on him until he laid a hand on Daddy. Teddy started that shit and Mick finished it. So you pump your brakes with all of this blaming Daddy shit, you hear me, Duke? Pump your brakes.”

“I say both of them are at fault,” said Jackie. “Neither one of them can control themselves.”

“Well welcome to the world of Sinatra men, young lady,” said Roz. “When it’s time for you to search for a husband, think about Sinatra men and find the exact opposite kind of man.”

Jackie laughed. Duke rolled his eyes.

And then Mick, showered and refreshed-looking in his Armani suit, entered the breakfast room. Jackie smiled. “Hey Daddy.”

Roz noticed how Mick, being Mick , didn’t return her greeting. No hey baby, or hey Jacqueline . Nothing. She’d gotten on his case many times about it. But Mick, based on his actions after all those conversations, essentially told her to kiss his ass.

She was about to grab the bell and ring for the chef to bring Mick some breakfast, but Mick touched her hand. “No need. I’ve got to get going.”

Roz wanted to discuss something with him before he left, but not in front of the children. “And you two need to get going too,” she said.

Very obedient children, or at least very scared of what their parents would do to them if they weren’t obedient, they both got up and grabbed their bookbags.

“Bye Mom,” Jackie said as she and Duke kissed Roz. “Bye Daddy,” Jackie added as she kissed Mick.

But Duke, still pissed with his father, didn’t say a word to Mick. He walked right past him.

But Mick grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him back beside him.

Roz stared at them. She was ready to intervene if Mick got too crazy with their son.

But Mick knew how close Duke was with his big brother. He just wanted to reassure him. “Teddy can take care of himself. Got it?”

Duke always thought of his father as so contradictory. On the one hand, he was the meanest dog in the pound. On the other hand, whenever he and his father locked eyes, Duke found him to be the warmest, sweetest person on earth. Duke knew his father loved him and his mother and sister. But him showing his love for them, except for snatches here and there, was the problem.

But he knew Mick was right. Teddy didn’t need him fighting any battles for him. “Yes sir,” he said in answer to Mick. Then that kind look in Mick’s deep-green eyes caused Duke to feel affection for his father. And he hugged him, knowing his father wasn’t about to hug him back. “Bye Daddy,” he said.

Mick was about to pat him on his back when he hugged him, but Duke had already extricated himself from his father and left the room.

But Roz had seen the almost-gesture. “You’re getting better with them,” she said.

“But no cigar?”

“Not yet, no. Jackie said good morning to you and you said nothing. If she didn’t know your ass as well as she knew it, that could have hurt her.”

Mick frowned. “If whether or not somebody speaks to her hurts her, then she deserves to be hurt.”

“Not somebody, Mick. You. Her father.”

“Yeah but that’s what you say.”

Roz frowned. “Meaning?”

“I know what they say. And they say mama’s baby, but papa’s maybe.”

Roz picked up that bell and was about to throw it at him. He knew she didn’t play that. But she smiled, too, when she realized he was smiling. “Your stupid ass,” she said.

Then he was about to get up to leave. “Where do we go from here?” she asked him.

“I know they’re my children.”

“Not that, dumbass.”

Mick grinned. Then he returned to his usual serious self. “I’m headed to the docks. I’ve got to find out who’s been targeting my shipments and my syndicate, and why.”

“I meant Teddy. What about Teddy?”

“Not you too. Teddy can take care of himself.”

“What about Teddy, Mick?”

Mick sat there for a moment which, Roz knew, meant that it was weighing heavily on him. “Ted’s been talking with Potter Rarsi for months.”

“Really? Talking to him about what?”

There was a definite anguish that came over Mick’s face. But Roz couldn’t decipher if it was anger or sadness. “Leaving me,” Mick said.

It was probably both, Roz thought, until she realized what he had actually said. And her already large eyes stretched. “ Leaving you ? Teddy was already looking to leave?”

“Yep.”

“But leave you to do what? To work for him? For Rarsi?”

“That’s what Rarsi told me, yes.”

“He told you? He didn’t keep it undercover?”

“That’s not how Rarsi works. He’s an upfront guy. It’s how Teddy’s ass works. But not Rarsi.”

“But he tried leaving you before and it blew up in his face.”

“Yeah but Rarsi runs a tighter ship. It’s a better fit for Ted. Even I know that.”

Roz continued to stare at Mick. He never played checkers. He was a chest master. But so was Roz. “That’s why you took us on vacation. Not because we hadn’t had one in a long time, or because the twins were going away to college soon. It was so you could see how Teddy would handle the usual flare ups without your spies reporting back to you the way they usually did. Am I right?”

Mick was never one-dimensional. Two things could be true at the same time for him and almost always was. “Yes, you’re right,” he said. “But I didn’t expect all hell to break loose and for him to not bother to so much as mention it to me.”

“And you did it,” Roz continued, still figuring it out, “so that you could decide if you were going to what? To fight to keep Teddy? Was that the plan?”

Roz’s ability to decode him always impressed him. “That was the plan, yes.”

Roz stared at him. She wasn’t sure if she wanted the answer. “What’s the verdict? Is he worth fighting for?”

“A part of me want to say hell no. Especially after last night. But . . . Hell yes. He’s worth it.”

Roz was inwardly pleased to hear that. But it was so out of character for slash-and-burn Mick that she needed to know more. “What made you come to that conclusion? Especially after last night? I know Teddy’s the best boss in this country if you ask me, and other than this recent screwup, he’s been nothing but valuable to you. But even you just implied you aren’t the right fit for him and Rarsi is. Why would you still be willing to fight to keep Teddy with you if he’s the wrong fit?”

Mick swallowed hard. What he was about to say would never be easy for him. But he said it. “Because he’s my son,” he said, “and nobody’s going to take care of him like I will.”

“And like you always have,” Roz proudly added. “Despite last night.”

Mick looked at her. She was his ally. His biggest and loudest champion. He got up, leaned over and kissed her on the lips, which brought her to her feet. He untied her robe, revealing her naked body. Then he slipped his arms inside her robe and pulled her against him, holding her tightly. Massaging her ass.

As he stared into her eyes, a part of him wanted to say what he felt about her, but the bigger part of him wasn’t going there. Because with Roz he knew words didn’t mean shit to her. Anybody can say anything , was how she always put it. He had to show her. During the entirety of their long marriage, he always had to show her. She was an exhausting bitch the way she didn’t take any half-gestures from him. But she was his bitch, he thought. She was his .

And by just holding her so lovingly, and steadily pressing his body even harder against her body to make her feel his arousal, and to make her understand how he felt about her through the comfort of his big body alone, was showing her everything she needed to see.