Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
“Excuse me Ms. Gibson?”a man with an English dialect asked her as he approached her,”I just have a few questions for you about the film-“
“I'm sorry sir. But I'm not taking anymore questions”Dorothy said. She felt like she was repeating herself and all the reporters asked her the same questions.
“Please Ms. Gibson, I just wanted to ask you about your real love affair on the Titanic. Was he like Charlie’s character in the film?”he asked her
Dorothy stopped. No one ever asked about the real Abraham that went down with the ship. All they wanted was gossip. “Um…yes…he was. He was warm, kind, gentle…I'm sorry…what paper are you reporting for?”
“Oh for the London Forum. It’s a small paper in England”he said
“Ive never heard of it…”she said
“Would you like to go someplace more private?”he asked her. She nodded. It was just a few questions. He led her out of the ballroom and into a small office but when she walked in, there was another man there.
“Who’s this?”she asked
“Oh, hes my assistant”he said to her. “Now, next question. I understand that Abraham left a suitcase in your possession. Where is it?”he asked harshly, the English dialect totally gone.
“Excuse me?”she asked him. How did he know about the suitcase?
“Don’t play stupid with me. That dumb blond that you left at your apartment said that you have it with you now where is it?”he asked her through gritted teeth
“I…its been sent off…”Dorothy said. She had a feeling that these men were after the money in the suitcase, that they were involved or the heads of this organized crime business and they weren’t going to be nice about it. They could kill her if she pissed them off. She had to be calm and think fast. She couldn’t be the damsel in distress, she had to be the heroine.
“SENT OFF?! WHERE!”
“I um…had it shipped back to Abraham’s…parents in California. I figured there were clothes and possessions that they wanted to keep. Its at the postal office now, it wont be shipped until midnight”she said as calmly as she could while lying.
“SHIT!”he said angrily as he punched the wall.
“What do we do boss?”his assistant asked him
“Shut up”he said to him and then turned to her and grabbed her arm tightly,”Now you are going to take us to this postal office and you are going to personally hand that suitcase over to me you understand? There is something of value in that suitcase for me, not his fucking parents”he said to her.”If anyone asks, tell them you’ll be back. If you even wink or give anyone any reason to suspect me I will shoot you in your fucking back you hear me?”he said to her as he pulled out his gun.
She only nodded.He gave her his tuxedo jacket to cover the gun while he and his assistant escorted her out. However, no one suspected a thing. They just took pictures or stared in awe.
“Now get your car around here now”he said as they walked outside of the Ballroom.
“Can you bring my car around sir?”Dorothy asked the valet calmly. She gave him the license plate number and they stood there and waited. She tried her best to look around with her peripheral vision for an officer of some type. They were around before but they were nowhere in sight. She prayed that the valet would take some time to get her car. Her goal was to not leave the property.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
“Where could they be? There are a million people here”Gabriel asked Vernon as they walked inside the Hammerstein Ballroom. It was filled with the rich and famous of New York City and plenty of fans of Dorothy’s and Charlie’s. But where were Dorothy and Salomi? He looked up and then he saw her. Salomi was sucking on a lollipop as some man was escorting her up some stairs.”There’s Lomi”he said as he pointed her out as she disappeared down a hallway.”Lets go”
They both tried their best to get through the crowd and get up the steps as soon as possible. But there were so many hallways and doors. Where could the man have taken her?”You go this way…I go that way”Vernon said.”Godspeed”he said as he ran off to search for her.
Gabriel searched anxiously as he opened many different doors. Every door that didn’t reveal Salomi made him angrier. He knew that man must have been hired to hurt her. Then he heard someone shout and he ran towards the source of the sound. He ran out onto a balcony and saw the man trying to throw Salomi over! He ran at the man and tackled him which, luckily, sent Salomi falling onto the floor instead of over the edge. The two of them wrestled for some time but the other man was stronger. He kept punching Gabriel in the stomach and face, he was losing energy and strength.
“I’LL SHOOT!”Salomi shouted and they both stopped wrestling. The man obviously had a gun but didn’t want to use it on her. He probably wanted to have his way with her and then throw her off the balcony. It was quieter than a loud gunshot. It had fallen out of his pocket when Gabriel tackled him.”Don’t move”she said as she aimed it at the man.
The man chuckled,”You don’t wanna do this”
“Yes I do, if you move, I will shoot. I will”Salomi said. Gabriel stared at her with shock, she wasn’t scared of the gun at all. But did she know how to use it?
“Now baby, if you shoot, people are going to hear it and the police will come. They will have you arrested. Your fingerprints are all over the gun that was used to kill your chauffeur. You don’t want to be charged with first degree murder now do you?”Abe asked her
“Your lying”Salomi said
“Salomi, just give me the gun”Gabriel said to her as he laid on the floor, he could barely move, he was badly beaten,”You might hurt yourself now”
“Gabriel shut up. I can do this on my own”Salomi said angrily.
“Give me the gun baby. He’s right, you are only gonna hurt yourself”Abe said as he moved forward.
“WHAT DID I JUST SAY! I TOLD YOU NOT TO MOVE!”Salomi screamed at him as she backed away, pointing the gun at him. She didn’t want to shoot it but was she going to have to now?
“Salomi give me the gun!”Gabriel and Abe said to her. Abe moved a little bit closer and Salomi shot a bullet into the air. Abe jumped back.
“I TOLD YOU DAMN IT! DON’T MOVE!”she yelled at him. Then Gabriel got up and went toward Abe and tackled him again. He couldn’t stand to wait anymore, he needed to kill this guy now! “Gabriel stop!”she shouted at him as he wrestled with Abe.
“Shoot him Lomi!”Gabriel said as the two struggled
“I CANT!”Salomi said. They were too close and they kept moving! “STOP MOVING!” Then a figure came out of nowhere and came to Gabriel’s rescue and then before she knew it, Abe’s body was sent over the balcony instead! Then she realized who it was. Uncle Vernie!? In shock, she dropped the gun and it fired again. Gabriel and Uncle Vernie ran to her.
“Where’s Dorothy?”they both asked.But she couldn’t answer. What was Uncle Vernie doing here? Wasn’t he dead? Did that make her dead too? ”Come on”he said as they ran into the Ballroom. The two gunshots and with Abe falling off the balcony sent everyone into a frenzy. People were now evacuating the building.”We have to find her!”
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
“He's taking too fucking long. Don’t you film stars have faster valets or something?”the man hissed in her ear as he pressed the gun into her back. His patience was slimming and he just might shoot her in front of everyone.
“Its pretty packed sir. I…there are a lot of cars parked in that lot. I gave him the license plate number, he should be able to-“
“I know that! I just heard you”he hissed. Then there was a gunshot and people started to scream. Dorothy jumped and then the officers that she was looking for came out of nowhere to try to find the source. But he pulled her away from everyone and headed toward a car that was intended for someone else. Then a body fell from the balcony and hit the pavement right in front of them and then there was another gunshot. People started screaming and pointing upward. The officers ran inside to get the people out. Dorothy looked around, panicking, where was Salomi?
Then a group of police showed up right in front of the ballroom and the man surprisingly let go of her and he and his assistant started to run. Her courage came back,”STOP THEM! STOP THOSE MEN!”she told them. They split up and some ran after the two men and the others went inside.
“EVERYONE OUT! EVERYONE OUT NOW!”the police shouted as more showed up.
“SALOMI! SALOMI!?”Dorothy called out and then someone grabbed her. But it was only David.”Have you seen Salomi?”
“Thank God your ok”David said as he hugged her close to him. ”I saw you being escorted out the door and I tried to get to you but the lobby was such a mess. Then people started to scream-“
“Have you seen Salomi!?”she asked again
“No….no I haven’t”he said,”Don’t panic”he said as he saw the fear in her eyes
“Don’t panic!? This is what Ive been afraid of!”she said but then she saw Salomi running toward them with two other men. “SALOMI!”she shouted to her
“Dorothy, I'm so sorry”Salomi said, she had been crying and looked like she had seen a ghost
“Its alright”Dorothy said as she held her. Then she realized that Gabriel was there…with Vernon?. ”What…?”
“We’ll explain everything later, we need to get you both out of here”Vernon said. Then the valet finally pulled their car around and they all piled in.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Since there was a lot of security around the ballroom and surrounding buildings, traffic was horrible. So Vernon paid for two rooms at the Ritz-Carlton so they can stay the night. They informed Dorothy about the break in at her apartment and that Ruth was ok. They all decided that they needed to get rid of that suitcase, which was still in the trunk. After ordering room service, they all calmed down, well some of them.
Salomi was still in shock that the suitcase caused all this trouble and the fact that Uncle Vernie was still alive. She barely ate, she just laid in his arms and cried. They talked about the last moments on the Titanic, how she tried to find him on the Olympique and how he tried to find her at the Manhattan hospital, she described her life with Dorothy and he described his life with Abby and the kids and how he met Gabriel.
“She really wants to see you. We both cried endlessly when we heard that you were still alive. I mean I had to do something and I'm sick of this life. I’d rather be dirt poor than rich and having to deal with Morietti”Vernon said as he stroked her hair
“I want to see her too. How old are the babies?”she asked him
“They are both almost 2. And shes one month along with our third. It’s a miracle, we thought that we couldn’t even have one and now we are having three. I may have to take on more shifts at the butcher’s…if you would like to help Abby and babysit, the doors are open. I mean they are like your cousins”
“I would love to”Salomi said as she snuggled closer to him. She sighed,”I'm sorry I'm just…still in shock. I think I just got used to losing you and Daddy. And now your back”
“Me too”Vernon said,”I mean if it weren’t for Gabriel, this all wouldn’t have happened”
“You got that right”Salomi said bitterly.”I mean how else did Morietti find out about us? Gabriel probably bragged about us or something”
“No, now stop that, that’s nonsense. He was a mystery. He was known as the Golden Child and none of us saw him. We only heard how quick he was. But then Morietti found out about the suitcase, they have been trying to track it since the ship sank….lets not talk about that. He has been trying to get the suitcase out of your possession since Morietti threatened him”
Salomi sighed, that was probably the reason why he came over and tried to take it that day. “So you think hes only looking out for me huh?”
“Actually he loves you. I mean he is head over heels. Like how your father was with your mother, damn he was hooked. You look just like her. You look so much older too. Beautiful”
“Thank you”she said softly.”So you knew Daddy when he met my mother?”
“Yeah. I had just broken up with uh..my 20th girlfriend? I had just met Abby when he met your mother. She was so…rich and dignified…she was getting out of this coach downtown with her parents and her dress caught on the step, she almost fell but Abraham was right there. However, his hands were dirty and he got her dress a little dirty when he caught her. She didn’t think of it, she just joked about it and thanked him. She was all he could talk about. ‘Shes like an angel’ or ‘She’s the most beautiful woman in California.’ Then he met her again at some pub and she had too much to drink with her girlfriends and then they fell in love that night. They snuck off to see each other all the time…the four of us went on dates together…she and Abby became good friends. Then they got married and…all the disownment followed. A week later she found out she was pregnant with you..she was so happy…”
“My mother used to get drunk?”Salomi asked with a laugh
“Yeah she did…she just couldn’t hold them too well, she would get sick sometimes or walk in figure eights but she wasn’t sloppy. She had this grace to her”
“I wish I could see her, meet her”Salomi said with a sigh
“You’ll see her in time, its too soon right now. You have your life to lead, but she's everywhere, she's been watching over you. Abraham too”he said as he held her close to him. Salomi has been through so much with never knowing her mother, seeing her father die right in front of her and escaping death not once, but twice? Now that she was back in his life, he needed to help keep an eye on her.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
“Damn, they almost got her. That was a low move”Abraham said to his wife. They both watched in horror as Lomi seemed to fall in love at first sight with this Abe character. He was almost her downfall.
“Well like mother like daughter. Those Abraham’s are fine men”she said as she hugged him. “But we prevailed baby, we won. Shes ok and Vernon is there now. Nothing can go wrong anymore”
“Do you know what this means?”Abraham asked her with tears in her eyes,”When she went off with that Abe guy…I saw that look in her eyes. Like she almost had me back.I know why she went off with him. She was searching for someone that could live up to me, to be like me. I thought that she could finally make peace with losing me. I don’t think she ever will”
“She will. Once she and Gabriel get married and have their own children she’ll be fine. Shes still young and a little lost but Vernon can fill your place as well. Don’t worry. I think its gonna be clear skies from now on”she said to him
“I hope so babe. I hope so”Abraham said
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Gabriel, David and Dorothy decided to leave Salomi and Vernon alone together. They had a lot to catch up on. However, it drove Gabriel crazy and all he could do was pace and explore the hotel. It was very luxurious but all he wanted was to hold Salomi in his arms again. He didn’t know how he could save her life and she still came out of it hating him? Has he really lost her?
Dorothy was thinking the same thing as well. Would Salomi want to move and live with her aunt, uncle and cousins? Where would that leave her? She knew in her heart that if Salomi did choose that route that she would be heartbroken. She was like the child that she never had. She stood out on the balcony as she looked at the still busy streets of New York. It was a little past midnight and everything calmed down some since the premiere fiasco.
“Can I join you?”David asked her as he came out on the balcony with her. She nodded,”Are you alright?”
“I'm fine. I just needed some tea, a warm bath and something solid in my stomach”Dorothy said,”I feel refreshed”but David gave her a look like he didn’t believe her.“I just have a feeling that things may be different now. I guess I'm trying to prepare myself”she said
“Can that difference mean my new film?”he asked her.
She laughed,”Oh I'm never doing your films again! If I do survive your films that only means that I wont survive the premiere!”she said and winked at him.
“Very funny. Your comedic timing is impeccable”David said with a chuckle,”The script is in your suite if you wanted to read it”
“You just wont let up will you?”Dorothy asked as she shook her head.
“I think you should be thanking me! I think you are the only talented film actress right now and I want you in my films and I wont stop until you say yes or give me a very good reason why you cant. I want perfection”he said to her.They looked into each others eyes and he wanted to kiss her and she sensed it but she moved away. He politely let her do so,”Just get some rest”he said,”Everything will be different in the morning”he said to her
*____________________________*