Big Daddy Sinatra: There Was a Ruthless Man(6)
CHAPTER TWO
He was standing against a sidewall observing the festive crowd. His son Robert, who idolized him, was standing beside him. Brent and Tony, his two oldest sons, also stood nearby. Charles Sinatra may have been the most hated man in Jericho, but his sons, who actually knew him on a personal level, adored him. He raised them alone when their mother left, and they felt he raised them right.
“I know I can run one of them, Dad,” Robert was saying as they all stood around their father and people-watched. Although Charles was dressed in a suit, all of his sons, who were groomsmen, wore tuxedos. “If you give me a chance, I know I can run it.”
“Which one?” Brent asked. “Do you realize how many businesses Dad owns?”
“Yes I know!” Robert shot back. He was nineteen years old, the second youngest of four sons, but he had an edginess about him that the others didn’t possess. Whereas Brent was the oldest and definitely the most serious, and Tony was the second oldest and definitely the least serious, Robert was the wildcard. They never knew what they were going to get with Robert.
And he looked different too. Brent and Tony took after their father in seemingly every way, but Robert had their mother’s blonde hair and blue eyes and general slenderness. He wasn’t skinny like their youngest brother Donald, but he wasn’t at all muscular like his older brothers and father. And while Brent and Tony were often described as handsome, gorgeous, attractive, Robert was described as feisty, tough, hardcore. Mainly because Robert’s ambitiousness, his need, his drive, were often in overdrive, and his looks seemed to take a complete backseat to his amped-up personality.
“That’s why I’m telling you to give me a chance, Dad,” he continued pleading. “You own rent homes, a boat rental company, a car dealership and car rental company, a Bed and Breakfast hotel for crying out loud, and even a bank! All you have to do is pick one, and I can run it!”
But Charles wasn’t nearly as gun-ho as his son. “Get your degree first,” he said, “and then we’ll talk.”
“No fair!” Robert said. “Why do Brent and I have to go to college when you let Tony drop out?”
“I didn’t let Tony do anything,” Charles fired back. “He dropped out all on his own. And he will be dropping back in when the next term rolls around, I assure you.”
Tony frowned at his younger brother. “Why did you have to put me in your conversation anyway?”
“What about Donnie?” Robert continued to complain to his father. “Donnie was supposed to start college this semester, but you told him he didn’t have to go. And you made him the manager over all of your properties too!”
“Donald is not managing any of my properties,” Charles corrected his son. “He’s helping out at the dealership. That’s it.”
“But why aren’t you making him go to college too?” Robert asked. “Donnie gets away with murder! You didn’t even try to stop him from getting married.”
“There’s a big difference, Bobby, and you know it,” Tony said.
“There’s no difference! What’s the difference?” Robert wanted to know.
“He didn’t want to get married, for one thing,” Tony explained. “He had to get married. Susan’s in the family way, and you know it. He messed up, and he had to make it right. He has a family to support now.”
Robert looked at his father. “So if Brent and I knock up some female, we can drop out and go to work for you too?”
“Speak for yourself,” Brent said. “I graduate in a year. I’m not knocking up anybody and I’m not dropping out of shit.”
“But you know what I mean, Dad,” Robert said, ignoring his oldest brother. “If I knock up a girl and marry her, I don’t have to go to college either? Right?”
“Wrong,” Charles said. “You’re still going.”
Brent and Tony laughed.
“But why,” Robert asked sincerely, “if Donnie doesn’t have to go?”
“Because I said so,” Charles said. Then he gave his son that don’t play with me look. “Next question.”
Robert shook his head. “It’s not fair,” he continued to insist, but in a lowered tone because he knew he was wasting his time.
Donald Sinatra, the groom, the man of the hour, came dancing up to his family with a huge grin on his face. His tux jacket was off, and his long-sleeve dress shirt was half-hanging out of his pants. He had a drink in one hand, and, for some odd reason, a baton in the other hand. “I’m a married man now, Pop!” he said cheerfully as he lifted both his baton and his drink in time with the loud rock music. “Can you believe it brothers? I have myself a wife now!”