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"The dress is wonderful Dorothy, thank you”Salomi said as she stood in front of the mirror and tried on the blue gown that Dorothy bought her for the premiere Friday night. Dorothy had to send it to a tailor since Salomi’s breasts grew since she last saw her, they had to fine tune the top part of the dress so she wouldn’t fall out of it. Now it was much more comfortable and it was still very beautiful.

“Your welcome”Dorothy said and she shook her head,”I cant believe your breasts are about as big as mine. I'm jealous”she said as she looked at it in the mirror with her. “Ok well take it off now, don’t want it to get dirty”she said to her,”I'm going to make us some lunch”she said as she kissed her on her cheek and walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Salomi smiled and twirled around and giggled a little. She felt like a princess in this gown. She didn’t want to take it off. She couldn’t wait to wear it on Friday night. After twirling around a few more times, she finally took the gown off and laid it on the bed and put her clothes back on. She put the gown in the closet and then looked down and saw the suitcase. Tears came to her eyes, she tried to close them tight so they wouldn’t fall but all she could see was her father’s face….

“Daddy,lets just throw the money away. You are more important, you are gonna freeze yourself to-“then she stopped, she didn’t want to say death.

“No……we need it………”he said and then moaned,”Oh God…….you are my sunshine……my only……..sunshine……….happy………skies…….gray……..”he said and then he was silent.

“Dad?”Salomi asked,”DAD”

“I……..love……..you……”he said and then he was silent again. Salomi broke down and cried. Her father was dead. She put her hands to her face and screamed and then she turned away not wanting to look at him. Then he slipped off the door and started to sink. She cried as she watched his body sink to the bottom.

Then she heard the door open and she opened her eyes and saw Gabriel standing there. She wiped away her tears quickly,”What do you want?”she asked him

Gabriel just stood there, staring at her. He tried to rehearse what he wanted to say to her, but he knew how much that suitcase meant to her. He knew that she was probably crying over it, she did that sometimes. “Why are you crying?”he asked her

“I'm not”she said as she sniffled

“It’s the suitcase isn’t it?”he asked her

“No-“

“Baby, why don’t you just get rid of it? I mean yes, it has memories of your father attached to it but….he loved you more than that suitcase. Its just a suitcase. All it does is sit there and make you cry”

“If he loved me more than the suitcase then why did he die for it?”Salomi asked him,”He didn’t die for me, he died making sure that suitcase was safe”

“Stop it Lomi”Gabriel said to her,”You know that isn’t true. Your father loved you more than anything. I mean why did he tell me to stay away from you? Why did he threaten to report me? He was your ultimate protector and that’s why he froze to death in that water…not for the suitcase but for you”

“He said he was just like you”Salomi said

“What?”he asked

“I remember our last conversation before he died. He mentioned how I looked like my mother and how boys looked at me. He mentioned that he shouldn’t be too mad about you liking me…that he was a troublemaker too”

“He said that about me?”Gabriel asked her. She nodded and then started to cry. He went to her and held her as she cried into his chest. Salomi was so headstrong that he forgot how fragile she could be. She was only fragile when something reminded her of her father and him dying right in front of her. Shes been through so much. He held her close as he looked at the suitcase. She cant go through anything else. Her father was her protector and now hes gone. He had to protect her now. And if he left that suitcase in her possession, she would be dead by next week. That couldn’t happen, he had to get it away from her and now. He let go of her and picked up the suitcase.

“What are you doing?”she asked him

“You don’t need this-“

“Give it to me!”she said as she grabbed the suitcase. But he didn’t let go,”Give it to me!”she said to him. She pulled with all her might but he was still stronger.

“Whats going on?”Dorothy asked as she came in and they both let go of the suitcase and it dropped to the floor and the clasp unlocked itself. Salomi started to cry again. She looked at Gabriel,”Gabriel, you should go”she said to him. He nodded and left, defeated. She only let him in so the two could talk but somehow they started fighting over Abraham’s suitcase. She sat down next to Salomi on the bed and held her. “Its ok…..its ok….”she said to her

Salomi cried for a few seconds at least and then toughened up again. “How dare he? He thinks he knows everything about everything”

“What happened?”

“I was crying over the suitcase…remembering…then he told me that I didn’t need it. That I could do without it and he tried to take it from me! Little thief”she said and then stopped. That’s what her father called Gabriel when he found out that they stole food from the banquet he went to on the Titanic.

“Well I understand where hes coming from. I also understand your attachment to it but baby, if the suitcase is here or not, you will always have your fathers memory. He lives in you. That suitcase is just material”

“Yeah material that he died for. It was important to him and Uncle Vernie and they died trying to keep it intact. Its my job to keep that going. No one can touch it, no one”Salomi said stubbornly

“Sweetheart do you even know whats in it? I mean is it Abraham’s clothing?-“

“Fine! Here!”Salomi said as she got up and opened the briefcase and they both gasped. It was filled with money. Salomi knew that money was in there but she didn’t know that it was that much.

“Oh my God”Dorothy said, remembering what he confessed to her before the ship sank. That he was in organized crime and that was why they could afford living in first class and all the fancy clothes. She just didn’t know that it was that serious. “I think you should close it now”she said. Salomi did so but couldn’t lock it. The lock was broken.”Just put it back in the closet”she said to her and Salomi did so.She didn’t know what to do or say but she had a bad feeling about it. That suitcase couldn’t stay in this apartment.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

The rest of the day went by in a blur for Gabriel. He walked around the city aimlessly while he stressed himself out over what could happen to Salomi and Dorothy. He had to find some way to steal it. Or should he talk to Dorothy about it? No they both couldn’t get hurt in the process. He was in love with Salomi and Dorothy was like a motherly figure. He couldn’t lose them, they were all he had. He cant lose anyone…no one, not anymore. He sat in a pub and finished writing the song that he has been writing about Salomi while he had soup and a sandwich. He then went straight to Maisy’s and performed. He stayed away from Salomi and Tina. He just didn’t know what to do with himself. He then went on his deliveries as usual. Luckily when he dropped off his bag, Morietti was busy yelling at someone else, so he was able to escape unseen. What did he get himself into? He took his earnings out of his pocket. Was this money worth all this stress? Abraham died for it. Was he next? Salomi? Dorothy?

He was lost in his thoughts and bumped into someone. The person had money in their hand and it was sent flying through the air. “Shit watch where your going”he said as he picked it up

“I'm sorry”Gabriel said as he got down and helped him

“Don’t touch it. I got it”the man said and then looked at him. Then they both stopped and stared at each other with looks of familiarity. Gabriel had a feeling that he has seen this man before and the man felt the same about him.

“You the ‘Golden Child’?”the man asked him

“Yeah….and you…? I have seen you somewhere before this…”

“Yeah me too….”the man said and he slowly went back to picking up his money. “I just don’t know where I have seen you…I mean I have been doing this for a long time”

“How long have you lived here?”Gabriel asked. For some reason something told him to find out who this man was. For some reason it was freaking him out.

“About 2 and a half years”the man said

“Yeah me too….”Gabriel said. They came to New York at around the same time? “Where you from?”

“California….you?”

“Memphis….Tennessee”Gabriel said. The man nodded and he stood up and looked around and started to walk. Gabriel walked with him. “So…why are you here in New York? What made you come here, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“This”he said as he held up the envelope of money.”This all started in California but the police were onto Morietti so he moved everything back here. While he was moving, me and my partner were in London”

“London? Its nice there, Ive been there. I traveled around Europe for a few months”Gabriel said

“Yeah….London was great but the trip back to New York wasn’t. I was on the Titanic”he said to him as they walked onto the sidewalks of the city. Now Gabriel could clearly see his face from the streetlights. No, it couldn’t be.

“I was there too. On the Titanic. I don’t know how I survived sometimes but I did”Gabriel said to him,”Who was your partner?”

“Abraham Squires…he sank with the ship…”he said sadly.

Gabriel nodded,”He has a daughter? Salomi?”

Tears came to the man’s eyes,”Yes…he had a daughter. Little Lomi….how do you know all of this?”he asked him

“Because I know Salomi. We met on the ship-“

“So you were the troublemaker that she hung out with?”he asked with a laugh,”Wow now your face is very familiar. I saw you with her the night the ship hit the icebergs….God its unfortunate, she was only 12. She died so young”

“Salomi isn’t dead”Gabriel told him.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Once Gabriel told Vernon the news about Salomi, he wanted to hear everything that has been going on with her. He took Gabriel back to the house and made him tea and reheated the soup that Abby left for him. She was asleep when they got in. She needed plenty of rest, she was one month along now and they didn’t want to risk it. They were being very careful about this pregnancy, not wanting to be cavalier at all. Vernon explained the last time he saw Salomi, how he fell off the ship but managed to survive, how he was in a slight coma for weeks and the slight amnesia that he had. He mentioned that he looked for Salomi but she and Abraham didn’t show. He assumed they were dead. He also explained how he moved Abby to New York so they could be closer to her new doctor so she could have a smooth delivery, and she did.

Gabriel also explained how he found Salomi with Dorothy. How they have been romantically involved and how he ‘accidentally’ got into organized crime. Then he told Vernon about the suitcase and Morietti’s threat.”I went over there and tried to take it but Salomi wouldn’t have it. She feels that she needs to take care of the suitcase since her father cared about it so much. But it has a lot of money in it”

“A million dollars”Vernon said,”When I came back to work for him, I went through a lot of shit. I told him that the suitcase sank with the ship. I worked my ass off trying to make it up to him. I still haven’t, now how they found out about Salomi having the suitcase is beyond me. I cant let him do this. We cant let him do this”

“I know, but I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to steal it from her, but I know if I do she will be better off. She just may never speak to me again. I cant risk it-“

“Believe me, I think you would rather have Salomi not speak to you again than not speaking at all. I'm sure you love her or at least care a whole lot about her, but her life is more important. If she never speaks to you again…that’s a risk you have to be willing to take. That’s small compared to actually losing her. Her life is in danger”Vernon said to him. He shook his head,”Morietti has to go down anyway. I'm sick of this life. All this money?It isn’t worth it. Now at first it was great. I could give my wife anything she wanted. But what she truly wants is a family and she has that now…but now I'm barely home. I'm not happy anymore.I don’t want my children at risk. To tell you the truth, even though it was rough, life was so much easier when we were poor. I kick myself sometimes because I got myself into this mess and I got Abraham into the business and look where he winded up? Salomi cant wind up in the same place. She has her life ahead of her”

Gabriel looked at the clock. It was a little past midnight. It was Friday morning. “Well we gotta think of something and fast…or they wont be alive by tomorrow”

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Look what I found boss”Morietti’s assistant said as he put another article on his desk

“If I knew any better I would say that you actually have been teaching yourself how to read”Morietti said as he kept on counting money,”It better be important”

“Its about the dames with the suitcases”he said to him as he threw a newspaper article on his desk. Morietti picked it up and looked at the article. There was a silent film premiere in New York City tonight for a film that was written about the sinking of the Titanic. Her name was Dorothy Gibson and she talked of her own experiences about the sinking of the ship, working with Charlie Chaplin, her break from films and blah,blah, blah. The reporter asked her if she and Charlie were dating and she declined and said that she was bringing “…a very special person that I have been taking care of since the accident. She is the reason why I did this film and why I'm at this stage of my life at this moment. Her name is Salomi Squires”

“So it seems these two dames are going to be very busy the night that we have to kill them. That Golden Child hasn’t pulled through so hes gotta go too. I don’t care if he brought in a lot of business…I cant trust him”Morietti said

“So…are we gonna kill em on Saturday?”his assistant asked

“No you idiot. Everyone who is at the premiere is gonna see two performances. One is gonna be some silent and stupid sappy love story on a ship and the other one is gonna be anything but silent. It will be a double homicide”he said,”Put on your best tux. We’re going to that premiere tonight”he said with a wicked smile.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Dorothy! Come on! We’re gonna be late!”Salomi shouted up to their apartment window.The movie was going to start in an hour and there was probably a lot of traffic. She was too excited to wait.”What the hell is she doing up there?”she asked as she got into the car.

“Yes, put it in there”Dorothy instructed the driver. He put the suitcase in the trunk.”I need to keep it there until I know what to do with it”she said to him and then got into the car and they headed to the premiere.

*_________________________*









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