Page 16 of Worth the Vow

“Why?” I blurt out. A blush creeps across my cheeks as I realize how out of line that question is. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

“It’s fine. I have no interest in having a relationship, that’s all.”

“Why?”

“Because I have no intention of having a long term relationship, and I will never get married again. I’ve found that most women my age who are willing to date a single father expect a ring. Once they realize it won’t be coming from me, they’re no longer interested.”

“You really think you won’t get married again?” I ask.

“I don’t just think that, Katharine. I know. True love is a myth, and women can’t be trusted,” Dominic spits out bitterly.

“Wow,” I breathe. There is so much to unpack from that statement.

“Surprised?”

“Yes, actually. I’ve met some guys who’ve really had a number done on them. Bad relationships with every woman in their life, and they truly think they aren’t deserving of love. Look at Stone.” Stone is with Dominic’s youngest sister, Arianna.

“What about him?” Dominic asks.

“He fought the connection with Arianna for years because he didn’t think he was worthy of love. Yet you have amazing women in your life. You have a phenomenal relationship with your mom, and you got to experience your parents and your grandparents in love for a lifetime. So yes, it boggles my mind that you can stand there and claim all women are untrustworthy.” I could continue on, talking about how the love from Arianna has changed Stone in so many amazing ways, but I think Dominic gets the gist of what I’m saying.

“Well, that’s not exactly what I meant —”

I cut him off. “Furthermore, being as I’m a woman, and you trust me with your children, where is it that I become untrustworthy? Also, you have two daughters. When will you no longer trust them? But I guess you’ll trust your son, right? Because it’s just the women who are the problem.”

“Can you lower your voice, please?” Dominic hisses.

“No!” I shout. “No, I will not lower my voice. I’d love your daughters to hear this conversation, Dominic. They should know what their father thinks of their gender.”

“I meant in terms of relationships with me! Every relationship I’ve had has included a woman lying to me, or hiding something, or cheating on me. And I refuse to put myself through that again,” he states, his eyes wild as he waves his arms around.

“Dad? Why are you and Kate shouting at each other?” Sienna asks. Dominic and I swivel toward the staircase and find all three children sitting on the steps, and I have no idea how long they’ve been listening.

“Wonderful,” Dominic mutters as he glares at me.

“It’s not all my fault,” I snap. I mean, I’ll go as far as saying twenty five percent my fault. Okay, maybe forty percent. Turning toward the kids, I say, “We’re just passionately arguing points we believe in. Obviously we disagree on a topic or two.”

“We know,” Sienna replies nonchalantly. “You guys argue a lot.”

“It hasn’t been all arguments, though, has it? We disagree, but we typically don’t yell at each other. But we’ll definitely be conscious of that in the future, won’t we, Katharine? We’ll be respectful and tactful with boundaries.”

Well, that wasn’t obviously pointed at me leapfrogging over Dominic’s relationship boundary. Addressing the children, I say quietly, “I agree. We’ll be respectful from now on.”

“I think they like each other,” Aspen says bluntly.

Carter laughs. “How come?”

“My teacher says when Greyson pulls my hair it’s because he likes me. I think they yell at each other because they like each other.”

“Who is Greyson?” Dominic asks.

Shit. I forgot to tell him about Greyson. “Uh, a kid in Aspen’s class who has been a little too challenging with respecting physical boundaries.”

“Excuse me?” Dominic’s voice is calm. Deadly calm. I can see the violence brewing underneath the surface in his eyes. He’s ready to kill a first grader. At the same time, I feel a pain in my lower abdomen, and I blanch. I know what this means. I probably have another ovarian cyst, and I wonder how bad this one will be.

“It’s being addressed,” I answer hastily, discreetly rubbing my hand along my stomach to gauge where the pain is coming from.

“Is that so?” he snarls. “Might I remind you —”

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