Page 99 of Loss and Damages
I pull it out of the velvet slot and hold her hand. “Jemma, without you, I don’t know where I’d be right now. When we met, I knew my life wouldn’t be the same. It scared me as much as it triggered a feeling I hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever. Hope. An idea that somehow things could be different. You made me fight for it, but I’m a better man because of it. Growing up, I didn’t have good role models, and you’ll have to be patient. Will you marry me, Jemma, and show me what life should be like?”
“Yeah, I will.”
I push the ring on her finger, the stone glinting in the evening sun. It’s a tight fit, but that’s apt too. It fits like the grip she has on my heart.
I’ve lost a lot in the weeks since I met Jemma, but as I pick her up and carry her over the threshold on the way to the life we’ll create together, I’ve never been more whole.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Jemma
When we make love, he wears a condom, saying he wants the first year or two of our marriage to belong only to us. He whispered plans of a long honeymoon and house hunting, and simply spending time together before we add to our family.
The sky’s dark by the time we’re settled in bed, a bottle of wine and two glasses sitting on the nightstand next to his side. My head is resting on his chest, and his fingers lazily trace my spine, up and down, up and down.
“I’m sorry about your dad,” I say, pressing my lips to his hot skin.
“He made his choice, but I don’t think what I did came as that big of a surprise. When he signed the company over to me, he already had the papers drawn up. He’d been planning to go, I don’t know for how long, but he had. I just gave him the excuse he needed to leave.”
I tip my head to meet his eyes. “It still has to hurt.”
“No more than knowing he used his affection to further the company. The biggest loss is the relationship I could have had with Leo all because my mother was in love with another man.”He pauses. “I went through his work computer, and I found something.”
I sit up and cover myself with the sheet. He passes my glass of wine to me and I sip. “What?”
“He wanted us to be together.”
Dominic goes on to explain what he found in Leo’s email.
“But he didn’t send it to you.”
“No. I don’t know why. Maybe he knew I wasn’t ready, just like you knew. If he would have introduced me to you when he’d written that email, or if he would have taken you to the fundraiser—”
My eyes widen. “That’s why he asked me to go. I was so confused. It didn’t seem like something he would attend, and then to invite me when he knew that was beyond what our friendship was...”
“I didn’t think of it until I was reading his email, but even if he would have introduced us then, I didn’t care about anything but money and Dad’s approval and I would have thrown this away. I like to think there would have been a day when I’d have changed on my own, but Jemma, I know there wouldn’t have been. Nothing could have changed me but Leo’s death and meeting you.” Tears fill his eyes.
It will be a long while before Leo’s memory turns more sweet than bitter. So much has tainted his death, and for Dominic, guilt and regret still follow. All I can do is be there, support him, and listen. I don’t blame him for Leo’s death and I’ll tell him, in some way, every day, until he believes it too.
I lean forward and gently kiss him, his scruff rough against my skin. “Then he’ll be happy, wherever he is, that we found each other after all.”
Dominic dozes, emotionally exhausted, and I pull the comforter up, kiss his cheek, and brush my fingers through his hair.
My time in Grandma Darcie’s cottage is ending. In some ways I’m sad, but the next few months will be full of exciting changes and I’m filled with a nervous anticipation. I look forward to it all, secure in Dominic’s love.
So many amazing things await because Leo wanted to sell his paintings in a gallery, and he chose mine.
Epilogue
Dominic
She’s not happy, and I know I’m the cause. Three months in, and she grows sadder by the day. We don’t talk about getting married, don’t talk about going away on a honeymoon or even a simple vacation. She’s where she wants to be, in her cottage, working in her gallery, and meeting me, falling in love with me, didn’t change that.
I don’t resent her for it, because if it had had the power to change her, she wouldn’t be the woman I fell in love with.
It’s past time she’s due back. Her gallery closed an hour ago, and I shut down my laptop. I convinced her to buy a kitchen table, but I need more space, and if she’ll agree, I have a simple solution. She doesn’t want a new house, my attempts at getting her to talk about looking for land, even in Hollow Lake, over before they start. I love her cottage and don’t want to leave, either, but it was built for one person, not two, especially not three or four, when we start our family.
I step outside and onto the porch, where, in the past three months, I’ve had some of the best moments of my life. Sitting quietly, sipping wine, watching the sun set, even speaking withGloria when she happens to ride by with her little mutt, they’ve filled some of the deep holes in my heart and soul. Not all, that will take time, but every second sitting with Jemma is one second more that helps me heal.
