Page 140 of The Scandal You Started
V:
You will never lose my trust Rayna
Whatever it is, whatever happened, we’ll figure it out together I promise
Just come see me whenever you’re ready
Dominic
It was painfully unfair how quickly time passed when one was living in utter bliss. But two weeks spent with Rayna in a foretelling of what married life would be like with her vanished just so.
And they were the happiest two weeks of Dominic’s life.
They weren’t so different from how he’d spent the rest of his time in the future with her, and yet every moment was somehow so much more meaningful and enjoyable now that she was his.
Oh, they were still keeping it a secret, and Rayna had moments where doubt waned the happiness in her charcoal eyes, but she was affectionate with him. She initiated touches and kisses outside of sex, and he no longer had to downplay how much he loved her in return.
It was perfect.
All that was missing was his ring on her finger or locket around her neck, a few children running between them, and a way for his family to still be a part of his new life with Rayna.
None of the joy solved the impossibility of their relationship, but it made Dominic hopeful that they’d find a feasible way. It also made the dwindling time they had left easier to put to the back of his mind when the night of theTregencyexhibit’s opening gala finally came around.
“This is—” Matt cut off with a huff as he tried to loosen the white cravat around his neck with a single finger. “Much stiffer than I’d thought it’d be.”
Dominic chuckled and turned to him in the corridor they were lingering in, not far from the first-floor hall the evening event was being held in.
“May I?” he asked the shorter man.
Matt stretched his neck, allowing Dominic to carefully and neatly fold the stiff cotton so it wasn’t rubbing so high under the man’s chin.
Satisfied with the way it sat, Dominic straightened. “How is that now?”
Matt rolled his head around, testing his range of movement. “Better, thank you.” Then he shook his head with a dissatisfied smile as his brown gaze travelled the space around them. “I don’t know why the Events team wanted us to wear cravats too. What was wrong with just wearing tailcoats like last time?”
“I suppose it adds authenticity to ourTregencyattire,” Dominic said with a chuckle, rotating on the smooth soles of his polished black slippers—“smart shoes”as Rayna had called them—to look around the lively corridor.
People he recognised from the Events team were rushing around in neckcloths and tailcoats or elegant evening dresses, sorting out last-minute details with the museum security ortechnicians wearing headphones—headsets.Cassie was fussing amongst them, her round, curvaceous figure wrapped in a wondrous red gown. Over all the quick chatter, a quadrille could be heard dully, played by the live orchestra rehearsing in the hall.
Missing were Rayna and Hania, who they were waiting for, so that the five of them could head around to the hall’s main entrance on the opposite side of the floor and welcome the first attendees of the gala soon to start arriving.
As Dominic shuffled to face Matt again, his attention caught on a gilded mirror on the dark, painted wall. He did a double-take, caught off guard again by seeing himself dressed so.
The white cravat, shirt, and waistcoat, black tailcoat, and crisp suit trousers weren’t an exact replica of what he wore in his own time. But the style of the clothing and the feel of the stiff fabric around his neck were enough to awaken an odd jumble of emotions inside him.
Comfort in the familiarity of the garments. A wistful longing to see his family and live part of the life he’d always known. A thoughtful comparison of the clothing he’d spent the last three months wearing. Recognition of who he was, his family name and his position.
There was a whisper of doubt there too, because even though he hadn’t worn a neckcloth in months, it felt natural, like a second layer of skin. It made him question whether he could really fit into the future when he’d only ever known the past.
Only for a second. Because it wasn’t his only layer of skin anymore. He had chinos and T-shirts and trainers and boxers now too.
They were both him. Two sides of the same coin, and he didn’t want to erase either version.
“Oh, they’re here.”
Dominic blinked upon hearing Matt’s voice and gave his reflection one last curious glance over before searching in the direction of the other man’s attention. When he found thetheyin question—no, when he found his future walking towards him—he…froze. Solid.
Suddenly, Dominic was standing in his quarantine room at the POTeM lab again, his heart ricochetting so hard it punched the air out of his lungs, as he stared at Rayna.
