Page 227 of By A Thread
“I love you,” I said. Sometimes the words bubbled up and couldn’t be contained. And Dom’s face did what it always did when I felt compelled to tell him. It softened as if he, too, couldn’t believe that this was his life.
“I love hearing you say that,” he said smugly.
Since our reconciliation, we’d played an intense game of getting-to-know-you… outside of the bedroom. It was an ongoing conversation. Just like our relationship was an ongoing negotiation. Revelations had been both big and small. Like Dominic’s confession that he’d built his life around wanting to outdo his father on every battlefield.
Considering that the man was suspended fromIndulgencefor harassment and facing civil lawsuits and criminal charges.
I hoped to sweet baby cheeses that my little revelation today would give him one more place to win… and not send him into a downward spiral.
He hooked a finger in the string between my breasts. “Are you ready for another drink?” he asked me, his voice husky.
I nodded and bit my lip. Ready to take the plunge. “Make sure it’s a virgin margarita though, okay?”
He cocked his head. Then took off his sunglasses, his gaze more intense than the Canouan sun.
“Ally?”
I took his hand and slid it over my stomach. “So I know we didn’t plan this,” I said, the words tumbling out. “And I know liking kids is a lot different from actually having them and raising them and turning them into not terrible human beings. And I know that I’m freaking forty now. But I’m healthy and in good shape, and I think I can do this. I mean, I hope I can do this.”
The waiter, in a polo shirt the same blue as the ocean, arrived with a silver tray and a smile.
“Are you two ready for something special?” he asked.
“Uh, hang on a second,” Dominic said, his hand still flat on my stomach. “Ally, are you saying… Are we…”
“I’m pregnant. You’re going to be a dad. And please don’t freak out in a bad way because I really, really need you to be happy about this because I am scared shitless.”
“Pregnant? Like with a baby?”
I nodded, suddenly wishing I could drink alcohol. Copious amounts of it.
“Are you okay?” I whispered. He looked like he was going into shock.
“Pregnant,” he said again.
“With a baby,” I repeated in case he’d missed that part.
He covered his eyes with one hand.
“Oh God. Dom? Charming? Are you okay?” I scrambled into a higher seated position and dragged his hand away from his eyes.
His damp eyes.
“I’m going to be a daddy.”
And here came my waterworks like a faucet opening.
I nodded, tears squirting from my eyeballs. “Yeah. You’re going to be a daddy,” I whispered.
He grabbed me and picked me up off the lounger. I wrapped my legs around his waist and held on tight.
“You’re not mad?” I clarified, cupping his face in my hands.
“Mad? I’m floored. And terrified. And excited. And worried. And so fucking happy, Ally. We’re gonna have a family.”
A family.
Yep. Now I was audibly sobbing. These freaking hormones were turning me into a lunatic.
