“Well, honey, maybe he felt that he knew what your reaction would be, so he was just trying to avoid any more issues between the two of you. I’m not agreeing with him, but both of you have so much on your plates that maybe he felt it best to save that part of his past for another time.”
“I get that, Dad, but he should realize by now that keeping things from me only makes the fallout bigger in the end. If I know Dominick, and I think I do, he would have never told me if it never reared its ugly head.”
My dad grinned and shook his head. “Well, sweetie, then you both need to have a serious talk. I don’t mean tonight, but sooner rather than later. Just let him know that you don’t want any more surprises. That you had enough to last you a lifetime.”
Then he smiled and waited for my response.
I smiled back. “You’ve got that right.”
We both laughed and walked arm in arm towards the house. Once we reached the porch landing, a very hesitant Dominick Kane appeared. He shook my dad’s hand and exchanged some pleasantries, but never once looked at my dad. It was because he couldn't take his focus off of me.
“I’m going to head in to see my grand-babies and put my bags away. I’ll see you both inside, then we can get this celebration started.”
I smiled briefly, as I watched my dad disappear into the house. Dominick’s gaze hadn’t moved. He was waiting for something from me. He got nothing. I attempted to walk into the house when he took my arm.
“Rain, listen…” Dominick began, but I was just too tired to listen. I wanted to get through the evening and go to bed.
“Dominick, please don’t…not now. Let’s just go inside and salvage whatever we can from the situation that Madison created when she disrupted our day. Let’s celebrate yours and Daniel’s birthday.”
“But, Rain, I…”
“Dominick, I said not now!” I commanded, as I left him standing on the front porch alone and returned to our family inside.
Back in the living room, I found Anna and Joseph. They walked directly over to me to see what transpired between me and Madison and of course, me and Dominick.
“Rain, are you okay? Did she leave? What did Dominick say?” I didn’t know who was asking the questions, Anna or Joseph or both, but they were coming at me all at once.
“She left, but I don’t know if we've heard the last of her. I gather that she was not the one who ended the relationship between her and Dominick.”
“No, she was very upset when he broke it off. She kept calling and showing up everywhere he was. She became a stalker of sorts.” Joseph revealed.
“What finally made her stop?” I was curious, plus I wanted as much background as I could get on Dominick’s ex.
“We’re not sure.” Joseph said.
“We think Dominick had something on her father, so he used it to blackmail him, which in turn stopped her stalking in its tracks.” Anna added.
“Who’s her father?” I asked.
“Maxwell Van Buren.”
“Maxwell Van Buren, the attorney?”
“Yes, one and the same.” Joseph stated.
“I wonder what Dominick had on him? He is quite a prominent and well-respected lawyer in the city. I only know of him by reputation, because of my dad and Raven.”
Anna and Joseph looked at each other. “We don’t really know what Dominick had on him, but whatever it was, it had to be something immense. That woman was not deterred easily and yet when Dominick spoke with her father, she stopped all of her antics immediately and she was never heard from again, well until now that is.” Anna revealed and looked to Joseph who looked like he had more to add.
“Joseph, is there something else you wanted to say?”
“Well, I don’t know if we should be telling you this, but I feel you have a right to know. I cannot stand by and watch Dominick ruin everything that is good in his life. He wants so hard to be a good husband and a good father. I hate to see it be ruined by the likes of Madison Van Buren.” Joseph added.
“What shouldn’t you be telling me?” I prompted.
“Well, whatever Dominick had on Mr. Van Buren, it was enough to allow Dominick to be released from his duties in the Van Buren firm and to make a clean break from Maxwell’s daughter, Madison.”
“I see, so was there anything else?”
“There was, but I think it’s Dominick responsibility to discuss that matter with you himself.” Anna said with apprehension.
“I’m not going to like it, am I?”
They both shook their heads, but said nothing.
At that moment, Dominick walked back into the house. He looked at me and waited for me to say something, anything. I was just too disgusted, so I didn’t feel the need to respond to him. Actually, he didn’t deserve any sort of reassurance at this point, because again, Dominick felt it was okay to keep his past from me. If Dominick wanted a response from me, he would get one, but not now. We had guests and there was no point in making the situation any more uncomfortable for them.
I just looked at him, shook my head, showed him my disappointment, and went out to the patio to get the birthday dinner started.
The rest of the evening went off without any other issues. I didn’t really speak with him, which didn’t make him happy, but he let me be. It didn’t make me happy either. This evening should have been about him and about celebrating his birthday with our family, but instead it left a bad taste in my mouth.
I suppose I could have acted like nothing happened and made it more pleasant for him, but I wasn’t made like that. I loved Dominick with everything in me. I loved his flaws, his insecurities, his mood swings, everything, but the one thing I wouldn’t tolerate was his secrets. He needed to get it straight or problems would only get worse.
Once dinner was completed, I brought out the cake. Dominick and Daniel were completely surprised and definitely excited. Dominick sat next to his brother, holding our babies in each arm and then he closed his eyes and made a wish. Daniel did the same before they blew out their candles.
Then, Dominick opened his eyes, he didn’t utter a word. He just looked at me and then the twins; with tears in his eyes; then he whispered quietly to them, but loud enough for me to hear, “I got my wish…all three of you.”
I chill ran over my entire body from his words. It was more than I could handle. I left the patio abruptly and went into our bathroom to cry. I didn’t hold back anything. My emotions were wild and I couldn’t get a hold of them. I loved that man, but he needed to understand that being evasive about his past was not acceptable. I guess in some small way I should have been glad that all of this happened, but now I needed to discuss it with Dominick. I knew he would listen to me, but I didn’t hold much faith in him doing as I asked. Dominick just wasn’t built that way. He had his own views on how to protect me, but what exactly was he protecting me from? I knew he slept with other women. I knew he had relationships prior to being with me. Dominick was a very attractive, charismatic, and powerful man. I knew he didn’t live under a rock before he met me, so why couldn’t he just have been honest? What was he hiding this time?
A knock at the door stopped my crying; “Who is it?" I asked, although I knew exactly who was checking up on me.
"Rain, can I come in?" Dominick asked with a soft hesitance.
“It’s open.”
Dominick walked into our bathroom and perched himself on the counter next to the sink where I had been removing the make-up stained tears that trailed down my face due to the overwhelming emotional state I was just in.
I could hear him swallow hard before he asked the inevitable question that was lurking in his over-active mind.
"So, Rain... is this it? Is this where it finally ends? Are you going to leave me this time?”
I stared at my tired reflection in the mirror and closed my eyes. I let out a deep, shaky breath before I turned toward him. For once in his life, Dominick was truly scared. Scared of what the consequences could be for his actions this time. The act
ions that, to me, were mere excuses. Now did I tell him my plans or did I just make him sweat for a little while longer?
Chapter Fourteen
Repairing the Damage, Again
Dominick
“Rain, say something, please, baby.” I hated the way I sounded when I begged, but I would have done anything to have Rain tell me what she was thinking and to fix what was clearly broken.
She backed away from the sink and came to settle between my legs at the bathroom counter. She was uncomfortable. I could see it in the way her body behaved, almost like a zombie. She didn’t want to be near me. She was going through the motions to appease me, so I would stop badgering her. That’s not what I wanted. I wanted my angel. I wanted her to be okay. I wanted to be the one to wipe her tears and make sure that they would be the last tears she would ever cry because of something I caused to happen.
“So Rain, are you going to answer my question? Is this the end of us?” I needed the truth, but was afraid of what she might say.
“Dominick, you know very well it’s not. But you also know very well why I’m so angry and upset with you. It’s not because Madison Van Buren showed up here tonight unannounced. It’s not because she played the wounded ex-girlfriend to your big strong man, bad boy image. It’s also not because you had a past relationship with that piece of work. It’s because as usual you didn’t tell me about your past completely. You held out on me, again. When we have had numerous conversations and I had told you at length not to hold anything back, yet again, you did.”
“Rain, everyone has parts of their lives that they just want to forget. Parts they just want to put behind them, even me.”
“I get all of that, Dominick, but this is different. Madison is a loose cannon and for whatever reason she has now decided to resurface in your life again. It’s hard enough to deal with an ex-girlfriend in the best of circumstances, but our life has been a struggle from the very beginning. Much of the drama that has caused arguments between us, is this very thing…your inability to tell me your entire truth.”
“Rain, I didn’t tell you about her because…I” I was cut off by my beautiful, but very pissed off wife.
“Because you wanted to protect me. You wanted to keep me safe. Am I right?”
Rain was very annoyed with me and rightfully so.
Now I needed to fix it, once and for all. “You're partially right, baby.”
“Okay then, enlighten me on the other parts.” She crossed her arms to show she meant what she said. She wanted to know the truth and she wasn’t going to take any more excuses. She wanted this settled now.
“Now? Here? In the bathroom?” This felt odd to me.
“You’re right, this isn't the place to talk. I have a better idea.” She stated.
With that, she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me towards the patio. Anna and Joseph were the only two people left outside. Everyone else must have gone to bed. Probably because they knew once I followed Rain into the house, it was going to be a long conversation. Or perhaps they didn’t want to stick around to witness any of the fallout between Rain and myself.
Rain kept a tight grip on my hand, took a blanket from one of the chaise lounge chairs near the pool and explained to both of them that we would be back in an hour or so. She asked if they could monitor the twins who I had tucked into bed earlier before going after Rain.
They both nodded, but didn’t say a word. They knew not to get into the middle of this. I was grateful that they would watch the babies, but that meant I was totally in for it once Rain got me alone.
We walked out onto the sand. I should say I stumbled, as Rain pulled me mercilessly closer to the water. The tide was out, so there was little chance we would be swept up in a wave of seawater like we were on our wedding day. I wished I could go back in time to that moment when I was the one who was pissed at her for going into the ocean when she was pregnant and because it was the best day of my life.
Rain laid the blanket down and directed me to sit. I was amused at her conviction, yet I didn’t dare laugh. I did what she asked and then waited to hear what she was about to say.
“Dominick, I want to know all of it, everything. I want to know about Madison, her father Maxwell, and any other crazy tramps that you had sex with that may want to show up on our doorstep anytime in our future. I’m giving you this one chance to be totally honest with me, so we can move forward and leave all of this shit behind us once and for all.”
I grinned at her this time, because I knew my girl meant business. There was no turning back for me now. If Rain wanted to hear all of it, then I would give her all of it. I just hoped that after she heard everything she would still be willing to be my wife.
“Okay baby, I’ll tell you all of it.”
She said nothing. She just listened, so I could continued.
“I had met Madison during law school. She was taking corporate law classes and we were in several together. I had known who her father was from his reputation as an attorney in the city, but I hadn’t realized that she was his daughter until I had learned of her last name.”
“So you didn’t date her in school?”
“No, once I finished school and graduated, her father’s firm had offered me a position. I had been applying to several different firms in and out of New York, but I didn’t decide at that point on which opportunity I would take. Her father made me a very attractive offer, more lucrative than any of the other firms that I had applied to, and being that Vincent and your dad had basically blacklisted me from Kane and Medici, I took Maxwell’s offer.”
“That was the beginning of your plan to seek revenge.” For Rain, this was a statement, not a question. So I moved forward with my story and didn’t comment on what she just said.
“As I started to work for him, the stress and the long hours began to wear on me. I was happy to have cases and to be winning them, but I had no social life to speak of and Madison had been working just as hard as I had. Her father didn’t cut her any slack because she was the boss’ daughter.”
“So you slept together?” Rain asked, but her voice was sad and barely audible.
“Yes, we started to sleep together.” I didn’t elaborate on my sex life with Madison. I was hurting Rain and it was breaking my heart to see her like this. If I told her the vivid details it would have only worsened our situation and more than likely it would have made her change her mind about leaving me.
“Go on, let’s get this over with.” Rain seemed annoyed and very uncomfortable, so I knew with all of her mixed emotions that played out in front of me, I needed to finish this and quick.
“We dated for a while and then I asked her to marry me.” I had looked down out of sheer embarrassment, but when I looked up, Rain was staring at me dead in the face.
The worst part of all this was that she had no verbal reaction to what I just admitted. She said nothing. Just one single tear silently fell down my wife’s beautiful face, just one tear. Fuck this, I was going to take Rain in my arms and hold her. She could fight me all she wanted. It wouldn’t stop me. I was hurting her worse now than by keeping this part of my life a secret from her. I needed to bring her close to me and make her mine again.
“No baby, don’t cry. Rain, I’m so sorry. This is why I didn’t want to tell you. Look at your reaction. Don’t you see? This is what I was afraid of.” I pulled Rain into me to kiss her tears away.
This time Rain pushed back.
“Do you see what I mean now? This could have all been avoided, Dominick. If you would have just told the truth from the very beginning. This is the shit that bothers me. I know you believe you didn’t lie, but you did. It’s a lie by omission. So what if I didn’t ask you about your prior relationships? Don’t you think you should have told me? I told you about mine. I told you what went on between Marcello and me. I told you what type of relationship Tommy and I had. Yet, you felt the need once again to purposely leave out some of the most crucial details in your past life. Important details, I mig
ht add.” Rain sighed deeply and pulled on her sleeves, which showed me she felt awkward, but she still wanted to hear all of it. She still wanted me to finish it, so I did what she silently asked of me.
“Madison and I never came close to getting married. Something always pushed the arrangements back. Admittedly, I kept pushing them back. I knew we were wrong for each other. I stayed because her father was good to me, but then one day I had come home and she was at my apartment. She was yelling and belittling Anna. That was it. That was all I needed to see. I told her it was over and to get the fuck out.”
Rain began to smile. “You’ve always loved Anna, even though you didn’t know she was your mom yet. You always held her in your heart.”
“Yes, I know.You’re right. I always loved her and I just couldn’t believe how horrible Madison was to her. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it before. That wasn’t the worst part.”
The Ties That Bind (Miss Taken Identity #3) Page 13
