Chapter 7 - The Love That Could Not Go Backward
Gabriel chose the garden.
The lilies had begun to bloom again.
Emma sat beside him on the stone bench where, according to Dominic, Gabriel had spent most of his childhood hiding from tutors.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then Gabriel said, “I still love you.”
Emma closed her eyes.
“I know.”
“I don’t expect anything.”
“That makes it harder.”
He looked at her.
“Do you love me?”
She answered honestly.
“Yes.”
Hope appeared in his eyes.
Then she continued.
“But not the way I did eight years ago.”
Pain replaced it.
Emma took his hand.
“I loved a twenty-six-year-old man who talked about opening a restaurant near the lake and teaching our children how to fish. I carried that man with me for years.”
Gabriel looked down.
“He still exists.”
“I know.”
“But?”
Emma’s eyes filled.
“But I changed too.”
He was quiet.
Then he asked the question she dreaded.
“Dominic?”
Emma looked toward the mansion.
Gabriel laughed sadly.
“That obvious?”
“No.”
“To me it is.”
She shook her head.
“Nothing happened.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Emma did not answer.
Gabriel leaned back.
“When we were young, Dominic never looked at anyone the way he looks at you.”
“That makes me feel worse.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re his brother.”
“And I was gone.”
“You didn’t choose to be.”
“No.”
Gabriel’s voice softened.
“But I also don’t get to return and demand the world freeze where I left it.”
Emma cried then.
He put an arm around her.
They mourned what they had lost together.
Inside the house, Dominic was packing.
Emma found out from Lily.
“Uncle Dominic is going away.”
Emma hurried upstairs.
Dominic stood in his bedroom placing shirts into a suitcase.
“What are you doing?”
“Giving Gabriel space.”
“This is your house.”
“He needs time with Lily.”
“So you’re leaving?”
“I have an apartment downtown.”
Emma stared at him.
“You’re running.”
He looked at her sharply.
“I don’t run.”
“You searched for me for twenty-one days. You walked into a gunfight for Lily. You faced your brother coming back from the dead.”
She stepped closer.
“And now you’re leaving because you’re afraid of a conversation.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“What conversation?”
“This one.”
He looked at her for several seconds.
Then said quietly, “My brother loves you.”
“I know.”
“You loved him.”
“Yes.”
“He is Lily’s father.”
“Yes.”
“What exactly do you want me to say, Emma?”
“The truth.”
Dominic laughed once without humor.
“You want truth?”
“Yes.”
He walked toward her.
“The truth is I wake up listening for your daughter’s footsteps in the hallway.”
Emma’s breath caught.
“The truth is I know how you take your coffee. I know you read the last page of books when you get nervous. I know you pretend not to like expensive food but stole half my tiramisu three nights ago.”
“I did not steal half.”
“You stole exactly half.”
Despite everything, she almost smiled.
Dominic’s voice became rough.
“The truth is I have spent my entire adult life believing love made people weak.”
He took another step.
“Then you dragged me out of a burning car when you thought I was nobody.”
Emma’s eyes filled.
“And now?”
“Now I know love doesn’t make you weak.”
He looked toward the hallway where Lily’s laughter echoed.
“It gives your enemies somewhere to aim.”
Emma flinched.
Dominic continued.
“That is why I am leaving.”
“No.”
His expression hardened.
“You don’t get to decide that.”
“You’re right.”
She used his own words against him.
“But neither do you get to decide for me.”
He stared.
Emma whispered, “I chose not to go back to Gabriel.”
Dominic went still.
“What?”
“We talked.”
“And?”
“And we love each other enough to understand that our old life is gone.”
Dominic looked almost angry.
“You should not make that decision because of me.”
“I didn’t.”
“Emma.”
“I made it because I am not the woman Gabriel left eight years ago.”
She stepped closer.
“And he isn’t the man who left me.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“What are you saying?”
Emma’s heart pounded.
“I’m saying don’t leave because you think you’re doing me a favor.”
For once, Dominic Salvatore had no clever response.
Emma reached for his hand.
The paper bracelet Lily had made still circled his wrist.
“You said living in a way that deserves family is harder than dying for them.”
He looked at her.
“So stay.”
Dominic bent toward her slowly enough that she could stop him.
She did not.
Their first kiss was quiet.
No gunfire.
No danger.
No witnesses.
Just two people who had spent their lives surviving finally choosing something they wanted.
When they separated, Dominic rested his forehead against hers.
“This is a terrible idea.”
Emma smiled through tears.
“Probably.”
“I have enemies.”
“I noticed.”
“My life is complicated.”
“I have a six-year-old who puts glitter in pancake batter.”
He almost smiled.
“That is objectively worse.”
From the hallway came Gabriel’s voice.
“I can still hear you.”
Emma jumped.
Dominic closed his eyes.
Gabriel stood in the doorway, amused despite himself.
“I was going to tell you Lily wants pancakes.”
Dominic looked at his brother.
For several tense seconds, neither spoke.
Then Gabriel said, “Don’t hurt her.”
Dominic’s face became serious.
“Never.”
Gabriel nodded.
“And don’t make me regret surviving.”
Dominic replied, “That threat would be more effective if you weren’t wearing Lily’s unicorn slippers.”
Gabriel looked down.
He was.
Emma burst out laughing.
May you like
So did Dominic.
And after a moment, Gabriel did too.
