Chapter 3 - MY FATHER DID NOT LIKE DOMINIC MORETTI
My father was waiting on the porch.
Thomas Carter had spent sixty-two years believing there were only three respectable kinds of men.
Farmers.
Veterans.
And men who knew how to repair their own tractors.
Dominic Moretti was wearing a five-thousand-dollar coat.
This was not going to go well.
I got out first.
Dad hugged me hard.
“You’re too thin.”
“I’m exactly the same.”
“You work too much.”
“Hello to you too.”
Then Lily launched herself from the back seat.
“Grandpa!”
His entire face changed.
He caught her.
“There’s my girl.”
Dominic stepped from the passenger side.
My father’s smile disappeared.
Lily pointed proudly.
“This is Mommy’s boyfriend.”
Dad looked at me.
Then at Dominic.
Then back at me.
“Your what?”
“Hi, Dad.”
“You didn’t mention a boyfriend.”
“It’s new.”
“How new?”
Dominic extended his hand.
“Dominic Moretti.”
Dad did not take it.
“I know who you are.”
Wonderful.
Dominic lowered his hand.
“I assumed you might.”
Dad looked at his coat.
His shoes.
The black watch at his wrist.
Then at my Honda.
“You came in that?”
“Yes.”
Dominic answered before I could.
“Your daughter insisted.”
Dad almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Lily whispered loudly:
“He wanted big car.”
Dad finally shook Dominic’s hand.
“You staying here?”
I answered quickly.
“Yes.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed.
“In separate rooms.”
“Dad.”
“My house.”
Dominic said calmly, “Of course.”
Dad clearly hated that he had nothing to argue with.
Inside, Emma came running from the kitchen in a cloud of wedding anxiety.
She hugged me.
Then froze when she saw Dominic.
Her eyes widened.
She leaned toward my ear.
“You brought Dominic Moretti home?”
“Apparently.”
“Is that safe?”
“I’m standing here.”
“I mean emotionally.”
I stared.
She grinned.
Then Mom called from the living room.
“Sophia?”
Everything else disappeared.
I went to her.
Margaret Carter had always seemed indestructible.
She could lift fifty-pound feed bags.
Deliver lambs.
Repair fencing.
Feed eight people with whatever was left in the pantry.
Now she looked almost weightless beneath a knitted blanket.
Her hair was mostly gone.
Her hands looked too thin.
But when she saw me, her eyes were still Mom’s.
“There you are.”
I knelt beside her.
“Hi.”
She touched my face.
“You took too long.”
“I know.”
Then Lily climbed onto the sofa carefully.
“Grandma!”
Mom’s smile became beautiful.
“My baby.”
They hugged.
I turned away because I couldn’t handle it.
That was when Mom noticed Dominic.
Her eyes sharpened immediately.
Not sick enough to miss anything.
“And who is that?”
Lily answered.
“Mommy’s boyfriend.”
Mom stared at me.
I smiled weakly.
“Surprise.”
Dominic approached.
For the first time since I had known him, he looked almost uncertain.
“Mrs. Carter.”
“Margaret.”
“Margaret.”
She held out one hand.
He took it.
Then Mom said:
“You’re lying.”
I stopped breathing.
Dad looked confused.
Emma covered her mouth.
Dominic did not react.
“Excuse me?”
Mom looked between us.
“This relationship.”
“Mom.”
“I’ve been married thirty-seven years.”
She pointed toward Dad.
“I know what two people trying not to touch look like.”
Emma turned away because she was laughing.
I wanted to die.
Dominic looked at me.
I looked at him.
Then Mom smiled.
“Relax. I’m dying, not stupid.”
“Mom, don’t say that.”
“It’s still true.”
The room went quiet.
She looked at Dominic again.
“Why are you here?”
He could have lied.
That was the entire point.
Instead he said:
“Because Lily asked me to come.”
Mom’s eyes softened.
“And?”
“Because Sophia needed someone beside her.”
My throat tightened.
Mom studied him.
Then patted the chair near her.
“Sit.”
Dominic Moretti obeyed my mother.
My father noticed.
So did I.
For the next hour, Mom interrogated him.
Where did he grow up?
Brooklyn.
Parents?
Dead.
Siblings?
One younger sister, Francesca, living in Boston.
Why wasn’t he married?
“Poor judgment.”
Mom smiled.
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
Even Dad laughed at that.
Then she asked:
“Are you dangerous?”
Everything stopped.
Dominic looked at me.
I wanted to rescue him.
He didn’t need it.
“Sometimes.”
Mom nodded.
“To my daughter?”
“No.”
“To Lily?”
“Never.”
Dad leaned forward.
“Easy promises.”
Dominic looked directly at him.
“I know.”
Something passed between the two men.
Not trust.
Maybe the beginning of respect.
Later, I found Dominic outside near the barn.
He was staring across the fields.
“You survived.”
“Barely.”
“You’re afraid of my mother.”
“She sees too much.”
“She always has.”
He looked toward the road.
His posture changed again.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“That means something.”
He hesitated.
“Did your family expect anyone else today?”
“No.”
“Black SUV?”
My stomach tightened.
“What black SUV?”
“It passed twice.”
“Maybe someone from the wedding.”
“Maybe.”
But he didn’t believe it.
I saw it.
“Dominic.”
He turned toward me.
“Do you have enemies?”
He almost laughed.
“That is a broad category.”
“This is exactly why bringing you was insane.”
“No one knows why I’m here.”
“Apparently someone followed us.”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly?”
He softened his voice.
“Sophia.”
“No. You don’t get to say my name like that and make danger sound reasonable.”
His expression changed.
“You’re right.”
That stopped me.
“I am?”
“Yes.”
He pulled out his phone.
“I’ll have someone identify the vehicle.”
“No army.”
“One person.”
“No men standing outside the farmhouse.”
“Two.”
“Dominic.”
“One.”
I sighed.
“Fine.”
That evening, rehearsal dinner was held in the barn.
String lights.
Folding tables.
Too much food.
Mom insisted on sitting outside for twenty minutes.
Dominic carried her chair without being asked.
Dad noticed that too.
Lily spent most of dinner sitting beside him.
At one point she offered him a carrot.
“I don’t eat carrots.”
“You have to.”
“Why?”
“They make eyes good.”
“My eyes work.”
She held it closer.
Dominic ate the carrot.
Emma whispered to me:
“Oh, you’re in trouble.”
“What?”
“He likes her.”
“Everyone likes Lily.”
“No.”
She looked toward Dominic.
“He loves her.”
I shook my head.
“Don’t.”
“You don’t see it?”
“This is one weekend.”
Emma looked at me sadly.
“Maybe that’s what you’re telling yourself.”
Before I could answer, a man entered the barn.
My father stood first.
I recognized the newcomer immediately.
For three years, I had imagined seeing him again.
I thought I would feel rage.
Instead I felt nothing.
Ryan Keller looked older.
Still handsome.
Still capable of wearing a smile that made people believe whatever came next.
His eyes found me.
Then Lily.
Then Dominic.
His smile disappeared.
“Sophia.”
Dominic turned.
Lily looked up.
“Who’s that?”
Ryan stared at her.
My stomach dropped.
Nobody had invited him.
Emma went pale.
“I didn’t.”
Dad stood beside me.
“You need to leave, Ryan.”
Ryan ignored him.
His eyes never left Lily.
“She looks like you.”
I moved in front of my daughter.
Dominic stood.
Slowly.
No theatrics.
But the entire barn seemed to notice.
Ryan looked at him.
“So it’s true.”
“What is?” I asked.
“You’re with Moretti.”
My pulse changed.
“How did you know?”
Ryan smiled faintly.
“People talk.”
Dominic’s voice became cold.
“Not this quickly.”
Ryan’s face shifted.
There.
Fear.
Dominic saw it too.
Then Ryan said something that turned my entire weekend upside down.
“I didn’t come for you, Sophia.”
He looked at Lily.
May you like
“I came for my daughter.”
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