Dom said nothing, just stared at the pages of the open journal on his lap, twisting one of his thumb rings with his forefinger. What could he say when he knew the answer?
“Mackenzie fears her father’s fate awaits her, doesn’t she?” he asked.
“Of course, she does. That’s why she broke things off with that fellow last year. I know you’re trying to look after her, but I’m not sure why she thinks you’re any different.” Her clipped, biting tone made him cringe. He was different all right.
“The Curse tends to strike those before the age of thirty, and we thought surely Foster was safe at forty-seven. We didn’t think about starting a family until he was well into his thirties, did she tell you that? We thought he’d escaped the Curse, but we were very wrong.”
With a thumb and forefinger, Dom rubbed his eyes. Good Lord, how this family had suffered through the years.
“I expect that you will keep her safe since I am no longer able to do so. Keep her out of the big cities and be especially careful in the warmer months. Don’t let her out of your sight. I’m counting on you.”
Reaching her hands out to him again, she clasped his fingers and batted her lashes. “Shhhh, don’t tell my husband I said this, but you have very beautiful eyes. A girl could get lost in them and completely forget her manners.”
Several hours later Mackenzie jumped up on the park bench outside the front door of the nursing home and walked it like a balance beam, using Dom’s shoulder for support. What an amazing day. She wanted to sing, skip and dance in his arms, which made absolutely no sense because of what she needed to do.
Don’t think about it, she told herself. Just live in the moment.
Today was wonderful. Who cared about tomorrow? Her heart protested, but what choice did she have? None. Zero. She just hoped she wouldn’t hurt him. But it was better this way. No messy goodbyes. No promises of a relationship that had nowhere to go.
“Thank you so much. You don’t know how much today meant to me. And to my mom, even if she doesn’t realize it.” She caressed his cheeks with her thumbs and felt that incredible surge of adrenaline whenever she touched him. In response, he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulled her off the bench and spun her around. She couldn’t help but laugh. If only this moment, this time with him, didn’t have to end.
“Your mother is fascinating, and I had a delightful time escorting both of you,” he said.
She intertwined her fingers in his hair and that strange but calming sound filled her ears again. She was going to miss how she felt whenever she was around him. God, she was going to miss everything about him.
“Did you see the starry look in her eyes as we drove through the Arboretum?” Mackenzie asked. “For her, seeing the flowering cherries each spring is like taking a child to Disneyland. It’s breathtaking and exciting no matter how many times she experiences it. You’d think she’d never seen them in bloom before and yet, we go every year. Thank you. I wouldn’t have been able to take her otherwise.”
“It was my pleasure.”
Looking into his eyes, she thought she detected a touch of sadness within their depths, but when he blinked, it was gone. No, she was imagining things. She was simply projecting her own feelings onto him.
She winced inside and concentrated on what was making her happy right now. She’d wait to talk to him when he took her home. She could put off the inevitable for a few more hours. Grabbing the back of his hair in her fist, she kissed him hard and tried to stamp the feel of him permanently in her memory.
Dom reached for the door handle, but Mackenzie put a hand on his forearm and he hesitated. This was it, he thought, and his heart rolled over in his chest.
The emotion in the air had been evident as he drove her home from the convalescent center. Although he hadn’t dipped into her thoughts, things had to be weighing heavily on her mind—their relationship, this bonding between the two of them that she undoubtedly felt, the visit to her mother’s which brought the Shaw family curse to the forefront again.
He’d known she was planning to break things off between them at some point. In fact, he’d sensed she’d wanted to do it earlier today, but because she wouldn’t have been able to takeher mother to see the cherry blossoms given her car situation, he’d insisted on driving them. A selfish move on his part—meeting her mother when their relationship was doomed—but he wanted to be introduced to the woman responsible for bringing such a remarkable human being into the world before he had to say goodbye to her.
Dread stabbed at his insides, but this moment was inevitable. Like a train pulling into a station, there was no going back. No stopping. It had to happen. Long-term, he was a liability to her. Today might be fine, but tomorrow—or the next day or the next—the lure of Sweet might be too much. Like hell would he do to her what Alfonso had done to the girl he’d loved once. Those images would never be erased from Dom’s mind. No, Mackenzie was definitely much safer without him.
At least she was the one starting this conversation, rather than the other way around. The instigator of a break-up always had the most power, and it was important to him that she drew strength from that. Not that it’d be easy for him, but he’d manage.
“I’m glad you read some of my mother’s journals. I hope it gave you some additional insight into what our family has gone through.”
“Yes, it did. You’ve all been through quite a lot.”
She cleared her throat and tugged one sleeve, then the other, down over her hands. “If I were a regular person with a normal family history, I would not be sitting here like this, getting ready to say what I am now.”
And if he weren’t who he was, he wouldn’t need to leave her in order for her to be safe.
“But you’re not.”
“Dom, these past few weeks with you have been wonderful—as in amazing.” She dropped her hands in her lap and turned her head away.
“But...?”
“That’s the problem. It’s too good. I feel myself getting too attached. To you, to what we have together. To the promise of a tomorrow. And...and I can’t let that happen. I’m binding myself to a future that can never be.”
