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I lean forward, not even knowing I'm doing it, my hands bracing on the sides of the laptop screen. I need to hear more.
"I've been keeping some things from you, and now it's time to come clean. I don't know what point of your life you're at, but I do hope you've found it in your heart to forgive your stepbrother."
He smiles cheekily.
"I know about you and Dom, honey. It would be hard not to, with the two of you staring at each other like you're either about to claw or eat each other's faces. If all goes according to plan, you will know that I've come to terms with your relationship.
"He is not who I would have picked for you, but sometimes life makes better decisions than we ourselves do. So, I believe life picked right this time around."
I smile as the first tears start to fall, with Daddy returning the gesture on the screen.
"Cassidy, there is something I don't agree with. I don't think you should have made Dom leave," he continues more seriously, and I listen on. "Yes, he's made a terrible mistake – one he got a bitch slap for from me."
I look at Dom and he nods with a smile. I laugh, knowing my dad somehow found out about this and slapped him on my behalf.
"But I understand you need your time to get over this. I can tell you that Dom is very sorry for what happened, and I hope you've forgiven him now."
"After Dom left, we kept in touch."
This surprises me and I once again glance at Dom, who motions towards the screen, prompting me to continue watching the video.
"Dom realized I wouldn't be around much longer, and he knew how much my absence would hurt you. So together, we came up with a project. Dom chose the name Heartbreak Summer, because he said it reminded him of your time together."
I smile through the tears.
"We are going to make a series of videos for you to watch. When you have a child, when you get married. I hope this is the right way to include me in your life. Because Cassidy, I'll always love you, even when I can't…"
"Hold your hand anymore," we say in unison. We smile at each other, my hand pressed against the screen, like Dad will reach out of there, right this second.
"Cassidy, I am gone, but that doesn't mean you should let yourself fade away, too," he says next. "Keep my memory strong and learn to be happy."
I nod to myself, my gaze glued to the screen.
"And now, I think someone has a question to ask." Dad's eyes look above the camera, and he laughs. "Go on."
And I stare at the screen in confusion, then look for Dom, but he's not standing next to me as he was before.
My breath immediately catches in my throat when I find him kneeling next to me. "Dom?" I ask with a shaky voice, one of my hands floating to my chest.
"Cassidy," he says my name seriously, and my heart skips a beat. "I've been a jackass, a prick, and a douchebag to you – sometimes all three combined. But I knew as soon as you were in my arms that you were the one for me, and I never stopped loving you since."
I stare at him as he produces a blue velvet box, opening it to reveal a gorgeous ruby ring. He takes it out and offers it to me.
"Please, will you make me the happiest man in the world, and be my wife?" he asks, his strong voice faltering slightly, but that smirk always present as he looks towards the screen. "We're waiting."
I don't need long to answer, pushing the laptop off my lap with trembling fingers and falling into Dom's arms. "Yes," I whisper in his hair as he laughs in mine, sliding the ring on my finger.
"Dom, we've made a terrible mistake," my dad goes on in the video. "How the hell will I know what she said?"
"She'll say yes," Dom calms him down in the video while we grin at one another in real life.
"She could say no. You are a jackass sometimes, you know that?"
"Goddamn it, Tony–"
And then the video cuts off and Dom and I look at each other with our eyes wide.
"You did this all… for me?" I ask, my voice shaky.
He gives me a simple nod.
"How did you get together?" I want to know.
"When you dropped him off at the doctors. I came to town for a few days and we shot some of them. The hospital gave us a room to use. The rest we did on webcam," Dom explains, his voice heavy.
"I needed to say goodbye to him, Cassidy. Even though you didn't want me to."
I realize this isn't just about me. Dom loved my father dearly.
