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She’d felt ignored, like her concerns and worries meant nothing because she was a human, basically a child to a vampire like Dominick. She hadn't wanted to go back to that life, where she would be trapped at Dominick's beck and call, stuck in place because she wanted to provide more to Jay than she was prepared to give.
But now that Dominick knew the truth, maybe it was time for her to face her cowardice and selfishness. As little as she wanted to admit the truth, she knew some part of Dominick had changed. She'd seen it with her own eyes.
She'd have to find a way to repair her relationship with him so that they could healthily co-parent Jay, both of them being respectful to each other and understanding one another.
Could she do it? Was the possibility worth the risk?
One mistake could destroy the fragile peace they'd found. Thinking about these questions stirred up so many emotions within Rosalie that she felt completely overwhelmed. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down and then closed her eyes, picturing what family life would look like with Dominick by her side once again.
She imagined lazy Sunday mornings spent together in bed, talking about nothing at all and simply enjoying each other's company while Jay played around, oblivious to their presence. She thought about going on trips together, exploring places neither of them had been before. She pictured dinners where everyone would laugh and talk until late in the evening with no worries or anxieties looming over them.
And when she opened her eyes again, Rosalie felt an odd sense of determination come over her because, for once, she allowed herself to believe that this kind of life might be possible if only she were brave enough to ask for it. If she was brave enough to confront Dominick and tell him what she needed.
They could make all the difference for their son and perhaps for each other as well, if they were willing and capable of overcoming the obstacles that had festered between them for all these years.
It wasn't too late ... was it?
Chapter 10 - Dominick
For days, Dominick had been trying to get Rosalie to talk to him, to no avail. When he arrived at her suite, she would open the door and then slam it in his face. Finding her in the halls resulted in her pretending he didn't exist. He'd once even gotten so desperate that he sent her an official summons, which, of course, she ignored, regardless of the potential penalties for doing so.
Not that Dominick intended to enact them—she'd called his bluff.
It'd been a week since he learned about Jay really being his son, and he was frustrated that Rosalie still wouldn't breathe so much as a word to him. Even the messages sent with Roland when he went to pick up Jay for their lessons went completely unanswered.
At least he was fortunate enough that Rosalie wasn't attempting to bar him from seeing his son altogether. It seemed that Jay wanted to get to know him, and so Rosalie tried to accommodate that desire because she loved her son.
And Dominick knew that just after a while to adjust to the idea of having a son, he loved Jay, too, with his whole heart.
Jay lit up like a candle whenever he saw Dominick, and Dominick was able to get involved with some of the lessons with Roland in the library, he sincerely believed that Jay was getting used to him, too. He wasn't sure what Rosalie told Jay ... but there wasn't as much resentment there as Dominick had expected.
After all, he’d almost killed Jay. He had gone his whole life without knowing he existed.
If the roles were reversed, he knew he would have been resentful of his father. Did that make Jay a better man than him, despite being only ten? It was an amusing thought.
Most of all ... he could feel Jay's natural love growing daily, and he was confident they could genuinely be father and son, despite all the years apart.
If only he could find a way to show all the progress they'd made to Rosalie. But if she didn't want anything to do with him, then he had to respect her wishes, didn't he?
While Dominick was wandering the halls, admiring the ancient paintings and tapestries adorning the long, cold hallways, Aelwen's words kept echoing in the back of his head. Rosalie knew more about the curse, about how they might go about breaking it. Could that have anything to do with why she was avoiding him?
But just as he was about to let the depressing thought fully take hold, he rounded a corner and bumped into something—or rather, someone.
"I'm so sorry—" The woman stopped mid-sentence.
Her golden blonde hair was tied neatly behind her head, baring her familiar, pale neck and the swell of breasts beneath her dress. Eyes shooting upward, Dominick settled on Rosalie's wide eyes. In her surprise, they had the look of rose petals, the pink kind he'd planted in his personal garden just for her. As if on instinct, she immediately put up an icy facade, and Dominick stepped back in shock. Then something changed in her expression—it didn't soften precisely...but there was no longer any anger or hostility towards him either.
He just stared at her for a moment, unsure what to say or do. He'd expected her to either ignore him or continue walking past him without so much as an acknowledgment, as she usually did, but instead, she gave him a shy smile.
"You look like you were thinking hard about something," she said.
Was he imagining this? Was she an illusion conjured by desperation?
He scrambled for words in response before finally taking a deep breath and saying, "I've been trying to find any clues that could help us figure out how to break this curse. I think it's starting to drive us all a little mad. It would be better for all of us if it were over once and for all."
Rosalie nodded slowly. "Have you found anything?"
Dominick wanted desperately wanted to ask her about what Aelwen had told her. That was his primary motivation for seeking her out this past week, after all. But when it came time to ask the question, his resolve weakened.
