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Thirty-Seven
We end up needing Shawna’s help when the press learns where Dom is and storms the hospital. Everyone wants a sound bite from him about Jen Summers’s pregnancy announcement.
It takes everything in me to bite my tongue instead of lashing out. My mom’s condition is deteriorating every hour, and every time I hear Jen Summers’s name, I want to scream.
To his credit, Dom does everything to shield me from the drama without ever leaving my side. At some point, he gets extra security to come to the hospital to ensure that nobody even gets to our floor. The TV remains off, and the staff are professional enough not to bring it up.
Which I’m grateful for, especially when the moment we’ve all been dreading arrives. Mom passes the point of no return, her condition suddenly deteriorating until she takes her last breath. I stare at her chest, willing it to move. We may not have had a good or healthy relationship, but I didn’t want her to die.
The nurses quietly turn off the machines. “Take all the time you need,” one says to Dom as my gaze remains locked on the unmoving body of my mother.
Dom wraps his arms around me, and I hadn’t even noticed how cold I’d gotten until I feel his warmth. That’s what sets off the tears again.
My body sags, but he’s there to catch me, lifting me up and holding me in his arms as I completely fall apart.
“Let it all out. I’ve got you, Laney.”
I know he does, which makes me feel even more foolish for my outburst when I first found out about Jen’s pregnancy. He’s always had me, but his actions prove it even more than his words.
He’s changed, and I need to stop throwing his past sins in his face when I get scared, because that’s really what my reaction was about. I was scared that we’d be stuck with Jen Summers in our life forever. That she’d always have a piece of him that I wanted all for myself.
I let myself cry for a few more minutes before I pull myself together, but even as the tears dry up, I remain curled up in Dom’s arms. My happy place.
“I’m sorry about earlier.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” he says softly before dropping a tender kiss to my hair.
I pull away enough to look in his gorgeous eyes. “Yes, I do. You did nothing to deserve me lashing out at you just because Jen Summers likes drama. I don’t want your past to always be hanging over our heads. I forgive you, Dom. I forgive you for treating me poorly when your head was so far up your ass you couldn’t see the light of day.”
He laughs and I can’t help smiling at the reaction I was hoping for. “From this day forward, we start with a clean slate. The Dom and Laney of our past will always be there, but their decisions and fears no longer define us or our relationship, okay?” I ask.
It’s exhausting to hold on to all those feelings of frustration and anger about how things played out in the past. Just like I didn’t want my mom’s words to poison my thoughts, I don’t want our past actions to poison our future success as a couple.
Because I have no doubt we’ll be the strongest couple I know if we allow ourselves to be.
He smiles at me—his soft smile that makes me feel all mushy inside. “It’s a deal.”
My mother’s funeral is sad because not a single one of her supposed “friends” shows up, even after I called everyone listed in her phone, hoping to find someone who knew her and would come.
Instead, as we stand in the cool spring air, Dom on one side and Tessa on my other, we’re surrounded by my LA Wolves family. Even though today is supposed to be about her, I can’t help feeling the endless love of my friends who are gathered around to support me even when most of them never met my mom. Today only further cements that they’re more than friends—they’re my family, and like I learned a long time ago, sometimes your found family is stronger than any blood family ever could be.
I place a white lily on her casket, then the pastor says his final words and the whole thing is over. It took less than twenty minutes to close another chapter of my life, but as Dom holds my hand on the way back to the car, I feel a lightness encompass me, and I hope wherever my mom is, she feels lighter too. I hope she’s with my dad, finally happy.
After the service, we all go back to Dom’s house where he’s had a whole catered spread delivered. For so long, I was convinced I had to do everything myself and support myself, but I can’t deny it’s nice being able to let someone else take the reins sometimes. The way Dom has seen to all my needs this past week has made me love him even more, which I didn’t think was possible.
We spend the next several hours eating, talking, even laughing, and despite the heaviness for why we were all gathered together in the first place, the day ends on a high note.
Especially when I end the night, curled up in bed with Dom, right where I’ve always belonged.
“You ready for this?” Mr. Smith asks me as he holds out his hand.
I smile wide, my heart full to bursting. “So ready.”
I put my hand in his, and he pats it with his other hand before wrapping my arm around his elbow and walking with me toward our destination.
We round the corner, and I suck in a sharp breath. Dom stands at the end of the sand aisle, wearing tan pants and a white button-down that he’s rolled up his forearms as I requested because I love that look on him.
I love any look on him.
