Second Chance at Love (Love Conquers All) (9 page)

Dom coughed, covering up a chuckle. Karen was something else. He would have never guessed her to be the razor tongue type. He had to do something and quick to diffuse what was about to be a very ugly scene. Gina wasn’t exactly a punk. When angered she had a nasty, foul mouth and didn’t care what she said or how she said it. If he didn’t separate the two they might be hissing and showing claws any second. Taking Karen’s hand, he told Gina it was good seeing her again and to take care.

Boy did that get Gina’s dander up. Just who did Dom think he was dismissing her? Better yet, who did this
woman
think she was talking to her like this? Her face turned crimson and it appeared as if her hair expanded even bigger. She didn’t know what to do with herself. Gina was really a pretty woman, but from the ugly scowl she wore no one would have ever known it. And the words she was about to spew were just as ugly. Turning to Dom, she lashed out. “You were never good enough for me anyway. You think just because you’re Dominic Peretti’s son you’re one of us. You’ll never be one of us. You’re better off in the ghetto with your black bitch.”

Karen was in shock as she watched Gina storm out of the restaurant. Did she just really call her a black bitch?
Well…yeah she did,
taunted the voice in her head. Turning to Dom, she was fired up, getting ready to throw a hissy fit. Just what kind of bimbos was he used to being involved with anyway? Before she could get a word out she stopped dead in her tracks. Dom’s strong, handsome jaw was clenched in anger. His dark eyes had gone from twinkling to dangerously ominous. Karen’s heart went out to him. Gina’s words had been beyond ugly and acrid. Gently touching his arm, she apologized. “Dom, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything to her.” A shiver passed through Karen as she remembered Gina’s nasty word. “We don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

Karen was torn between running after Gina and beating her down and staying by Dom’s side.

“No, we’re not going anywhere. We met for lunch. We’re having lunch.”

Karen gave him a weak smile. “Ok.”

Settled at the table, Karen held Dom’s hand as they blessed their food. The two sat in silence as they ate their Cosi’s sandwich and salad combos. Putting her fork down, Karen broke the silence when she asked, “Dom, what was that all about?”

Wiping his mouth with the white paper napkin, Dom gave Karen a thoughtful look. She couldn’t tell if he was going to tell her what happened between them or not. Honestly, he didn’t feel like rehashing the past where Gina was concerned. But he knew if he wanted any kind of future with Karen he would have to be open and honest with her about every facet of his life.

Rolling his shoulders, he shared with Karen how he thought at one time Gina was his first love. They started secretly dating Dom’s senior year of high school and Gina’s sophomore year. Gina’s father was a strict, old school Italian father. All of his children had to date and marry Italian. It wasn’t good enough that Dom was half Italian. It didn’t even really matter that his mother was black. If she had been Irish, Jewish or English, that still wouldn’t have made Dom good enough for his daughter.

By the time Dom was a junior in college, things were pretty hot and heavy between them. Dom had confessed his love and Gina had confessed hers. Gina had made the mistake of telling one of her girlfriends that she had fallen madly in love with Dom. The very next day Salvatore Tucci had showed up at the Peretti’s home with his daughter Gina in tow. When Salvatore angrily threatened Dom to stay away from his precious little girl, Dom made the mistake of trying to explain that he and Gina were in love and had planned on getting married after he graduated college the following spring. When Dom looked to Gina to confirm everything he’d just said, Gina denied their relationship. “That’s not true Dom. We’ve never been nothing more than friends,” had been her response. Crushed, Dom finished his undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering and found a job in his field on the west coast, leaving Philly and swearing never to let another woman hurt him the way Gina Tucci had done.

“Wow. And I thought my love life was terrible.” Karen commented as she speared a tomato, put it in her mouth, and chewed it.

Dom lifted a thick brow. “I thought you had the perfect little marriage.”

Shaking her head, Karen took a sip of water to wash down her food. “At first we did. We were so young and crazy in love. And then I got pregnant with Ashley and two years later Kyle came along.” Letting out a deep breath, she placed her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her palm. “After the kids were born we started drifting apart. I felt it, tried to talk to him about it, but he just denied everything. Long story short, after Gregory’s death I found out he had called out from work and was on his way to meet some chick he met on the internet.”

“Dayum,” Dom mumbled under his breath. “I’m so sorry baby. How did you find out?”

“I was cleaning out his email account and came across several emails. They hadn’t had a physical relationship yet. But I’m sure if they had met it would have eventually gone there. The thing that really pissed me off was that he had confided in this woman that he felt smothered being a husband and father.”

“Dayuuuum.”

Karen laughed and threw her napkin at Dom. “Can you say anything else but ‘dayuuuum?’ I’m pouring my heart out to you here. My sister and mother don’t even know any of this stuff.”

Catching the napkin, Dom chuckled. “I’m just saying, dude was a trip.”

Karen rolled her eyes. “You telling me. I don’t even want to get into how his parents totally disowned my babies after the funeral.”

Now that bit of information had Dom sitting straight up in his seat. “Why the hell did they do that?”

The harsh tone of Dom’s voice touched Karen. He really did care about her babies. Shrugging slender shoulders she said, “They never really wanted us to get married. They told us we were making a mistake. After Gregory died they pretty much told me they didn’t want to be bothered with me or
my
children. Gregory’s older sister had three children, two girls and a boy. They had no problem telling me those were the only grandchildren they were claiming.”

Dom reached across the table and took Karen’s hand in his. “It’s their loss. Ashley and Kyle are beautiful, smart, lovable, and caring kids.” Leaning across the table, Dom placed a tender kiss on Karen’s lips. “Just like their mother.”

She couldn’t keep the blush from creeping up her neck and fanning out across her face. “Thanks, Dom. That’s so sweet of you to say.”

“It’s the truth.” Standing, he put on his leather jacket. Karen followed suit, putting on her coat. Holding out his hand, she put hers in his as he walked her to her car.

Pulling out her keys from her purse, she smiled up at Dom. “Aren’t we a crazy pair?”

Chuckling, Dom pulled her close, giving her a deep, thorough kiss. “Nah, baby, we’re a perfect match.”

Ring…Ring…Ring

“I’ll get it, sugar!” Patrick yelled out as he picked up the telephone on the kitchen wall. “Hello.”

“Hey, Poppa Patrick. How are you?” Karen greeted her stepfather, Patrick Wahl.

Karen and Starr learned almost two years ago that their mother, Donna, had not only been involved with, but living with Patrick while still married to her estranged husband. The relationship was exposed when Harold Avery came crawling out from whatever rock he’d been under for the past ten years demanding his daughters convince Donna to give their dead marriage another chance. Harold had been a holdout on signing the divorce papers until Patrick offered him an undisclosed amount of money to sign the papers. The following month, Patrick and Donna were married in a small, private ceremony.

Hearing his stepdaughter’s voiced caused his blue eyes to crinkle in the corners. “Hey lil’ sugar!” Patrick’s voice boomed. “How are you and the grandbabies doing?”

Karen laughed. She got a kick out of Patrick’s nicknames for her and Starr. Starr was Sugar Number Two since she had met him first and she was Lil’ Sugar. “We’re doing fine. Getting ready for the holidays. I can’t believe Christmas is less than a week away. Are you and Mommy still coming for Christmas?”

“We sure are. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Good. I know Starr and Kevin are looking forward to you staying with them.” Patrick chuckled and Karen joined right in with him. The first year Patrick and Donna came back to Philly to stay, the sisters went back and forth about who their mother and new stepfather would stay with during the holidays. They had settled on sharing them. This year Karen suggested Donna and Patrick stay with Kevin and Starr so they could help out with the triplets. Grateful for the suggestion, Starr offered to have Ashley and Kyle spend a few nights at their place so they’d get to enjoy their grandparents’ company. If they could squeeze it in, Donna and Patrick would stay a night or two with Karen.

“I think it’s just so crazy cool the way you girls fight over having us stay with you. I know it makes your momma feel good.”

“What makes me feel good? And who are you talking to?” Karen could hear her mother asking in the background.

“Lil’ Sugar is on the phone. I was just telling her how much you enjoy having the girls fight over who we’re going to stay with when we go to Philly.”

The melodious laughter coming from her mother made Karen smile. Her mother had been depressed for years. Moving away to a small rural town in Virginia and meeting Patrick Wahl had been the best thing to happen to Donna in a very long time. And for that Karen was extremely happy.

“I’ll talk to you later lil’ sugar. Here’s your momma.”

“Hey, baby, how are you?”

“I’m fine Mommy. I just need to talk to you about something.”

Karen had toyed with the idea of talking to her mother all day. It seemed as if everything was going so fast since the wedding, but in all actuality it had been less than two weeks. In those two weeks she had admitted to Dom she was totally feeling him, had him over for dinner, had been to his parents’ home for dinner, and ruined their lunch date by almost beating his ex-girlfriend down.

Dating was so foreign to her. She hadn’t dated since high school. And she was scared out of her mind about the possibility of stepping out into the world of dating. The nagging feeling of things not working out between her and Dom still troubled her. What would she do if the kids got super attached to Dom and things went sour real fast? And God forbid, what would she do if she had any more run-ins with Dom’s ex? Although she had these nagging thoughts she desperately wanted to give her and Dom a chance.

What she needed most was to talk to someone who could give her guidance as to what to do about her growing feelings for Dom. Sure men had come on to her, had asked her out on dates, but none of them had ever gotten as close as Dom had. Even though she was excited and exhilarated at the mere thought of being Dom’s woman, it scared her to death.

“Sounds pretty serious,” Donna commented as she pulled a chair back from the kitchen table and took a seat. She smiled up at Patrick as he gave her a tender kiss on the forehead, leaving the room to give mother and daughter privacy.

Karen let out a deep sigh. “Mommy, when did you know Poppa Patrick was the one?

“Ah, it is serious. I think we need to discuss this over ice cream. You got any over there?”

Chuckling, Karen said, “I sure do.”

“Good. Get yourself a nice big bowl and I’m going to do the same.”

Each woman went to her fridge to prepare her treat as Donna talked.

“Well, that’s really hard to say because I gave that man a hard way to go. I did everything I knew to do to keep him away from me. The poor man would knock on my door with flowers, rake the leaves in my yard, offer to take me to dinner and I was so cold to him.”

“Aw, Mommy that’s such a shame,” Karen said, feeling sorry for Patrick.

Donna sucked her teeth. “Don’t go feeling sorry for your stepfather. The man had the tenacity of a bull dog.” Donna paused to take a spoon of ice cream before continuing. “I guess I knew he was the one for me because he never gave up on pursuing me. I really knew, I mean really knew he was the one when I laid out every aspect of my life to him. I told him about my failed marriage, how I attempted suicide, how I abandoned you girls and all but pushed you out of my life.”

By this point in the conversation Karen could hear her mom tearing up which caused her eyes to water, too. She knew this was difficult for her mother to bring up. Although she and Starr both assured their mother they understood why she had to take such drastic measures, it still haunted Donna.