by Wolf, Alex
“Of course it’s okay,” says Pastor Jeremiah.
Dominic disappears behind the wall, and immediately walks down into the water, not even bothering with the robe, still in his suit minus the jacket. I get a profile view of the side of his face as he does it, and my heart wants to crack into pieces. He doesn’t smile, doesn’t glare, he just looks…I don’t have the words for it. He looks one hundred percent serious, completely focused on what he’s about to do.
Pastor Jeremiah immerses him into the water. “Dominic Romano…”
My heart cracks again when he says his name. So he’s told Pastor Jeremiah everything already, been to see him? My fingers dig harder into Paisley’s shoulder. He’s been to see everyone but me. They all know his story, except for me. I only have the information from going through legal records, not because Dominic has told me who he is.
“I now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of your sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
When Dominic emerges from the water, my chest heaves out a sigh. I can barely breathe right now.
“Never thought I’d see the fucking day,” says Dexter.
Abigail smacks him right in the chest, and all the air leaves him at once. I can’t even smile because I just sit there, a million emotions running through me all at once, trying to focus on the moment and what it means.
Dominic stands there, suit drenched and dripping down into the water, his hair matted against his face, his eyes circled with pink, locked on mine. Something inside me goes wild, staring at him, a brand-new man in the eyes of God.
Things are not the same between us, but I feel it deep, all the way down to my bones. Truth. God speaks to me, reveals exactly what’s playing out before my eyes, what just happened in front of me, what Dominic needed.
That’s how it works with God. The truth is always right in front of us, but we can’t see it until He reveals it, and then it’s clear as day. A rebirth of Dominic’s soul. He’s wiping the slate clean, leaving the past in the past.
I understand this, and at the same time, my brain wars against it. It tells me how bad he hurt me, how he just left me alone, shoved me away, that I can’t let that go unchecked. It’s the human side of me and it’s strong—so strong. It tells me not to forgive him, and if I do, to take it slow. Make him earn my trust again, despite everything he’s been through, not just hand him my heart again.
Yet, my heart pulls me toward him, a magnetism so strong I want to come out of my seat and rush to him. It’s all so overwhelming in the moment.
Dominic gets out of the tank, then disappears behind the wall, reappears, walks across the stage, down the steps, and over to where I’m still seated. His clothes drip to the carpet as all eyes in the church stay locked on him.
He doesn’t see anyone else. His eyes are on mine, a determined stare that heats me up inside, fills me with hope.
Can I trust this public display? Can I give in to whatever he’s about to say? I know what he’s about to do. I want to give in so bad, but if he hurts me again, I don’t know if I could ever recover. It’s so soon, it’s so fast. What precedent does it set if I just let him back into my life?
One thing I can’t deny is my heart beats for this man, and only this man. It’s like we’re alone, and everything around me fades away as he takes a commanding step and stands right in front of me.
I stare straight ahead because it’s so hard to look up at him. I want to so bad, but I don’t know if I can handle it.
“Mary.”
All he says is my name, and the word shakes me like an earthquake. My hands tremble. My eyes close, and I tilt my head up to him. I want to open them so bad, but I’m afraid. I shouldn’t be, but I am.
Open your eyes, Mary.
My senses are at an all-time high. I can hear the drops of water landing on the carpet and seeping in, the sound of him breathing, his smell—I can even hear his heart beat, and it pounds as hard as mine does right now.
I open my eyes, and a tear rolls down my cheek.
He’s beautiful, made new in front of God. He’s always beautiful, but this is different, not a physical beauty but on the inside of him, his spirit washed clean—purified. The light from the stained-glass windows halo his silhouette, and he truly looks born again.
For the first time, he’s not Rick.
He’s Dominic.
I see the innocent little boy in him that his father stripped away at a young age. I see him completely washed away, all the bad, all the regret, all the pain in his life.
He takes another step toward me, his eyes never leaving mine. “Therefore, what God has joined together, let no man separate.” He drops to his knees, right in front of me.
Paisley lets go of my hand, and I expect the emptiness to return, but it doesn’t. I want to reach out. I want to touch him, feel him touch me, but I don’t. I don’t know what to do, and I don’t know what to say. All I know is tears roll down my cheeks and plop in my lap, and they’re a combination of hurt and happiness.
Dominic inhales a deep breath, and he smiles through his own tears. He chokes up and the words catch in his throat when he tries to say them. He blinks away more tears, forcing himself to get the words out. “My name is Dominic Romano.” His chest heaves when he says it, like it took everything inside him to say the words. I think he might collapse as a giant weight lifts off his shoulders.
Instinctively, I reach out and his hand latches onto my forearm, and electricity buzzes through me just at his touch.
“I am so—” He croaks out the words and has to pause and catch himself. “Sorry. I’m so sorry, for what I put you through, for not being honest with you.”
My heart simultaneously breaks for him, knowing what his life has been, and at the same time begins to stitch itself back together at his words. I know how hard it must be, to come from all that, and try to right everything. I know how difficult it is to bare yourself in front of an entire church, in front of God, and plead to be washed clean.
I search for the right words to say. I want to help him heal so bad, and at the same time, I want him to know how much he hurt me. My body wars between doing what’s right, offering forgiveness, and driving the point home that he didn’t trust me, that he shoved me away.
“Dominic.” I close my eyes when I say his real name. “Y-you hurt me… so… bad.” My body convulses as I speak.
He nods vigorously, nothing but pain in his eyes as he watches me, feeling everything I’m feeling. “I know. I-I know, I made huge mistakes. I thought I was doing the right thing. I just wanted to do the right thing, and I messed it all up.” He wipes at his eyes with his free hand. “But there was one thing I always had right, no matter what I did wrong.” He holds up a finger. “One thing, and it never changed. I always knew it from the beginning.”
I look him straight in the eye. “What was it?”
“I always loved you, with everything I had in me, from beginning to now, the first time I saw you.”
My heart hammers in my ears as the last year of my life flashes in front of my eyes. The pretending to be interested in church, the Pretty Woman date, the sex, the walks in the park, even when he turned me away in the jail, the look in his eyes in every single one of those memories never wavered, despite his actions, and I know he’s telling me the truth. I feel God wrapped around us, confirming everything he’s saying, the way He always does when I pray. Dominic’s hand tightens around my forearm, and his words ring out in my head over and over. “I always loved you.” It’s the first time he’s ever said it to me out loud, and it sends the best kind of chills shivering up my arms, mainlined straight into my heart.
I nod a little. “I know you do, Dominic.”
“And I will never,” he pauses to collect himself, “I will never stop loving you. There is no one else on this earth my heart beats for. Not one soul. You are it. I’ve known it since day one, and I wanted to stop being a coward, running away, and look you in the eyes a
nd tell you that, even if you never want to see me again, or have anything to do with me. Because you deserve to know it, deserve to hear me say it out loud.”
His hand reaches up for my face, and he brushes a few strands of hair behind my ear, then he wipes the tears from my eye with his thumb. I can’t stop myself from leaning into his palm because I never want it to leave. I want it to be there, forever. I want to come home to him every day, I want to have his children, I want to share every detail of my life with him.
“I also want you to know.” He hooks a thumb over his shoulder at the baptism tank. “I didn’t do that for you. This isn’t some show to win you back. I did that for me. I will be a new man, whether you take me back or not. It will hurt so much, if you cut me loose, but I want to say thank you for showing me all this, for leading me to all this.” He glances around the building, then back to me. “You brought me to God. And because of that, I’m free now. It’s the greatest gift anyone has ever given me in my life. I haven’t f-felt—” He breaks down and the tears pour out from his eyes, but he smiles through it. “I’ve never known this. I’ve never been free before, and I didn’t think I ever would be.” He pauses and sucks in a huge breath. “So thank you for that. Thank you.”
This time, I reach out for his face, and I’m the one who wipes his tears away. “You’re welcome. You deserve it. You’ve always deserved to know God loves you, and I’m sorry it has taken over thirty years for you to know that feeling. I want you to be happy more than anything in the world.”
He nods a little, and I already know the right decision for me to make in my heart. There’s no way on earth this man, on his knees in front of me, couldn’t win me back. I’ve known it the past few days, somewhere deep inside me, no matter what my brain told me. Because everything he just admitted in front of me, I feel the exact same way, whether it’s logical or the right thing to do. I’m meant to be his.
I. Just. Know.
“Dominic?”
His eyes lift up to mine. “Yeah?”
“There’s something I need to tell you too.”
He tries to hide a small grin, but it peeks through a little. I can see it written on his face because he knows my heart. What he feels I feel, and what I feel, I know he feels the exact same way.
I glance around and suddenly realize we’re still in front of the entire church, and they’re all staring at us intently to see how the scene unfolds. Pastor Jeremiah looks down at us from above, and there’s not one eye anywhere but on the two of us.
I stand up in front of him, and put both my palms on his face, cradling it in my hands. His eyes flutter closed at my touch, then land back on mine.
“You already know what it is. You’ve known ever since our first date. I could see it in your eyes, but you deserve to hear me say it.”
His eyes close. “It’s the only thing in the world I want to hear.”
I pull his head down to mine, so I can whisper in his ear. I should say it out loud, in front of everyone, but I want it to be just for him.
With my mouth next to his ear, I whisper, “I don’t care what your name is. I don’t care where you came from, or what you’ve done. I. Love. You. And I always will.”
When I pull away, his mouth crashes into me, and his lips press up against mine. His entire body trembles beneath my touch, and I’m pretty sure I just made him the happiest man on the entire planet.
Cheers ring out through the sanctuary. I can hear people stand up, whooping and hollering.
Dominic squeezes his arms around me, and I don’t know if he’s ever going to let go. He smiles against my lips, our tears mixing together, and even through the chlorine smell, I can still smell him, just like when I wear his tee shirt.
His forehead presses against mine, our eyes just inches apart.
His fingers dig into my hips like they always do. “Tell me.”
My face flushes, and the electricity courses through my body again. When I stare back at him, I can see the determination in his eyes. I know what he wants to hear this time.
“Will you ever put me through that again?”
He doesn’t even flinch this time. His eyes harden. “You know I won’t.”
“Then I’m yours.”
Without warning, he scoops me up in his arms, bridal-style, and I wrap my arms around his neck. He carries me up the aisle and straight through the entrance of the church.
I focus on his eyes. He stares intently ahead, and for the first time in our relationship, he has a course charted, he knows exactly where he’s going and what needs to be done. He’s a leader with a purpose. But more than that, he’s the man he wants to be. The man he’s always wanted to be, but never thought possible.
I don’t think I could love him more than I do right now. Yes, we have wounds that need to scar over and heal. But we have each other. The world is right again.
And that’s enough. The happiest days of our lives lie ahead of us, and that gives both of us hope.
As we breathe in the city air, the sun on our faces, he whispers in my ear, “This is happening.”
Epilogue
Dominic Romano
Three Months Later
I don’t have time to do this right now, but I just can’t help myself. I walk up behind Mary in my apartment. She’s getting ready for our date in a mirror and the way the light from the window highlights her silhouette, her soft curves, that little dip where her hip forms—I come alive at the sight of her, and I just can’t help myself. I set down my phone from the video I was taking of her in front of the mirror, and prop it up so it’s still recording.
“I don’t know why you keep taking videos of us all the time.”
“It’s so I can cry my eyes out and watch them over and over if I ever royally screw up and you leave me.”
She laughs, knowing there’s no way on earth that will ever happen.
Just watching her laugh, watching her get ready—it’s what I enjoy more than anything.
I shake my head and scold myself.
It’s reckless to even think about it. I have everything planned out perfectly, and we absolutely cannot be late.
You can spare ten minutes.
In the moment, I just have to have her. There’s no stopping it.
I grab my phone and stop the recording, press a few buttons on the screen, and toss it on the desk.
I walk up behind her and brush my hand along her collar bone, scooting her hair out of the way.
“No, no, no.” She smiles at me in the mirror as she says it.
I kiss the tender skin along her neck. “You know that won’t work.”
She lets out a huge sigh and whines, “Why do you do this to me?”
My other hand reaches around her hip, and I brush it across her pussy. She quivers at my touch and drags out the word “me.”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t love every second of this.”
Her hands move up to her hair, like she’s going to soldier on and get ready, despite what I’m doing. It only opens her up more, though, and I reach around and cup her breasts in my hands.
“You knew when you put this dress on, what it would do to me.” It’s the same one she got during our Pretty Woman date. It’s not an accident she’s wearing it. I lobbied the local theater down the road for two months to do a screening of the movie just so I could take Mary. Had to do two different PI gigs for them before they’d say yes.
To me, it’s a win win, even if my services took way longer than the work they had to do.
I watch every one of her reactions in the mirror as I pinch her hard nipples through the fabric. She’s worried about showing up late; she has to be on time for everything, always. But I always win.
“I’ll call the damn theater and tell them to push the time back if I have to. I want inside you, now.”
“Oh my gosh.” She exhales heavily as she says it.
I love how innocent she still is, even when she stays the night almost every night, and not one of those nights go
es by where she doesn’t get off all over my face.
The last three months have been the happiest I’ve ever been, and the reason is right in front of me.
“Dom,” she whispers. “We really don’t have time.”
“You got the name right. That’s exactly what’s about to happen.”
I spin her around, hard, and plow my lips into hers. Every time I see her, there’s a hunger there, a thirst that can’t be satisfied until I’ve devoured her. I want her all the time. Not just for sex. I want her to talk to, share my day with, tell every secret my heart holds. I keep nothing from her, always bare, completely exposed, and I live without any fear because she accepts me and loves me for everything I am, and everything I’ve ever been.
I don’t think people know the kind of freedom that comes with that. It’s the greatest gift I’ve ever received. Some people still look at me and probably question my faith, but Mary Patrick is absolute proof to me that God exists, and I’ll always be in His debt for it.
He always comes first for us, but after Him, I worship the ground this woman’s feet walk on. She showed me what love truly is, despite my sins, despite anything I do wrong, they accept me, and they love me, unconditionally.
Mary’s lips taste like the mint gum she chewed earlier, and I want to swallow her whole. My cock aches for her and won’t stop until I have her.
With one hand, I yank the zipper down the back of the dress and watch it pool around her feet, the same way I did the first time in the hotel room, the first time I ever took her and made her mine.
I place a palm on her cheek and look her up and down, bare in front of me except for the thin material of her panties. My eyes pierce hers. “You are mine.”
She nods as I watch the pulse quicken on her neck. I’ve spent the last three months learning everything about her, from who she is, what she wants from me in our relationship, and also, what turns her on. What she wants in the bedroom, so that I can provide everything she’ll ever need.