Identity: …………..People aren’t always who you believe them to be (Miss Taken Identity Series Book 2)

by Scornavacca, Cleo

  “Of course, I want to know all of it, but it’s just not as important as you and my baby. You two are my life now. Everything else can wait. Besides I know who I really am. Nothing is going to change who Dominick Kane is. I’m not going to change my identity. I’m just going to add a new dimension to my life.”He grinned and kissed me softly.

  I kissed him back and poured out every emotion I was feeling inside of me. I gave it to him and took it from him in our kiss. I knew I could never let him go. I loved him too much. I knew he felt the same way about me.

  Our conversation made both of us completely exhausted. I knew that he was downplaying the situation. Finding out that your life is not what you thought it was can’t be easy in any way. Dominick is not calm on a good day. He was definitely holding much of his emotions back. Probably for my sake and for the sake of our unborn child. I’m truly grateful for him and how he is considering us. I loved so much more that I ever thought possible.

  After our kiss went from needy and comforting, to passionate and heated, Dominick picked me up and took me to bed. And his bed is where we stayed for the rest of the day.

  ****

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR

  It was very late in the afternoon when I woke up to find Dominick staring at me with his hand gently rubbing my stomach. I reached up and touched his face. Then I gave him a smile and a light kiss on his mouth. I left my lips on his.

  “Why are you watching me sleep?”I smirked.

  “I haven’t been watching you for that long. I fell asleep myself. When I woke up and found you next to me, I realized it wasn’t a dream. You’re here with me and you’re pregnant.”He stated happily.

  “Are you sure you don’t feel like you woke up to a nightmare that I caused after what I told you this morning?”I said, feeling him out.

  “No baby, I don’t feel like I woke up that way. Please Rain, I can’t have you blaming yourself for this. You heard what I said. I had my suspicions long before we ever met. That’s not bullshit either. You just helped me put it all into place. Besides, you didn’t cause this, my mother did. And my father added to it.”He was frustrated.

  “I just don’t get it. Why lie? Why didn’t your mother just tell your dad the truth and why didn’t your dad just explain everything to you after your mother died? There has to be more to this than what was in the letter your dad wrote to me.”I was more than curious about what the truth really was and I intended to find out.

  “You’re becoming quite the little detective, Miss Medici.”He said, teasing me a bit.

  “Well, I think it’s very important for you to know the truth and know who your parents really are. You’ve lived your whole life resenting a man who wanted to love you, Dominick. This has to stop. You have to find out the truth, so you can heal and we can move forward with our family.”I was firm in my opinion of what should happen now.

  He chuckled and smiled his sly, sexy smile. My insides melted.

  “Why are you smiling at me like that?”I smiled back. It was contagious.

  “Because I love how you want to protect me.”Now he was serious.

  “Get used to it, Kane. You’re stuck with me.”

  “Baby, I wouldn’t want it any other way. Now I have a few questions that I’d like answered myself.”He was playful, but still somewhat on the serious side.

  “Okay, what do you need to know?”

  “Why was Marcello in your home and why do you feel he owes you, Rain?”

  “As I had said before, Marcello is an attorney. A very powerful Italian attorney. I had an idea that if he needed a place to stay, then I would call in the favor he owed me all those years ago after I caught him fucking my sister. Now, don’t be angry, but I told him the story and showed him your father’s letter to me.”I was very firm.

  “Damn it, Rain! Why would you tell that piece of shit anything. He’ll never help you. He’ll use it against me, so he can get you back.”Dominick was livid.

  “No Dominick, he won’t try to get me back. He knows I’m pregnant with your child. He won’t cross that line. He may be an asshole as a lover, but he understands how I feel about you and he won’t disrespect me in anyway again.”

  “I don’t have the trust you have in him, but I see where you’re going with this. You think he can get the information I need to find my birth parents.”

  “Well, that was the plan, but even Marcello said it wouldn’t be easy. He said that although he has a great deal of pull in Italy, he’s in no way as powerful as your father was and neither is my father, so it may be more difficult than I first thought.”

  “Do you think my father covered up the adoption?”

  “No, my dad said your mother took care of that all by herself. That’s how your parent’s marriage began to fall apart. I do think that your father may have utilized his legal expertise to get your adoption information buried further in the system, but Elise had much of that information already buried. This is where Marcello comes in. He may be able to get his hands on your file. Then you’ll be able to find your birth parents, should you choose to do so.”

  “Well, even if Marcello can find out the truth and the information reveals my birth parents, I really don’t know if I want to find them. I may just want to know who they are and why they gave me up. The papers alone may tell me all I need to know.”He seemed sure of the fact that he wanted to put an end to the story, but was conflicted about meeting his real family. I wasn’t going to push the issue, but I felt if they turned out to be great people, then maybe this would help Dominick find the parental love he never had as a child.

  “Dominick, that’s totally your call. No one, not even me can help you decide something so critical in your life. Just know that I’ll be with you every step of the way, no matter what your decision is.”I stated without hesitation.

  I needed him to know that I supported him totally. I had to give him what he was never given in his childhood......love and support. I just hoped my statement was strong enough to convince him.

  “Baby, I know that you’ll help me through this, but I want you to take care of yourself, Rain. That’s more important than anything that we may or may not find out about my childhood. If I lose you and our baby, I lose everything. This is not up for discussion. You both are the most important people in my life. Everything else can wait.”He smiled at me, but was extremely serious in his statement.

  “Okay, I promise I’ll take very good care of myself and the baby. You have my word.”I tried to soothe him, as I touched his face.

  “I’m holding you to it, Angel.”He stated with a kiss that he placed on my forehead.

  “So what are we going to do to ring in the New Year?”I grinned.

  “I thought I already took very good care of your body already, Miss Medici.”He said teasing me.

  “Huh, that’s not what I meant and you know it.”I giggled.

  “Well, it’s too late to catch our flight to Capri and I’m not sure I want you flying until you see the doctor next week, so why don’t we order in and spend the evening with Anna and Joseph?”

  “Sounds perfect.”

  “Great, so let me go see what we should get for dinner. I think Anna has menus somewhere in the kitchen. I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay, I’ll be with you in a minute. I just need tofreshen up.”

  Dominick left the room to get the food delivery menus from the kitchen. I should have just told him that pizza would be my first choice and to get plenty, because I was starving. Eating for two, my ass. I was so hungry it felt like I was eating for ten. I hoped Dominick will still loved me when I became as big as a house. The thought made me laugh. I washed my face and came out into Dominick’s bedroom. I noticed that my photograph of Capri that hung over his fireplace was crooked. I took his desk chair and hopped up so I could fix the frame. Just as I was about to climb down Dominick bellowed.

  “Rain, what the fuck are you doing up there?”His voice startled me and I lost my footi
ng. I screamed as I was about to hit the floor. Dominick’s quick reflexes had him next to me in an instant, so I fell directly into his arms.

  He looked terrified. I smiled and teased him.

  “My hero.”I giggled.

  “Holy shit, Rain! What were you thinking? You could have gotten hurt.”Dominick reprimanded.

  “Dominick I wouldn’t have slipped, if you hadn’t startled me.”I stated in an annoyed manner.

  “No more climbing onto things while you’re pregnant. You and the baby could have gotten injured.”He was dead serious.

  I needed to lighten things up. He’s not going to control my every move, while I’m pregnant. He’s delusional, if he thinks he is. He placed me down on the couch just as Joseph and Anna came running in.

  “What happened? We heard Rain scream?”Joseph stated.

  “Are you okay, Rain?”Anna followed.

  “I’m fine. I was on the chair straightening out the photo and Dominick walked in and scared me. I was just startled, that’s all. It was nothing.”I smiled at them both warmly.

  “Nothing, nothing? You could have been badly hurt and you call it nothing?”Dominick was totally unreasonable.

  “Calm down. You are not going to act like this for my entire pregnancy or I’ll have our baby by myself. Is that what you want?”

  I was working on my parenting skills already or should I say my scolding skills. Dominick was being totally unreasonable.

  Just as Dominick was about to tell me how he thought it was going to be for the next seven and a half months. Anna interrupted.

  “Did we hear you correctly, Rain? Are you pregnant?”She was so excited and she had tears in her eyes. I truly had grown to love Anna. She reminded me so much of Mema, minus the drama.

  “Yes,Anna, Joseph; I’m pregnant. Dominick and I are going to have a baby.”I smiled at both of them.

  “Not if you keep taking risks, Rain.”Dominick chimed in.

  I was just about to let him have it when Anna spoke.“Nonsense, women have been having babies for many years. Rain will be just fine, Dominick. You’ll see.”She touched his cheek to comfort him and to pacify him. It was more like he needed a pacifier after I saw the childish pout he had on his face. Tommy was right. Dominick wasn’t going to let me breathe. Instead of being angry, I found the whole thing amusing. I hid my face because I started to laugh. Anna and Joseph were laughing also.

  “What’s everybody laughing at? It’s not funny. Rain could have been really hurt today and all of you are laughing.”He was pissed. Which made it even funnier.

  “We’re not laughing at the situation. We’re laughing at you. You’re ridiculous and this behavior of yours is going to stop now or you’ll be punished, Dominick.”I shook my finger at him, like a mother does when they are scolding a disobedient child. I tried to be serious, but my laughter was unstoppable.

  “I’m serious and all you can do is laugh? What if Rain fell and had gotten hurt or what if she lost the baby? If I wasn’t there to catch her it would have been a totally different story. None of you would be laughing right now!”He was serious.

  “I wouldn’t have needed you to catch me if you hadn’t scared the shit out of me when you walked in the room with your big mouth.”I stated.

  “I was scared myself and thats why I yelled and scared you. You scared the shit out of me first.”He pouted.

  “You’re being ridiculous. Women today are very active and remain active throughout their entire pregnancy. It’s healthy for them and the baby.”I said, trying to prove a point.

  At this point Joseph and Anna were slowly making their way to the door. So they could escape this conversation. I decided I would join them. I wasn’t running away. I was simply leaving the room to preserve my sanity.

  I almost made it to the living room when two strong arms gently wrapped themselves around my waist and drew me into the body that they were attached to.

  “I love you,baby. You’re not going to win this argument. I can promise you that. And your little reference about punishing me will never happen. You and the baby you’re carrying are my first and foremost responsibility in life. I won’t let anything hurt either of you, ever. Oh, and if anyone is going to be punished for their actions today, its going to be you, Miss Medici.”I could feel his grin next to my neck.

  I turned around and looked straight into Dominick’s piercing green eyes and grinned back at him.

  “I look forward to it, Mr. Kane.”I twirled back and left Dominick standing there with his mouth wide open.

  Hmmmm.......all and all that went better than expected, I thought to myself as I left the room in search of Anna and Joseph.

  As I headed to the front foyer leaving Dominick to contemplate what just happened in the bedroom, I ran into Joseph and Anna leaving the house.

  “Anna, Joseph? Please don’t go. Dominick and I aren’t fighting, I promise.”I felt bad that their plan of escape from the situation had them not only leaving the room, but leaving the house altogether.

  “Oh Rain, we’re not leaving because of what just happened. We have plans for the New Year with friends in Philadelphia. We had told Dominick that, but with all of the excitement going on around here he must have forgotten.”Anna stated.

  “I see, well have a good time. Will you be back this evening?”I inquired.

  “No, it will be too late and I don’t like to drive that late at night, especially on a holiday.”Joseph added.

  “Well Happy New Year to both of you.”I hugged each of them before they headed out to their celebration. Hmmm.......all alone with Mr. Kane for the rest of the evening? This should give ringing in the New Year together a whole new meaning.

  “Did I just hear the front door? Who’s here?”Dominick said as he met me in the hallway.

  “Not whose here, who left? Anna and Joseph had a party to go to in Philly. They said they told you.”

  “They probably did. But with everything happening here in the last couple of weeks, it must’ve slipped my mind.”He said as he embraced me.

  I held on to him, enjoying this closeness. I thought to myself how odd to have come to this point with Dominick. I mean it was obvious that we didn’t start out the way typical couples do, but in this moment it just didn’t matter. This was right. This was all that mattered.

  “Rain, you need to eat. The only thing you had today was a protein smoothie and you barely finished that. I need to get you fed.”

  Dominick was not making a request.

  “Okay, I’m starving. What do you want to get?”

  “Pizza?”He questioned.

  “Sure, that sounds great. I’ll make a salad and set the table and you order the pie.”

  Dominick went to place our take-out order and I set up the table near the entertainment center off the kitchen. As I was preparing the salad my cell phone rang. It was Raven.

  “Hi Raven, Happy New Year.”

  “Hi sweetie, Happy New Year. Where are you?”

  “Always checking up on me.”I came across annoyed.

  “I’m not checking up on you exactly, but last week you and Dominick were broken up and now you're spending the New Year with him. I just called.....”

  “To check up on me.”I interrupted her.

  “Okay, okay, I called to see what’s going on.”She said, clearly defeated.

  “Dominick and I are working out our problems. We had a long talk and we have more of a clear understanding towards how we feel about each other.”

  “And?”

  “And what?”

  “How do you guys feel about each other?”

  “We love each other and we are going to work it out.”

  “Rain, do you really think it’s a good idea? I mean he’s very controlling and that’s not a good attribute where you are concerned. You’ve dealt with enough control issues to last you a lifetime.”She seemed worried.

  “I understand what you’re saying, but I love him and I didn’t want to tell you like this but, I’m pregnant.”I s
aid waiting for what her response would be.

  “Oh my God, Rain. That’s so great. Sweetie, I’m so happy for you.”Her voice cracked.

  “Thanks Raven. I knew you would be happy for me. I’m happy for me and want you to know that I realize Dominick is a very difficult man, but he’s who I love and he loves me.”

  She sighed deeply.“Rain, all I want is for you to be happy and if Dominick Kane brings you that happiness, than who am I to object.”

  I smirked, knowing that she would object at every turn if I had not been pregnant.

  “What about your illness? Do you have a doctor? Do they specialize in difficult pregnancies? Are you eating well? Are you sick?