Las Vegas Sidewinders: Dominic (28 page)

For a moment, neither Dom
nor Molly spoke, simply gazing at each other with a little bit of trepidation.
He had no idea where to start, and Molly couldn’t figure out what he was
thinking.

“So,” he cleared his throat.
“Are you still mad at me?”

She smiled faintly. “I’m too
tired to be mad at anyone—that would take energy I don’t have.”

He slowly stroked her hair.
“I’m sorry about all of this, baby. I guess I was thinking more about how we
would have handled things if you weren’t in the hospital. I was thinking it
would be easier for us to lay low until the lawyers sorted stuff out. My
biggest fear about announcing to the world that we were together was that it
would make all the assholes out there right—technically, you were still married
when we started sleeping together. I don’t give a shit about what people think
about me, but I didn’t want that for you.” His eyes bore into hers with so much
emotion, she nearly sucked in her breath.

“I’m sorry,” she said after
a moment. “I needed you and you were suddenly so distant…”

“I was scared,” he admitted.
“Everything happened so fast, and I kept thinking about Brian when I was
holding you and you were bleeding everywhere. I needed a little distance from
the smell of death.” He hung his head. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t you—it was my
demons coming back to kick my ass.”

“I should have come out and
told you what I needed,” she admitted. “I expected you to read my mind because
basically that’s what you’ve done since day one. I was in trouble and you knew
I wanted to be saved, that I didn’t really want to die. I kept saying it
couldn’t work between us because of the age difference, but you knew I wanted
you. Since the beginning you’ve been able to tell what I needed, and I thought
that since you didn’t this time, it meant something different.”

He shook his head. “I love
you, baby; I was just overwhelmed. But I’ve got my head on straight now, and
I’ve got your back.” He went over to his bag and pulled out his iPad. He took a
minute to connect to the internet and then pulled up a web site.

“What are you doing?” she
asked.

“Can you sit up a little?”

She nodded and he used the
remote control to lift the bed. “Before I left, we had a press conference. Me,
Cody, Toli, Drake, Karl and Zakk, since we were the ones involved. There are a
few lies in my speech, but that’s because we can’t go back now and change what
we told the police since Zakk could be charged with perjury, and we don’t want
to go there, but the rest—especially with respect to you—is true. I guess I
lied about when our relationship started, but that was about protecting
you
,
not me. I’m a guy—taking into account the fact that I was single when we met,
no one is going to look twice at me getting laid, even if you were married. So
the only details I changed were to protect you.” He put the iPad on the tray
table and rested it against the box of tissues so that she would be able to see
it.

Molly watched as a clip came
up on ESPN, showing a long table where Dom, Cody, Toli, Drake, Karl and Zakk
all sat. They wore suits and looked so somber and professional she felt a
moment of discomfort.

“Thanks for coming.” Dom
spoke in a steady, firm voice and then introduced everyone. “First, I want to
make sure you understand there will be no questions at the end of this. We’re
here to set the record straight about the incident with Molly McCarran and
Sergei Petrov, and that’s all. Cody and I first met Molly when I arrived in Las
Vegas in June. We came upon a situation where Molly was being beaten by her
husband, Tim. Cody was quick enough to start taping that incident.” He motioned
to someone off to the side and a videotape came up on a screen off to the side
of where they sat. It was the tape of the day they’d met and Molly had to
swallow her distaste as she watched. Dom squeezed her hand as the press
conference continued.

“We kept this video out of
the media because we wanted to respect Molly’s privacy, but now there has been
so much speculation about who she is and what happened, it’s time to clear this
up. When I saw what was happening that day, I knew I needed to help her. I
couldn’t let her go back to that life. What happened after that isn’t a huge
surprise. She moved in with me for a few days, and then she stayed with Cody
and his wife for a while. We became friends. We helped her put divorce
proceedings in place and started helping her get her life back together. When
Toli arrived from Russia, he had just broken up with his long-time girlfriend,
and they became friends as well.

“Molly was afraid her
husband would find her, since he had a long history of abuse, so she used
Toli’s address in her divorce papers, even though she was really living with
Cody and Suze. It was a matter of safety, and all of us took that threat
seriously. As the summer went on, Molly and I formed a bond and got to be close
friends. I started to have romantic feelings for her, but we both wanted to wait
until the time was right. Her lawyer kept saying that the divorce was final,
but the papers never arrived. At some point, as we got close to the beginning
of training camp, Molly and I realized we were in love. The lawyer assured us
her divorce was just a glitch in the system so we went ahead with our
relationship. Neither of us is ashamed of it—she filed for divorce back in June
and moved on with her life.

“On the day of the incident
in question, Molly was at the grocery store when her ex-husband used a stun gun
to kidnap her. The night before, he had accidentally kidnapped Toli’s brother,
Sergei, who was in town visiting. From a distance they look a lot alike, and
Tim thought he was Molly’s new boyfriend since she’d been using Toli’s address.
There was nothing going on and they had nothing to hide, but in his mind, she
was cheating. Molly had been at yoga that morning, and had her cell phone stuck
in a pocket inside her yoga pants, so she managed to get out a text letting us
know she was in trouble. When I got the text in the locker room, these men
beside me were the ones who stepped up to help me go get her. As you all know,
I have a bit of a temper.” There was light laughter in the press room before
Dom continued.

“We showed up at Tim’s house
and there was a group of officers outside.  Zakk and I snuck around back
to see if there was a way into the house. Cody and the others called 911 and
the media, while they stood outside keeping Tim’s friends too busy to notice us
sneaking in. When we got inside, Molly was already unconscious and bleeding on
the floor. Sergei heard us and even though he was tied up, he threw himself at
Tim to give us a chance to get to them. I ran to Molly while Zakk restrained
Tim. There was a brief fight, but Zakk did what he had to do to help Sergei get
away and to keep Tim from doing anything else.

“That’s the whole story, in
a nutshell. Molly never cheated on Tim, and my understanding from our attorney
is that she was free to start dating after she filed for divorce, which she did
on June twentieth.  She and I didn’t start actually dating until sometime
in August—I didn’t write the date down in my calendar. We went from friendship
to something more over the course of the summer and then her ex-husband did
something really heinous. This is the real story, and I’m hoping you’re going
to let us move on, both personally and professionally. The Sidewinders are
three-and-oh in the pre-season and we’re really excited to bring NHL level
hockey to Las Vegas, so that’s where we’d like the focus to be.”

“Are you and Molly still
dating?” One of the reporters called out as Dom started to get up. He paused
and looked back.

“I said there would be no
questions, but I will answer that one: Yes, we are still dating and plan to be
together for the long haul. I would appreciate it if you would respect our
privacy right now while she’s healing from her injuries. She’s had three
surgeries since the incident due to internal bleeding and—”

“What are her injuries,
Dom?” someone else called out.

Dom sighed. “Our PR
department will release a statement about all that. Thank you.” He and the
others rose and filed out. The clip ended.

Molly looked at Dom with
tears in her eyes. “I love you,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“I’m sorry I gave you reason
to doubt me.” He reached for her hand and brought it to his lips.

“Then why do you look so
sad?” she asked softly, watching his eyes.

“Because I have something
else to tell you,” he said in a ragged breath.

“What is it?”

“Well, we hit pay dirt in
our quest for a baby.”

“What?” She cocked her head.
“What do you mean? We didn’t stop using condoms until a few weeks ago…”

“They had to do a lot of
blood work and even though it didn’t show up when you first got to the
hospital, it’s showing up now; elevated levels of HCG.”

“Why is that sad news?” she
asked slowly.

“Because of everything
that’s happened, and your history of miscarriage, the doctor said…” He couldn’t
believe he was getting choked up. “The doctor said we should expect the worst.”

Her eyes widened slightly and
then she closed them. “Has there been bleeding?”

“Not that kind—you had all
kinds of internal bleeding, but not vaginally. The doctor just said that
between the beating, the bleeding and multiple surgeries, the chances of this
pregnancy staying viable are low.”

“Damn.” She bit her lip and
blinked away a few stray tears.

“Don’t cry,” he whispered,
laying his head on her shoulder. “We can try again or find a surrogate. I don’t
care—I only care about you.”

“I’m sorry I’m broken,” she
said raggedly.

“You’re not,” He shook his
head. “I promise you, no one will ever lay a hand on you again. You’re never
going to feel broken again.”

“Can we just pretend it’s
going to be okay?” she whispered suddenly, swiping at her eyes.

“The baby?”

“Yeah. Can we go forward acting
like it’s going to be okay? We won’t tell anyone—that would be too hard—but I
want to enjoy it. If I have another miscarriage, they might have to do a
hysterectomy, so this might be the only time I can be pregnant with your baby.”

He nodded as he swallowed a
huge lump in his throat. “Sure. Except Suze and Cody already know.”’

“That’s okay—I would have
told Suze anyway.” She stroked his hair, thankful he was with her again. “So
what do you want? A boy or a girl? And do
not
say you just want a
healthy baby—you have to have a preference!”

He smiled. “A boy, of
course! Someone I can teach to play hockey!”

She smiled too. “That’s what
I was thinking too. Can we name him Dominic, Jr.?”

He wrinkled his nose. “Do we
have to?”

“You don’t like your name?”

“It was my dad’s name, and I
hate to carry on his legacy with our baby because he was an asshole.”

“We can name him whatever
you want.”

“I want to name him Brian,”
he said softly. “Since
his
biological son is actually named Cody, I’d
like my son to be Brian.”

“Brian’s a good name,” she
nodded.

“What if it’s a girl?” he
asked.

She laughed. “I want
something really funky—like Savannah or Taryn or something like that!”

He shook his head. “Why
something so trendy?”

“I don’t know—I want her to
grow up strong and independent, and a name like that will help her kick ass and
take names.”

“So Mohammed Ali?” he joked.

She giggled. It was such a
beautiful sound he leaned up and kissed her.

Sitting in the arena with
Suze, Andra, Tiff and Rachel, Molly was excited to be out in public again. It
had been a long seven weeks since the incident with Tim, but she was finally
eating solid food and able to walk without pain. Her arm wasn’t in a sling
anymore, her kidneys were healing nicely and she was ten weeks pregnant. So far,
to the amazement of all her doctors, the pregnancy remained healthy. An
ultrasound had revealed a strong heartbeat and she and Dom were trying
desperately not to get their hopes up, but with each passing day, the baby’s
chance of survival grew.

Looking down at the
glistening engagement ring on her finger, she was happier than she’d ever been.
She and Dom had secretly eloped as soon as she left the hospital in Chicago,
with only Cody and Suze in attendance. Being married would give her access to
his health insurance, which had to be a priority right now. Though he had
plenty of money, medical costs added up quickly, and with such a high-risk
pregnancy, they decided it would be better to be covered. In the summer, after
the baby was born, they would have a real wedding and go on a honeymoon. In the
meantime, only a handful of people knew they were married and she was having
the time of her life planning a wedding with Suze.

“Let’s go Sidewinders!” Suze
yelled beside her.

Molly had strict orders to
take it easy but she was enjoying herself. She’d been on partial bed rest since
she’d come home from the hospital, both because of her healing body and the
pregnancy. She did almost nothing all day, but she’d finally been cleared for
light yoga, so she and Suze had gone this morning. Though she was stiff and
sore, it felt good to finally get back to some semblance of normalcy.