Revengeful Deceptions (39 page)

Dominique lay perfectly still, even
though she was in shock, she couldn’t help but think that something else
besides the seat belt and air bags had saved her life. They were so very
close to where her boys had died.
Is this what they went through?
She
wondered. How is it that she survived? She glanced over in Brandon's direction
and saw that he was dangling half way out of the driver’s side door, but not by
his own accord.

From the waist down it looked as if
he was dipped in blood, his legs were caught and twisted under the
dashboard.  Blood spewed out of his mouth as he whispered, “Help Me,
help
me please.” Dominique knew that he was dying and for a
brief moment she felt sorry for him, only for a moment then she herself passed
out.

Neal had to slam on the brakes in
order not to crash. Molly let out a blood curdling cry as they watched the
Volvo crash through the guard rail and seemingly fly into the field.

“No!” Adam shouted as he jumped out
of the car.

Chapter Thirty Eight

 
“Stephen, is that you?” Dominique smiled as
she opened her eyes and saw him. She was still in the field, but it was bright
as day, brighter in fact and the sky was the bluest she had ever seen.

“Yes it's me baby.”

“Am I dead Stephen? Where's Teddy?”

“No baby, you’re not dead, you’re
just unconscious, I needed to see you again Dominique. I need you to know that
it's all over.”

 
“So then I am dead aren't I?” Dominique felt
an incredible sadness for Adam; he would be all alone now.

“No that's not what I mean baby,
what I’m trying to tell you is that Brandon's time on this earth is over,
justice has been served and now it’s time for you to go back to Adam and those
who love you.  You don’t know this yet but you’re carrying his child and
this time you’re going to have a healthy baby.”

  
Dominique smiled as she held his hand, she could feel him and the warmth
that was emulating from him felt incredible.

“But I need to tell you that you
have one more hurdle to take and it's going to be a hard one, but once you get
it out of the way, things will be alright for you and Adam.”

Dominique worried for the safety of
the baby she was now carrying.

  
“Stephen but you just said that I was going to have a healthy baby, I
don’t understand.”

“You are Dominique, I promise. But
this has nothing to do with the baby. I cannot tell you what is going to happen
but know that it was all meant to be and you've got to trust the people in your
life now.  Your husband is always there to protect you, remember that. And
there's one more thing, I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything Stephen,” she cried.

  
“I need you to let me go Dominique; it’s time for you to live your life
with Adam, he loves you so very much.  Teddy, the baby and I are fine and
you'll see us again, just not now baby okay? You've got your whole life to
live; you've got to go back now, back to where you belong, back to Adam.”

  
“Stephen wait. You said the baby, does that mean you..." Her voice
turned into sobs.

“Yes Dominique, the baby is fine
now
go
and don’t look back keep going forward, I love
you.”

   
A sharp gasp escaped her mouth as she opened her eyes and looked into
those of her husband. When Adam and Neal had come upon the scene, Adam couldn’t
wait for an ambulance, he carefully removed Dominique's seat belt and he and
Neal had gently taken her from the wreckage and laid her on the ground. 
With tears in his eyes, he smiled. “Dominique, you came back to me.” Adam
cradled his wife in his arms while Neal and Molly waved down the ambulance.

  
“The paramedics are here, everything is going to be alright,” he let out
a breath.

“I know it is Adam, I know it is,”
she sobbed into his arms.

It wasn’t until late Saturday
morning that Dominique was given a clean bill of health and released from the
hospital. When the doctor told her that besides a slight bump on the head, she
and the baby were fine, she begged him not to mention the pregnancy to Adam,
she wanted to wait and surprise him on Thanksgiving. The doctor thought about
it for a moment before smiling and agreeing to keep her secret.

  
“Thank you for everything Doctor,” Dominique said with a wink as they
wheeled her out of the hospital.

“Dominique I think when we get
home, I am going to lock you up and never let you out of my sight,” said Adam
as he held her close in the backseat of Neal's car.

“Or at least hire a security detail
Adam,” said Molly.

  
Dominique gave her friend a sincere look, “Molly, there's no way that
I’m letting some stranger follow me around, I’ve got all the security I need
right here,” she said, wrapping her arms around her husband and kissing him.

“Actually, that's not a bad idea
Dominique, and it would make me feel a hell of a lot better about leaving you
alone.”

  
“Adam, thanks but no thanks, and besides, the last of the threat is dead
and gone and I’d much rather concentrate on the future. I just want to forget
about the ugly past and move on, so no more talk of security and body guards my
friends okay? And I think I know how to handle myself anyway,” she grinned.

“I'd argue but I’ve seen the way
you handle a weapon,” Adam smirked as he held his wife close.

And don't worry baby, I’m not going
anywhere for a very long time so it looks like you’re stuck with me,” she said
giving him a kiss.

When they reached the condo,
Jonathan and Muriel were outside waiting for them.

“Oh Dominique, you are a sight for
sore eyes!” Jonathan and Muriel exulted.

Dominique's smile turned into a
frown as she wondered if Muriel had been told that her son Brandon died in the
accident.

  
Muriel sensed her worry. “Dominique don’t you feel bad for me, Brandon
chose to live that life and if you live the life of a thug, you'll end up dying
like one and to be honest I’d rather not think about it anymore, we did the
best we could with Brandon and now it’s all over. Time for a new beginning I
say,” she smiled at her family and friends.

“Your right Muriel, you’re
absolutely right.”

The day before Thanksgiving,
Dominique and Adam were making the traditional drive to Wellesley to spend the
holiday with his family.

“You know Dominique, there's a snow
storm coming, we might get snowed in up at the house, what do you think of
that?” he asked not sure of what her response would be to being stuck in the
house with all of his relatives.

  
“I think that would be absolutely wonderful Adam, I love your family and
there's nothing I’d like more than to be snowed in with you,” she smiled at
him.

“Well then in that case, let it
snow, let it snow, let it snow,” they both laughed.

It had been a long day for both
Adam and Dominique, between telling their story and answering the multitude of
questions from friends and family, they hadn't been able to spend much time
alone and it wasn’t until after midnight that the two were allowed to excuse
themselves and head to the sanctuary of the lower level.

“Alone at last,” sighed Adam as he
held his wife in a warm embrace. “I was beginning to think that I’d never get
you alone.”

Dominique smiled; it was after
midnight, Thanksgiving Day. She could tell him now.

“Actually baby, I think we better
get used to always having someone around.”

“What are you talking about
Dominique?” Adam asked confused.

“Well, I just mean that you and I
haven’t been alone for almost a month now.”

“Okay Dominique, now I’m really
confused have you been hitting the wine too hard baby?” Adam joked.

  
“Babe, I can't drink, it's not good for the baby,” she said waiting for
him to catch on.

“What do you mean...? Oh my god
Dominique are you? Are you preg...? Dominique we're pregnant baby?”

Tears began to fill her eyes as she
nodded her head yes.

“Yes baby we are,” she said burying
her head in his chest.

  
“Dominique you are amazing baby, do you know that?” 

“I think you'll have to remind me
of that more regularly, you know how I can get hormonal,” she grinned. “Happy Thanksgiving
baby, I wanted to surprise you.”

“Do you know how much I love you?
Baby I know that this past year has been tremendously long and heart breaking
but I know, I just know that things are going to get better for us and I’m
going to do everything in my power to see that it does.”

“I know you will Adam, but you
won’t have to my darling I already know that our happily ever after is now.”

Adam and the family had to fore go
the annual Thanksgiving football game. Thick, heavy snow had begun to fall in
the middle of the night and by morning there was more than eight inches on the
ground. Dominique let out a gasp when she looked out the window and viewed the
beautiful landscape covered with white glistening snow.

“Oh I can't wait until Christmas!”
she beamed, jumping onto the bed and wrapping her arms around her husband.

“After the news you told me last
night, I feel like Christmas has already arrived.”

She let out a sigh. “God Adam, do
you remember this time last year? I mean we were here, but things were so
different. Everything is so different now,” she said cuddling up against him
once more. She didn’t want to tell him about what Stephen had told her while
she lay unconscious after the accident. She didn’t know what bad thing was going
to happen; she could only hope that it wouldn’t ruin their lives completely.

  
“I know it is Dominique and your right, it certainly has been a wild and
bumpy ride,” he said holding her close. “But all that's behind us now, now it’s
time for us to focus on our life together and the son or daughter we'll be
expecting.”

“Baby, you’re absolutely right,”
she said kissing him softly on the neck.

Dominique and Adam decided to share
the news of her pregnancy during Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone seated at the
long dinner table erupted in cheers and applause after Adam made the
announcement. Hugs and kisses were exchanged between them and the family as
Muriel and Jonathan beamed with excitement at the thought of becoming
grandparents.

  
The fact that they were snowed in seemed to bother no one as they all
enjoyed the time playing everything from video games and board games. 
Even though the roads were passable the day after, most had chosen to stay
through the weekend to shop and help decorate for the holidays, Adam and
Dominique included.

 
“We had a wonderful time Muriel thank you so
much.” Dominique stood in the foyer of the Victorian house. “I can't wait to
come back for Christmas.” She took hold of her husband’s hand as they kissed
everyone goodbye and made the short trip back to downtown Boston.
  

Dominique was lying in bed one
night when it hit her; she knew what Stephen had been talking about when he
told her that she had one more hurdle.
It has to be DiNunzio,
she told
herself. He would surely want answers as to how she survived the crash and his
only son did not.

And if he cared nothing about that,
he'd certainly want to know where his drug money was.
What if he comes
looking for revenge?
She thought to herself as Adam stirred softly in his
sleep.
How could you have been so stupid Dominique, did you really think
that DiNunzio would just let this go?
  Dominique spent the rest of the
night going over all the awful things that could and probably would happen to
her if DiNunzio got her alone.
Maybe I should reconsider getting security,
she thought to herself.

“Dominique, how do you know this?”
Adam asked that morning at breakfast. Dominique had not wanted to waken her
husband with the distressing news.

“Adam I just know okay. DiNunzio is
not going to let this go and I think we both know that it’s only a matter of
time before he comes to us with some questions. And if we don’t have the right
answers Adam I’m afraid of what might happen.”

Adam knew that his wife was right,
he had a family to protect now and he wasn’t going to let the crime boss take
that away from him. He'd go to DiNunzio and talk to him, bribe him if he had
to. He'd do whatever he had to do to keep them all safe, especially Dominique
and the baby.

The following week at the firm was
slow, Dominique had time to do a bit of rearranging and she had recruited both
Adam and Neal to do the heavy lifting of the file cabinets. “It's more
convenient this way.”

She told them when they had grunted
and groaned about moving the large pieces.

“I'd rather be in court right now,”
Adam joked as he moved the cabinet with ease.

Dominique laughed; she knew that
there was no way he'd give up spending a day in the office with her. “Oh stop
whining, I told you guys I’d buy ya lunch so let's keep the momentum moving
just a few more cabinets to go men let's do this,” she commanded with a smile.

“Yes Ma'am,” they both said.

Molly came over the intercom and
whispered something so soft they could barely hear.

“You’re going to have to speak up
Molly, my ears aren't what they used to be,” joked Adam.

Molly spoke a bit louder this time.
“I said, Adam you better get Dominique out of here, DiNunzio just walked in and
demanded to see your father.”

The color immediately left all of
their faces, Dominique stood frozen as she tried to think of an escape route.
Even if she took the stairs, she'd have to pass the offices and DiNunzio would
surely see her.