Chapter 19 - The Question Dominic Waited For
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Dominic never asked Maisie to call him Dad.
Months passed.
Then a year.
She called him Dominic.
Sometimes Dom when she wanted something.
“Dom, can I have a horse?”
“No.”
“Dominic, can I have a horse?”
“Still no.”
Grace found this hilarious.
Their life became ordinary in ways Dominic had never expected.
School pickups.
Science projects.
A disastrous attempt at camping.
Maisie hated bugs.
Dominic hated sleeping on the ground.
They lasted one night.
The most feared man in several boardrooms returned to the estate at 6:00 a.m. covered in mosquito bites while Maisie announced that nature was “overrated.”
Then came Elena’s birthday.
Every year, Grace visited a small cemetery in Rhode Island.
This time, Maisie asked Dominic to come.
He stood before Elena’s grave for a long time.
No speech.
No dramatic promise.
Just regret.
Maisie placed wildflowers beside the stone.
“Mom would be old now.”
Dominic smiled sadly.
“Not that old.”
Grace elbowed him.
Maisie giggled.
On the drive home, she fell asleep.
Her head rested against Dominic’s shoulder.
When they reached the estate, he carried her inside.
Halfway upstairs, Maisie woke.
“Dad?”
Dominic stopped.
He thought he misheard.
“What?”
She opened one eye.
“You almost dropped me.”
“I absolutely did not.”
“You did.”
Then she closed her eyes again.
Dominic stood frozen.
Grace was behind him.
She had heard it.
He looked at her.
Grace smiled.
“Don’t make a thing out of it.”
Dominic nodded.
“Right.”
He carried Maisie to bed.
Tucked the blanket around her.
Turned toward the door.
“Dad?”
He stopped again.
This time she was awake.
“Yes?”
“Goodnight.”
His throat tightened.
“Goodnight, Maisie.”
He stepped into the hallway and closed the door halfway.
Grace waited.
Dominic said nothing.
Grace said nothing.
Then both of them started crying.
Quietly.
Ridiculously.
Dominic wiped his face.
“She said it twice.”
“I heard.”
“Twice.”
“Don’t get arrogant.”
He laughed.
For eight years, Vivienne had tried to decide what Dominic and Maisie were allowed to be to each other.
Courts could establish paternity.
Documents could restore inheritance.
DNA could prove blood.
But none of those had given Dominic the word he wanted most.
Maisie had.
On her own time.
By choice.
Then Grace handed him a small package.
“It came from storage.”
Inside was one item that had belonged to Elena.
A tiny baby photograph.
Maisie, one day old.
On the back, Elena had written—
Waiting for you to meet your father.
Dominic sat down on the hallway floor.
And finally allowed himself to grieve everything they had lost.
May you like
👉 Dominic could never recover Maisie’s first eight years—but the final gift Elena left behind showed that she had always wanted this moment to happen.
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