_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dominic: “And so I was thinking. The groomsmen could wear blue and…”
It had seemed like an eternity since
Serena and
Dominic first got engaged. And quite a lot had happened since that day at the
Von Haunt estate. They had been recently talking about finally going ahead and planning the wedding. But
Serena was not particularly enthused, so much was on her mind. She couldn’t even fathom the concept of a marriage yet. But
Dominic just chattered on and on about it.
“… and I was thinking. Babe? Are you listening”
“Mhm”
Serena lied with daydream like eyes as she finished her breakfast
“Okay”
Dominic chuckled with a smile, “because when you stare off into space like that it makes me feel like you’re not really focusing. But, I was thinking and babe how would you like a wedding in July? It’s the perfect weather and we could go on a nice honeymoon afterwards.“
"Or we could just… not get married. I dunno”
Serena was nonchalant as she picked at her chipped nail polish.
Dominic went silent for a moment, “I’m sorry-wha-what?” he half-laughed reducing it to some kind of odd joke
“I said. Or we could not. Get. Married.”
Serena was a little more insulting in her reiteration
“What do you mean?”
Dominic’s voice was full of attitude and so were his eyes, “you don’t want to marry me anymore, is that what you’re saying?”
"No I’m not saying that at all
Dominic. I just"
Serena hesitated, “It’s just too much going on right now
Dominic. You know with
Ryn gone, and juggling two kids now and being a full time stay at home mom."
”
Serena you’re acting like an idiot"
Dominic shot back, “And don’t use the kids as a way out of this. And what about the new baby that’s on the way? Do you want our next son or daughter being born a bastard too?"
”
Dominic!?“
Serena was appalled
"What the fuck is wrong with you
Serena? Huh?
Ryn is gone, not getting married isn’t going to fucking change that. And I’m sick of you always being so wishy washy lately.”
"Okay you are stepping way out of line now buddy.“
Serena smirked at how absurd
Dominic was being, she stood up to go inside
"MY FUCKING KIDS ARE COMING OVER TONIGHT,
SERENA? WHAT AM I GOING TO TELL THEM? THAT YOU DON’T WANT TO BE WITH ME ANYMORE? DAMMIT.” he slammed his fists on the table, “HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME?”
“If you think that because I want to postpone the wedding is me not wanting to be with you anymore…”
Serena’s voice was full of venom and
Dominic realized he had ticked her over the edge, “then perhaps we shouldn’t get married at all.” And with that
Serena stormed into the house her high heels clacking against the cobblestone.
Dominic knew that he had been way too aggressive and lately his temper had been a lot more shorter than usual. He and
Serena had been arguing a lot. But he knew for sure that he loved
Serena and he loved his daughter,
Mackenzie just the same. But he also had to make room in his heart for the family he had left. For his daughter's,
Siobhan and
Morgan. And even for
Moira.
“I’m going to make you a promise little carrot” he said holding
Mackenzie in his arms, “I promise that I will always do the best that I can to make you happy, and to make your mother happy, and your half-sisters as well.”
But sometimes
Dominic felt like his heart was being stretched to it’s limits.
Tonight his daughters,
Siobhan and
Morgan were coming over to have dinner with them. They had not met
Serena before, most of the time they declined.
Dominic was unsure why this time was different, but he was happy to see them finally coming around.
Dominic made his way downstairs to whip up dinner for tonight. He was going to make
Siobhan and
Morgan’s favorite meal. If he could just win them over and they could see how charming and bubbly
Serena was. Perhaps they would finally accept her.
Dominic hoped that this was more than just a pipe dream. Before
Ryn disappeared things went a lot easier, but without her presence, her impact was very visible. And
Dominic and
Serena had been starting to struggle with just about everything.
And
Serena always found herself in the basement at the bar that they had installed. She seemed to grow an affinity for drinking in the recent months.
And she was drinking… ALOT.
Dominic was no
Ryn in the kitchen but he was a connoisseur when it came to spices and flavors and he still knew how to make a semi-decent meal. He had actually started to develop a growing hobby in cooking.
He saw
Serena entering the kitchen out of the corner of his eye. Neither said a word and there were still hurt feelings from earlier.
Dominic knew that he should apologize first or he would be sleeping on the couch tonight, but he just couldn’t bring himself to apologize, mostly out of child-like pettiness.
“I’m taking
Gigi over to
Dorian’s, I’ll be back soon.”
Serena’s voice was flat but with a slight unsteadiness
“…you haven’t been drinking have you?”
Dominic’s voice was still full of the same attitude as this morning except slightly toned down
Serena didn’t say anything as she grabbed her keys off of the counter and yelled for
Gigi to come down. Of course she was being reckless, but
Dominic knew that
Serena was always a better driving when she drank. It was like a weird contradictory effect, or witch craft. Sometimes she seemed like a witch …
Dominic chuckled at the vengeful thoughts of
Serena flying on a broomstick and casting spells on everyone she passive aggressively despised.
Serena,
Dorian and the
Sierras had all kept their custody arrangements of
Gigi in good standing. She lived with
Serena and
Dominic most of the time and for school. She stayed with her grandparents,
Mr. and
Mrs. Sierra on the weekends and the last week of every month, she stayed with her Uncle
Dorian.
“Hey
Gigi Gorgeous”
Dorian joked as he kneeled down to give his niece a hug
“Can we do nail polish tonight?”
Gigi asked trying to hide her growing excitement.
Dorian was her favorite uncle, she liked Uncle
Joel as well, but she didn’t always understand him or his hardcore rock music and the strange girls that would come over with dark eyeshadow. And
Joel wasn’t always open and inviting to
Gigi as Uncle
Dorian was.
Joel was after all, still just a kid himself, and saw
Gigi as a pestering little rugrat, but he still did his best to be a good uncle. But in
Gigi’s eyes, Uncle
Dorian and
Sergio had
Joel beat by miles.
“You know it, I have a new color called Glitter Magic, and then we can order pizza and watch Twilight and talk about boys.”
Dorian joked
“eew boys are icky”
Gigi scrunched her face
“Haha we’ll wait until you’re older for that then.”
Dorian said as he looked up at
Serena. He could tell something seemed to be bothering her.
“What’s up?”
Serena folded her arms, “can we talk outside for a minute?”
“Is everything okay?”
Dorian said inspecting
Serena’s expressions and body language which told him something was very wrong
Serena bit her lip and looked off into space, “umm… so this morning I was having really bad cramps and I went to my doctor to make sure the baby was okay.”
“Oh my god,
Serena, is everything okay?”
Dorian clutched at his chest
Serena was silent for a moment, “I lost the baby.”
“I’m sorry to hear that
Rena, come here.”
Dorian said giving Serena a hug
“I haven’t told
Dominic yet, I just don’t know how to break it to him. And this morning we got into an argument, and tonight his kids are coming over, and we just seem to have a lot going on lately. Maybe it was all the stress on the baby? I don’t know.”
“
Serena, honey”
Dorian placed his hands on her shoulders looking her in the eyes, “breathe”.
“Take some time to breathe and give yourself some space. You’re right you’ve been very stressed out lately. Tell him when you feel like you’re ready.”
Serena let out a sigh of relief, it felt good to talk to
Dorian. She no longer had
Ryn to talk to and bottling things up was self destructive.
“So his daughters are coming over tonight?”
Dorian changed the subject
“Yeah…”
Serena rolled her eyes, she suspected that
Siobhan and
Morgan were two divas and would likely never really like her, “they’re both bitches”
“Oh my god
Serena”
Dorian cackled, “so
Morgan is the one
Ryn saw at the park?”
The two gossiped for what seemed like hours.
“Oh”
Dorian clapped, “girl” he clapped again, “I have some news of my own to tell you.”
Serena waited in anticipation and
Dorian just smiled causing her anticipation to overflow, “WHAT!?” she yelled
“Well I was going to tell you when you came over, and then you just dropped that whole miscarriage bomb on me and now I feel guilty.”
Dorian began
“Whatever
Dorian, just tell me”
Serena said bouncing up and down, her heels clacking on the ground
“Me and
Sergio are having a baby.”
“OH MY GOD OH MY GOD”
Serena screamed as she wrapped her arms around
Dorian’s neck, “when? is it adoption? or surrogacy?”
“Genetic Transfusion, actually”
Dorian announced
“Wow
Dorian, you’re going to be a daddy?”
Serena smiled
“Daddy
Dorian” he joked
“I never took you for the daddy type”
Serena raised an eyebrow, “maybe
Sergio, but you’re more of the Primadonna Girl.”
“Shut the fuck up betch”
Dorian laughed
They were both silent for a while before
Serena said what was both on their minds, “I miss
Ryn”
Dorian and
Serena both felt strongly that
Ryn was dead. There was still no trace of her since that night at Legend’s Comedy Nightclub and the police had no leads to follow. No trace of her car or anything. It was like she just vanished into thin air.
“I think about her everyday”
Dorian chimed in placing his hands in his pocket and looking off into space “… we have to make sure we take good care of
Gigi.”
“Definitely”
Serena reassured
It was 6PM when
Siobhan and
Morgan came over for dinner. And
Dominic was a little more excited than he thought that he would be. He hadn’t sat down to a family meal with his daughters since he left. The girls in turn looked forward to seeing their father.
Serena on the other hand? Perhaps was a different story.
Serena was quiet during the beginning of dinner and felt a twinge of nervousness. She hadn’t realized how much she wanted
Siobhan and
Morgan to like her until now. And they were both stunning young women.
Siobhan looked more like
Dominic while
Morgan was almost the spitting image of
Moira.
“I’m so glad you girls joined us for dinner tonight. I wasn’t sure what to make for dinner, so I decided to make your favorite when you were just little kids.”
“Oh no dad, it’s a good meal.” the girls chimed in
“Good.” he nodded as he stuffed his mouth with more food, “so what have you girls been up to? Anything new going on? How about you
Morgan, how is your first year at college going?”
“It’s going good dad, my classes aren’t too challenging.
Serena, I heard you went to Brown University?”
Morgan asked turning to face
Serena
“Yes! As a matter of fact I did, but I ended up transferring. I’m an only child, and so I couldn’t imagine being away from my parents so I ended up going to a small liberal arts college outside of Windenberg.”
“Oh… that’s nice”
Morgan said with a fake smile as she pretended to care. Perhaps she could hear what
Serena was saying if her breasts weren’t just… all out there like that.
“Yeah I know it probably seems a little silly to transfer from Ivy to a school with little to no acclaim to it. But it worked for me and that’s all I cared about.”
So this is
the Serena Piper, that her father
LEFT her mother for.
Morgan tried to contain her composure and it was taking
The Force for her to not burst out laughing.
“Oh”
Morgan sounded pretentious, “well… bless your heart.”
Serena smiled completely unaware of
Morgan’s subtle insult. “But I’m sure you will love Brown, it’s a really nice school. Beautiful campus. I mean Rhode Island is a small state, but it’s rich in culture."
Siobhan sat unimpressed. This woman really wants to talk about Brown University? How does she feel knowing she’s a homewrecker? Surely she can’t think that her or
Morgan really liked her?
"Yeah…”
Morgan’s voice trailed off not sure what the fuck
Serena was talking about
Serena smiled and nodded
Morgan just sat and stared at
Serena for a second. I mean she was kind of pretty… kind of. She looked a little bit like a dude to
Morgan. I mean those cheekbones.. and that pointed chin. And those big ridiculous boobs that she seemed so eager to flaunt.
“So enough about me”
Morgan continued, “
Siobhan here is actually a published writer.”
“Oh yeah”
Siobhan said with her mouth full
“Tell them
Siobhan”
Morgan said with her fake smile looking at
Siobhan and then to
Serena, “.. about your book on the New York Times?”
“Oh really, wow”
Serena was intrigued as she wiped the edge of her mouth with a napkin “what is it about?”
“It’s about this homewrecking broad who steals another woman’s husband. So she gets hit by a bus.”
“Fuck you’re so morbid
Siobhan”
Morgan snickered holding her hand up to her mouth to hide her amusement from
Serena
Siobhan did the same
“And the woman is really dumb and clueless and ends up becoming a paraplegic.”
Siobhan could barely contain her giggles
“Oh my god bitch, I’m dying inside” she said to
Morgan under her breath
“Wow”
Serena said clueless as she turned from
Siobhan to
Morgan, “that really sounds like something. I’ll have to read it.”
“Fuck this bitch really is clueless”
Morgan snickered under her breath to
Siobhan
Serena may have been unaware of
Morgan and
Siobhan’s charade but
Dominic who knows his daughters best just put his head down and shook his head in shame. And to keep
Serena from noticing the cheshire grin on his face. His daughters, after all, did have a way of making him laugh with their ridiculous insults of people.
Serena looked at both
Siobhan and
Morgan who both had funny looks on their face. They were a bit weird in
Serena’s mind.
“I hope you all can excuse me, it’s time for
Mackenzie’s feeding” she said placing her napkin on the table before scurrying from the dining room.
After
Serena’s exit the table was quiet.
Siobhan and
Morgan filled with inside jokes ate their food with smirks on their faces.
“Okay”
Dominic sat back in his chair, “so what do you think of her?”
“What do I think of her? Dad?… she’s a slut??”
Morgan laughed as if she felt it should have been obvious
Serena hadn’t reached the stairs yet before
Morgan’s comment and she heard it loud and clear. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs at the word ‘slut’. With a smile and a roll of her eyes she continued up the steps.
Dominic gave
Morgan a stern look, “that’s not right
Morgan” he said calmly but with the sternness of a father, “why would you say something like that? You’re raised better than that. And
Serena-”
“Is a whore.”
Siobhan interjected, “I can’t take anymore of this.” She said slamming her napkin on the table, “I’m ready to go, are you ready
Morgan?”
“Now wait a minute”
Dominic’s was growing quickly frustrated
“Actually you wait a minute dad”
Morgan’s fury was unwarranted, “you invited us to dinner, and we came. That doesn’t mean we have to like that- that - homewrecking trick!” she growled
“That’s enough”
Dominic countered back, “where the hell did you two get off calling people such names? You’re lucky I don’t slap the words out of your mouth.”
“Well we’re grown and you can’t do that.”
Morgan’s voice was full of emotion and hurt feelings, “and mom should have slapped you a long time ago. Don’t bother calling me again.”
Morgan marched out the door behind
Siobhan
Dominic was angry, but mostly at himself. This was all his fault after all, he knew his daughters had every right to be upset, but he had just wished the dinner could have gone better. He knew that his daughters were the real victims, but he also knew that they would be issuing
Serena an apology whether they wanted to talk to him or not. Never had he heard such language from either of them and he wasn’t going to allow it.
Serena entered the kitchen as
Dominic was finishing up cleaning. “Well” she sighed, “that was surely something.”
“I am so sorry Serena. It’s not like them to call someone out of their name. And I will be talking to both of them and their mother about it.”
“It’s okay, Dom” Serena reassured, “I’ve been called a slut before. They’re just upset.”
“Upset or not that language is not okay. I am so disappointed in them.”
“Yeah well… you weren’t very fair to them either. And they have the right to view me the way they do. To them I am "the other woman.” the one who separated their parents. So what? They mean girl me a couple of times? I can take it Dominic. It’s okay.“
Dominic chuckled
"What?”
Serena asked inquisitive
“Nothing” he smiled, “it’s just… you have a way of understanding everything and you’re so forgiving and patient. And I…” he bit his lip, “I just love you so much.”
Serena’s face was blank, “
Dominic I have to tell you something.” her eyes began to tear
“What’s wrong?”
Dominic’s voice was soft
Serena could barely speak words before she started bawling her eyes out, “I lost the baby.”
“What?”
Dominic was shocked
Serena tried to continue speaking but she couldn’t get another word out as she wept.
“I’m so sorry
Dominic” she cried
“No” he said as he placed his hands on
Serena’s shoulders and kissing her forehead, “don’t ever say that. You’ve been so stressed out, we both have, it’s been a trying time. And we both knew it could be a risk getting pregnant so soon after having
Mackenzie. It’s okay
Serena. It will be okay.”
“I know”
Serena sniffled as she allowed
Dominic to calm her down, “I know… it’s just. Another fucked up thing.”
“Well at least we’re fucked up together.”
Dominic joked
Serena laughed wiping away her tears, she looked
Dominic in the eyes and smiled, “
Dom?”
“Hm?”
“Let’s have our wedding”
It was late and
Dorian was interrupted from sleep by a knock on the door. He sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, checking the time. 1AM. He looked at
Sergio who was still asleep.
“Whoever is knocking at 1AM and interrupting my Ryan Reynold dream better need something important” he grumbled
The knock came again,
Gigi was in the other room shuffling in her sleep
“YES?”
Dorian yelled a bit cranky as he opened the door
“Sup
Dorian”
“I came to get my daughter.”
TO BE CONTINUED…