______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________





It was barely 8:30 AM when the sound of someone pounding on the door alerted Dominic from sleep. He had the day off, Serena had long gone to work, Gigi was off to her first day of school, and Ryn was catching sleep from her late night work schedule.

“Who on earth is knocking like that at this time of morning?” he yawned scratching his toned belly and feeling the cold hard floor on his bare feet.

The pounding came again.

“Okay okay I’m coming!” he yelled

If it was those damned sales people again he was going to give them a piece of his mind. But when he opened the door. His anger disappeared. And his reserves softened.

“… Moira?”



“Can I come in or is this a bad ti-”

“Of course you can come in” Dominic’s voice was soft and caring.

Moira looked around the expansive house. “Wow… it’s a lovely home.”

“Yeah well Serena and Ryn have a good eye for aesthetics.” Dominic said looking at the grandfather clock in front of him.

There was an awkward silence. Before Dominic spoke, “what are you doing here?”



Moira smiled benevolently. “You look uncomfortable” she giggled half in adoration and half in judgement. “We used to be able to sit silently all the time. We never had awkward silences before.. just silence. Peaceful and quiet-”

“Yeah well things are different now.” Dominic cut in sharply. “And you shouldn’t be here Moira. Unless there’s something the girls need.”

“They need their father, Dominic.”

Dominic subconsciously looked down at the floor to not look Moira in the eyes. She was right. He felt so uneasy around her now. It was like their first date back in 1991 when he was a college junior. Except this time the uneasiness wasn’t from Dominic’s worry of Moira liking him enough, but his guilt for having left her.

“They have their father Moira. They know that. And so do you. They can always see me or come here-”

“But I can’t” Moira said slightly upset

Dominic looked up and met Moira’s eyes. “…Moira”



“Dominic I miss you. I miss you so much. It’s like I can’t… breathe.” she said emotionally as she folded herself into Dominic’s chest.

Looking in her eyes, Dominic could see that she was vulnerable, and it was all his fault.

“Moira I’m sorry for doing this to you, but I can’t… we can’t… it’s over now, Moira.”

Moira buried her face in Dominic’s chest and he could feel the wetness of her tears. “I’m sorry Dominic, I’m sorry I made you run away, please just come back” she said devastated.

Dominic looked away his eyebrows scrunched in sympathy for Moira. She grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her. “Please Dominic, please come back to me, I can’t-”

Without another finished word, Dominic grabbed Moira’s face and penetrated her scorned speech with his tongue. He kissed her hard. He didn’t kiss her out of love. He kissed her because he wanted to make her feel better. He kissed her out of guilt. And he could tell the difference. So he pulled away.



“Moira” he said more sternly. “We are done. We are over. We are getting a divorce. This is our reality now.”



“YOU CANNOT LEAVE ME LIKE THIS DOMINIC”

Moira’s anger was what Dominic had anticipated since he left. However, now he found himself not ready for it.

“Moira you are upset. But here is not the place to discuss it.”



“I GAVE YOU EVERYTHING” Moira continued, “I BARED MY SOUL TO YOU HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME- DO THIS TO US- DO THIS TO YOUR KIDS” her voice was frightening with pure rage.

“Moira…”



Moira broke down in tears and Dominic stood and witnessed her heart finally breaking. His heart wanted to console her and stitch her back together. But his mind told him not to. Because it was over.



“Moira… listen to me.” he said very softly

“I will always look out for you. But we are over, Moira. We cannot continue anymore. I’m sorry.”

Moira was unconsolable as she kept repeating to herself, “how could you do this to me, how could you do this to me.”



“Moira, I want you to leave now. Okay? I want you to go home and take some time to think, okay?”



Moira straightened up and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I will never forgive you. For as long as I live” her voice was soft but with the unbroken sting of a Scorpio that was scorned.



“Goodbye Dominic.”

Dominic was hollowed out. Moira deserved to feel every way that she felt. And Dominic was intensely guilty. He watched her as she walked out of the door and then grabbed his head rubbing his hands through his hair and holding back the tears he couldn’t show in front of her. He grabbed his hips and looked down at the floor with a sigh.

“Dom…” Ryn’s voice came casually from the kitchen.



Dominic walked into the kitchen to see the pigtail bun laden Ryn seated with a face stuffed with pancakes.

“Food. Eat.” she said through a mouthful of pancakes, pointing her fork at the plate she had made for him in front of her.

Dominic loved Ryn’s sense of humor. Her energy always made him feel better about anything. And he knew that he could always confide in her.



Ryn chomped down the pancakes while looking Dominic in the eyes. “You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. No talk. Just eat.”

“Okay” Dominic whispered, his eyes still wet with prisoned tears.

And so they ate in silence. “Thank you for breakfast” Dominic’s voice was still plagued with anxiety. “I um.. I think I’m going to go back to bed now.” He pushed in his seat and walked up the stairs in all his gloom.

He needed to talk to Serena.