Second Chance at Love (Love Conquers All) (26 page)

Karen and Gayle both reached across the table to shake hands. “Hi Gayle. Thank you so much for taking on this job at the last minute.”

Flipping open a writing pad, Gayle smiled. “Don’t worry about it, hon. Trust me, your momma and Ms. Janet are paying me very well. So tell me everything you ladies have done so far.”

The ladies deferred to Karen to fill Gayle in on the other details that needed to be taken care of for her upcoming nuptials. The entire time she listened to the wedding planner give her recommendations and suggestions, Karen’s mind drifted back to the interaction between her mom and Janet. She wondered what she had done right in this life to be blessed with marrying into such a loving and caring family.

“Daddy, why that lady keep looking at you like that?” Kyle queried as he colored the picture on the kid’s menu.

Ashley rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath. “Because she’s a home wrecker.” The barely eighteen year old waitress had shamelessly flirted with Dom. She hadn’t seemed a bit fazed that the children were present, nor did it faze her that they kept calling him daddy.

Dom choked on the cola he’d just sipped. What did she know about a home wrecker? He’d noticed the glaring stare Ashley slung the young woman’s way. He was certain the glass of water she tipped over, conveniently splashing all over the waitress, hadn’t been an accident.

Setting his glass down, he wondered how he was going to answer Kyle and address Ashley’s behavior. This was one of those times he wished kids came with manuals. Now wasn’t the time to discuss the ways of women with the young boy.

“Son, she’s just being nice.”

To that answer, Ashley gave another roll of her eyes. “Princess, what do you know about a home wrecker?”

Ashley hunched her small shoulders, not willing to open up. Although she was a child she knew when a woman liked a man and vice versa. That dumb waitress liked her dad and she wasn’t having it. She frowned. It didn’t help that the girl was pretty.
But not as pretty as my mommy.

“Oh, come on Princess, you can talk to your dad,” he gently cajoled.

Shifting in her seat, she glanced at Dom under her long lashes. Would he be mad at her if she told him the truth? She looked over at her little brother. She wasn’t sure if she should talk in front of him.

“I can tell you some. Can I write the rest down?”

Dom nodded. “Sure, princess.”

She took a deep breath. Again she glanced at Kyle, who was engrossed with alternating between coloring and sipping on his chocolate milk. “My friend at school said her mom and dad got a divorce because her father had a girlfriend.” Dropping her eyes she reached for one of the white paper napkins on the table and began to scribble.

He waited patiently as she wrote. When she was finished she slid the napkin over to Dom. The vise gripping his chest made it hard for him to breathe. This poor child had overheard her mother talking to her aunt on the phone about her father’s indiscretion. Her reaction to the flirty waitress all made sense now.

“Oh princess, come here.” He had to make her understand he would never hurt her mother.

Kyle’s head popped up as he watched Ashley push back her chair and run into Dom’s arms.

“Sweetheart, I love your mother. I’ll never do anything to hurt her or you and your brother.”

“You promise?” Ashley asked, her voice trembling.

“I promise.” Hugging his little girl a little tighter, he again assured her. “Princess, I promise.”

“Okay, Daddy,” she said, feeling much better about talking to her dad. Going back to her chair, she sat down and picked up a crayon and began coloring on her kid’s menu.

Looking from Dom to Ashley, Kyle was confused. “Daddy we know you won’t hurt us. Right?”

“That’s right, son,” Dom answered playfully chucking him on the chin.

The waitress came back to the table with their order. She flashed Dom with the same flirty smile she’d been giving him for the last thirty minutes. Kyle’s nose wrinkled up at the woman. “Are you a home wrecker?” he blurted out.

“What?” she said blinking in disbelief, looking around at the other diners sitting at tables in close proximity. Just as she expected, they were looking on in open interest.

Ashley covered her mouth, giggling. Dom dropped his head, hiding his own smirk. Talk about walking and chewing bubble gum at the same time. Who knew the young tyke was listening the entire time he appeared absorbed in his coloring.

The young waitress turned beet red as Kyle pressed the issue. “My sister said the way you keep looking at our daddy makes you a home wrecker.”

“Kyle, that’s enough. Say grace so you can eat your food.” Dom’s attempt at being stern was shaky at best. The child wasn’t being malicious; his sincere matter of fact tone was proof of it. He’d have to talk to him later about repeating certain conversations.

“Behave, princess,” he gently admonished a still giggling Ashley.

Turning his attention to the stunned waitress, he made the children apologize. Dom shrugged his broad shoulders as she rolled her eyes and stormed off. Picking up his burger he was glad he and the kids’ food had been served before Kyle’s interrogation.

Kyle and Ashley didn’t want the evening with Dom to end. They enjoyed spending the last three weekends in a row with him. The youngsters were just as excited as the adults for the big day to hurry up and come. The last three weekends gave them a taste of what having Dom around all the time would be like. Each night Kyle tipped into his sister’s room after Karen had gone to bed. Climbing up on her bed, they’d talk for hours about how cool Dom was, how their mother smiled more, and how they couldn’t wait until they day they were adopted.

One night Kyle asked his sister, “Do you think they’ll have a baby?”

Ashley shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. Maybe? Why?”

Mimicking his sister, he too shrugged his shoulders. “I guess it would be fun to have a baby brother or sister.” What he wouldn’t come out and tell his sister is that having his triplet cousins around, along with NJ and Autumn made him feel like a big boy. He especially didn’t feel like a baby when his aunties asked him to play with the little ones.

“Yeah, that would be really cool. Wouldn’t it?” Playfully nudging him with her shoulder she teased, “Then you won’t be the baby anymore.” Ashley covered her face with a pillow to muffle the sounds of her laughter.

Bouncing on the bed in a premature celebration of giving up his “baby” rights he chanted, “Yes, yes, yes! No more baby, no more baby! Yes, yes, yes!”

Dom glanced in his rearview mirror as he parked in front of Karen’s place. His smiling eyes landed on the siblings. Every time he looked at the children of his heart, he felt mixed emotions of love, devotion, protection, and anger. How could a father not want beautiful, smart, intelligent and loving children? And how could grandparents want nothing more than to use them for financial gain? Even though he felt a little betrayed by Karen’s initial lack of trust in him, when it came to protecting her children, he understood her. With her mother living in another state and a sister with her own family, he assumed she felt she didn’t want to be a burden to them. Thank God she did have the independent and protective nature of a lioness. He had no doubt if he wasn’t in the picture she would and could handle her business. Taking another glance in the rearview mirror, she would never have to depend on herself again for their care and protection.

Turning off the ignition, Dom unsnapped his seatbelt and turned in his seat to look at them. “Don’t forget, where we went this afternoon is our little secret. Okay?”

The siblings vigorously nodded their heads in understanding. “We won’t tell. Right, Kyle?”

“Right. We won’t tell Mommy.”

Dom smiled at the children. “Good. Because mommy has a lot to do before the wedding so we don’t want to bother her. Right?”

Again they nodded their heads.

“Good. Let’s go.”

Dom got out the car, quickly going to the back door to help them out. He followed as the kids ran to the front door, ringing the doorbell. They heard their mom on the other side yelling she was coming.

Opening the door, Karen stepped back, shielding her body behind the door from the cold night air. “Hey babies. Did you have a good time?”

“Yes!” They each answered, giving her a quick hug before shooting past her to the closet to hang up their coats.

“Did you have a good time?” She asked Dom as he closed and locked the door.

He didn’t answer. Instead he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Karen let out a moan that only caused him to deepen the kiss. She felt all warm and tingling inside despite the leather jacket he wore giving her outer body chill bumps.

“Mmm, that was good,” she whispered against his lips when he broke the kiss.

Shrugging out of his jacket, she followed as he went to the closet. Looking over his shoulder he winked at her. “I always have a good time with my boy and my princess.”

“Aw, how cute.” He was turning out to be the perfect daddy. After he hung up his coat, she took his hand, leading him into the kitchen where she had been rolling out a crust for homemade pizza. Pointing to a chair, she told him to sit as she washed her hands and went back to working on the crust.

“I hope this comes out right. Your dad gave me the recipe for his world famous pizza.” Her mouth began to water as she recalled the yummy pizza pie he whipped up after meeting with the wedding planner. She was a bit confused when he ushered everyone out of the kitchen, but told her to stay.

At the puzzled look on her face, he said, “Since you’re about to officially become my daughter you have to be properly initiated into the family.”

The twinkling excitement in his eyes put her at ease. Smiling up at him, she played along. “Okaaay…so what’s this initiation?”

“You see, every Peretti, whether by birth or marriage, must master the art of making an authentic pizza pie.” Waving his hand as he went to the cupboard to pull out flour, dry yeast, shortening, olive oil and other ingredients, he grumbled, “Not that junk these big chains mass produce.”

“I see,” Karen said, although she really didn’t see. As far as she was concerned, Pizza Hut had the best pizza.

He shook his head sadly. How in the world could anyone think that stuff was good? “No you don’t. I’m gonna make you a believer just like I had to do with Janet.” At the mention of his wife’s name he began to laugh. It wasn’t just a regular laugh, but a deep, gut-wrenching laugh.

Before Karen could ask what was so comical, he walked over to the kitchen door to make sure Janet wasn’t within hearing distance. “The first time Janet
tried
to make a pizza pie it was horrible. Tasted like a brick with tomato gravy on it.”

“I heard that old man!” Janet yelled into the kitchen.

Karen and Dominic both cracked up laughing as he continued his lesson.

Dom’s lips curved into a smile. “Yeah?” His dad was very fond of Karen, but giving her a Peretti recipe that dated back to family roots in the old country? Well this meant he was crazy about her. Those who knew him knew he didn’t part too freely with family recipes.

Karen nodded, reminding him so much of Ashley. “Yup.” Tossing the dough in the air like Dominic showed her earlier, she bragged, “He loves me.”

Chuckling, Dom agreed. “I’d say so. He’s not too keen on giving up the family recipes.”

Setting the pie down on the baking sheet, she began forming the crust. Ladling the tomato base gravy, as her soon-to-be father-in-law called it, onto the center, she imitated his smooth movements as she swirled the red sauce until it met the borders of the crust.

“He said this was my initiation into the Peretti clan.”

Scratching the stubble on his jaw, he grinned as he remembered him and Ava learning the secret recipe as pre-teens. “Did he tell you about my mom’s first time?”

Laughter bubbled out of her throat. “He sure did. It was so funny too. He called himself making sure the coast was clear and she heard him anyway.”