“Because you are her family.” Dominic leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table to meet the boy’s suspicious gaze without flinching. “Because if I marry her, I am not just becoming her husband. I am becoming part of your lives too. That’s not something I should decide without you.”
Oliver said nothing, his mind clearly processing the mass of the statement. Lily, meanwhile, looked as if she might explode from the effort of staying quiet. Her hands were pressed over hermouth, and her whole body practically vibrated with what could only be described as violent joy.
“I know I am not your father.” Dominic remained perfectly still, his posture open and unthreatening. “But I would like to be… something. If you will let me.”
“Something like what?” Lily dropped her hands to her lap, her curiosity finally winning out over her attempt at restraint.
Dominic searched for the words to describe the life he was offering them.
“Like someone who is there.” He shrugged one shoulder, a small, genuine smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Someone who takes you fishing. Someone who lets you read first editions until your eyes go crossed. Someone who makes your mother smile.”
“She has been smiling more.” Lily beamed, her wide, infectious grin returning. “She has been humming. Humming! She never hums.”
“Has she?” Dominic couldn’t quite suppress his own grin. The image of Nell happy enough to hum sent a strange, complicated thrum through his chest.
“You really love her?” Oliver’s question landed hard.
Dominic met the boy’s eyes and held them. “More than anything.”
“She has been hurt before.” Oliver’s chin lifted with defiant pride, his small hands curling into fists on the tabletop. “Our father… I think he was not kind to her.”
Dominic went stone-still. He’d known, of course — Nell had shared her truth in the quiet of his bedroom — but hearing it from Oliver was something else entirely. The boy had never met his father, yet he’d gathered enough to piece the story together on his own. He knew far more than Nell realized.
“I know.” Dominic’s response was a rough friction in his throat. He cleared it, forcing himself to settle. “She told me.”
A crack formed in Oliver’s expression—surprise, perhaps, that his mother had shared that particular secret with an outsider.
“And you still want to marry her?” Oliver’s gaze searched Dominic’s face for any hint of a lie.
“I want to spend the rest of my life making sure no one ever hurts her again.” Dominic didn’t blink, letting the boy see the iron-clad promise in his eyes. “Including me.”
The room went still. Lily looked from one to the other like a spectator at a match, her excitement suspended as she waited for her brother.
“What if you change your mind?” The question broke, betraying the fear beneath Oliver’s bravado. “What if you decide you don’t want us?”
“I won’t.” Dominic reached out, though he didn’t touch the boy, keeping his hand palm-up on the table—an open invitation.
“How do you know?” Oliver pressed, his stare tracking.
Dominic leaned forward, ensuring their gazes were locked. “Because I have already decided. I am not asking your mother to marry me despite her having children, and I am asking her because of who she is. You are part of who she is. The best part, maybe.”
Oliver’s jaw worked. His eyes shone with unshed tears, though he fought to keep them back.
“If you hurt her...” The boy’s words hitched, but he forced them out. “If you ever hurt her...”
“Then you’ve my permission to gut me.” Dominic nodded toward the whittling blade on the table. “I mean it. You have my word. If I ever make her cry from cruelty, you can hold me to account.”
Oliver’s expression loosened by a degree. The suspicion didn’t vanish—trust would take more than a single afternoon—but a crack appeared in his armor.
“Lily?” Dominic turned to the girl, who looked ready to burst. “What do you think?”
She bit her lip, clearly savoring the drama of the interrogation, before her face split into the widest grin he’d ever seen.
“I think you should have asked ages ago.” She laughed, her heels drumming a happy rhythm against the chair legs.
Dominic’s own laughter followed—a real, loose sound that felt entirely unrehearsed. Lily giggled in response, clapping her hands with delight.
“So?” He looked between them, his heart hammering harder than it had any right to. “Do I have your blessing?”
