Chapter Thirty-One
Dominic
“I have to go back? Seriously? But why?” I asked as the police officer came to take me away. As far as I was concerned, I wasn’t going to be put back in. I’d just had a long meeting with the lawyer, and he had said that Candice’s father wouldn’t be able to do anything. I had thought I was just going to walk away.
“Look, don’t worry about it, Dominic. You’ll be fine. But while I sort out everything on my end, you’re going to have to stay in. It’s just a holding cell while we figure something out.”
I thought of the two guys that I had been in with before and sighed. That had also been a holding cell. I just hoped they weren’t putting me back in the same place. I thought of arguing but knew there was no point. The lawyer had explained to me how important it was for me to act innocent.
“But I am innocent,” I had said to him.
“I know you are. But you still need to act it. These guards are sick to death of fighting the prisoners. Do yourself a favor and just stay on their good side. You’ll be treated a lot better if you do. Just follow orders, and nothing will go wrong.”
So that was exactly what I was going to do. I thought of his warning as if followed the guard and hoped that everything would be sorted out soon. I didn’t want to spend the night. All I wanted to do was to make sure that Candice was okay. I wanted to kiss her. Then I wanted a long shower and a strong cup of coffee. I couldn’t imagine how awful it must be to stay in jail for years. I was already missing these basic things, and I hadn’t even been in long.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that I was the only person in the cell. I nodded to the guard and took a seat. Again, the minutes seemed to stretch, and I felt myself growing more and more impatient. When I heard footsteps, I thought it was going to be for me, but it was just the guard, bringing someone else into the cell with me. The guy looked to be about my age, and he looked nervous. He took a seat and regarded me with suspicion, and I got the impression that he wasn’t a bad person. He was probably just scared that I was the bad one. I smiled at him, and he quickly looked down at his feet. It took a while for him to eventually catch my eye and I gave him a knowing nod.
“I hope I don’t have to spend the night,” he said to me.
“You and me both. I really shouldn’t be in here.”
“Yeah, me too. The whole thing was just a stupid mistake,” he said.
“Yeah, same here. Well, at least we’re both in here together. Earlier I was sharing the cell with two rather scary looking guys. I was very uncomfortable.”
He smiled. “I was worried when I saw you sitting here. But I feel better now. Remind me to never do anything stupid ever again. If I’m scared here, I would hate to think what I would be like I if I had to actually go to jail.”
“Oh yeah, me too. So, think you’re going to get out today?” I asked.
“Yeah, I think so. You?”
I nodded. “I hope so.”
Neither of us asked the other one what we had done to get ourselves in this position. We were both just happy to be together. Now, even if someone else got put in, at least we had each other.
“How long do you think we’ve been here?” he asked a bit later.
“I have no idea. It feels like hours, but who knows; it might only be one.”
Some more time passed, and then we heard the footsteps of the guard coming our way. We looked at each other in anticipation. We could only hear one set of footsteps, which meant the guard was more than likely coming to take one of us away. The guard came forward and opened the door. He nodded at me.
“Dominic Aarons. You’re free to go. Come with me.”
I looked at the other guy and felt instantly bad that I was the one to go first. I realized that I didn’t even know his name. I was just about to say something when he smiled at me and wished me luck. I smiled back.
“You too. Hope you’re out soon.”
“No talking. Come on, out you go, Dominic.”
I walked out, sad to leave him on his own, but happy to be out regardless. The moment I got out, I saw Candice. She was yelling at some police officer, and he was holding her back. Behind her, I saw her mother, standing there with a bemused look on her face. When she saw me, she pushed past him and ran straight toward me. Tears were streaming down her face.
“Nicky!” she yelled, and I noticed the guards looking at her with a confused look on their face at the different name.
“Candy! It’s so good to see you,” I said as she ran right into my arms. I kissed her forehead and squeezed her towards me. I knew then that I never wanted to let her go. No matter what was going to happen or what we had been through, we were meant to be together, and nobody could tell us otherwise. I didn’t want to let her go.
“I’m so sorry about all of this,” she said. “Are you okay? I’ve been going out of my mind with worry, but nobody would let me see you.”
I nodded and wiped away her tears. “I’m fine. I’m fine. And it’s not your fault. Not at all. But damn, it’s so good to see you.”
“Okay you two, you can do that outside. You’re making a scene now,” the officer said, but I could see that a part of him was touched. It was hard not to be taken aback by Candice. Even with tears streaming down her face, she was still the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. When we pulled away, he gave me a look that I could clearly see meant he was a little jealous of me for getting a girl like that. I didn’t blame him. I took her hand and walked out. The moment we got out, I looked at her and asked her what was going on.
“My mom was going to bail you out of jail. That’s why we came here. But, as it turns out, we didn’t have to. The charges were dropped anyway. There’s no reason for you to be here when you’ve done nothing wrong. We can all vouch for that. And I know you didn’t try to abduct me, obviously, and my mother believes me too. So . . . we came to get you out.”
“Wow, so your mother . . .”
“She was going to help. She’s . . . .” Candice said and turned around to find her mother. “She’s here. Mom, come say hi.”
I turned around and smiled at her mother. Now that Candice was older, I could see that she got her good looks from her mother. The two of them were clearly related. I hadn’t seen Marian for such a long time, and it was good to see her friendly face again. The long blonde hair that I remembered her having when I was a child was now cut into a short bob, and she looked tired and a little too thin. But other than that, she was still absolutely beautiful. She was smiling at me, and I could see, just by the way she looked at me, that she didn’t hate me. It was a relief to know that I at least had someone in the family rooting for me for a change.
“I’m so sorry about everything,” I said. “You have to know that I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Candice.” I desperately needed her to know that I wasn’t the bad guy. Her approval meant more to me than her husband’s did. Far more.
She smiled. “I know you wouldn’t. Trust me, I know. And it’s good to see you again, Dominic. I can’t believe how much you’ve changed. You were so young when I saw you last. I can’t believe how much you’ve grown up and how fast time has gone. I’m . . . well, I’m sorry for everything that happened. I want you to know that.”
I nodded. “It’s not your fault, but thank you. And thank you for not being upset with me now. Candice is a special girl.”
“She really is.”
“But what about Lionel? Is he here too?”
She shook her head. “Don’t worry about him right now. I’m just glad that you and Candice are safe and sound.”
“Oh, look, there’s my father,” I said as I saw my father walking towards me. “Hey, Pop. I’m out,” I said and grinned at him. I wasn’t mad at him anymore. I was just so happy to finally be out of that place.
My father smiled at me and then grinned at Marian.
“Marian? Wow. It’s been a long time. It’s good to see you. You’re looking well. Thanks for coming here and for doing all of this.”
Marian waved his compliment away. “I should be the one to thank you. I still remember how good both you and your son were to my daughter. It was a hard time for me back then. Candice got picked on a lot. But you were so good to her. I will never forget what you did for her confidence. And I never got a chance to really thank you. I’m just so glad I get to do that now. Thank you both for everything.”
“Oh, Candice is a wonderful woman. And thank you for all this today.”
She smiled. “Well, I think it’s safe to say that we’re even now.”
Marian turned towards Candice and told her that it was time to leave. I asked if Candice could come back with me. I wasn’t ready to leave her. Candice looked at her mother and asked if it would be okay.
“It’s fine. You can go. But keep your phone on, in case.”
Candice nodded. “Trust me; my phone is not going off ever again. What about Dad? What’s he going to say about all this?” she asked. I was glad she asked. I had been wondering the same thing. I half expected him to appear any minute and drag me back into jail.
“Don’t worry about him. I’ll figure something out,” she said. Then when Candice wasn’t watching, she looked at me. “Just stay together.”
I nodded. I wasn’t sure what that meant or what was going to happen, but I didn’t want to make a scene. I knew that things were far from over. There was no way that Lionel was just going to roll over and let us be together. He was still going to do his best to tear us apart, I was sure of it. But right then, there was nothing else to do but wait and see what happened. I gave Marian a big hug and told her to call me if anything happened.
“Come on,” I said to Candice. “Let’s go.”
“You’re coming back to my place,” my father said. “No arguing.”
I didn’t care where we went, as long as I had Candice with me. I took her hand, and we followed my father to his car. I squeezed Candice’s hand to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. We might not have her father’s approval, but we still had a lot more people on our side than before. And, above all, we had each other.