Naomi

I knock on Dom’s door, my heart banging inside my ribcage like a drum. I can hardly breathe — can hardly think.

The door swings open and Dom appears, looking down at me. His eyes are bright and relieved, like he’s glad to see me.

“Naomi, what’s up? What are you doing here?”

“I-I need to talk to you about something.”

He frowns a little. “About what?” He steps back and lets me in. I walk past him, but then notice Annie standing there with her purse strapped on her shoulder.

“Oh, I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were here.”

“It’s okay. Hannah is sleeping and I’m getting ready to leave.”

I press my lips as she walks past me. “Next week I’d like to take her to the park,” she tells Dom.

“Yeah, I’ll see about that,” he mumbles, rushing her out the door. As soon as it’s shut, I toss my bag on the single recliner, dig through it for the test wrapped in toilet paper, and then turn to look at him.

He’s already turned my way, his eyes demanding answers.

“Dom,” I murmur. “I’m . . . pregnant.”

His eyes grow wide, nearly popping out of his head. He stares at me for a long time, making me shift sideways.

I take the pregnancy stick out of the toilet paper and point to the pink lines. This is no joke. This is serious.

He can only stare at it, mouth slightly ajar, shoulders tense.

“Please say something,” I plead.

“I . . . well, shit, Naomi. Pregnant?”

I nod and he drags a rough hand over his face. “Fuck, I guess I should have seen this one coming,” he laughs.

“I know it’s not what you wanted! I promise I took the Plan B and I started my pills right away! God — I’m so fucking scared! Dad is going to find out eventually and I don’t know what to say —”

“Whoa, baby, calm down.” Dom comes closer to me, holding my shoulders. Our eyes connect and I calm down, only a little.

“What are we going to do?”

“We have to tell him before he finds out himself.”

“I-I don’t think I have the courage to tell him.”

“You won’t be alone,” he sighs. “We’re going to tell him. Together.”

“Together?”

“Yes.”

“But, he’ll hate you, Dom. He may even try to hurt you. He’ll never speak to you again.”

He pulls away, looking elsewhere. “Then I guess he’ll just have to hate me or hurt me, Naomi, cause there’s no way I’m letting you raise a baby by yourself. And there’s no way in hell I’m letting you get rid of my baby either. We did this. We knew what we were doing. I won’t let you go through this alone.”

I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I thought he would completely flip out and shout at me — or worse, tell me to get rid of it.

“You want to . . . keep it?”

“Fuck yes, we’re keeping it.” He wraps his arms around me, and I sink into his warm body. I love when he holds me and kisses my forehead. I feel protected. “That’s my baby in your belly. No one is taking that away from me. I’ll face my consequences, but you aren’t leaving my side.”

“He’s going to yell at me. I already know it.”

“He may do some yelling, but you are still his daughter. I know Barry. He’ll be disappointed in you for a while, but he’ll come around. You’re his little girl. You’ll need him, and you’ll definitely need your mother.”

“But what about you?”

He releases me and shrugs. “He may never come around when it comes to me, and that’s fine. I brought this on myself the day I made you mine.”

I don’t know why, but I blush way too hard. My entire body rushes with heat. “When should we tell them?” I ask.

“Tonight. The sooner, the better.”

* * *

I am freaking the fuck out. Dom pulls into our driveway, parks the car, and then looks over at me, squeezing my hand.

I mesh my lips together and look back at where Hannah is sitting. She smiles at me, and something about her tiny smile comforts me. She loves me, and if she can love me, so can my own baby.

I just don’t think I’m ready for this.

I’ve never thought about having one of my own.

Dom steps out of the car first and goes for Hannah. I follow his lead, and when he has her, I walk to the door, ready to get this over with. I can hear my pulse whooshing in my ears, my hands all sticky and sweaty.

Dad is going to kill me.

I unlock the door with my key and the TV is on. And there he is, sitting in his favorite recliner. He’s got a beer in his hand, which is a good thing sometimes. When he drinks, he’s much more lenient than when he’s sober.

“Oh, hey, Omi. Back already?” He looks behind me, at Dom following my trail. Dad stands up when he sees Dom and Hannah, his face confused. “What’s up, Dom? What are you doing here?”

When Dad comes closer, I forget how tall and buff he actually is. Mom steps around the corner with an apron on. “Naomi? I thought you were going to hang out with Julia today.”

I shake my head. “Mom, you should come and sit.” She frowns but doesn’t hesitate. She sits down on the loveseat with a perplexed expression.

“Dad, you should sit too. Dom and I have something we need to talk to you guys about.”

“Well, what is it?” Dad asks. “Is something wrong with Hannah? Wait — is he firing you?”

He glowers at Dom.

“No, Dad! It’s not like that! Just sit please, and promise you’ll be calm when we tell you.”

Dad is caught off guard by my demand. Warily, he steps back, and takes the seat right beside Mom.

“What is this about, sweetie?” Mom asks, blinking quickly.

I glance over at Dom who comes closer to me, Hannah still in one arm. He uses his free hand to grab mine and as soon as he does, Mom and Dad’s eyes drop down to our hands. Mom’s jaw drops, but Dad’s eyebrows stitch together and his mouth forms into a solid line.

“What the fuck is going on here, Dom?” he booms, and shoots to a stand. I can tell he wants to attack Dom before he can even get answers, but with Hannah in his arms, he won’t do it.

“Barry, you know we are good friends, all right? You’re my best friend and you’ve always been good to me. You and Cathy.” He looks at Mom who, I believe, already knows what he’s about to say. “But your daughter is pregnant, and she’s pregnant with my baby.”

There is a thick, uncomfortable silence that hits us hard. The house is so quiet, I can hear the dryer running past the kitchen.

“I will fucking kill you, Dom!” Dad roars. I flinch as he starts to come for us, but Mom jumps in his way, and forces him back.

“Stop it, Barry!” she shouts.

“I know this looks bad,” Dom continues. “There is no explanation for what I did with Naomi. After Annie left, shit just got hard and everything became unclear. But the only thing that was clear to me was Naomi, and how she was helping me get through the hard times with Hannah. She was there for me and I relied on her more than I thought I would. She took better care of me than Annie ever did. We did things, yeah, and I regretted it at first because of our friendship. I value our friendship so much, but I don’t regret falling in love with your daughter, B. She saved me. She took care of Hannah. She had my back. She was there for me, and I’m never going to forget that.”

Dad’s seething comes to a stop. We are all caught off guard.

I look up at Dom. “You’re in love with me?” I ask, voice soft.

“Yes, I’m in love with you. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I don’t want you going through this alone.”

“Oh, sweetie.” Mom steps closer to me, holding my face in her hands. Tears immediately burn my eyes when she does. “Why didn’t you just come to me, honey? You know you can talk to me about anything.”

“I was ashamed, Mom. He’s Dad’s best friend and he’s your friend too. I didn’t want it to ruin things. But, Dad,” I say, looking over her shoulder, “…this was my choice too. He didn’t force me to do anything with him. It was mutual, so you can’t be angry with him. It just . . . happened. Things happen.”

Dad glares at me, but even harder at Dom. He steps around Mom and charges toward us.

“Dad!” I scream, but it’s too late. Dad is in front of Dom in a flash, his fist in the air, coming down hard and slamming into Dom’s face.

Dom stumbles back, holding his now bloody mouth. Mom and me gasp, our eyes wide. I take a big step away, holding onto Hannah, pressing her forehead to my shoulder so she doesn’t see her daddy bleeding.

Dom picks his head up, looking at Dad.

“I don’t give a damn if it was mutual or if you were both on acid! It was fucked up, Dom, and you know it!” Dad turns around and storms out of the living room, stomping through the kitchen and knocking one of the stools at the counter over.

Mom steps forward, pursing her lips together as she focuses on him. “Are you okay?” she asks Dom.

“I’m good,” Dom answers, but I can tell he’s struggling to hold the pain.

“Let him cool down and give him time to let it sink in. I’ll grab you some ice and a towel.” She walks to the kitchen and I step closer to Dom, rubbing his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry,” I murmur.

“Nah,” he says, working his jaw and wiping his mouth with the back of his arm. “I saw that one coming. I deserved that.”

Mom returns with an ice pack and a white towel, handing it to Dom. “It is wrong,” she says upon her return, “but you are a good man, Dom, and I know you will take good care of my daughter, just as she has taken care of yours.”

Dom nods. “I will never let anything happen to her, Cathy. That’s my promise to you.”

She nods and then turns, reeling me and Hannah in for a tight hug. “You’re still going to finish college,” she titters over my shoulder, but I know she’s serious.

A laugh bubbles out of me. “I know, Mom. I know.”

“This is going to change a lot of things. Having a baby isn’t easy.”

That, I definitely know.

When she pulls away, she extends her arms for Hannah. “Come on, sweet girl! Come help me finish making lunch!”

Hannah nearly jumps into her arms and they take off, leaving Dom and me alone.

“Well . . . at least he didn’t give you a beat down from hell,” I joke, touching his jaw.

He winces and then sighs, wiping his mouth with the towel. “I’m going to go talk to him alone. You go hang with your mother and Hannah. She seems okay with it, but she’ll have to get used to the idea of us together too. It’ll be tough.”

I wrap my arms around him. “Are you sure you want to go alone? I don’t want him to hit you again.”

“It’ll be fine. If he really wanted to beat my ass, he would have done it by now.”

I stand on my toes, kissing his sore jaw. “Thank you for doing this, Dom. Stepping up and owning it.”

He tips my chin and kisses me on the lips. “I’ll do anything for you, Naomi. Always.”