CHAPTER TWO
Izzy glanced up from where she was sitting at the kitchen table and to her delight, Dominic stood in her doorway. She smiled as she got up and rushed over to her father. Hugging him, she stepped back and said, “What are you doing here?”
“I just wanted to see you again. Is that all right?”
Izzy’s smile deepened. “Of course it is. I’m glad to see you again.” Turning, she led him over to the table, when she turned back, she saw Dominic wasn’t alone. Her smile faltered a bit, as she saw his attorney, Ben Singer behind him. The man was rude and arrogant and she didn’t lie him one bit.
Dominic nodded his head toward the man. “You remember Ben, don’t you?”
Izzy nodded. “I do.” Motioning for everyone to sit, Izzy stared at her father. “To what do I owe this visit?”
“How is Boone doing with his recovery? I know he had the surgery to remove the bullet.”
Izzy nodded as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “That went very well and he’s begun his physical therapy. He has eight years of muscle to build up in his legs. Some days are better than others, but he’s making the effort. He isn’t quitting.”
“That’s great to hear.” Dominic smiled.
Just then, Mountain came into the kitchen. He paused then came to sit beside Izzy. “Dominic.”
Dominic nodded his head. “I’m glad you’re here. I want to talk to both of you.”
“About?” Mountain cocked his head to one side and studied the other man.
Dominic fidgeted in his chair for a moment, then got to his feet and began pacing back and forth. “As you both know, finding Izzy has been something I never thought would happen. I thought my daughter would be lost to me forever when I couldn’t find her shortly after she was born.” He paused then gazed at Izzy. His face softened and he reached out to lay his hand along her cheek. “I closed off my heart, so I couldn’t feel the pain of your loss anymore. As the years passed, I found myself praying you would be out there somewhere, just waiting for me to finally find you and that day finally came. I found you.”
“Yes, you did.” Her hand covered his.
“I wanted things to go differently of course, but it didn’t work out that way.” Dominic grimaced.
“Differently, how?” Izzy asked.
“I wanted to be your white knight and save you but I got beat out by a guy on a motorcycle.” Dominic smiled. Holding up his hands to stop Mountain’s tirade, he said, “You may be the man she loves but I am still her father. That you cannot take away from me.” He sat down and reached for her hands. “As your father, I want to give you the world. I want to make up for the fact that you didn’t live with me throughout your childhood. I want to give you now, what you should have had all along.”
Izzy shook her head. “But you don’t owe me anything.”
“As my daughter, you would have had everything you ever wanted,” Dominic stated.
Izzy shook her head. “I have everything I ever wanted right now.” She turned to Mountain. “I have the love of a good man, I have Boone in my life again, I have a baby in my belly that I can’t wait to meet and I finally, have a father and a family again. What more do I need?”
“You should have had money and power all your life,” Dominic informed her. “As my daughter, it was your birthright.”
Izzy searched her father’s face for a moment, then pulled her hands free. “I don’t want or need your money. I told you that before.”
“When your mother told me she was carrying my child, I started a trust fund for the baby. When she left me and you went missing after you were born, I left everything in place. Over the years, the trust fund has grown into a substantial amount. That money is yours. I want you to have it.”
“Dominic, I think she should take a DNA test to determine that she really is your daughter before you turn over the trust fund,” Ben Singer interrupted.
Izzy snapped her head around and frowned at the other man. “What?”
Ben nodded. “As his attorney, I’m advising him to do a DNA test. That would prove one way or another, whether you truly are his blood.”
Izzy got to her feet and began backing away from the table. Swinging her eyes over to Dominic, she couldn’t help that tears were welling up. “But I don’t want the money,” she whispered. “I never did.”
Ben snorted. “You’ll forgive me, but I don’t believe you. No sane person would turn down millions of dollars.”
Izzy turned to Dominic and shook her head. Turning around, she rushed into the kitchen.
~* * * *~
The three men could hear her sobs from the other room.
Mountain turned to Ben. “I think you’d better leave before I crack your smug ass face. You’ve outstayed your barely there welcome and I would advise you to NOT to come back. The next time you insult my woman, I will hurt you.”
Ben just stared at him for a moment, then turned to Dominic. Opening his mouth, he didn’t say a word when Dominic held up his hand.
“Maybe you should wait outside.”
Ben got to his feet and muttered, “Just don’t do anything stupid.”
Mountain got to his feet and made a move toward the other man. Ben skirted the table and headed for the door. When he escaped, Mountain turned toward Dominic. “You just crossed a line with Izzy. She may never forgive what you just did. You did the opposite of bringing her closer to you.” He turned and went to find her.
He found her in the living room standing by the window. Tears ran down her cheeks and she trembled when he pulled her into his arms.
He held her close for a few minutes before she began to speak, “All my life,” she whispered. “All I ever wanted was to belong somewhere. I thought Sonny and Roxi were my parents and that Boone was my brother. I knew Sonny and Roxi would never win parents of the year awards but I thought they were mine. I knew who I was back then.” She paused for a moment then went on, “When I found out they weren’t my real parents, I was so lost. I didn’t belong anywhere. I didn’t have a family, even the brother I loved more than I loved me wasn’t mine to claim.”
Mountain grabbed her and held her tight as he listened.
“When Mike turned me away from the hospital that night, I didn’t think I would survive. I didn’t know if I wanted to try. I was so alone. Then I found Melora. She was just like me, with no other person in the world looking out for her. I think we bonded because we had so much in common. She taught me so much about living on the streets and surviving with less than nothing. Being with her gave me purpose again. She taught me that I mattered to someone. I mattered to her.” She turned in his arms and looked at him for a moment. “I don’t know if you can understand what I’m trying to say but it’s kind of like the difference between a house and a home.”
Mountain frowned. “The difference between a house and a home?”
Izzy shrugged then explained, “Both are four walls and a roof, but that’s all a house will ever be, just four walls and a roof. Growing up with Sonny and Roxi that’s all I ever had, just those four walls and a roof. But when I lived with Melora we had those same four walls and a roof, well we did most of the time anyway, but the point is we had more than just the walls and a roof. We filled those walls with something more precious than I ever knew I needed. We filled those walls with laughter and love, hugs and joy. We filled those walls right up to the roof. Does that make any sense?”
Mountain smiled. “Yeah, I get it now.”
“Yeah…That’s what we have here, not a house but a home. Since I met you, you have filled my world with laughter and love, hugs and kisses and joy. You have given me so much joy, my walls are overflowing. You have accepted me for who I am, warts and all. You even brought my brother back to me. You have completed me.”
“What about your father?” Mountain asked.
Izzy shrugged. “I prayed that one day I would find my real parents. What kid doesn’t want to know where they come from? But when I found him I dared to hope I would be complete. All I ever wanted was to belong to someone. He spoke of my mother and I found myself hoping that she was really mine. The more I got to know Dominic, the more I fell in love with him. He filled a part of me I didn’t know was missing, with him I was finally whole again.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Mountain asked.
She gazed up at him with tears in her eyes. “What if the test proves I’m not his daughter?” she whispered. “What if I’m not the girl he’s searched for all these years? I don’t want to find out, because if I’m not that would rip a hole in my heart and soul that no one can heal.” She shook her head. “I can’t go back to being a nobody. I have to matter to him.”