2nd December- Canary Islands, Spain
Letty’s beach house
Dom’s POV
I must have fallen asleep at some point through the night after spending a good few hours by Letty’s side sitting up trying to quell my anger. It was the best sleep I had had for a long time and looking down I realized why. She was peacefully asleep still but her hand was no longer holding mine instead my arms were around her and her head was resting on my shoulder. I relaxed as I looked down at her peaceful face, no longer did she look scared and frightened. I took a few minutes to savor the feeling of having her back in my arms knowing the moment would be over soon.
On one hand I didn’t want to move in case I woke her but on another I didn’t want her to find us like this either afraid she’d freak out. Taking the chance I gently removed myself from the bed and away from the warmth of her body. I gave her one last look before I silently crept out of the room moving towards the one I was meant to stay in as I got dressed. Once I was done I crept silently towards Ava’s to look in on her. Opening the door quietly I heard her sleepy babble and smiled as I walked into the room completely standing over her cot as she looked up at me smiling holding her arms up. Reaching down I picked her up and gave her a kiss talking to her quietly as I moved to change her.
“Did you have a good sleep princess? You slept all night.” I whispered to her quietly as I hugged her close. Finished changing her I walked out of the room and into the kitchen.
“Ba.” I looked at what she was pointing at and saw her pointing outside.
“That’s the beach.” I said softly and she got all excited at the word.
“We’re going to the park today, what do you think about that Ava?” I asked and she looked at me blankly. I laughed at her expression that was definitely inherited from Letty.
“Can you say park?” I coached and she looked confused.
“Or not. What about dada? Can you say dada yet?” She smiled up at me cheekily and I grinned shaking my head at her squeal.
“Shh mama’s still sleeping we have to be quiet.”
“BA!” She squealed again as she reached for outside. I smiled looking at the time it was still early. We had the whole day together so a bit of time out at the beach wouldn’t matter much and Letty was still asleep.
“Come on then princess we’ll go for a walk on the beach for a bit.” I said heading towards the door and she clapped excitedly when we exited the house.
She was dressed in shorts so I didn’t have to worry about her pants getting too wet. Walking up to the shoreline I placed her down holding her hands as the waves gently lapped at our feet. The water was warm and as Ava’s giggles filled the beach I found myself laughing along with her as we splashed in the shallow water.
“I was wondering where you two were.” I looked up as I heard Letty’s quiet voice and I smiled at her.
“Ava wanted to come out here.” She nodded.
“Probably because I bring her out every morning, it’s just part of her routine.” I picked up Ava to stop her from getting her clothes too wet.
“I was going to head back to my place to get ready and then I’ll be back over is that okay?” I asked Letty and she nodded.
“Yeah I should get ready and feed Ava anyway.”
“You okay?” I asked gently and she nodded unsurely at me.
“Uh listen thanks for last night...” I could hear the uneasiness in her voice so I chose not to ask any more questions.
“Anytime.” I said softly as I kissed Ava on the cheek and handed her back to Letty.
“I’ll be back soon.”
“Okay.” I gave her one last smile and leaned in to kiss Ava again before I turned and made my way down the beach towards my own house.
I walked in and took a couple of calming breaths no longer needing to hold my anger in. I punched the nearest wall, making a hole but I didn’t care. I could get it fixed, build a new one but I couldn’t build a new past I could only change the future and fix the present. I was so angry about the piece of information Letty had disclosed to me. Not at her, never would I be angry at her. I was furious at Demetri didn’t matter if he was dead. What kind of man would put his hands on a woman? Especially one that didn’t return his feelings and the scar…. I shuddered at the thought of it. His fucking initials, he had branded her like a farmer would his herd. Knowing I was starting to cross that fine line between anger and all hell breaking loose as I rubbed a hand over my face and took a deep breath deciding to take a shower to cool off. As each minute ticked by I felt myself returning to normal again but I also knew the anger was always going to be there and the mark on her skin was always going to be a constant reminder.
I quickly made lunch and shoved everything in a basket as I locked up the house again heading down the beach back to Letty’s.
I let myself in and followed the sounds of talking into the kitchen where Ava and Letty were. Smiling at Ava as she squealed excitedly immediately reaching for me I cast a look at Letty for approval seeing as she was supposed to be eating.
“She’s done.” She said softly and I nodded picking up Ava cuddling her close.
“Ready for the park?” I asked again and she looked towards Letty ignoring my words.
“She doesn’t understand that word.”
“I figured. The look on her face this morning when I said it was priceless it was you all over.” I laughed but stopped when I saw Letty looked a little offended.
“Gee thanks.”
“I’m just teasing Let…” I said quietly. She didn’t answer though as she continued cleaning up the kitchen. I thought we had managed to make some progress over the past couple of days but I think last night had put us back a few steps.
“Um so are you ready to head off?” I asked when she was done cleaning and she looked around the room once before nodding.
“Yeah I guess so.” I noticed that she was biting her lips and I sighed adjusting Ava in my arms.
“Let if you don’t want to go just tell me.” I pleaded quietly after last night’s confession I wasn’t going to push her to do anything she didn’t feel comfortable with.
“No it’s fine, we’re are we going?” I hesitated I didn’t fully believe her words but it also didn’t look like she was going to tell me otherwise so I let it go.
“I’m not sure really, I figured we’d just drive for a bit there has to be a park around here somewhere.” I said softly as I rubbed a hand over Ava’s back.
“Mind if I drive?” I smiled and shook my head. Contrary to popular belief when we first started dating and pretty much all the way through I used to love letting Letty drive my car but she was the only one who was able to get away with it. There was something about seeing her behind the wheel of my car that made me so hot and it used to make her feel powerful knowing that she had that effect over me.
“We’ll take my car.” I faltered a little at her words.
“Uh you can take mine you know.” I said silently hoping she’d say yes.
“You’d love that wouldn’t you.” I winced at her tone and pressed a kiss to Ava’s head as she laid it on my shoulder. I turned my face away from Letty and I heard her sigh.
“Sorry I didn’t mean to be so harsh. I just…I can’t drive your car Dom, I’m not that person anymore.”
“I know Letty, it’s fine.” I said.
“I’ll go get my keys.”
Letty’s POV
We managed to find a nice park which had a small view of the water and I watched as Dom took Ava off to play. I joined in for a bit before I went to sit back down leaving them both to play and spend some time together. After watching them for a few hours I couldn’t help but laugh as she squealed excitedly on the swing as Dom pushed her slowly.
“Was that fun baby?” I asked as they walked back over and Ava was grinning and laughing as Dom tickled her.
“Mama.” She giggled and I held my arms out for her as she reached.
“Hello baby girl. Did you have fun with daddy?” she grinned and pointed to Dom.
“I think she likes the swing.” Dom laughed and I agreed.
“Are you hungry? We should probably start lunch.” He said and I nodded as I sat Ava down on the rug next to me.
“You hungry Ava?” I said as Dom held out a quarter of her sandwich for her to take and she looked at it interested.
“Say ta daddy.” I prompted.
“Ta.” Dom chuckled a little as she reached for it grinning as she bit into it.
“When are you going to learn to say daddy huh?” Dom joked with her as he ran a hand through her hair.
“She will when she’s ready.” I said quietly and I hadn’t meant for it be harsh but that’s how it came across and again I found myself apologizing.
“Uh listen about last night…” He started as we ate. I froze and met his eyes for a moment before looking down at Ava.
“Can we just forget about that, you caught me in a fragile moment. That wasn’t something I wanted to come out. Not yet anyway.” I said quietly.
“I can’t forget what you said Letty, how can anyone forget that? I’m glad you told me, whether you meant to or not I’m glad I know.” I stayed silent I honestly didn’t know what to say to that.
“Let I know we’re working on being friends and with our history and everything that’s going to take a little longer than normal I understand that. In all honesty though I think we need to address the issues that put us here in the first place before we can even begin to work through the new ones.”
“What do you mean?” I asked confused.
“I’m trying to say I think we should talk about all the issues we have with each other from the time I came out of prison to when I left in you in the DR.” I sat in silence and I was numb, shocked even. We rarely spoke about our issues so they never really got resolved. Our way of sorting things out was we fought, we argued, one of us would usually take off for a bit then we’d come back argue some more and then spend the next twenty four hours in the bedroom making up for it. That was our way of dealing with problems.
“Let?”
“Yeah?” I said quietly.
“Are we able to do that?” I thought about it. The fact of the matter was at some point it needed to happen but the question was it going to happen now or later?
“Yes…but not now, not today. I just want today to be about spending time with our daughter.”
“Okay as long as we do deal with this.”
“We will.”