Lia, Dominic and Nessa arrived back at the hotel a little after 10pm.

Dominic’s father, William was waiting for them.

“You want to explain to me what that was tonight?  Was it the plan to ambush and humiliate us?”

Dominic’s emotions were raw.  He remembered his mother’s words: ‘I’m sorry I just don’t like it.  I don’t believe in interracial marriage’.  Those words cut him to the core.  Those words meant she was completely disregarding his feelings; disregarding his love for Lia.  And now here was his father red faced and angry at THEM.  They’d pushed him over the edge.

“Humiliate YOU!  Lia’s family welcomed you with open arms, even AFTER they learned about your bigoted, narrow-minded reaction to Lia and I being together.  Then fucking IRENE embarrasses ME by treating my fiancee’s family like dirt!  Giulia had EVERY RIGHT to say the things she said”.  Dominic’s breathing was labored, his voice cracking; his scottish brogue getting more pronounced the angrier he got.  “You would turn your back on me, my own FAMILY, because you can’t see past your prejudices?!  I’m HAPPY, Da!  Dinnae you and maw and Donal even care that Lia makes me happy??”

“We’ve said our piece, Dominic.  This innae what we want for ya.  You find yourself a nice white girl to marry or you’ll not see us again.  I swear it, boy-o.  I’ll not support this”.

“DA!  Ya dinnae mean that!” Nessa yelled.  “Ya cannae do this.  Turn yer back on your son and for what??  He loves Lia, and if you’ll set aside your stupid ideas, you’d see why!  You’d love her, too!”

“I will not discuss this further.  Nessa go pack your bags.  Donal has paid the fees to change our flight; we go back home tomorrow”.

“Well, he wasted his money on my ticket.  I’ll not be going with ye”.

“NESSA!  Pack. Yer. Bags.”  Seamus began to growl at William’s aggressive demeanor.

Lia, who had been sitting on the sofa, taking in the horrible scene,

called Seamus to her in order to calm him down.

“No. You cannae tell me what to do.  I’m staying here.  You, maw, Donal and that BITCH Irene can all go back to Scotland and live with yer antiquated ideas.  I’ll not be going with ya”.

Dominic dropped heavily on to the sofa next to Lia; all the fight had gone out of him.  “If she wants to stay, she can stay”, he said wearily. “She’s an adult, she can do what she wants.  I’ll pay Donal back for the price of changing yer flight.  Anything to see yer go”.

“Dominic…” Lia whispered.  This wasn’t what she wanted for him.  She didn’t want him to cut ties with his family.

“No, Li.  I don’t want to be around people as selfish as them.  They can go.  If I never see them again it will hurt me to the depths, but I’ll not give in to emotional blackmail.  They can go”.

Nessa began to sob.  “I’ll never forgive ya for pushing Dom away!  Never for as long as I live.  If you turn your back on him...I turn my back on you!”  She turned and went to her room calling Seamus with her.

“What’s said can’t be unsaid, boy-o.  What’s done won’t be undone”,  William’s voice now took on a pleading tone.  “For yer mother’s sake, dinnae do this”.

Dominic flew to his feet, fist clenched.  “Leave.  Before I forget you’re my father”.

“Dominic, please…”  Lia got up and placed her hands around his arm.

William snorted in disgust and left their suite.  Dominic turned to look at Lia.  He stroked her face then turned and walked into their bedroom.  Lia ran to their guest bathroom and vomited the contents of her stomach.  She wiped her mouth and sat back against the tub, weeping.

***************************************

Dominic woke up around 1pm to an empty bed.  He walked into the living area to see Nessa in the kitchen and Lia asleep on the sofa under a blanket.  She looked very pale.

“Is she okay, Ness?  She doesn’t look well”.

“She’s been throwing up all morning.  I was making her soup and crackers but I guess she fell asleep”.

Dominic stroked Lia’s hair then walked over and sat at the kitchen bar.  “Did they leave?”

“Yeah”, Nessa said softly.  “Early this morning.  Maw tried to convince me to go with them...I said no, obviously”.  

Dominic nodded his head, somberly.  “I dinnae want you to have to choose between them and me.  It’s going to make it hard for you when you go home”.

Nessa turned towards the sink.  “I’m not going back.  I don’t want to”.

Dominic looked at Nessa incredulously.  “Ya cannae mean that!  Yer whole life is in Scotland. What would you for work once you got here?”

“I’m an au pair, Dom. Someone is always going to need a nanny.  I have excellent references, finding work shouldn’t be a problem”.

“You’ll be uprooting your whole life.  What about your friends?”

“Dominic, stop it”.  I love my friends and if our friendships are strong they’ll survive me moving to America”.

“Well, you’d have to get your green card.  I think if I hired you as a personal assistant I can apply for certificate that will get you permanent resident status.  We might be able to make it work.  But what about your belongings?”

“I called my roommate Shelley and she’s going to start shipping things next week”.

“Of course you’ve already gotten the ball rolling on this.  I should have guessed it”.  He smirked at his sister.  “It goes without saying that you’ll stay with us until you get on your feet, but once you’re on your feet we’re pushing ya out of the nest”.  Dominic smiled and pulled his sister’s head towards his and kissed her forehead.

“Dom”,  a weak voice called from the sofa.

He walked over to Lia and sat down on the edge of the sofa.

“Are you okay?  I was so wor-”,  she frantically pushed him out of the way and ran to the bathroom.  He followed behind her and held her hair as she dry heaved.  When she done she slumped down to the floor and began to cry.

“Baby, don’t cry”,  He sat on the floor and pulled her to him, rubbing her back.

“It’s my fault, Dom!  It’s all my fault!  If it weren’t for me, you and your family would be fine!” she said, sobbing.  “I should have let you go.  I should have just let you go”.

Dominic pushed himself up to his knees and grabbed Lia’s chin and lifted it.  “Don’t you EVER say that to me again!  If you left me it would KILL me!  Don’t you understand that?  It hurts me that my parents and my brother have made the decision to turn their backs, but I would NEVER, EVER give you up!  There’s nothing that could make me even consider giving you up.  Jesus himself could come down and tell me I couldn’t have you, and I’d tell him to go fall off a bridge”.

Lia looked at him and started to laugh.  “You would not!”

Dominic began laughing with her. “I would do it in half a heartbeat.  I don’t want to be anywhere but right here, with you.  No matter the cost”.

Just then, Lia had another bout of dry heaving.  Dominic went to the kitchen to get her a glass of water.  She needed something in her stomach to bring up.  It would be preferable to the dry heaves.

“Baby, we need to get you to a doctor.  I’ve never seen you this sick before”.

“I’m not sick, Dominic.  I’m pregnant”.