Dominic looked down at his ringing phone and blinked twice when he saw the number on the display.  He swiped the screen and answered.  “Maw?”  He said incredulously.  “Is everything okay?  Has something happened?”

Aileen felt tears fill her eyes at the sound of her boy’s voice.  She cleared her throat of the tightness she felt there and finally spoke.  “Everyone here is fine, but something HAS happened.  Dominic, I realize after all of these months that I was an ignorant fool.  We’ve all been fools.  We let our prejudices cloud yer happiness; Lia’s a sweet, good girl, and she makes ya happy.  That should have been good enough for us.  If I’d not been so selfish and prideful, I’d not have missed your wedding day or the birth of that gorgeous baby girl”.  Aileen’s voice broke then, her regret at having pushed her son and daughter away evident.  “I am ashamed at how I behaved.  I’m ashamed of we all behaved; your father, Donal and Irene.  If I could take it all back, God knows I would.  All I can do is say that I’m so VERY sorry”.

“Maw...I-I don’t know what to say.  Rejection hurts, especially when it’s at the hands of yer own family.  And you did hurt me...you hurt me AND my wife.  But I’ll not subject you to that pain, because I love you and I’ll not trade pain for pain.  So...I do forgive ya, Maw”.

At her son’s words she felt both relief and conviction.  The tears that had been threatening to fall since before she picked up her phone and dialed Dom’s number spilled over her eyelashes.  “Thank you, son”, she said, her voice thick with emotion.  “It means the world to me”.

“Me too, Maw.  So I take it Nessa told you about the wedding and Allegra?”

“She sent me pictures”, Aileen said, sniffling as she composed herself.  It looked like a lovely wedding.  And that baby, OH!  She looks like the sweetest little angel.  And Allegra Rose is such a beautiful name”.

“She is that, maw.  She’s our little angel.  We’re trying to get her on a sleep schedule that is actually conducive to US getting sleep, but It’s not quite worked yet.  The little minx is up wanting to be entertained at 11pm every night”.

Aileen laughed out loud.  “Ya were the same way.  Ya’d be wide eyed and awake when everyone else was ready for sleep.  We’d bring ya into the bed, your da and me, and put you between us.  We’d be singing and cooing at ya sometimes until 2 in the morning.  Ya just wanted our undivided attention”.  

Dom laughed.  “And I’ve been craving attention ever since”.

“Yes, I suppose that’s true!” she laughed.

“Maw.  I’d like you to come to see your granddaughter, if you want to”.  I could set the arrange-”.

“Donal and I have already set the arrangements, hopeful thinking on our parts”, Aileen laughed nervously.  “He could have cancelled them if yer’d said no”.

“I wouldn’t have said no, maw”, Dom said softly.  “So, it’s just you and Donal then?”  Aileen heard the sadness in her boy’s voice and it broke her heart.  “Yes, lad.  Just yer brother and I”.

Dominic grew quiet as he contemplated the implication of his mother’s words.  His father had not been moved by the fact that his first granddaughter had been born.  He had reinforced his disregard for Dom’s feelings due to arrogance, pride, hatred or a toxic combination of all three.

“I guess a reconciliation with both my parents AND my brother was too much to hope for”, Dominic said, pain lacing his words.  “Why is he SO angry, maw?”

“He feels like ya chose Lia over yer family”, his mother said, her voice small and sad.  “It’s no longer about the differences in yer races, he feels like ya’d forsaken yer family to spite him”.

“You can’t possibly be serious, maw!  I refused to let the lot of you disrespect the woman I loved, that didn’t mean that I didn’t love you all.  I didn’t want to be on the outs with my family.  Family means everything to me.  Hell, the two of you raised me that way!  HE feels forsaken, but it was him who turned his back on me and Nessa”,  Dom’s voice was thick with emotion now and he didn’t try to mask his hurt or stop the tears that were falling from his eyes.  “I reached out repeatedly only to be ignored or told point blank that you both wanted nothing to do with me.  What was I supposed to do, maw?  You turned your backs on me first!”  He was sobbing openly now.  He supposed it was the months of keeping the pain bottled up, allowing his happiness with Lia and the Mariani’s distract him from it.  Now the wound was opened and the dam broken.

“Dommy, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry”, said Aileen who was now sobbing, too.

Lia happened to be walking by their home office and heard her husband talking to his mother on the phone.  He was crying.  She wanted to go to him and wrap her arms around him, but he needed to get his emotions regarding the way his parents’ shunned them.  She knew that he’d compartmentalized his feelings regarding the situation and now he was unburdening himself.

“Maw”, he said, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand and regaining his composure.  “Listen, his attitude isn’t your fault, but as far as I’m concerned he can stay as far away from me and MY family for the rest of his life.  I’m done with his bullshit”.

“Dominic! Ya can’t mean that.  He’s still your father”.

“Maw, no father of mine would shun his granddaughter.  No father of MINE would turn his back on his own kids and then BLAME them for his ignorance.  As of today, William MacCleod and I share a last name and that’s it!”

“Dommy, don’t say that, don’t say that.  Please wait before ya give up on him.  Wait and give him a chance.  Please, Dom!”

Dominic said in a voice that was calm and almost monotone.  “No Maw...I’m done.  When are you and Donal going to be here?”

“Dominic...please, I’m BEGGIN’ ya, don’t give up on yer, Da”.

“Maw, when are you and Donal going to be here?”

“Two weeks”, Aileen said, deflated.

“And if Donal is planning on bringing Irene, let him know I don’t want her here”.

“She’ll not be joining us, Dommy”.

“Good.  I’ll talk to you later, Maw.  I love you”.

Aileen managed to push out an ‘I love you, Dommy’ around the lump in her throat.

Dominic ended the call and sat at the desk with his head in his hands.  Lia entered the room and walked up behind Dom and ran her hands along his back then wrapped her arms around him.  He turned in his chair and buried his face in her midsection and wept like he hadn’t since he was a little boy.  Lia didn’t say a word, she just stroked her husband’s hair and provided the only comfort she could give him.  She just hoped it would be enough.