Chapter 46
Dominic
“It’s a shame the time went by so quickly, but it was absolutely lovely working with you on this project, Dominic,” Cassie said as she shook Dominic’s hand after he handed over his staff badge to Maleeka at the museum reception desk the next day.
“Likewise,” Dominic said with a genuine smile. “I am very grateful I had this opportunity.”
Cassie then put her hand on Rayna’s arm. “And don’t forget about my job offer, missy.”
Rayna returned Cassie’s playful smile. “I won’t.”
“And we’d better receive invitations when you two get married. Preferably soon,” Maleeka declared, her green eyes dancing.
Cassie, Matt, and Hania laughed and announced their agreement, while Rayna blushed and stuttered a scolding at them. Dominic managed to keep a grin on his face, but the lacklustre of her charcoal gaze concerned him.
Rayna’s hope was deteriorating. He knew it was.
He heard it in her voice. Saw it in the dullness of her smiles and the fretful tilt of her eyes that was becoming more prominent every day.
With each problem they encountered, she was losing sight of the future he was so desperately holding on to, trying to remind her, persuade her they could reach it.
The only meagre sign of hope was that Victor’s friend had managed to save most of the broken files on the hard drives, and Erin, with surprising stubbornness, had joined their effort. But it wasn’t enough to prevent Rayna’s confidence from dwindling.
Dominic couldn’t blame her for it. In truth, his own doubts were beginning to whisper the cruel, frightening impossibility of what he wanted with her, how nothing had yet solidly proven his dreams of a life and family with her could become a reality.
It terrified him. Made him sick to his stomach as he held her at night, knowing she lay awake worrying about their lack of progress just as he did. It was breaking his heart.
And when Dominic returned with River on Thursday evening from Olkmond Regional Library, his fingers were shaking by his sides, a liquid ache blocking his throat, with the fear that the paper in River’s hands would be the last straw for Rayna.
“Where’s Victor?” River asked as he sat next to Kelly on the sofa with folders laying open on the cushion between her and Erin.
Rayna was sitting in the armchair, a closed laptop on her lap with one of the hard drives plugged into the side of it, forcing Dominic to sit on the other sofa next to George.
“He had to go to the lab in the afternoon because Izzy was coming back from scouting a Study,” Erin explained, closing the folder she’d been reading from.
River’s brown rose in sceptical hope. “Did you find anything?”
“Not much,” Kelly said through a heavy sigh. “Most of what we’ve read is on how Ruptures are started, and Rayna’s been looking through the drive on how to estimate their size.” Kelly shrugged. “It’s all helpful, I guess, but nothing really yet says how to fix the issue.”
“Did you guys find anything?” Rayna repeated, her gaze slipping from River to Dominic.
Dominic’s heart dropped and rose in a wave of panic as River glanced at the paper in his hands. “We, uh…”
“River,” he rumbled as the man began unfolding the paper.
“What?” Rayna questioned. Sitting forward, she set her laptop on the round coffee table to the side of the armchair. “What did you find?”
River’s expression twisted apologetically, and a frustrated sob clambered up Dominic’s throat. It came out as a stifled noise between his gritted teeth as he pinned his stare on Rayna.
It is not true. It is not! Do not believe it, my love. Do not look at it, I beg of you.
But she wasn’t paying any heed to his silent pleading. “River, tell me.”
“River,” Dominic said in one last desperate attempt to stop the man from destroying what he had with Rayna.
River lowered his lashes with a gulp. Dominic wanted to roar in agony and tear the room apart, tear that damning paper to unrecognisable shreds too.
“Not all the documents in the city hall were lost,” River mumbled as he opened the page fully. “Some were just badly burned, but they were still uploaded onto the online archives.”
“What is it?” Rayna said hesitantly as she took the offered printout from her colleague.
“Rayna, please,” Dominic croaked, a wet sting filtering across the back of his nose and eyes.
Do not look! I beg of you, do not look at it.
“It’s a marriage certificate,” said River.
The words hung in the painfully silent atmosphere.
“It…it’s not entirely legible,” he continued, his voice like a dozen pins jabbing into Dominic’s ears. “But…it’s signed D-something Thorne and a…a Claire-something.”
Rayna’s hands shook as she read it—the evidence of his supposed marriage to another woman.
He wanted to lunge for her, hide it from her, and bury his face in her lap as he cried and swore it wasn’t true. He would never marry anyone other than her.
It was a falsehood. Another life that no longer existed. A man he had been or might have been, but it wasn’t him anymore.
Dominic was hers. Not this Claire lady’s. Never. His heart was all Rayna’s. Only hers.
But her face was pale, only a slight colour of hurt shading her cheekbones. Her stare was distant. She was moving far away from him. Her hope was breaking. He was losing her.
“Rayna,” he whispered, his voice thick with distress. “It is not true.”
George cleared his throat. “What year is it dated?”
“Six-three-six,” Rayna said, her voice barely audible.
Dominic had arrived in the future from mid-May 635 PR.
The man history had written him to be would have married a year later.
But that wasn’t him! It couldn’t be. It wouldn’t be. He loved Rayna!
“I think we should give you two a minute to speak,” Kelly mumbled, uncrossing her legs and dropping her feet to the floor.
Without another word, Kelly, River, Erin, and George stood and headed towards the stairs. As Kelly passed him, she squeezed his shoulder, offering him a faint smile.
The moment the four of them had disappeared up the stairs, Dominic fell to his knees and scrambled across the thin rug to Rayna. He grabbed the paper and threw it aside like it was on fire, then wrapped his arms around her, forcing his way between her knees.
“It is not true,” he said quickly, desperately. “It’s not. That is not me. It is not. It’s not, Rayna.” He placed his face right under hers. “Rayna, please. Look at me. Tell me you believe me.”
Her lashes drew up, and the cracks in her resigned stare slashed the same paths across his heart. “You have a wife, Dominic,” she mumbled, her voice empty.
He shook his head rapidly. “I do not. That is not me. I would never marry anyone other than you.”
Anger flashed across her expression. “But you do. This is who you were meant to be. You can’t pretend it’s not true. That it wasn’t meant to happen.”
“I’m not pretending it is not true. But it is still false, because that is not who I am anymore.
” He took her wrist and pressed her palm to his unshaven jaw.
“This is who I am now. I am yours. I love you. You are who I wish to marry. You are who I want to spend the rest of my life with. You are my heart, my breath, my every hope and dream. I am not who I was before I met you, nor do I wish to be. That man on the certificate isn’t me. ”
Her twisted face blurred as liquid cast over his vision. “I am yours, Rayna. Please believe me. Trust me. Do not let go of me. I beg of you.” He nuzzled against her hand. “Do not give up on us. Do not lose hope, my love. Please.”
She cupped his face in her hand, curling towards him. “I’m trying, Dominic. I’m trying so hard not to. But we’re struggling.”
“We’re not. We are learning, Rayna. And I know it is hard to hear about the man history said I was, but do not compare me to him. That is not me anymore. I belong with you.”
Rayna plastered her mouth over his, and a sound of relief broke out of him. He cinched his arms around her and drank eagerly from her lips as if her kiss had saved him from his deathbed. But the promise of trust she bruised his lips with did truly save him from dying.
Dominic took that vow and tied it around them as tightly as he could. He swore to himself he’d hold on to it. Even if the rope burned his hands, he would never let go.
He just hoped the next thing they found didn’t end up convincing Rayna to cut it and break the fragile tether keeping them together.
Rayna
Two days later, Rayna had to go to the lab to sign off on Dominic’s Study case as she would’ve done with another. It wasn’t a time-consuming task, but both Dominic and Victor insisted on accompanying her with worried expressions.
“I’ll be fine,” she told them. “I’ll be in and out of Monty’s office, it won’t take long. You need to go with River anyway, Dominic. And Kelly, Erin, and George need you, V.”
The two men relented, and she left to fill in the final form in Monty’s office.
“There you go,” Rayna said, handing the older black man the stapled papers as she clicked on the pen, retracting the nib.
“Thank you,” he said, taking it from her on the other side of his white laminate desk. “I know you must be busy, so I appreciate you coming in for this.” He swallowed, his gaze dipping hesitantly. “May I ask how it’s going?”
“It’s…going,” she answered through an exhale and tried to smile, but her mouth felt stiff.
They’d found out who Dominic’s heir was.
Zayan Benjamin Thorne.
Though Dominic had snapped that that wasn’t what he would have named his firstborn son.
Monty dipped his head with the sympathetic look of a father. “Victor insisted I didn’t need to get involved. But if you need any assistance, please don’t hesitate to tell me, Rayna. I will help.”
Her lips curled a little more earnestly. “Thank you, Monty. That means a lot.”