Part 4
At the door, she looked back.
There was fear in her expression now.
Not fear of Dominic.
Fear of what she already knew might be true.
The move changed Lily almost immediately.
During the first week in Park Slope, she stopped coughing at night.
During the second, she began leaving food on her plate because, for the first time she could remember, she believed there would be breakfast tomorrow.
Dominic visited without forcing himself into their lives.
He brought astronomy books after Lily told him she loved stars.
He installed nothing extravagant.
He never arrived with crowds of men.
What Lily did not see was the car that remained parked three houses away every night.
She did not know Victor changed its driver every six hours.
Dominic did.
Because the more time he spent with Lily, the less coincidence seemed possible.
She hated raisins but loved apples.
So had Anna.
She counted stairs under her breath.
Anna had done the same.
When nervous, she pressed her thumb into the center of her opposite palm.
Dominic had watched his daughter make that gesture a thousand times.
Then came the nightmare.
At three in the morning Eleanor woke to Lily screaming.
“Daddy!”
Eleanor ran into the bedroom.
Lily fought beneath the blankets.
“Don’t let go! Daddy, don’t let go!”
Eleanor gathered her close.
“There’s no water, sweetheart. You’re safe.”
“The car is sinking.”
Eleanor’s eyes filled.
Lily buried her face against her.
“I can’t find his hand.”
By morning Eleanor had made a decision.
May you like
Before she could act on it, Dominic invited them to dinner.
His Manhattan townhouse was quieter than Lily expected. There were no crowds, no loud parties, none of the frightening things Eleanor had imagined from whispered stories about Dominic Moretti.
