THE STORY CONTINUES
Anger and disbelief were written all over the handsome mobster’s face. “Come on, Dara! Are you trying to tell me that you could have gotten past the fact that Alexis Davis is having my baby?”
Dara gave a bitter laugh. “What I am saying is that now…we’ll never know.”
For just a moment her implacable façade slipped and Dara’s pain was evident for Sonny to see. “Do you know what it felt like to stand there and have your ex-wife tell me things that should have come from you? To listen to Carly compare herself to me and not be able to deny a single word she said?”
Sonny reached out for her. “Dara-“
“No, Michael!” Dara evaded his touch. She turned away from him, presenting her back as a barrier between them.
“I have never done anything so hard in my whole life.” As Sonny watched, Dara seemed to slip away into her own world. “I stood there, fighting to keep the betrayal I felt from showing on my face. I couldn’t give Carly the satisfaction of knowing that every word she said cut me to the deepest part of me.”
Dara hugged herself tightly. “I tried to tell myself that I didn’t have the right to be angry with you for sleeping with Alexis. After all, I was the one who walked away from a chance to start over with you.”
“And I tried to tell myself that I had no right to be hurt that Alexis would be the mother of your firstborn child. I mean, I had never even given any serious thought to having your baby,”
“And it was working.” Her body grew rigid with indignation. ‘’I just focused on the hateful little smile your ex-wife wore. I don’t think Carly even realized how much that little smile helped me.”
Dara turned and met Sonny’s gaze. “How could you share this with Carly and not me?”
“I didn’t share anything with Carly,” Sonny insisted. “She found out from Alexis – a long time before I even knew it.” His dark eyes were fixed on Dara. “Sweetheart, I knew that I would have to tell you the truth. I could just never find the right moment.”
“Two months ago,” Dara responded cryptically. “You could have told me that night two months ago when you pulled me down onto the carpet in front of your fireplace and made love to me until the sun rose.”
The former Assistant District Attorney flashed Sonny a joyless smile that inexplicably filled him with a sadness he could not explain. “Or last month… You could have told me the truth that day last month when you had your driver circle the city for hours while we made love on the back seat of your limousine.”
“Or,” a single tear trailed down Dara’s face, “you could have told me three hours ago just before you buried yourself inside me and told me you loved me.”
“Dara…”
“It’s too late now, Michael,” Dara interrupted sadly. “It’s too late.”
