Chapter 7 - The Fourth Day That Never Ended
Six months later, the Corso estate looked different.
The curtains were open.
Sunlight reached the third-floor corridor.
Dominic's bedroom no longer smelled of stale air and medicine.
Most importantly, breakfast dishes remained intact.
Usually.
Fay entered the dining room carrying coffee.
Dominic stood near the window with a cane.
His recovery had been slower than he wanted and faster than doctors expected.
He could walk short distances.
For longer distances, he still used the wheelchair.
He no longer considered that a defeat.
Fay had taught him something irritatingly simple.
Progress counted even when it wasn't perfect.
“Sit,” she said.
Dominic looked at her.
“You're very commanding for someone who technically stopped being my employee yesterday.”
“Sit.”
He sat.
Fay placed coffee in front of him.
Dominic smelled it first.
She smiled.
“You still do that.”
“Do what?”
“Smell your coffee.”
“Occupational habit.”
Mrs. Gable entered carrying mail.
She placed an envelope beside Fay.
“What's this?”
“Your final paperwork.”
Fay opened it.
Her old medical debt had been resolved through a settlement with the collection company after errors were found in the account.
She stared at Mrs. Gable.
“Did Dominic do this?”
“No.”
Dominic looked offended.
“I offered.”
“Repeatedly,” Fay said.
Mrs. Gable continued.
“Your wages and savings handled the remainder.”
Fay smiled.
She had done it herself.
Exactly as she wanted.
Vincent entered without knocking.
Dominic frowned.
“Why do doors exist if you're going to ignore them?”
“Good morning to you too.”
Vincent stole a piece of toast.
Then he looked at Fay.
“You know what today is?”
“Thursday.”
“Six months since your third day.”
Fay smiled.
“I remember.”
Vincent looked at Dominic.
“You owe me five hundred dollars.”
“For what?”
“I bet Carmine she'd last.”
Carmine entered behind him.
“No. You bet she'd last one week.”
“How long did you bet?”
Carmine looked at Fay.
“Forever.”
The room became quiet.
Fay's cheeks warmed.
Dominic glared at Carmine.
“You're fired.”
“No, I'm not.”
“Unfortunately, he's right,” Vincent said.
Dominic pushed himself to his feet.
He picked up his cane.
“Fay.”
Something in his voice changed the mood.
She turned.
“Walk with me.”
They crossed the terrace slowly.
Dominic still hated being watched while he walked.
Fay therefore looked at the garden.
Never his feet.
They reached the old tree he had once threatened to cut down.
“You never removed it,” Fay said.
“I reconsidered.”
“You admitted you were wrong?”
“Don't ruin the moment.”
She laughed.
Dominic stopped.
“Six months ago, I thought my life was finished.”
Fay's smile faded.
“You came into my room soaking wet, broke, stubborn, and completely unimpressed by me.”
“I was slightly impressed.”
“You hid it well.”
“I needed the job.”
Dominic smiled.
“Everyone around me wanted something. Money. Protection. Power.”
He looked at her.
“You wanted forty dollars an hour.”
“Still a good rate.”
“And you refused everything else.”
“Almost everything.”
Dominic reached into his pocket.
Fay immediately noticed.
“Dominic.”
“Don't.”
“What are you doing?”
“Something I've been trying to do for three weeks without Vincent ruining it.”
He handed his cane to her.
Then, carefully, Dominic lowered himself onto one knee.
Fay's hand flew to her mouth.
From inside the mansion came a muffled crash.
Dominic closed his eyes.
“They're watching, aren't they?”
Fay looked toward the windows.
Every member of the household immediately ducked.
She started laughing.
“Apparently.”
Dominic took out a small ring.
“Fay Willis.”
She stared at him.
“The first day you entered my room, I ordered you out.”
“I remember.”
“The second day, I threw breakfast at the wall.”
“I remember that too.”
“The third day, everyone expected you to leave.”
Dominic looked up at her.
“You didn't.”
Fay's eyes filled.
“You treated me like a person when I had forgotten how to be one.”
He took her hand.
“You fought with me when everyone else obeyed me. You made me open the curtains. You made me work. You made me hope again.”
Fay squeezed his fingers.
“And somehow you did all that while annoying me every single day.”
She laughed.
“Very romantic.”
“I'm not finished.”
“Sorry.”
Dominic smiled.
“I don't need someone to save me, Fay.”
His expression became serious.
“And you don't need me to save you.”
That mattered.
Because it was true.
“I just want us to choose each other.”
He opened the ring box.
“Will you marry me?”
Fay looked toward the mansion.
Faces disappeared behind curtains again.
Then she looked at the man kneeling before her.
The feared Dominic Corso.
The man nobody could tolerate for three days.
The man who had spent six months believing his life had ended because his legs stopped working.
Fay smiled.
“Yes.”
Dominic stared at her.
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
He slipped the ring onto her finger.
Then Fay narrowed her eyes.
“Now get up.”
Dominic laughed.
“I just proposed.”
“And your therapist said you need to practice standing without assistance.”
“You're unbelievable.”
“Up.”
Dominic planted one foot.
Then the other.
Fay offered her hand.
He looked at it.
“I can do it.”
“I know.”
She left her hand there anyway.
Dominic pushed himself upward.
His legs trembled.
Halfway up, he took her hand.
Not because he was helpless.
Because sometimes accepting someone's hand wasn't weakness.
He stood.
From inside the mansion came applause.
This time Dominic didn't tell anyone to stop.
Mrs. Gable was crying openly.
Vincent shouted, “Finally!”
Carmine simply smiled.
Fay wrapped her arms around Dominic.
He held her close.
“You realize,” she whispered, “I technically lasted longer than three days.”
“Barely.”
She pulled back.
“Want me to quit?”
Dominic tightened his arm around her waist.
“Absolutely not.”
Fay smiled.
“Good.”
Six months earlier, she had walked through those gates because she had nowhere else to go.
Dominic had been trapped inside because he believed there was nowhere left for him to go.
Neither had rescued the other.
They had simply refused to walk away.
May you like
And sometimes that was enough to change everything.
THE END
