26 April, City Centre, City K

Lexi looked directly into Matthew's eyes and realised his seriousness in that statement.?As she said to herself, truthfully, tonight he was making her feel as safe as she ever had in their relationship.

But at the same time, she was scared.?Did she admit the truth that more and more people were slowly starting to figure out before Matthew admitted to himself what she suspected he knew.?What harm would that cause??How in the world could he adopt his own son?

Matthew, looked at Lexi and saw conflicting emotions across her face and said "What is it?"

"Just thinking about your questions."

"While I would love an answer Lexi, in the end an answer is not the end of the world and you have to be willing to talk about it."

After taking a sip of champagne, Lexi reached over and picked up a tomato and cheese bruschetta sitting on the plate.?It was obvious that Matthew had placed thought into their meal knowing that she enjoyed the mix of western and western foods as simply evidenced in the finger food before them.?Yes, she was using it delaying tactic, but gathering her thoughts was needed.

When she finished Lexi took a deep breath and looked directly at Matthew before saying "I am surprised that you did not ask me about Richard's absence from Dominic's birth certificate.?The day Dominic was born, Richard was with his mistress and did not show his face until the next day.?He wanted to register Dominic's birth straight away, without me involvement but.."

"Because he was not present at the hospital when you gave birth, he could not sign the paperwork on his own."

Lexi nodded, before continuing "It was petty, but I was holding off until the last minute before signing the paperwork to register his birth with the name Richard wanted.."

Sensing the silence, Matthew pondered for a couple of seconds and said, "He wanted to name him after himself?"

Lexi said quietly "Yes, but that was the least of it."

Lexi paused as the door opened, and the wheel staff came in quickly placing their entrée on the table, before slipping out and the door shut behind them.?Lexi continued "In his papers I located after his death, he had paperwork that would have registered Dominic's parents as him and his mistress child.?Part of his moves to push me out of my child's life, secure a divorce and marry his mistress to create a happy family while keeping everything my parents gave him to ensure Dominic and I were financially provided for."

"B*stard," spat out Matthew.

"He was.?But I was not in the situation to argue about marriage or what he did.?For me it was about surviving, protecting my child, and building a life.?But he had his plans, as I have now found out, but his own behaviour in constantly requiring s*x from his w*ore anywhere that helped result in his death.?That meant I could escape his plans and register Dominic with the name I wanted for him.?The added bonus in delaying completing the paperwork to register Dominic's birth, meant that as Richard was dead, he could not sign it to be registered as Dominic's father."

"But there were ways around that."

"I know, but Matthew I could not be bothered about taking those steps.?Richard's parents do not know that, and I could use it to cut them from Dominic's life.?But I am not that vicious because in the end, no matter what he did to me Richard was my husband and they are his parents, therefore they will always have a place in Dominic's life."

Matthew was shocked listening to Lexi.?She was defending the man that made her first marriage a horror and had caused impacts in their marriage.?"How can you..?"

"Defend him??Never Matthew.?I hate him and what he did.?I hate the fact that my parents forced my marriage to him on me.?But I must consider Dominic.?But for Richard I would not have Dominic and not having Dominic is one thing I could not image.?Love him??I never did.?But for Dominic I will at least treat him with some respect.?Protect him??I never will.?He was vicious and vindictive.?You opposed him and you would have an issue, so I learnt to pick my battles even in the short marriage we had.?The first thing I realised around six months after going overseas was that continuing to react to what he did, continues to let him win, and that I will never do.?Cutting his parents from Dominic's life, is something Richard would do and there is no way that I want to be like him.?By allowing his parents to maintain a relationship with Dominic tells them that Dominic and I are the important people, which Richard and his parents had forgotten.?But that relies on them respecting that I am Dominic's mother and am entitled to have a life post Richard.?But they are crossing that line, simply because Richard has tried to control me for my whole life from beyond the grave.?As a result, I am fighting them because I will not allow him to control me."

Matthew in observing Lexi could see the determination in her face.?However, before he could say anything, Lexi firmly said "You have gone to all this effort, and you want to waste it talking about the past."

Shaking her head, she said "Forget that.?You are promising me romance, and I want that tonight."?Lexi moved over, gave Matthew a brief kiss and snuggled into his embrace, while starting to feed him the food they had.

For the next hour as they meandered through each course while going around and around, Lexi remained in Matthew's embrace and oblivious to the view and other's reactions they remained close together until it was time to disembark and were driven home by Warrant Officer Wang.

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