“Dawn, you CAN NOT marry that man! He doesn’t love you!” Bebe exclaimed. “He says he does” Dawn retorted, pushing away the feeling that her mother was right.“He’s lying Dawn! Your life would be miserable! Men like that aren’t faithful, loving husbands!” Bebe said, exasperated by her feeling of helplessness. “Dealglan say something!” she demanded.

“Dawn, you don’t have to do this. Your mother is right; this man doesn’t care for you.”“I don’t want to raise this baby by myself Daddy.”“You’re not by yourself Dawn. Your mother and I are here. You’re young you’ll eventually meet someone else who…”Dawn threw her fork down onto her plate and looked right at her father.“Who what, Daddy? Who would want to date, much less marry a woman who already has a child with another man?” she said, suddenly thinking of Gabe. Dawn shook the thought from her head, dismissing the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. She had cried enough. “This is my only option.”Bebe tried desperately to think of some way to deter her daughter form this terrible decision, from the miserable life she was certain to live with that scoundrel of a man. “There are always other options Dawn. You are not alone. You don’t love him!”

“I have more then myself to consider now. I have responsibilities to this family, obligations and rules to follow. That’s the responsibility of being heir.” Dawn went back to her food. She wasn’t hungry, but the child growing inside of her needed nourishment so she ignored her lack of appetite and ate. “I’m going to marry Don Lothario and that’s final” she said.Deaglan and Bebe looked at each other, knowing there was nothing more they could say.“Don’s expecting an answer” Dawn said as she rose from the table. “I’m going to go give him one” she continued and went to clean up and change her clothes.

Don walked into the kitchen and turned the water on in the sink, unbuttoning the plaid shirt that was plastered to him from the buckets of sweat that were still pouring off him. He stuck his whole head under the tap, relishing the feel of the cold water running down over his head, his neck and shoulders. Farm work was hard, and tough and dirty and he hated every minute of it. Grabbed a cup out of the cupboard and filled it with the cold water, downing it in a couple gulps. As soon as Dawn agreed to marry him, he quit. No more back breaking work, no more having to get up at ungodly hours in the morning, no more coming home covered in sweat, dirt and animal feces.He heard her saunter into the kitchen, felt her hands roam over his shoulders, down his back. She put her arms around his waist; her hands slowly unzipped his denim jeans. “Da house es clean Mr. Don” she said as her hands slide into the front of his pants. “Chu want me to clean anyting else for chu?”Don removed her hand from his pants, holding firmly onto her wrist. He turned around to face her, twisting her arm just enough that she knew he still wasn’t happy with her.

He ignored the hurt look in her eyes she tried to hide from him. He was still furious at her. When he had found out Juanita was the reason Dawn had fled to France, why he hadn’t had Dawn in his life, or more importantly his bed for the last month he had made sure Juanita had paid. He was sure her bottom was still red, tender; imprints of his hands still evident, from the throttling he had given her. Don knew Juanita had enjoyed it just as much as he did. Maybe she needed another reminder who was boss.“Chu wants me to leave?” she asked him.“Come here” he demanded, his body becoming aroused by the idea of teaching her another lesson.A small smile playing on her face, knowing she was going to get what she wanted from him, despite his anger. It would just make it better.“You’ve been a bad girl Juanita” “Sí! Muy malo”

Her hands resumed their work of freeing him from the confines of the unyielding denim.“Chu like that?” she asked already knowing the answer as his manhood responded to her gentle stroking. But Don wasn’t in a gentle mood. He grabbed the hair on the back of her head and forcefully bent her over the kitchen sink, exposing the soft mounds of her bottom. He was right; they were still red and swollen. Juanita cried out from the mix of pleasure and pain as his hand came down hard on the tender flesh. She suppressed a painful moan when he roughly grabbed the cheek, his fingers digging into the swollen skin.He pulled her panties down just enough to enable him to rub his arousal on the exposed crevice. “Do you like that?” he asked her as his hand once again came down hard on her bottom.“Mmm…Sí” she answered as he roughly thrust himself inside of her.

Dawn approached the door with trepidation. She was going to be responsible; she was going to provide the life inside of her with a father, and a name. ‘Don loves us both,’ she thought, rubbing her still flat belly. ‘Why would he say it if it wasn’t true?’ She wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince the baby or herself. The baby…The mental image of Don standing in the delivery room, holding this baby; their baby in his arms, smiling with pride at her, gave her the resolve she needed to go inside.  She smiled to herself, picturing him moping in front of the TV, waiting for the phone to ring, for her to call and promise to be his wife. ‘He’ll be so surprised to see me, and when I tell him yes, he’ll be so happy!’ With those thoughts firmly in her mind, Dawn silently opened the door and crept inside.

She was disappointed that he wasn’t in the living room, but she heard some cabinets banging in the kitchen. ‘He must be making himself dinner. After working so hard in the field today, I bet he’s starving.’  As she moved closer, she heard low grunting, in time with the banging of the cabinet doors. Her stomach clenched as she stepped into the kitchen.

Don brought his hand down hard on a woman’s bottom; causing her to scream her pleasure while he took her from behind. She was bent over the kitchen sink, his hands tangled in her hair as he pulled her head back. It was their motion that caused the cabinets to slam, Dawn realized.  She stood frozen to the spot, unable to accept what she was seeing. As Don raised his hand for another blow, Dawn drew a sharp breath drawing attention to herself. Don spun his head angrily to see who was spoiling his fun, and instantly pulled himself from Juanita, when he saw Dawn’s stunned face staring back at him. “It’s not what it looks like!” he wailed, pulling his pants up, but not bothering to zip them as he came towards her.

Dawn stepped out of his reach, fury replacing her shock. “Oh really? Tell me, Don. What is it then? Because it looks like you were having sex with that woman.” Dawn said as she gestured to the shapely woman pulling her panties back up over her hips.

 “Well, it might look like I was having sex with Juanita, but she was just trying to comfort me, because I was so upset! See, I was afraid you were going to say ‘No’ to my proposal, and I just can’t live without you, Dawn! See what I’ve been reduced to, thinking that I lost your love?  She means nothing to me; absolutely nothing!” Juanita shot Don a hateful glare, but wisely kept quiet.

“Funny, Don, because that’s what you mean to me; absolutely nothing. I’m done with you. Don’t call me. Don’t come over. Just stay out of my life!” Dawn stalked towards the door, her fists clenched, ready to hit something; anything, him.

Don caught her and spun her to face him. “Please, il mio amore! il mio Cuore! You can’t leave me for this! This isn’t my fault! If you hadn’t broken my heart, we would be together right now, making wedding plans!  Can’t you see that we belong together; that we need to raise our baby together? Dawn, we’re going to be a family! Please don’t destroy our family!”

“You’re going to stand there with your pants open and try to blame me for this?” She couldn’t believe the audacity of the man. How did she ever think she loved him? “Everyone was right about you, Don. You may have fooled me once, but you’ll never fool me again. Goodbye!”  With all her anger, Dawn shoved him away from her and ran for the door before he could catch her again.

“Wait Mr. Don!” Juanita purred when Don went to follow the girl. “Che needs time to calm down if chu want er back. Give er a little, and che’ll be ready to listen to chu. Che don’t want to have un bebé por sí misma, by herself, che’s a scared little girl. Che’ll come back to you.”Don reluctantly agreed. Dawn was too upset to listen to reason at the moment, of that he was sure.“Trrrust me, women knows des tings. Come…” she said as she led him back into the kitchen; “… let Juanita take chour mind off it for awhile.”

Dawn was thankful that the tears hadn’t started while she was still in that house. To cry in front of him and that whore; she would’ve never been able to live with the shame. She had enough pride to carry her to the road, but only that much. Pride left her there in the street, and it was a broken heart and broken dreams that ran with her the rest of the way home.