All he needs is a moment, to get back to being who he is: Dominic Groome, loving husband and father of two, currently residing at 21 Sunbird Drive and a partner in one of the most prestigious investment firms in South Africa. It’s going to take him all week to find the parts of him that went flying when they visited Noah and put them back into place, rebuild his carefully constructed self. And then, just as he manages to slot the last piece back where it belongs, it will be time to visit his son again, and it’ll be back to square one.
Tonight, though, he just needs to be calm, calm enough to go to his wife and tell her he’s sorry, and that of course he should have spoken to his son. Agree with her when she says his behaviour over the last few weeks has been impossible. And no, of course it’s not Noah’s fault that he’s where he is, and that he doesn’t know what comes over him or why he’s acting like this.
It’s not Kate’s fault that he is who he is and it’s not Maddie’s and it’s not Noah’s. The son whom he can no longer touch. Not now. Not where he is now. It’s his fault. How can a man who was once a boy who was abandoned by his mother and father be anything other than a failure? As a father, a cesspool rather than a gene pool, as a husband, a complete let-down? Dominic’s blood is blighted, he’s sure of it, and he’s passed on his terrible genes and his terrible self to his son.