Dominick Birdsey—Dessa Constantine

Dominick Birdsey and Dessa Constantine’s relationship is a story of separation followed by a deliberate, uncertain return. Their renewed partnership grows out of grief and ordinary companionship rather than a single grand gesture: Dominick recognizes what he failed to give Dessa during their earlier marriage, while Dessa takes time to decide whether she can trust a future with him. Their eventual remarriage marks a change in how they approach intimacy—not as a restoration of an untouched past, but as another chance that Dessa freely chooses.

Earlier Marriage and the Cost of Withdrawal

By the time Dominick and Dessa begin rebuilding their relationship, their first marriage has ended, and Dominick understands that his conduct helped make their shared life painful. Looking back, he remembers the nights when Dessa sobbed down the hall after their loss and he stayed in bed rather than going to her. He describes his inaction as a betrayal: her grief hurt him, but instead of meeting her in it, he withdrew. That memory gives the later reconciliation its moral weight. The obstacle between them is not simply time apart; Dominick has to recognize that his own avoidance left Dessa alone.

The account also connects their personal history to Dominick’s wider pattern of disloyalty and self-protection. As he waits for Dessa at Thomas Birdsey’s funeral, he thinks of having betrayed both her and Ralph Drinkwater. His recollection does not treat these injuries as interchangeable, but places them together as parts of a history he can no longer dismiss. Dessa’s absence at the funeral becomes especially painful because Dominick imagines her arriving and pictures himself making room beside him, perhaps taking her hand. He knows that their story was more than its disastrous ending, yet he cannot assume that she will return simply because he now wants her there.

Grief and an Absence at the Funeral

Dominick calls Dessa to tell her about the funeral service for Thomas. The call does not reach her directly: a man answers, and Dominick hears him offer to tell her and ask whether there is anything else they can do. Dominick notices the word we and feels the distance it establishes between himself and the life Dessa now shares with someone else. He does not press for more. The brief exchange makes her present circumstances tangible without giving Dominick any claim on them.

The man then breaks the silence by telling Dominick that he lost his brother Jeff in a motorcycle accident six years earlier. He remembers Jeff as the one among his five brothers who would call to check whether he was still breathing. The condolence is offered by a stranger to Dominick, but it reaches directly into his grief: Dominick thinks that he is no longer whole. He declines the offer to have Dessa call back. The moment gives the relationship a painful contrast. Someone who is not part of Dominick and Dessa’s history tries to comfort him, while Dessa herself remains out of reach.

At the cemetery, Dessa is a no-show. Dominick keeps expecting her to arrive late and imagines welcoming her beside him, an image that reveals both his longing and his uncertainty about whether he has any right to expect her presence. Thomas’s affection for Dessa sharpens the loss: he had repeatedly called her his very best friend. Dominick’s grief therefore includes more than his own broken marriage. He misses the place she held in Thomas’s life as well as the place she once held in his, and her absence cannot be separated from his recognition of how he failed her.

Companionship Rebuilt in Ordinary Time

The later renewal begins through regular meetings at the children’s hospice, where Dominick and Dessa see each other. One afternoon, Dessa calls with an extra ticket to a University of Connecticut women’s basketball game. She and Angie Constantine usually attend together, but Angie is busy. Dominick accepts, though at first he behaves dismissively, making disparaging remarks about the game and its players. Dessa tells him to stop and cheers for Jamelle. The scene lets their renewed closeness appear as ease and teasing, not as a declaration that the past has been settled.

Dominick’s attitude changes through continued attention. By the end of the season, he knows the players’ names and positions and can discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Big East teams. The change is modest but telling: he becomes invested in an activity he had initially treated with contempt because it matters to Dessa and because they are sharing it. In 1995, they travel together to Minneapolis to watch Lobo and her teammates win the national championship. Their relationship is again built from repeated encounters—games, conversation, and a journey together—rather than from a demand that Dessa immediately resume their marriage.

A Proposal That Leaves Room for Refusal

Later that spring, Dominick proposes while they are walking along Long Nook Beach in Truro. The day is bright, but the proposal itself is unplanned: he has no ring and no prepared ceremony. He puts his arms around Dessa, kisses her forehead, and asks whether she would take another chance on him. Her response is cautious rather than celebratory. She looks frightened, and Dominick immediately recognizes the danger of pressuring her. He had promised not to do that, and he offers to withdraw the proposal altogether if she wants.

Dessa says she is fairly sure remarriage is not a good idea. She has come to like living alone, though she agrees to think about it and asks for a week. Dominick must then live with the uncertainty he has created. Back at their hotel, they drink wine and go out to dinner without discussing the proposal; for him, it remains between them, impossible to ignore. He imagines the request from her perspective—as another chance with someone who once made her feel suffocated—and admits that he would understand a refusal. The proposal’s importance lies partly in this pause: Dessa is not persuaded by a romantic spectacle, and Dominick cannot treat affection as permission to decide for her.

Choosing to Try Again

Dessa gives her answer later, when her crying wakes Dominick. She is sitting on his bed, and after he asks what is wrong, she turns on the lamp and tells him that they can try again. She says she still loves him and is no longer afraid of him. Her answer brings love and safety together without claiming that their history has vanished. Dominick checks whether she is sure, leaving open the possibility that she could change her mind; she confirms her yes.

They keep the wedding small and simple. Leo Blood and Angie stand up for them, as they did the first time. The return to marriage is thus both a repetition and a difference: the same friends attend, but the renewed commitment follows separation, grief, and a period in which Dessa could decide on her own terms. The relationship’s ending is not presented as proof that the earlier harm did not matter. Rather, the shared life becomes possible again because Dominick acknowledges his failure to meet Dessa’s grief, and because Dessa states that she is no longer afraid before agreeing to begin anew.