"Hestia, no!" He moved to stand in front of the fireplace, not wanting her to dispose of the dress. "I'm not sorry that you bought it, I'm not. I want you to keep this dress, because I'm selfish and I can all but imagine you in it, because I want to be optimistic and think that someday things will be calm enough for us to marry, to move past this. Keep it?" He reached out, touching her arm. "We have to think that this is something we can move past, Hestia, because otherwise, what's the point of trying? I refuse to think that things are always going to be this dangerous, so keep this dress, please, we may well need it sooner than you think."
Even as he spoke his mind was racing, trying to find a way to get even Rodolphus and Bellatrix to agree to this. First they had to find out about the baby, because soon the fact that Hestia was pregnant would be plain for anyone to see. Then, Dominic would have to do something pretty damned spectacular to make up for it, and then he would have to do something even better to convince them that he had earned this "gift" to be able to wed someone who was of an impure blood status. Oh hell, he thought, he'd be better off handing them his head on a silver platter, at least that way it would probably be a more swift means to the same end.