Chapter Fifteen
Dominique awakened to the scents of bacon and eggs and fresh coffee. She raised the head of the hospital bed, hoping that meant she was going to get some breakfast soon. She was definitely hungry. She really hadn’t eaten anything while she’d been held.
Burt Stanfield. She still found it hard to believe that the man who had joked with her, the man who had appeared to be hardworking and kind, had kidnapped her.
It was only a few minutes later that Daniel and Luke walked into her room. Luke looked so achingly handsome in his uniform and her heart squeezed tight in her chest at the sight of him.
“Dominique, how are you feeling?” Daniel asked.
“Amazingly well…except for the pain in my jaw,” she replied and then smiled at Luke. “And thank you for giving Burt a pain in his jaw.”
“I would have liked to give him more,” Luke replied with the boyish grin that always made her heart beat a little faster.
“If you’re up to it, we need to get an official statement from you detailing everything that happened from the moment you were taken.”
“I’m up to it,” she replied.
Daniel pulled a mini recorder from his pocket and she started talking. She began from the moment Burt had attacked her in the café parking lot.
“He talked about his dead wife and how the silence in his house since then was driving him crazy,” she said. “I was a replacement for her. He believed she’d broken her promise to be with him forever by dying. He had all her clothes for me to wear.”
She told them about trying to escape and Burt hitting her.
“I knew then that he could get violent so I tried to be as quiet and compliant as possible when he was in the bedroom. But when he wasn’t in the room, I continued to look for a way to escape or some sort of weapon I could use against him.
Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful on both counts. ”
She offered a bright smile to both men. “But all’s well that ends well, right?”
“Right,” Daniel replied. “But I have one last, very personal question for you.”
She tensed. “Okay, what is it?”
“Did Burt hurt you in any other way, assault you physically, sexually?” he asked.
“No, thank God he didn’t,” she replied. “But I’m sure that was in his plans. Only in his head it wouldn’t be an assault. He’d believe it would be a mutual decision no matter how much I kicked and screamed. He was definitely delusional in his thinking.”
“Thanks, Dominique. I think I got enough from you. Burt is going to go away for a very long time,” Daniel assured her.
“That’s good news for me,” she replied. She kept her gaze focused on Daniel. For some reason, looking at Luke hurt.
At that time an older woman Dominique didn’t know pushed in a cart with her breakfast. “Bacon and eggs, toast and orange juice for our patient,” she said as she placed the plate on a table she pulled out over Dominique’s lap.
“I hope there’s also some coffee,” Dominique said.
The woman grinned at her. “Definitely I have coffee for you.”
“We’ll just go now and let you eat your breakfast in peace,” Daniel said. “I know you’ll be available if I have further questions.”
“Of course,” she replied and then she looked at Luke. His gaze was soft and full of love. And then the two men left.
As she ate, a sadness filled her. It was the same sadness that had been with her since the moment Luke had spoken of his love for her.
She had spent a lot of time while she’d been held captive thinking about him and thinking about her mother. By the time she finished eating, Dr. Harmon came in.
“How’s my patient today?” he asked with a kindly smile.
“I’m good and ready to get home,” she replied.
“I don’t see a reason to keep you any longer, so I’ll have my nurse prepare your discharge paperwork and then you’re free to go.”
“Thank you, Dr. Harmon,” she replied.
When he left the room, she used the hospital telephone on the nightstand to call Monique. Her sister not only agreed to come and get her, but also agreed to bring her some clothes. When Dominique had been rescued, she’d been wearing one of the dresses from the closet.
An hour later, she walked out of the hospital with both her sisters at her side. They fawned over her until she assured them both she was just fine.
Within minutes, they were at the swamp’s entrance. “Do you want us to walk you in?” Angelique asked as Monique parked.
“No, I’ll be fine, and I know you both need to get back to work,” she replied.
“We’re just so grateful to have you back with us,” Angelique said.
The three of them hugged and said their goodbyes and then Dominique began the trek home.
It was wonderful to be able to walk through the swamp without a knife clutched in her hand and without fear in her heart. This, more than anything, made her realize her ordeal was truly over.
By all accounts, Pierre was innocent in her mother’s murder and the person who had been after Dominique was under arrest. She no longer needed Luke as her bodyguard. She probably wouldn’t see him much anymore. Once again, a wave of sadness filled her heart.
She reached her shanty. Since she didn’t have her purse, she had no key, but thankfully she had one hidden under a rock at the foot of her bridge. She retrieved it and then used it to go inside where she sank down in the corner of the sofa.
She didn’t have her cell phone. Eventually, she’d have to buy a new one.
She’d also need to get a driver’s license and other things that had been in her wallet.
She needed to check in at the café and get back on the schedule to work.
And she’d have to make arrangements for one of her sisters to take her to get her car which was in the police station parking lot.
It had been towed there for further processing following her disappearance. But not today.
Today, she just wanted to rest and revel in the fact that she was free and didn’t need to be afraid anymore. There would be no more troubling notes or anything else left at her shanty door. And no more Luke.
Unable to sit still for long, she passed the afternoon by cleaning. She wiped down the cabinets in the kitchen area and then mopped the floors. After that, she changed the sheets on her bed.
By that time, she was hungry and so she started the generator and hunted in the cooler for something she could cook. The ice inside was nearly gone. She’d have to throw most of the food away and go shopping.
She made herself a grilled cheese and ate it with some chips and a soda. She had just finished eating when there was a knock on her door.
It was Luke. At the sight of him, her heart expanded. “Luke,” she greeted him in surprise.
“Hi, Dominique,” he replied.
“Come in.” She opened the door enough so he could walk in. It was only then that she saw her purse in his hand.
“We found this at Burt’s place. It looks like everything is still inside it. Your phone and driver’s license are inside and I knew you’d need them back as soon as possible.” He held the purse out to her.
“Thank you,” she replied. “Can you sit for a few minutes?” she asked.
“Okay.” He walked over to the sofa as she dug into the purse to retrieve her phone.
“Let me just plug this in to charge and I’ll be right back.” She hurried into the kitchen to take care of the phone, then returned to the living room and sank down next to him. Instantly, she was surrounded by his familiar scent…the one that had always made her feel safe and protected.
“How are you doing?” he asked. His eyes filled with a wealth of concern. “Does your jaw hurt badly?”
“Not too badly,” she replied. She looked away from him and instead gazed across the room.
“Luke, I did a lot of thinking in the three days I was gone. I thought a lot about my mother and I realized something really important.” She gazed back at him.
“In my grief, I’ve been trying to live the wild and free life she always had.
I guess I felt that if I was just like her, then she wouldn’t really be dead. ”
“Oh, Dominique,” he said softly.
She heard it. When he said her name, she heard the love. When she gazed in his eyes, she saw his love. And in her time alone, she had realized the depths of her love for him. Her love for him was what had caused the sadness inside her, but she wasn’t sad anymore.
She held his gaze for a long moment. “If I’m not working the late shift at the café, I could have your dinner on the table at six every night,” she blurted.
He looked at her in surprise and then that wonderful smile curved his lips. “I don’t have to eat at six o’clock every night. I could eat earlier or later, depending on your schedule. I could definitely cook for you, too.”
Hope lit up the gold flecks in his beautiful green eyes. Hope filled her heart, her very soul.
“Luke, we’ve been a couple of fools,” she said. “I know we can make it work between us. If we both give a little, I think we could be very happy together forever.”
He grabbed her hand, stood and pulled her up and into his arms. “Are you trying to tell me you love me?” he asked, his hope shimmering in his eyes.
“Oh Luke, I am wildly, madly in love with you.” She barely got the words out before his mouth took hers in a long, slow kiss that spoke of a happy future together.
When the kiss ended, she remained in his arms, reluctant to move away. He gazed deeply into her eyes. “There was a time I didn’t think I could live with you, but now I know I can’t live without you,” he said.
Her heart swelled with her love for this man who had been her bodyguard, her friend and her lover. “I will do what I can to adhere to your schedules,” she said.
“And I will dance in the rain with you and be ready for your spontaneity any time of the day or night,” he replied. His gaze grew more serious. “I also intend to work hard to solve your mother’s murder. I promise you, Dominique. I won’t stop until we get justice for her.”
She placed a hand on his lower jaw. “I know that. Somehow, I wonder if it was her magic that brought us together. I mean, without me believing Pierre was guilty and running with my scheme to bring him down, you and I probably wouldn’t have ever spent any time together.”
“Thank God for Mystique’s magic,” he replied, his gaze once again soft and loving on her.
She ran a finger over his lower lip. “Want to see what kind of magic we could make in my bedroom?” she asked, wanting nothing more than to truly make love with the man of her heart.
“There’s that spontaneity in you again,” he said teasingly. “I’ll definitely roll with this one.” He took her hand and pulled her toward her bedroom.
There would be things they’d need to figure out later, like where they were going to live and other logistics, but for now, that was the last thing on her mind, as she knew they’d conquer anything as long as they were together.