Chapter 5
Dominique was always sad to leave her mother when she left Paris.
At eighty-five, even though in good health, Marie-Aurélie was at an age where anything could happen suddenly, and change her situation dramatically.
For now, she was fine on her own. Her housekeeper came in every day, but she left at the end of the day, and Marie-Aurélie was alone at night and on Sundays.
Her other employees were all live-out as well.
Marie-Aurélie was perfectly able to take care of herself, very independent and in good health, but it was impossible to know how many years she had left, and how often Dominique would see her again.
She always meant to visit her more, but she was busy in New York, and had a full life, with her successful business and her daughters.
* * *
Felicity was elated to have met the young designer who’d started working on the dress.
It was exactly what she wanted, not too showy, elegant but subtle, understated and discreet.
Liliane Leroy, the designer, was going to embed some tiny pearls among the lace, which would make it even more special.
Now that she had picked out the dress, Felicity was more excited about the wedding.
At first the idea seemed overwhelming, but suddenly it had begun to appeal to her.
The venue was going to be beautiful, and the dress perfect.
And all the little touches the designer was adding would make it even more personal.
The three hundred people invited still made Felicity uncomfortable.
In a perfect world, she would have liked a tiny wedding better, with only the people she loved around her.
It was a moment she didn’t want to share with people she barely knew or had never met, and more than half of them would be her parents-in-laws’ social connections, some invited just so the Whitfields could show off at Dominique’s expense, which irked Felicity too.
But she was excited about the wedding now, and was eager to see the dress at the next fitting.
When they landed in New York, Dominique dropped Felicity off downtown on the way in from the airport.
It was out of the way for her, but she enjoyed the time she spent with her daughter, and it was one way to extend it a little longer.
Violet had stayed in Paris for a few more days to continue to explore the antique and vintage shops and hunt for treasures, and there were a few more auctions she wanted to go to.
She had already bought quite a lot in London, and had bid successfully on a number of items at the H?tel Drouot.
She was happy her sister had found a dress she loved, and relieved that it was not her wedding.
She felt as ill-prepared as Felicity did to embark on marriage.
Felicity had allowed herself to be pulled into those murky waters, which Violet said she wouldn’t have.
She said that nothing could have induced her to marry now, no matter how much she loved Jamie, and she did, for now.
But at twenty-eight, she wasn’t ready to promise that she would love him forever.
What if she changed her mind in a few years, or they tired of each other?
She had never been with any man as long as she had with Jamie, but people changed or evolved differently and grew apart.
It would be sad if that happened, but not tragic, and easily resolved as long as they weren’t married.
Married, it would be very different, and even worse if they had kids.
She still wasn’t convinced that children were for her.
They seemed like the ultimate complication in a relationship, and Violet was all in favor of keeping things simple.
Dominique was madly busy with meetings, presentations, and clients from the moment she got back from Paris.
She was invited to a number of Christmas parties, and she and Bill were going to Courchevel for their annual vacation two days after Christmas.
They had been before and both loved to ski.
Dominique frequently ran into friends there who didn’t know Bill, had no way of knowing he was married, and thought he and Dominique were just an ordinary couple dating and taking a vacation together.
They had no idea he had a wife. Dominique lived for that vacation every year, and for the joy of waking up next to him every day for two weeks.
They stole long weekends together here and there during the year, but their two-week holiday was a once-a-year event.
Bill didn’t have time to come to see her for the first few days she was back from Paris, but she had so much to do, she didn’t mind.
He was jammed at the end of the year too, with people wrapping up deals and finishing contracts before the holidays.
They were both tired, and he had early meetings the next morning and couldn’t spend the night.
But she was just as busy and didn’t object.
She rarely did anyway. She saw him on his schedule, not her own, since he had more constraints and a spouse.
That was the unspoken deal between them.
His schedule ruled their time together, including his family obligations.
Eileen visited her sister every year in Grosse Pointe after Christmas and they went to a spa, so Bill was free to do what he wanted.
Eileen thought he went skiing with friends, and didn’t ask for details.
They were emotionally distant and had been for most of their marriage, but still lived under the same roof.
Two weeks after Dominique got back from Paris, Tommy called her with a surprise.
He and Marlene were chartering a plane to go to Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean, to meet up with friends and stay at a fabulous hotel there for Christmas, and he wanted to spend a night in New York, to celebrate an early Christmas with Dominique.
Some years she didn’t get to see him at all for the holidays, so she seized the opportunity to see him, Marlene, and the kids. She had room for them to stay with her.
She made sure she got her Christmas tree up and decorated before they came, and the children’s presents bought and wrapped.
She had everything ready when they arrived.
She hadn’t seen them since the previous summer, which seemed an eternity ago to her, but she never complained.
Tommy’s work schedule was so erratic and heavy, she couldn’t compete, and adjusted her schedule to his, no matter how complicated for her.
The boys looked adorable in matching navy-blue hooded coats, fur-lined boots, and mittens.
Marlene had terrible taste for herself, but she dressed the children well.
And the boys were thrilled to see the tree Dominique had decorated, and thanks to thorough research by her assistant through an event planning service, Santa paid them a visit while they were eating pizza for dinner.
The boys sat on Santa’s lap while Dominique took photos of them.
They told him the kind of trucks they wanted for Christmas, and he gave them lollipops before he left.
His visit was a great success, and Tommy looked at her with a grateful smile.
“You never miss an opportunity, do you, Mom? That was really sweet of you. Marlene didn’t want them to go to a department store and line up with a bunch of sick kids before Christmas, so they didn’t get to see Santa this year.
Leave it to you to have him show up at the house.
” Dominique had done the same for Tommy and his sisters when they were children, and he had believed it was a normal occurrence until he realized that Santa didn’t visit any of his friends at their homes.
And she was doing it for his children now.
They were the only grandchildren she had, and she rarely got to spend Christmas with them.
Tommy was either with his in-laws or had other more exciting plans.
Felicity came to have dinner with them, and Violet showed up after dinner, and they all sat around the kitchen table.
Marlene put the boys to bed a little later than usual, and they kissed Dominique good night and hugged her, which melted her heart.
She hardly knew them but they were sweet children, in spite of their manipulative mother. She was a good mother to her boys.