Chapter 5 #3
On Christmas Day, they exchanged gifts, and spent the day relaxing.
They were generous with each other, and knew each other’s taste.
Taylor joined them for the afternoon, and Jamie was in Boston with his family and returning to New York the next day.
He and Violet were flying to St. Barth the day after.
Taylor and Felicity were driving to Vermont the day after Christmas.
Bill called Dominique at midnight on Christmas Eve, and the next morning.
He couldn’t come by and she didn’t expect him to.
They were flying to France in two days. She never saw him on Christmas Eve or Day.
It was too difficult for him to get away.
He and his family spent Christmas in Connecticut, which made it impossible for him to see her.
He and Dominique had exchanged gifts on the night before Christmas Eve, as they always did.
He had given her an Hermès Kelly bag in a new taupe color she loved and didn’t have, and a gold bangle bracelet with the date engraved inside, and she had given him a sporty Cartier watch he had admired and would wear on their trip.
He was always generous with her, and knew what she liked.
He had spent the night, and left her on the morning of Christmas Eve.
She remembered her mother’s recent comment that she would never have holidays with him and that in the long run it wouldn’t be enough.
But so far it was, because she spent Christmas with her daughters.
She wondered if Felicity would have to spend Christmas in Vermont with her in-laws once she was married, and she and Violet would be alone.
One by one, they were leaving her. First Tommy, and Felicity would be next, and one day, like Marie-Aurélie, she would be alone.
Bill would still be married to Eileen. She didn’t like to think about it but it was the reality of loving a married man who was choosing to stay that way.
She shook off the melancholy mood when her girls arrived, but her mother’s words had cast the shadow of the future on her holidays.
For two weeks in Courchevel she could forget what that future looked like, when she woke up with Bill every day like a normal couple, and they skied together all day, but she had ended up following in her mother’s footsteps as the mistress or girlfriend of a married man, with no future other than the present she had with him.
Dominique had made a different choice when she married Andrew, and wound up in this situation anyway.
She had met divorced and widowed men over the years, but none was as handsome, exciting, or loving as Bill, and she’d convinced herself that it didn’t matter that he was married, but now, once in a while, she wasn’t so sure.
She was the woman in the shadows of his life.
They stole the moments they had together.
He belonged to someone else. No matter how inadequate his other relationship was, he stayed married to protect and preserve it, and Dominique was on her own.
It wasn’t glamorous, and sometimes it was very lonely, even if Dominique denied it to herself.
When the girls left on Christmas night, the house was empty, there were no voices, no sound, no laughter, no music.
She finished packing her suitcase for Courchevel and went to bed.
In two more days she and Bill would be together, but on Christmas night, the silence filled every room, and weighed on her while she finished packing her suitcase for their trip.
She didn’t want to spoil the time she had with Bill, complaining about what she didn’t have.
She was grateful for the time they shared, however limited.
By the time Bill picked her up to go to the airport, her spirits had risen again.
She was waiting for him with her suitcase, in a red down jacket, and she was excited about the trip.
He kissed her while the driver got her bag.
They made a handsome couple. He had thick white hair and eyes the same blue as hers.
He was tall and distinguished-looking. They checked in and went to the Air France first-class lounge and had coffee and croissants while they waited for their flight.
They were flying to Geneva and driving from there to Courchevel, staying at a romantic hotel they loved.
They chatted over breakfast in the lounge, and he smiled as he looked at her.
She was so beautiful, he always felt lucky to be with her.
They boarded the plane half an hour later, and took their seats next to each other. The flight left on time, and their magical two weeks had begun just as they did every year. It was perfect. Bill took care of every detail to make the trip magical for her.
* * *
Jamie and Violet’s flight to St. Barth was already halfway there. She was reading and he was watching a movie, and he glanced over at her and smiled, and she leaned over and kissed his neck.
* * *
Felicity and Taylor were just getting on the lift at Sugarbush. The snow looked perfect, the weather was crisp and cold as they got off the chairlift and started their first run. The holidays had been perfect so far.
* * *
Dominique thought one couldn’t ask for more.
No matter what anyone thought, what she had with Bill was enough.
She didn’t need more than this, she told herself.
She pushed her mother’s words from her mind, and settled back to enjoy the trip.
They were about to spend two precious weeks together. She could hardly wait.