Sultry Nights. Donna Hill

      Chapter 5

      Dominique put her key in the door and was gripped with the feeling of regret. She probably should have moved out of the family home a long time ago. With both her sisters gone, her father in Washington most of the year, Rafe doing his own thing and Justin busy with school and work, she felt like a fish out of water rambling around in the big house. So, she could have not been more surprised when she walked into the kitchen and found both of her sisters seated at the island counter chatting like they’d done as teenagers.

       “Oh, my goodness!” She dropped her bag on the table and ran to her sisters.

       The trio kissed and hugged and giggled in delight.

       “What are ya’ll doing here?” She glanced from one to the other in amazement as they took seats around the counter.

       “This is a big legislative week on Capital Hill. Preston is working almost twenty-four hours a day. I told him I was going home for the weekend and he nodded and waved,” Lee Ann said, laughing. “I still don’t think he realizes I’m gone.”

       “And what about you, Mrs. Hampton? You’re still a newly, newlywed, girl. I’m surprised Spence let you out of the bed.”

       Desiree blushed and flashed a secret smile. “I know.” She giggled. “Well, you know Spence is opening a third club in the D.C. area. He’s meeting with contractors and visiting sites all weekend. And I wanted to see my sisters. I called Lee Ann and here we are.”

       Dominique felt tears well in her eyes. She’d had no idea how much she missed her sisters until this moment. She sniffed. “Then we have to make every minute count. No telling when we’ll get a chance to hang out again.”

       “Exactly,” Desiree agreed. “So, what’s the plan? You’re the party girl.”

       Dominique’s eyes crinkled with mischief. “Ladies, my list is long and varied, so be prepared for anything. And put on your dancing shoes,” she added, hopping up from her seat.

       “Sounds like…a Dominique plan,” Lee Ann teased.

       “Just be ready by nine,” Dominique warned, waving a finger at her sisters.

      * * *

       “You think I’ll have time to get some racing in this weekend?” Desiree asked as they started off toward their rooms.

       Dominique and Lee Ann groaned in response.

      * * *

       The sisters-only weekend didn’t seem nearly long enough. But the trio had squeezed in as much time together as they possible could. Friday night they drove into New Orleans and visited three clubs in the Quarter. Up with the sun the following morning, they headed for a full day of pampering at their favorite day spa, Body Envy, that came complete with facials, a full body massage, manicure and pedicure, and lunch with champagne spritzers. And what would a day be without shopping on the list?

       By the time they returned to the Lawson mansion on Saturday, the sun had set, but they’d been coddled and primped and loaded down with shopping bags.

       “I should have gotten that pair of gray suede boots,” Dominique complained as she balanced her bags under one arm and propped on her raised knee while she stuck the key in the lock. “They would have gone perfectly with that jacket.”

       “Sis, you have enough shoes to outfit a foreign empire,” Lee Ann teased as she struggled through the door with her own bags.

       “Maybe a tiny empire,” Dominique tossed back. “Not a big one.”

       “You do need another zip code for your shoes,” Desiree added, depositing her oversize bags near the foyer table.

       Dominique turned to her twin. “I’m surprised that you needed more than a tote bag, Desi. Everything you bought was no more than a few colorful frilly strings tied together to look like an outfit.” She shrugged out of her cropped leather jacket and hung it in the closet.

       Desiree blushed and feigned embarrassment. “Can I help it if Spence only wants to see me in next to nothing when we close the bedroom door?”

       “Girl, don’t start,” Lee Ann added. “I swear Preston has gotten worst since we’ve been married. He’s totally into garters and those little demi bras now.” She giggled. “I have an entire drawer full.”

       Lee Ann and Desiree laughed and chatted and laughed some more about the myths of married sex life, something that Dominique could in no way relate to. They oohed and ahhed about the feel of waking up each morning with someone you loved, being eager to see them at the end of the day and never worrying again about your “date” for a big event.

       Dominique sat at the table and nodded and smiled in all the right places. For the first time in her life she felt like the outsider, the fifth wheel, the tagalong. When it came to the Lawson sisters she was always the center of attention, the diamond that sparkled the brightest. She was the party girl, the one that the men flocked to and fell over. She was the one with a suitors’ list that was the Who’s Who of Louisiana. She was never without a date or a man to warm her bed at night. But sitting there listening to her sisters made her life suddenly seem vapid and pointless. Did you really need a man to make you complete? She’d never believed that before and wasn’t sure if she did now. Yet, as she listened to her sisters, two of the most free-thinking, independent women she knew, talk about the men in their lives, it was as if they had suddenly bloomed to life under the sun of their husbands’ gazes.

       Lee Ann and Desiree jumped at the sound of Dominique’s palms slapping down on the table. “Enough, okay.” She cut a look from one sister to the other. “I get it. You’re both in love and can’t stop talking about it.” She pretended to gag.

       Lee Ann leaned back in the swivel stool and folded her arms. “Is that jealousy I hear coming from Ms. ‘nobody is going to tie me down?’” she asked, her right brow rising every so slightly.

       Two pair of doe-brown eyes settled on Dominique. She made a face.

       “Jealous! Humph. You have got to be kidding? Look, you know me, I have more than I can handle. So, let’s not even go there,” she added, waving her finger back and forth.

       “Me thinks thou doest protest too much,” Desiree said in a poor imitation from Shakespeare. She flashed a grin.

       Dominique rolled her eyes.

       “Mmm,” her sisters harmonized in disagreement.

       “When you finally get the one that hits that spot…” Desiree closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. Her body quivered just a little.

       Desiree and Lee Ann giggled some more and regaled over Desiree’s recent wedding and reception.

       Dominique sat back, apart, letting her thoughts join the conversation but not her heart. So much had happened that day. She’d lost another sister to the magic of love and marriage, and her aunt Jacqueline, the woman whom she emulated, had thrown her a serious curve ball. As quiet as it was kept, the conversation had struck a nerve and she’d been unsettled ever since. The words still played havoc with her nonchalant attitude.

       “So, Desi has finally gone and done it,” Jacqueline Lawson said, easing alongside Dominique.

       The night air was filled with the scent of jasmine, expensive perfumes and colognes, and the tantalizing aromas of the massive spread that had fed the four-hundred guests. The sun was settling down across the horizon. The final rays spilled like overturned cans of paint across the lawn, the white tents and twinkling lights, bathing all in a wash of gold and orange. Laughter bubbled like the champagne in Dominique’s flute.

       She inhaled