“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 timealone, 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.
