by Donna Hill
She watched Rafe’s approach and was tickled to see that her prediction was true. He was stopped at least a half dozen times by exquisitely clad ingenues who vied for his attention. Being the Southern gentleman that he was, he gave each one a moment of his time and plenty of his charm before returning to her with a glass of champagne.
“Seems it’s all we have at the moment,” he said, handing her the flute.
She gratefully took the shimmering golden liquid and took a small sip, then another. It glided across her tongue and burst in gentle bubbles in her throat before slowly moving onward like a caress. She couldn’t begin to imagine how much Branford had spent on this champagne. It was like a magic elixir.
“Thank you.”
“Sure. Do you want to stay here or—”
“Rafe!”
He glanced over his shoulder. Dominique was hurrying toward them, smoothly maneuvering around the guests and tables and waiters.
“Whew,” she breathed, “never realize how many people you know until there’s free food and liquor.” She emitted a devilish laugh. Her face was aglow. “Desi wants pictures, big brother,” she said, sliding her hand around Rafe’s waist. “It’s so good to see you, Aunt J. And I know how much this means to Desi that you’re here.”
“I’m glad I came.”
“You must join us for a real family photo,” Rafe said, tossing back the last of his champagne. His dark eyes sparked with mischief. “The old man will be apoplectic.”
Jacqueline couldn’t help but laugh. “You’d enjoy that wouldn’t you?”
“I think I would.”
Jacqueline shook her head. “This is Desi’s day and I’m not going to do anything that would put a damper on it. And me getting within ten feet of my brother would do just that.”
Dominique studied her for a moment. “Whatever happened between you and my father was a long time ago. Today if none other is the perfect time to bury whatever it is that’s between you.”
“I wish it was that simple, Dom.”
“It’s about Uncle David,” Rafe stated more than asked.
Jacqueline’s lips tightened.
“No one ever talks about it,” Dominique said softly. “But it’s like a cloud that continues to linger long after the storm is over.”
“Maurice blames him,” Rafe said, referring to their cousin and David’s only son.
Jacqueline slightly lowered her head then looked up at them taking each one in. “I didn’t come here to open old wounds,” she said slowly. She pushed herself up and stood in front of them. “Go and take your pictures. Your sister and her new husband are waiting. I’m going to put this gift inside and see if I can remember where the restroom is.” She offered them a smile.
“Okay, but don’t you dare disappear,” Dominique warned. “We have catching up to do.” She took Rafe’s hand and they strolled off toward the gazebo on the far side of the property where the wedding party was assembling.
Jacqueline picked up the package and started toward the main house. There had to be at least two hundred people there and cars were still coming.
She took the three steps up onto the sweeping porch. The wide front doors stood open in welcome. If she thought for a moment that the outside was breathtaking, the interior was equally as magnificent. The banisters were wrapped in white gauze and trimmed with lilies. In the center of the floor was a massive ice sculpture of an entwined couple, trimmed all the way around in a bed of oysters on the half shell couched in ice.
The floors gleamed enough to see one’s reflection. Long white linen tables lined the left wall and were piled high with gifts. The opposite side was set up with the same upholstered chairs as outside, arranged for intimate conversations. The entire space was draped from the top of the cathedral ceiling with sheer white and gold fabric that gave the impression of stepping into a wonderland.
Jacqueline placed her gift on the table on the pile with the others.
“Appetizer, ma’am?”
Jacqueline turned to the young waitress who carried a silver-toned platter of caviar and lobster dip on imported crackers with garnish.
Her stomach tumbled in response. She hadn’t eaten and she’d had that glass of champagne. Bad combination, even more so for her.
She took the proffered plate and embossed napkin and added several of the delicacies to the plate.
There was apparently a small band down on the lower level that was playing music more appropriate for the much younger set. The music that drew her was coming from out back. She took her plate, added a skewer of shrimp and peppers and followed the pull of music out on the back lawn.
Desiree and her brand-new husband, Spence, were on the center of the raised dance floor, swaying to the music with eyes only for each other.
For a moment, Jacqueline was Desi on that dance floor and wrapped in her arms was Raymond. They moved, as they always did, like one perfect note. She inhaled his familiar scent, explored the curve of the hard lines of his back, felt the heat of his body pressed against hers. Her throat constricted and she blinked away the vision. But everywhere that she looked couples rejoiced in the magic of love and togetherness, the forever promise of a relationship. Her own eyes burned but she couldn’t seem to look away, wishing from the pit of her soul that things could be different.
But she had not made the vows to Raymond, at least not out loud. He was not bound to her in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer. He was still free to move on with his life. She refused to be the pre-existing condition.
* * *
Branford spotted his sister on the far side of the lawn, standing out like a lone star among the heavens. Although he continued to remain fully engaged in conversation, he still managed to keep an eye on Jacqueline. Seeing her, so suddenly, after a decade had unsettled him in a way that he would never have expected. Although she looked as stunning as always, he noticed the weariness around her eyes and the slight downward curve of her mouth. Much like him, Jacqueline always had a reason for doing everything. Nothing was done on a whim without some benefit at the end. Why was she really here? She hadn’t attended Lee Ann’s wedding, although he was certain that his children sent her an invitation. Why now?
A part of him wanted to talk to her, really talk to her the way they’d sometimes done during their youth. The last time they’d been in the same space together had opened an ugly chasm of recriminations that neither was willing to cross. She accused him in no uncertain terms in the tragic suicide of their brother. She shook the letter that David had left behind for his son, Maurice, to find in his face. You drove him to it! He needed you and you abandoned him. You were the one person that could have saved him but you were more interested in your own miserable life and career than your own family. I will never, as long as I have a breath, forgive you. You selfish, sanctimonious bastard!
It was the last thing she’d said to him before she tore out of the study, past the family and close confidantes who’d gathered at the house to mourn the loss of David Lawson.
There wasn’t a day that had gone by since that awful afternoon that he had not relived that confrontation. He could have told her. He could have tried to explain. His pride and his promise would not let him. What stabbed him in the heart that many thought he didn’t have, was that his own sister would think so little of him.
He’d learned to live with her disdain. He’d learned to live with losing his nephew Maurice to the same acrimony. Instead of it being a searing pain, it had dulled to an intermittent throb. Until now.
Chapter 8
The sun was beginning to set over the festivities, but the bands played on, the food and liquor flowed and the merriment continued.
Jacqueline could feel the fatigue begin to envelope her, from the balls of her feet, up through her limbs, to the lightness in her head and the almost unbearable ne
ed to curl into a ball and rest. She needed to leave but then remembered with a jerk in her chest that Rafe brought her here in his car and she had no transportation back to the hotel.
Frowning, she glanced over heads and shoulders and between bodies to see if she could spot Rafe or perhaps Dominique.
Dominique was in deep conversation with Senator Long. Lee Ann, she did not see. As she moved between bodies, she felt as if she was moving in slow motion. Dark spots began to dance in front of her eyes. She breathed in deeply, trying to push oxygen to her brain and slow the sensation of being on the precipice of falling from a high place.
“Aunt J, are you all right.”
Suddenly a strong arm was around her waist, an instant before she felt her knees give way.
“Y—es.” She squeezed her eyes shut for a minute. “Too much champagne.”
“Let’s sit down.”
She clasped Rafe’s arm. “I know this is an imposition, but could you get a car service. I…” Her heart raced so rapidly she could barely breathe. “I need to get back to my hotel.”
Rafe’s expression tightened with concern. “I’ll take you.”
“No, really…”
“I brought you. I’ll take you.”
She looked up at his concerned face and held back tears of fear and gratitude. “Thank you,” she murmured.
“I’ll be right back. Wait here. Please.”
She nodded.
Jacqueline watched the festivities continue to shift into a higher gear. The music and noise became deafening. Her head pounded. She gripped her purse to be able to hold on to something tangible to ground her.
Just breathe, she silently chanted. Soon you will be in bed. You can close your eyes. The fatigue and waves of nausea will ease. Breathe.
“Let’s get you out of here.”
Rafe was standing above her with his hand extended. Gratefully, she placed her hand in his and slowly stood. Within moments, he had her fastened in her seatbelt in his car.
“Where are you staying?”
“The Belle.”
He put the car in gear and they headed out.
They remained quiet for the ride to the hotel. The space between them filled with soft music from the local radio station, interspersed with advertisements about an upcoming music festival. Rafe snatched periodic looks at Jacqueline. Her expression was set. Her lids often drifted close as if her lashes dragged them unwillingly down. And Rafe noticed, for the first time, that beneath the well-applied makeup, the toned body and designer outfit, his aunt wasn’t well.
He eased the car along the winding lane to the main entrance of the hotel. A doorman quickly approached the driver side.
“Welcome to the Belle. Are you guests or visitors?”
“Both,” Rafe answered. “Ms. Lawson is a guest. Can you park the car, please?”
“Rafe, there’s no need for you to stay.”
He threw her a look. “I intend to make sure you get settled.”
He got out of the car, came around and opened her door. The valet was summoned and he got behind the wheel and pulled off as Rafe walked with Jacqueline inside.
“Where is your card key?”
She glared up at him and one glance told her that he would not be denied. If he handled his own aunt this way, she could only imagine the sway he had with the women in his life. She pursed her lips, opened the snap on her purse and took out her card key. She handed it to him.
“What floor?”
“Ten,” she muttered like an errant child.
He took her arm and they walked to the elevator.
“You really don’t have to do this,” she tried again as they waited for the elevator to descend.
“Probably not, but I am anyway.”
The bell tinged and the shiny doors slid open. Rafe pressed ten. They rode in silence. Rafe loosened his bow tie and let it hang from around his neck. He opened the top two buttons of his tuxedo shirt and visibly relaxed. Jacqueline smiled to herself.
The doors opened. She stepped out and led the way down the hall to her suite. Rafe stepped around her and slid the card key through the slender slot.
Jacqueline stepped across the threshold and felt the room shift. A wave of nausea rose from the bottom of her stomach. Black dots danced in front of her eyes. She reached for the table to steady herself.
“Aunt J!”
Chapter 9
Jacqueline could hear voices and movement coming to her from a distance. She felt as if she was pulling herself up from a deep cushiony cocoon. She wanted to go back but the voice kept tugging at her.
“Can you hear me?”
“Aunt J?”
“She’s coming around.”
There was something covering her mouth and nose. She tried to get it off. Someone grabbed her hand.
“That’s oxygen to help you breath,” an authoritative voice said.
She blinked away the last of the shadows. The room came into a hazy kind of focus. Rafe was standing over her, a worried smile on his face.
“The EMS is here, Aunt J.” He sat on the side of the bed. “We’re going to take you to the hospital.”
Panic gripped her. She tugged her arm away from the EMS worker that was taking her pulse and snatched the oxygen mask from her face. “No. No hospitals.”
“Aunt J, you collapsed. You’ve been out for almost ten minutes. Something is wrong. You’re going to the hospital to let them check you out.”
“It’s nothing,” she said feebly. “The jet lag, the heat. That’s all. I’m fine.” She tried to get up and found that she didn’t have the strength and that’s when the tears sprung from her eyes.
“It’s all right, Aunt J. I won’t leave you. I promise. Let’s get going,” he instructed the EMS team.
She gripped Rafe’s wrist with a strength that surprised him. “Don’t tell anyone. No one must know,” she said, her tone almost desperate.
Rafe’s brows drew together as he looked at the desperate determination in her eyes. Whatever was wrong was more than heat exhaustion and she knew it. “I won’t say anything,” he finally conceded.
She exhaled a sigh of relief.
* * *
Of course Rafe had once dated the Chief of Emergency Services and after a brief conversation, Jacqueline was whisked in, triaged and was being examined by the Chief herself.
“I’m Doctor Ravenell,” the stunning woman said. She could have easily passed for a model. “How are you feeling now?” She held Jacqueline’s wrist in her hand and listened to her pulse.
“Better.”
“Hmm. Have you had fainting spells before?”
“Yes.”
“Your pulse is weak and a bit thready. I want to run some test but first, let me ask you a few questions.”
* * *
Rafe sat in the waiting area, his long legs sprawled out in front of him. Several of the nurses walked by the glass-enclosed room just to get a peek at the hunk in the tuxedo. Rafe didn’t notice. His thoughts were on his aunt. His gut told him something was seriously wrong and for whatever reason she didn’t want anyone to know.
Growing up, his Aunt J was more like an older sister than an aunt. Being the youngest sibling of his father and with so many years between them, she was only ten years older than Rafe. They’d all been close once upon a time. Dominique idolized Jacqueline and swore she was going to be just like her fabulous, globe-trotting aunt. His cousin Maurice had been his best friend.
All that had changed. His jaw tightened. His father was at the center of it all, and he’d done nothing over the decade to right the wrongs.
“Rafe.”
His head snapped up. Dr. Sylvia Ravenell stood in front of him.
“Hey.” He jumped to his feet. “Ho
w is she?”
“We’re going to admit her, Rafe.” She paused for a moment, gauging her words. “Your aunt…is very ill.”
His pulse drummed in his ears. “What do you mean very ill? What’s wrong with her?”
She drew in a long breath. “I’ll let her tell you. We’re going to do some tests. I’m having her transferred to ICU on the Oncology floor.”
His eyes widened in alarm. “Oncology…that’s the cancer floor.”
She reached out and gently held his arm. “Take it easy. It’s also the floor where we can do specialized tests for blood disorders.”
“So what are you saying, that she has…cancer?”
“No. I’m saying we’re going to run some tests. Dr. Phillips will take over when we move her and he will be in touch with her doctors in California.”
California? Is that where she’d been? Doctors? He shook his head to clear it then looked into her eyes. His voice was a low rumble. “Is he the best? That’s all I want to know. Because if he’s not, get the best in here. Money is no object.”
“Trust me. He is the best. One of the best in the country.”
He rocked his jaw back and forth then slowly nodded his head. “Can I see her?”
“They’re moving her now. You can meet her up on the fourth floor in about a half hour. After she gets settled.”
“I’m going with her. I don’t want her to think that she’s alone.”
She saw that familiar look in his eyes. “Fine. Come with me.”
They walked together back down the corridor to the triage unit. “I take it you haven’t seen each other in a while.”
“No. Not for about ten years or so,” he murmured.
“Hmm. She’s a very determined woman.”
“Runs in the family.”
“I remember well.”
He glanced at her and noticed the shadow of a smile around her well-formed lips. He tried to remember why they didn’t work out, but he couldn’t.