Page 65 of After Midnight

Tears gathered in his eyes then, and he quickly turned away. “I’m just going to freshen up,” he said as he dashed toward the powder room. I knew exactly how he felt.

“He’s taking this bad,” I said, confused why someone who’d just met the family after years apart would be so distraught. Granted, Dominic’s kidnapping had come as a huge shock to all of us.

Ashton must’ve picked up on my thoughts. “You’ve got to understand how long Jeffrey’s been looking for Dominic and the girls. He and I fell out of touch for a couple of decades and only reconnected recently. Come to find out, he’s been searching for the very same children who’ve been in my sister’s care for years! All this time, Jeffrey has followed lead after lead and been living with the disappointment when they all came to a dead-end.”

I had to marvel at the twist of fate that’d brought Jeffrey back into their lives. Dominic had told me about how his godfather was also Fairy Demadre, a drag queen he’d met by chance through Ashton. I secretly wondered if my fathers had not hosted their annual gala, or if Dominic had already owned a tux that fit, would their missing family puzzle pieces have ever come together? Would they come back together now?

Ashton shook his head and sighed. “So, Jeffrey just gets them back, and Dominic goes missing again. This time under much more dire circumstances. It’s undoing him, I’m afraid.”

I nodded. “I’ve only known Dominic and the girls a relatively short time, and I’m devastated. I can’t imagine what he’s going through, what you’reallgoing through.”

Ashton, in a rare show of affection, reached over and patted my hand. “I’m glad you’re here.”

I quickly wiped away the tear that’d escaped down my cheek. God, this was so hard.

When Jeffrey returned, he’d put on a false cheer and asked a hundred and one questions. I didn’t usually talk about myselfand my family that much, at least not at length like that, but I appreciated his attempts at distraction.

He drilled me on everything from where my papa learned to bake to how I got into stand-up to every single behind-the-scenes detail I could divulge about the gala, including how one gets on the guest list. I danced uncomfortably around the now infamous Margarette incident, instead talking about my performance with Feldman .

“Oh, that reminds me, I did a pride event at Third County in Chicago about six years ago. Does old man Foreman still run the place?” he asked.

I smiled. This was safer territory. “Yeah, he’s sort of taken me under his wing, actually.”

“Ooh, that man flirted with me so hard I blushed all the way through my makeup. I swear, he likes his drag queens. I’m surprised he hasn’t turned the entire place into a drag club with the way he was fawning over all of us.”

I laughed as I thought of my old, somewhat rigid boss flirting with drag queens. But Dominic had shown me pictures of Jeffrey all dolled up as Fairy Demadre, so I understood.

“Do you know Allen Pearson?” I asked. “He’s an entertainer who’s very popular locally.”

Jeffrey’s eyes lit up. “Do I know Allen Pearson? Or do you mean, Alexis Fantasma.”

I laughed. “The one and only. That’s my dad. Well, one of my dads.”

“No, that bombshell has kids? I’d have never guessed.”

I chuckled. “I must’ve been enough of a handful because I’m an only child. I stayed in the background usually.”

“So, that’s the gala Dominic went to? I didn’t put two and two together until now. Child, I’ve known your daddies for years. Allen, or Alexis, I should say, used to come to Chicago tocompete twenty-five years ago. Quite the competitor too. One year, he even beat me. I’m still salty about it!”

Envisioning Jeffrey and Dad fully decked out in wigs and heels as their drag personas dueled for the spotlight like true divas made me smile. Although I still didn’t feel the humor in it I would’ve normally, given the circumstances. “I need to get the two of you together. You’ll either enjoy each other’s company or claw each other’s eyes out. Either way, the rest of us will be entertained.”

“I’m beginning to see what this little minx is all about,” he said to Ashton.

“He’s quite a character,” Ashton said as he took Jeffrey’s empty plate to the sink and brought the coffee pot over to pour us all another cup.

Dominic’s sisters and Miss Rita returned from the supermarket shortly after and when the girls saw me, they both came over and gave me tentative hugs. “Will you watchThe Princess Bridewith us?” Alli asked.

I put on a brave face I wasn’t really feeling. “You know I’ve seen that movie like three times since I first watched it with you. I’m going to gripe about it just like your bossy brother, but sure.”

Both girls looked concerned at the mention of Dominic, and I could’ve kicked myself for saying it, but they both nodded and said they’d meet me in the living room in fifteen minutes.

“I probably shouldn’t have brought him up,” I said on a sigh after they’d disappeared upstairs.

“No, the therapist said we shouldn’t avoid talking about Dominic. We can’t just up and pretend like he’s not part of this family just because he’s not here, or that we’re not beside ourselves about it. The girls have to process this just like the rest of us.”

I nodded, wondering how well I was processing it all. Maybe I should see a therapist at some point. “How are they doing?”

“Not good,” Miss Rita said as she went about unpacking her grocery bags. “They lost him and got him back just to lose him again. It’s like rubbing their still open wounds with salt.”

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