Danielle Steel - Hotel Vendome

“I am to her,” Natalie said realistically. “To her we’re practically dead, and she only has two weeks here, so it makes sense that she wants to see her friends. Does she suspect anything about us?”

“Not at all,” he said firmly. He had been very careful that she didn’t. “I haven’t said anything except about your design work in the hotel. I wanted her to meet you first. And she just got back last night.” Natalie nodded and kissed him as he poured them each another glass of champagne. “She’s grown up a lot since she left,” he said, looking slightly unnerved. “I think it’s the boy.”

“I think it’s her age. And going away to school. The same thing happened to my nieces when they went to Stanford. Going away matures them.”

“And makes me feel old,” he added. He was still sorry that Heloise hadn’t had more time to get to know Natalie. He desperately wanted Heloise to like her, and they had barely met.

They went out to dinner at La Goulue on Madison Avenue that night and had a relaxed dinner in a setting they both enjoyed, and then they walked back to the hotel. He didn’t want to go to Natalie’s in case Heloise came home early. They had a nightcap upstairs, and Natalie left before midnight. Heloise came in long after he was asleep, at four.

She looked a little tired the next morning at breakfast, and he didn’t dare bring up Natalie’s name again. He didn’t want to tip his hand by looking too determined about it.

“What are you up to today?” he asked her offhandedly.

“I’m going skating with friends in Central Park. And another party downtown tonight. Everybody’s home from college for Christmas,” she said reasonably, and he was beginning to realize he was going to have to stand in line for her time. The chances of spending an evening with her and Natalie, getting to know each other, were less than slim. There were too many other things she wanted to do in her limited amount of time.

By Christmas Eve there had been not a single break in Heloise’s busy schedule for them to meet again. He was meeting Natalie for lunch to exchange presents, and she was leaving for Philadelphia that night. She was coming to the hotel to see him, and then they were having lunch downstairs. And Natalie arrived at the apartment promptly at noon. Heloise was just about to go out to meet friends again.

“Oh, hi,” she said as she saw the interior designer at the door to the apartment and didn’t know what she was doing there. She looked at Natalie with a blank expression. She clearly suspected nothing between her and Hugues.

“Merry Christmas,” Natalie said, smiling at her. “I’m having lunch with your father.”

“I think he’s downstairs, in his office.” As she said it, Hugues walked in. He was both pleased and nervous to see the two women in his life together and wondered what had been said. He gave Natalie a friendly peck on the cheek as he would have to any friend. “Hi, Papa. I’m going out,” Heloise said, putting on her coat.

“So I see. No parties tonight, I hope. Let’s spend a quiet evening together, like old times. And midnight mass.”

“Of course,” she said, as though she wouldn’t have considered doing otherwise, but so far she had been out every night. And she was leaving in six days. The visit had been crowded and rushed, but he was grateful that she was there. Just living in the same apartment with her again and seeing her every morning warmed his heart. She opened the door then, smiled at them both, said “Bye” to Natalie, and was gone.

Hugues looked unhappy after she left. “I’ve hardly seen her since she’s been back,” he complained to Natalie, who still had spent no time with Natalie at all. The hope that they would get to know each other had vanished into thin air.

“You think you’ll have time to tell her about us before she goes back?” Natalie asked, looking somewhat concerned. “I feel a little dishonest not having her know. She’s such an important part of your life, she deserves that respect.” And so do I , Natalie thought but didn’t say it. She felt as though they were sneaking around and not being open with his daughter, and she was uncomfortable about it.

“I know she deserves to know,” he agreed with her, and he still had no idea how Heloise would take it. As far as she was concerned, Natalie was just someone who had done work for the hotel and nothing more. How she’d feel about Natalie being important to her father now was impossible to assess. “I have to have enough time with her to tell her about us, and I can’t tell her on Christmas Eve. And she’s leaving in less than a week after that.” That also didn’t give him enough time to calm her down and let her adjust to the idea if she was upset. It was a mess. “I’ll do the best I can,” he said, and put his arms around Natalie, but he could see that she was disappointed too.

“I guess it’s hard in a situation like this when she’s away at school. But it also doesn’t feel right to me to be involved with each other, and say nothing to her.” They had started sleeping together around Thanks giving, but in effect they had been dating since September, and it was already Christmas Eve. “There’s a sneaky feel to all this that I don’t like. Maybe you just need to tell her, and let her get used to the idea when she goes back to school.”

“I don’t want to do that,” Hugues said firmly. “It would be different if I’d ever been serious with another woman before, but I haven’t. This is a first, and it’s liable to be a big deal to her.” It was to him.

“It’s a big deal to me too,” Natalie said sadly, “and I’m a firm believer in truth in packaging. We’re in love with each other. That’s not a crime.” But they both knew it might be to Heloise. Natalie hoped not, but as tight as Hugues’s relationship had been with his daughter, this was an unusual situation and harder to predict.

“Just let me find the right time to tell her before she leaves. I promise I will,” he assured her, and after that they both made an effort to speak of other things. He had lunch sent up for them, instead of going downstairs, so they could be alone, and after they finished, he kissed her and gave her his gift. Natalie loved the locket, thanked him profusely, and put it on immediately. She was sorry she had made such a fuss about telling Heloise about them, but it was unnerving for her to remain a secret from his daughter. She wanted to be open about it, and make friends with her, and that hadn’t happened yet. And then she gave him her gift. She had bought him a very good-looking set of leather-bound books that were all first editions of the French classics that he referred to so often. There were twenty of them, and they were a beautiful collection that he was proud to own.

They sat and cuddled after that, and he was aching to make love to her, but on the off chance that Heloise might come home, they didn’t dare. Natalie had to leave at three o’clock to catch the train to Philadelphia and was coming back in two days. There would still be time for her to have lunch or dinner with Heloise, if Hugues could find an opportune moment to explain the situation to her.

He kissed her tenderly when she left, and they wished each other a merry Christmas, and then he went back to his office. He didn’t see Heloise again until six o’clock that night, and she was true to her word and spent a quiet evening with him. They had dinner in the dining room, went back upstairs after that, and went to midnight mass at St. Patrick’s, and when they got back from church, she had a call from her mother in London. Miriam said she was up early getting things ready for the children, and she wanted to wish Heloise and her father a merry Christmas.

“Thanks, Mom,” Heloise said pleasantly. Her mother knew she had been in Lausanne since September but hadn’t invited her to London and said she was too busy. Greg and his band were cutting a new album. The conversation was brief, and Heloise sat quietly for a moment after she hung up. Talking to her mother always left her feeling empty. She tried to explain it to her father, and he felt sad for her. Miriam never failed to disappoint her. She was the classic narcissist and a totally inadequate mother. “I guess we were lucky that we were alone together for all these years.” She smiled sadly at her father. “I can’t imagine what life would have been like with her. I don’t even remember when you two were married.” She had been too young to still remember it now. “And I guess it was lucky too that you never remarried,” she said, and smiled at him, as a tremor went through him, knowing what he did now, although he and Natalie had no plans to marry. It was all too new, but he could already imagine spending the rest of his life with her, with Heloise’s approval. It was a big leap for him, in contrast to his past fifteen years of refusing to commit or get seriously involved. “I like having you to myself,” Heloise said honestly. “I don’t think I’d have wanted to share you.” It was a big statement for her to make now, and it unnerved Hugues a little.