Hotel Vendome

Chapter 10

THE DAY OF Heloise’s return from Switzerland for Christmas vacation, the whole hotel was buzzing with excitement. The pastry chef baked her favorite chocolate cake for her, Ernesta made sure the maids thoroughly cleaned her room, Jan sent up flowers just the way she liked them, and all the Christmas decorations were set up in the lobby. Hugues was so pleased that she was coming home. He could hardly wait to see her. It had been almost four months, the longest he had ever been away from her in her lifetime. And he went to the airport in the Rolls to meet her.

He and Natalie had talked about it the night before, and she admitted that she was nervous about meeting his daughter. What if Heloise didn’t like her? Hugues said that was absurd, of course she would, although he didn’t want to tell her the night she arrived, but wanted to give her a few days to settle in. So much had happened. He and Natalie had spent every night together for the past four weeks, and they were going to miss each other for the two weeks that Heloise was home. She had three weeks’ vacation, and Hugues had been upset to hear that she was planning to spend the third week skiing in Gstaad with her French boyfriend. His parents had a house there. Hugues had tried to object, and Heloise had brushed him off and said that all her friends were going. But he was grateful for every moment of the two weeks he was going to spend with her. He expected it to be just like old times when she was home. And somewhere in those two weeks, he was going to tell her about Natalie and his plans for them to meet each other.

Her plane arrived from Switzerland half an hour early, but Hugues was already there, and she hugged him so tight he could hardly breathe. She looked different to him, more grown up, suddenly more subtly European, and she had cut her hair a little shorter, which made her look more sophisticated too. Her first big romance with the French boy had somehow altered her. She had left a girl and returned a woman.

She chattered excitedly about hotel school all the way to the city, and an astonishingly large number of the hotel’s employees were waiting for them in the lobby when they arrived. It looked like a family scene, with the Christmas decorations around them. They hugged her and smiled at her, pounded her back and spun her around. Jan was there with an armload of long-stem pink roses for her. Jennifer came out of the office just to hug her. No VIP had ever gotten as warm or lavish a reception from the hotel. Three bellmen rode the elevator upstairs with them to assist with her single bag. And she looked ecstatic when she walked into their apartment and hugged her father again. And he looked every bit as happy as she did.

“Everything looks so wonderful!” she said, as she looked around and saw flowers everywhere, and the rooms were immaculately clean. “And so do you,” she said, beaming at him. He had never looked better to her in her life. “I missed you sooooo much!”

“Don’t even talk to me about that,” he said with an exaggerated, pained expression to cover his feelings. “I felt like part of me was missing, like my liver and my heart and both legs, for four months.” And then he remembered. “And wait till you see nine-twelve. It’s been completely redone.” He had told her it was in progress but wanted to save its completion as a surprise.

“Does it look great?” She seemed excited, and he took the key out of his pocket and grinned at her.

“Come and look. Someone’s checking in tonight, but it’s empty right now.” He took her by the hand, and they ran down the service stairway to the ninth floor, and he let her in. Hugues let Heloise go first, and he heard her literally gasp as she saw what had been done.

“Ohmigod, Papa! It’s fabulous! It’s soooo terrific, and just what we needed. It looks young and happy and elegant, and the new paintings are fantastic. And I like the lamps and the rugs.” She ran from the living room into the bedroom and liked it even more. “The decorator must be amazing. She did a gorgeous job.” He had mentioned Natalie to her in the past four months but had been careful not to do so too much, so he didn’t arouse her suspicions that there was something going on between them. And he had been artful about it, because he saw no hint of a question in her eyes. All she saw was the decor. “I love it, I just love it,” she said as she sat down on the couch and looked around some more. And as he did, she loved all the little touches and accessories Natalie had added, and the things she had brought from other rooms that suddenly looked so much better here.

“And she came in under budget. I just gave her the other three big suites to do. And she’s been tweaking some of the other rooms.”

“She’s very, very good,” Heloise said admiringly. “I’d like to meet her sometime. Is she young? There’s a really nice fresh feeling to what she does, while staying in the whole tone of the hotel,” which was old-world elegance with a new touch.

“She’s young to me. Not to you,” Hugues said, referring to Natalie’s age. “I think she’s thirty-nine.” He knew exactly how old she was but didn’t want to look too sure, or appear to know too much. It would have been the perfect opportunity to tell her he was dating Natalie, and in love with her, but he didn’t want to tell her so soon and risk upsetting her on her first night home. He wasn’t sure. So he didn’t say a word, except about Natalie’s decorating and her age.

“I’ll bet she’s cool,” Heloise volunteered.

“She is,” he said quietly, and then Heloise wanted to go back upstairs. They had room service in their apartment that night, and she told him everything about the school, and François, the boy she was going out with.

“Are you in love with him?” her father asked her nervously, afraid of what he’d hear.

“Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t want to get distracted from school and screw it up. It’s pretty hard. But we’re both applying for internships next summer for our hospitality year. We’re applying to the Ritz, the George V, and the Plaza Athénée.” Hugues looked crestfallen the moment she said it.

“I thought you were going to do your internship year here with me,” he reminded her.

“I can do both,” Heloise said sensibly. “I can do six months in Paris, and the rest with you. That way I’d be home by Christmas next year.” But he had been expecting her return six months earlier, in June. It meant she would be gone for another year, and the last four months had already felt like an eternity to him. But not to her. It was obvious that she was having a ball in Lausanne, with François, the school, and all her new friends there. She said there were going to be ten of them staying at François’s parents’ chalet in Gstaad over New Year’s. They were very successful and owned a hotel in the South of France. So they had that in common and a lot more. It was her first affair, and whether she admitted it or not, her father could see that she was in love.

She went downstairs after that to visit her old friends all over the hotel. She knew all of the night staff, stopped to visit the phone operators and the front desk, and kissed the concierge on duty before she came back upstairs again. Hugues was talking to Natalie when she came in. And once Heloise was in the room, he said good night and hung up.

“Who was that?” Heloise asked with a smile. To her father, she was still a child, whether or not she really was. And it was difficult to explain to a child that he was in love with Natalie. Saying it made him feel uncomfortable and disloyal to her somehow. He knew that that was foolish, but that was how it felt.

“Actually, it was Natalie Peterson, the interior designer who did nine-twelve. I told her how much you love what she did. She says she’d love to meet you. Maybe in a couple of days.”

“Sure.” Although she’d noticed it, Heloise didn’t comment on the fact that he had called her at ten o’clock at night. Heloise assumed they’d probably gotten to be friends while she did the work. “That would be fun,” Heloise said with a smile, and went to their kitchen to help herself to some wine. Her father noticed it and was surprised. That seemed grown-up to him too, although he had always let her drink wine at table if she wanted to, which she rarely did. He hoped she wasn’t drinking to excess with her friends at school. There was so little he could control now, or even influence, from so far away, which was the plight of all parents in his shoes. Once they grew up, they were on their own, with all their good and bad decisions and consequences thereof. All you could do was hope that what they did wasn’t too high risk and the consequences weren’t dire.

“What are we doing tomorrow?” she asked him, as she sat cross-legged on the couch, sipping the wine, while he tried to get used to the idea.

“Whatever you like. I’m at your full disposal for the next two weeks.” He still had to work, but he had let everyone know that he would be in and out of the office while his daughter was in town. And he had warned Natalie that he would see very little of her too. She was going to Philadelphia on Christmas Eve for a few days, to stay with her brother and his family. She was going by train with her older nephew, who had just started law school at Columbia.

“I have to do my Christmas shopping tomorrow,” Heloise explained. “I didn’t have time to do it in Lausanne. I had exams till yesterday.”

“How did you do?” he asked with a look of concern. He was afraid that François might be distracting her.

“Okay, I think. I know a lot of the stuff we’re studying, from being here,” she said, looking relaxed.

They chatted for a little while, about school, Switzerland, and what the school had been like when Hugues had gone there, and eventually Heloise yawned and went to bed. On Swiss time for her, it was very late. And just as he had for nineteen years before she left, he kissed her and tucked her in.

“Night, Papa… it’s so good to be home,” she said sleepily. She blew a kiss in the air, turned on her side, and was almost asleep by the time he left the room.

He went to his own room then, sat pensively for a minute, thinking about her and how good it was to have her home, and then called Natalie again. She was still awake and wondering how it had gone.

“How is she?”

“In love with that boy, I think. But she seems happy to be home. Now she says she wants to do an internship at a hotel in Paris next year before she comes back. That means she’ll be gone for another year from now.” He sounded disappointed as he said it, and Natalie felt sorry for him. He was having a difficult time letting her go.

“It will go by very quickly,” Natalie reassured him, “and you can go over and visit her anytime.”

“It’s hard to get away from here.” She knew that was true too. He was so attentive to the hotel and on duty and available almost all the time. He always left his cell phone on when he was with her, even at night. And it was rare for him to let it go to voice mail, except when they were making love. Any other time, he answered.

“So when am I going to meet her?” Natalie sounded excited at the prospect, and she wanted to get the ice-breaking over with so she could get to know her.

“How about coming for a drink tomorrow? After work.”

“That sounds perfect,” Natalie said happily. “I can’t wait. This is like meeting a celebrity or a movie star,” she said, laughing.

“She is to me,” he confirmed, but she knew that. “How about seven? If it goes well, maybe we can all go to dinner.”

“Great!”

“I miss you,” he said in a whisper. He didn’t want Heloise to hear him, although he knew she was sound asleep, but just in case.

“So do I. I love you, Hugues.” And she hoped that one day she would love his daughter too. She wanted that for all of them. She wanted to be Heloise’s friend, not stand in for her mother, which wouldn’t have felt right. More like a favorite, very close aunt.

“I love you too, Natalie,” he said gently, and a moment later they hung up. He went to stand in Heloise’s bedroom doorway for a moment. She was sleeping peacefully with a small smile on her face. He closed the door softly and walked to his bedroom with a feeling of peace he hadn’t had since she left. He knew where she was tonight, that she was safe and that he would see her at breakfast in the morning. All was well in his world.

The next morning Hugues and Heloise ordered room service for breakfast. Two waiters came upstairs to serve it instead of one, and both kissed her excitedly when they saw her and told her that the hotel wasn’t the same without her and she’d better hurry up and finish school and come back.

And after that she went out Christmas shopping, and her father insisted she take an SUV from the limo service since it was snowing, and he knew she wouldn’t find a cab.

She shopped all day, met an old school friend from the Lycée for lunch, and was back looking happy and tired at five o’clock. She bounded into her father’s office, and Jennifer looked up at her with a smile.

“It sure is nice to have you back,” Jennifer said as Heloise kissed her on the cheek on the way past her into her father’s inner office. He was signing checks at his desk, and looked up with delight when he heard her come in.

“Do I have any money left, or did you spend it all today?” he asked with a grin.

“I spent most of it. But I left you enough so you can buy me a Christmas present.” She cackled at her own joke, and he laughed.

“Oh really? What did you have in mind?”

“I don’t know, something I can use at school. Like a tiara maybe, or a full-length sable coat.” Her face grew serious then. “Actually, I was going to ask you if I can have new skis. My old ones are all beaten up, and I’d love to have new ones for Gstaad.” It was a reasonable request, and one he liked.

“I was thinking of that myself.” He had also bought her a shearling parka at Bergdorf that he thought she could wear to school, and a gold bangle bracelet with her name engraved on it, and “Love, Papa” engraved inside. He had had a much harder time shopping for Natalie, who was simple and chic and appeared to have everything, and he wanted to give her something sentimental that she would wear. He had settled on an antique locket with a diamond heart on it, on a long gold chain, at Fred Leighton, and he hoped that she would like it. “Do you want to go out to dinner tonight, or just eat here?” Heloise looked embarrassed the minute he asked. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings, and she wanted to spend time with him, but she wanted to see her friends too. She had made dinner plans with two of them, and they were going to a party afterward in Tribeca.

“I’m sorry, Papa, I’m going out with friends. How about tomorrow night? I won’t make other plans.”

“Don’t be silly. That’s fine. Of course you want to see your pals.” He tried not to look disappointed and had to remind himself that he was not the only thing in her life, and she was young. “By the way, Natalie Peterson, the decorator, is coming over to have drinks with us at seven. She wants to meet you.”

“I’d like to meet her too, but I don’t know if I have time. We have a dinner reservation downtown at eight.”

“You don’t have to stay long. She’s thrilled you like the suite.” Heloise smiled, gathered up her packages a few minutes later, and went upstairs to get organized for that night. And Hugues tried to look calmer than he felt. He didn’t want to insist on her meeting Natalie, but it was important to him, and he was trying to act nonchalant.

When he went upstairs himself at six-thirty, Heloise was racing around the apartment wrapped in a towel, talking to a friend on her cell phone, making additional plans for that night. She waved to her father and disappeared into her own room. And the desk called him promptly at seven to tell him that Miss Peterson was downstairs. He told them to send her up.

He opened the door to her himself and didn’t dare kiss her in case Heloise ran back into the room. He whispered to Natalie instead.

“It’s a little crazy around here. She’s going out. I told her you were coming for a drink because she liked the suite so much.”

“That’s fine,” Natalie said, looking relaxed. She was used to young people Heloise’s age from her nephews and nieces. Her brother in Philadelphia had four, among them twins Heloise’s age.

He poured her a glass of champagne, and half an hour later Heloise appeared in black leggings, a black leather tunic, and toweringly high-heeled black sandals, and her hair was still wet. Hugues had never seen her wear an outfit like that before, and he couldn’t tell if the tunic was a dress or a top. She had always been much more conservative, and in the sexy outfit she looked frighteningly sophisticated and adult. A very fashionable adult, like the women in the halls of the hotel and the bar.

“This is Natalie, the interior designer who worked magic in nine-twelve,” he said as he introduced the two women, and Heloise smiled at her. She thought Natalie looked like a nice person. She had a warm, easy manner and a sincere smile.

“I really love what you did,” Heloise said truthfully as her father handed his daughter a glass of champagne and invited her to sit down. “I can only stay five minutes. I have to pick everyone up at quarter to eight, and we have to get downtown.” It had stopped snowing, but at this time of year, before Christmas, it would be hard to find a cab. She accepted the champagne anyway, sat down on the couch, and took a sip. “My father said he’s giving you more suites to do. I bet they’ll be gorgeous,” Heloise said politely, with a cool smile.

“Maybe you can help me pick the fabrics this time,” Natalie said easily, watching her. She was a very pretty girl and looked more sophisticated than she’d expected or than Hugues had described.

“That would be fun. But I’m leaving pretty soon. I’m sure you and my father will do a good job.” She glanced at her watch then with a look of panic and stood up. “I’ve gotta go,” she said to her father, kissed him on the cheek, and looked at Natalie, oblivious to anything that was going on between them. “Nice to meet you,” she said, and two seconds later they heard the front door close.

“I’m sorry,” Hugues said, looking disappointed. “I wanted you two to have a chance to talk. She wants to see her friends while she’s here. I forgot to take that into account.” Most of all, Natalie realized, he had forgotten to take into account that she had her own life now.

“It’s fine,” she said easily. “Kids don’t want to waste their time with old farts like us.”

“I may be an old fart,” he said with a smile, “but you very definitely are not.” She looked anything but in a short skirt, high heels, and a pretty blouse.

“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.

“And now?” he asked her quietly, watching her eyes.

She laughed at the question since it wasn’t an issue. “I don’t want to share you now either. I like being the only woman in your life, Papa.”

“And what happens when you fall in love and get married one day?” It was an honest question.

“Then we’ll all live here together, and live happily ever after. But I like it this way for now.” She had no plans to marry François. They were both too young. The thought hadn’t even crossed her mind.

Hugues sighed as he listened to her, and she didn’t notice the sadness in his eyes. There was no way he could tell her about Natalie now, after what she had just said. He suspected it would cause a real explosion and a rift between them he didn’t want. He didn’t want to hurt his daughter. Her mother had given her enough pain for a lifetime.

“Then you’d better come home and be the woman in my life,” he teased her to lighten the moment. “If you stay in Paris with François, I’m coming to get you.” Heloise laughed when he said it, and she reassured him a moment later.

“Don’t worry, Papa. I’m coming home for good next Christmas. I promise.” She moved closer to him then on the couch and put an arm around him. “I’m going to be your girl forever.” She had been all her life, and in her mind nothing had changed. It was inconceivable to her that there was any other woman in his life. There was no sign of it. “I love you, Papa,” she said softly as she leaned her head on her father’s shoulder. Unlike her mother, in her entire life he had never let her down.

“I love you too,” he whispered, and pulled her closer, feeling as though he had betrayed Natalie by not telling his daughter about her. But his first allegiance was to Heloise, always had been and always would be. It was the old saying that blood was thicker than water. And the bond they shared was more powerful than any other.