Hotel Vendome

Chapter 17

THE MONTHS LEADING up to Hugues and Natalie’s wedding, and Heloise’s graduation, were hectic for all of them. Natalie was trying to run a business, plan a wedding, have a relationship, and make peace with a stepdaughter who continued to wage a cold war against her and ignored her anytime she was in the same room. It was stressful to say the least. Hugues was trying to be patient and reassure both of them, but nothing he said or did changed Heloise’s refusal to acknowledge Natalie or accept her as her father’s future wife. She ignored her pointedly. She refused to have anything to do with the wedding, which left Natalie to handle it with the catering manager, the florist, and a wedding consultant on her own.

Heloise was using her new apartment to entertain friends regularly and admitted that she loved it. But she was continuing to live upstairs with her father in her old room, which meant that she and Natalie ran into each other frequently whenever Natalie came over to have dinner with him, or they were in the apartment going over wedding plans. He spent the night at Natalie’s whenever he could. And all he could do with Heloise was keep her as busy as possible in her internship at the hotel to distract her from the wedding. He frequently had her working double shifts, long hours, and late nights, and he moved her from department to department, so she would learn different aspects of the business. It was what the École Hôtelière expected him to do, and he had assured them, when they agreed to let her do her internship with him, that he would make no allowances for her because she was his daughter.

Heloise had a tendency to assume that she knew everything because she had grown up in the hotel, and she still had much to learn about the business. But everyone agreed that she was a hard worker, willing to do anything she was asked, and diligent about her work.

Her father was proud of her, but the one area where Heloise would not relent was Natalie. She had told him finally that she wasn’t coming to the wedding, neither as witness nor as guest, and Hugues didn’t insist. He didn’t want to make it worse by pushing her and was hoping she would calm down by July. He still wanted her as his witness.

By the time Heloise was due to go back to Lausanne for her graduation, it was obvious that Natalie wasn’t welcome there, and she said she didn’t mind, as she had too much to do at home. The wedding was scheduled on the Saturday of the July 4 weekend, on July 7, which was the only day the ballroom had been free. Heloise’s only comment about it was that it was fine with her, since everyone they invited would be away for the long weekend and she hoped no one would come.

Her graduation and twenty-first birthday party was to be held in the same room three weeks before, on June 15. She was looking forward to it, as was everyone in the hotel, and it wasn’t a surprise this time. Heloise was planning it herself, working closely with Sally, the catering manager who was also handling the wedding. Heloise refused to hear their plans and refused to speak to Sally or Jan about it.

Heloise’s evaluations from her internship were excellent. Her style, her dedication, her judgment, and her way of dealing with guests and co-workers had all been highly praised. And her meticulous attention to detail and innate sense for the hotel business had been noted by all of her supervisors. Her years of following her father around the hotel had served her well. The only consistent criticism was that she was a little too independent and inclined to make decisions on her own. They felt she was less of a team player than destined for management one day, which was where she was headed anyway. And she would be joining the hotel’s regular internship program, working in reception and filling in with the concierge, as soon as she got back from Lausanne. And most of the guests who had already seen her at the desk had no idea that she was the owner’s daughter. She followed the same rules and guidelines about dealing with the guests as all the other employees, and she wore the same sober uniform, which was a dark blue suit for women that Hugues had had designed for them, and morning coat and striped trousers for the men. And there were rigorous standards for the appearance of the employees. She always wore her bright red hair pulled back in a neat bun on duty, and very little makeup, which was typical of her anyway.

Heloise was flying to Geneva a week before graduation, and her father was planning to arrive four days later. She wanted a little time with her classmates in Lausanne before he got there, and she stopped in at his office the morning she left. As usual, he was signing checks.

“You’re leaving?” He looked up when he heard her come in, and she nodded. In spite of their differences, he was proud of her for the degree she had just earned. He had been opposed to it in the beginning, but he could see now that there was no denying that she was a natural for the hotel business. She had lived, slept, and breathed it since she was two years old, and just as it was for him, it was what she loved most and the only job she wanted. Particularly working for him at their hotel. “Do you need money?” he asked, like any other father. He asked her the question every time she walked out the door, even for pizza with friends.

“I’m fine,” she said, smiling at him. “I got some from accounting.” They always sent him the cash reports. And she would be paid a tiny salary for the internship program when she returned. Her schedule before had been set to meet the requirements of the École Hôtelière, and her father had already told everyone that she was to be given no favors or preferential treatment when she joined their regular internship program. She was to be treated like everyone else. “I’ll see you on Friday when you get there,” she said warmly to her father. “There’s a dinner for the parents that night, and a reception after graduation.” He smiled as he walked over to give her a hug, and it reminded her of how happy she was that Natalie wasn’t coming. She was around all the time now. And for once, perhaps for a last time, she would have him to herself. Their life was about to change forever and, in her eyes, already had. Her answer to it was to act as though Natalie didn’t exist. She hadn’t invited her to her graduation, nor apologized for not doing so. She wasn’t overtly rude to her in what she said. She just totally ignored her, which was rude enough.

“Have a safe trip.” Hugues’s eyes were full of all the love he felt for her, no matter how difficult she had been for the past six months. “I’m looking forward to graduation, and your party when we get home.” He didn’t mention the wedding, since it was such a sore subject with her. And this week and the following one were all hers. And as usual, her mother wasn’t coming to her graduation. Heloise had invited her, but she was on vacation in Vietnam with Greg, and despite a year’s notice, Miriam said she had been unable to change her plans. It was always the same story with her. Heloise didn’t care as long as her father was there. And he walked her out of the hotel, where a car and driver were waiting for her to take her to the airport.

“Thank you, Papa,” she said quietly. She had seemed to calm down in the last few days. She was excited about her graduation and felt very adult suddenly. Working in the hotel, even for her father, had taught her a multitude of new skills. It was different than just running around as a kid. She had real responsibilities now, occasionally challenging situations to handle, and supervisors to satisfy, who were sometimes stern with her and always demanding, even if they’d known her for years. She had to meet the Vendôme standards now, not just those of the École Hôtelière. “See you Friday,” she said, slipping into the car, carrying her graduation dress in a garment bag, and she waved as they pulled away from the curb. He looked pensive as he watched the car drive away, thinking of all the years they had shared and the strange life they had led, safe in the cocoon of the hotel. He knew how hard it was for her to include someone else in that life, which made him more tolerant than he might have been otherwise with her behavior of the past many months. He knew that underneath her anger and upset over Natalie, she loved him, just as he loved her. It was hard for him to believe that she was grown up now and almost twenty-one, and about to be a graduate of the same school he had gone to. He smiled thinking about it as he walked back into the hotel.

When Heloise got to Lausanne, she met up with her classmates of the year before. All of them were equally excited to be graduating, and full of stories about their internships around the world. Heloise’s had been quieter than most, in her own familiar world, which made her happy that she had had six months before that at the George V. And she saw François for the first time in six months. He had a new girlfriend with him, which ruffled Heloise’s feathers. Several of them had brought significant others along. She hadn’t been dating anyone since her return to New York. Working double shifts at the hotel, she hadn’t had time.

They all went out to dinner at local restaurants every night, including the ones on campus and the two student-run bars, and attended final seminars and a rehearsal for graduation. It was an emotional time. Some of them had signed up for an additional two years in the International Hospitality Management Programme, and still others were planning to go on for a master’s degree at the school after that. But Heloise was ready to go home and get the rest of her training at the Vendôme.

And on Friday her father arrived and checked into the hotel attached to the school, which it ran as a learning experience for its students. It was a treat for any visitor to stay there, and Hugues had worked there himself for a few months as a young man. It was always fun for him to come back here and see how things had changed. His own time at the École Hôtelière had been among the best years of his life before his career began. He couldn’t help wondering as he walked around the familiar, immaculate campus if one of his grandchildren might even come here one day. It was hard to imagine, but with Heloise’s deep love for the business, he could almost see that happening sometime in the distant future. He suddenly felt like the head of a dynasty as he thought about it, and not just the proprietor of a small hotel.

“What were you thinking about, Papa?” Heloise asked him as she caught up to him. She had seen him walking along alone when she went looking for him. She had put her nuclear weapons away for these few days, particularly since Natalie wasn’t there. It was almost like old times.

He looked up and smiled when he saw Heloise and put an arm around her. “It sounds silly, but I was thinking that maybe your children will come to school here one day.” He had never expected her to do so, and suddenly it had become a tradition as she followed in his footsteps. He wondered what his parents would say. This had never been their dream for him, but it had been a good life and a career he still loved.

“I don’t think I want children,” she said pensively, as they walked along arm in arm, and he was surprised to hear it. He had always expected her to marry and have babies, even now that she would be working at the hotel.

“Why not?” he asked, watching her eyes.

“They’re too much work,” she said, brushing the idea away, and he laughed.

“So is a hotel. And let me tell you that no matter how much work children are, they’re worth it. My life would be nothing without you.” The emotion he felt for her was strong in his voice.

“Even now, with Natalie?” Heloise was haunted by her. Her eyes were sad when she looked at him, and he nodded emphatically.

“Even with Natalie. That’s not the same thing. I loved your mother very much, and I love Natalie. But the love you feel for a woman, or a man, is not the same as what you feel for a child. It doesn’t even compare. My love for you is forever. Love for a partner is there for as long as it lasts, sometimes it lasts a lifetime, sometimes not. My love for you is to my grave.” It was a serious thing to say, and she was quiet for a long moment as they stopped walking, and she looked into his eyes.

“I thought that had changed,” she said quietly, and he shook his head.

“It will never change. Never. In my entire lifetime.” She nodded then and looked relieved. It was hard for him to imagine that even as grown up as she seemed to be, she was only a child who thought she would lose her father to someone else, or already had. It explained her rejection of Natalie. And it wasn’t so surprising since at the age of four she really had lost her mother to a man. But in Miriam’s case, Heloise had never had her. Her mother had only been on loan for a brief time. The defection and abandonment of her mother had been the ultimate betrayal, which had made her fears about Natalie, and her resulting anger at him, so much worse. He understood that better now. And he was glad he had come alone. He held her tightly in his arms for a moment, stroking her long silky hair, and then they walked back to his hotel arm in arm with a feeling of peace. He had said everything she needed to hear. It hadn’t been enough to know it, or assume it, or hope it; she had needed the words, and she had needed to hear them from him.

The eve-of-graduation dinner that night at the school-run hotel was a festive event. It was held in an auditorium that had been festooned and decorated, and a number of the students as well as the director of the school gave speeches, some of them very emotional. And afterward most of the students went to small nightclubs and bars around Lausanne, and the bars on campus, for a last time. Heloise went out with her friends, and she was genuinely sad to leave them. After this they would all be scattered around the world, although two of them said they were doing internships in New York, but neither of them were people she knew well. And she heard that François had secured a job in Paris at the Plaza Athénée, which he preferred to working at his family’s hotel in the South of France. From now on they would all be crawling their way up the corporate ladder in the hotel business, satisfying their supervisors and serving their clients’ needs. It wasn’t an easy business, they all knew by now, but it was the path they had chosen, and they couldn’t wait to get started. Only two people had dropped out, one because of family illness and the other due to pregnancy and a shotgun wedding, but even she had promised to return. There were a hundred and seventy-eight students graduating in Heloise’s class, and fewer than two thousand in the school, including graduate students. It was acknowledged to be the finest hotel school in the world and a major coup to graduate from there.

And the graduation ceremony was very moving the next day. It followed all the school’s venerable traditions and hadn’t changed a bit since Hugues had graduated more than thirty years before at her age. Prizes were given, and Heloise got two honorable mentions. The crowd in the auditorium stood up and applauded them at the end of the ceremony as an orchestra played, and then a huge cheer rose from the students and the crowd, and they were distinguished graduates of the illustrious École Hôtelière de Lausanne. There were tears streaming down Heloise’s cheeks and in her father’s eyes as she found him and they embraced.

“I’m so proud of you,” he said in a choked voice, and there was no one in the room for her, or in the world, except the two of them at that moment. And he was glad once again that he had come alone. He had needed to share this with her, and to confirm his dedication to her and his love. He was deeply sad for her that Miriam hadn’t come. She was such a fool and had missed the boat with Heloise all her life. She had absented herself from every major occasion, just as she had this time. She cared about no one but herself. He was sorry he had given Heloise such an inadequate mother, and he hoped that she and Natalie would be friends one day. It was too late to act as her mother, but it would be good for her to have a staunch, mature female friend, other than Jennifer, Ernesta, and Jan, all of whom had been good to her. But Natalie would be family now. He had tried to be everything to her, mother, father, mentor, adviser, but he still felt she needed a woman in her life, and he was sorry he hadn’t provided one before this. In some ways he had waited too long, and now instead of welcoming it, Heloise resented it and had declared war on Natalie. He hoped there would be a truce one of these days, but he didn’t mention it to her in Lausanne.

The graduation dinner that night was a grand affair, with excellent food and a very decent band. He danced with his daughter, and she danced with her friends for the last time. After all their hard work for two years, this was a night of celebration and saluting their accomplishments. And the next morning they congregated for the last time, after being out the night before till six A.M. Heloise hadn’t even bothered to go to bed. After hugging all her friends and exchanging contact information, she got in the car with her father, went to the airport in Geneva, and fell sound asleep as soon as they boarded the plane. He covered her gently with a blanket and smiled as he looked at her. She looked like a little girl again with her bright red hair and her freckles. She was a woman now, with a life and career ahead of her, but she would always be his baby, in spite of her accomplishments. He leaned over and kissed her and watched her while she slept as the plane headed to New York.