Hotel Vendome

Chapter 26

HELOISE AND BRAD picked a date in September. It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon. Natalie was her matron of honor, and her bridesmaids were three of her friends from the Lycée, and Jan. Stephanie was the flower girl, and Julien was the ring bearer, although he kept misplacing the rings, and his mother was holding on to them for him.

Her father was going to give her away, and Miriam and Greg Bones had come, which accounted for an army of paparazzi outside. Everyone who had ever mattered in her life was there, the employees she had worked with, the ones she’d grown up with, Ernesta, Jennifer, and Bruce, the friends she’d had in high school, and even one of her friends from the École Hôtelière. And all of Brad’s family and friends were there too.

Heloise had taken care of all the wedding plans and details herself. And this time Natalie helped her. She had gone with her to shop for the dress and helped her pick out the bridesmaids’ dresses. And Heloise had very definite ideas about how the wedding should look, the flowers, the tables, the decorations in the room. She worked closely with Franco the florist, and had Jan come in to consult with him to get exactly the look Heloise wanted, with garlands and topiary trees, and Jan was making her bouquet of lily of the valley. She and Brad picked the music and the band, and she ordered new table-cloths for the ballroom. Just as Natalie had, and all the brides who had come to the hotel, she wanted her wedding to be perfect for her and Brad.

She had invited her mother and admitted to Natalie that she didn’t know if she’d come, and wasn’t sure she cared. It was too late for them by then. Her mother had let her down too often. But it felt rude not to ask her, and her father said she should, and at least give her a chance to show up for once.

“Do you want her to come?” Natalie had asked her honestly. Heloise thought about it for a long moment, sighed, and then nodded.

“I feel stupid saying it. But I think I do.”

“Don’t feel stupid. No matter how inadequate and disappointing they are, they’re still our mothers. I actually missed my mother on my wedding day, and she probably would have been mean to me if she was there. She always was.” It was a bond that Natalie and Heloise shared, and had been their first, when Natalie told her about her mother, the day before she married Hugues. It had been the end of Heloise’s campaign against her, and they had been close ever since. And Heloise knew that if her mother didn’t come, Natalie would be enough.

And much to her amazement, Miriam had accepted, and said she’d be delighted to come, with Greg, Arielle, and Joey, and she asked for two large suites at the hotel, complimentary of course, since she was the mother of the bride. She asked for the presidential suite, but it was occupied, and Hugues wouldn’t move the important guest in it for her. So they gave her two very nice suites on the ninth floor. And the paparazzi went nuts outside because of Greg.

It had been an insane week, but everything had gotten done, everyone had helped her, especially Jan, Jennifer, and Natalie, and Heloise had worked till the last minute.

And then finally they had the rehearsal dinner and closed the restaurant to do it there, and the big day came faster than Heloise expected. And the next thing she knew, Natalie and her mother were helping her dress. Predictably, Miriam was wearing an almost-see-through sexy white gown, totally oblivious that she wasn’t supposed to wear white to a wedding, and even less if her daughter was the bride. And Heloise’s half-brother and -sister by her mother were there, Arielle and Joey. They were nineteen and twenty, were wearing jeans and sneakers, and had as many tattoos as Greg and her mother, and Stephanie said they were very rude. Joey had even arrived carrying his own beer bottle into the rehearsal dinner, but Heloise didn’t care.

She had selected a simple white organdy gown with a huge skirt and full sleeves you could see her arms through that made her look like she was floating in a cloud, with her red hair in a neat bun under her veil. And her father’s eyes filled with tears when he saw her. All he could think of now was what she had looked like at seven as she ran around the hotel. And he looked proud as he walked her down the aisle, to the steps where Brad was waiting. He looked at her as though he had waited for this moment all his life. They both had, and the moment was perfect.

The ceremony was short and simple, and Julien handed them the rings and didn’t lose them. The minister pronounced them man and wife, and when Brad kissed her, she knew she was in the right place with the right man at the right time. They danced all night and had a terrific time at their wedding.

Brad looked down at her with a blissful expression as he danced with her and thought he had never seen a more beautiful woman in his life, and Heloise had never been happier. She loved knowing that she was his wife.

“Was it everything you wanted it to be?” he asked about their wedding, and she nodded, looking peaceful and totally happy.

“Everything and more. And I feel like a guest at the hotel.” She was trying not to play assistant manager that night and not worry about anything.

And even her mother had behaved. Her father had danced with her once, and after years of being happily married to Natalie, he realized that he wasn’t angry at Miriam anymore. It was a relief. And she said the hotel was even more beautiful than before. Greg was polite too, and both their children got so drunk, they had to go back to their suite before dinner.

Julien and Stephanie behaved like angels and took turns dancing with their parents and each other.

Her whole wedding night felt like a dream to Heloise. It was perfect. And the ballroom had never looked lovelier, with Franco and Jan working on the flowers together.

They stopped dancing at eleven so the bride and groom could catch the one A.M. flight to Paris. They were going to stay at the Ritz, and then fly on to Nice to stay at the Hotel du Cap in Cap d’Antibes, which was perfect for a honeymoon.

When Heloise tossed the bouquet Jan had made her for that purpose so she could keep her own, she aimed it straight at her sister Stephanie, who caught it and screamed with glee, as Julien rolled his eyes and wondered how she could be so silly. It was a legacy, for all the bouquets Heloise had wanted to catch as a little girl and hadn’t been allowed to, and in memory of the one Natalie had tossed her seven years before, on the day she met Brad at their wedding. And Stephanie held the bouquet high like a prize. Her father and Natalie and all their friends watched as they got into the Rolls outside the hotel, and Heloise stopped long enough to kiss her father, and then with a last wave they got into the car.

And as they drove away from the hotel in a flurry of rose petals, her cell phone rang. She glanced at the number and saw that it was the hotel. Her father was babysitting the hotel for her, and when they came back, he was retiring and leaving for Paris. They had just rented an apartment on the Left Bank. These were going to be his last weeks of running the Hotel Vendôme, and after that Heloise would take over. She started to answer her phone, and Brad took it from her hand and kissed her.

“You’re not on duty,” he reminded her. “You’re all mine for the next two weeks.” But more than that, she was his for the rest of time. And the hotel would be there when they got back. It was hers now. He kissed her again, and she turned her cell phone off and put it in her pocket. For now the hotel could wait. It would all be there when she got back, just as it had been all her life.