AFTER THE HOLIDAYS Natalie got to work on the suites Hugues had hired her to redo. She put as much energy and creativity into it as she had the first one, and by the end of March the results were just as spectacular, and they had four new suites that everybody loved. Guests who had been there before were clamoring for reservations in those rooms, and Hugues was thrilled. They even raised the rates for those rooms and several others where Natalie had worked her magic. Working for him at the Vendome was becoming a lucrative business venture for her as well. He had become her best client. He had put off redoing the presidential and penthouse suites for a few months, out of budget concerns, not because of her decorating. He promised to give her the project in the next year.
Natalie became a familiar sight at the hotel, talking to painters, installing drapes, trying out paintings that she dragged down the halls herself. Ernesta told her how much she liked the new art in the rooms, and Jan was so excited when she saw the new suites that she put special orchids in them. And Bruce, the head of security, complimented her too. She found several beautiful new pieces of art for Hugues, and with her gentle touch and great taste, she added new spice to the hotel, and everybody loved her. Hugues mentioned her to Heloise every chance he got, but never in such a way that she guessed they were involved. It felt wrong to him to tell her on the phone, so he was waiting for her Easter vacation, when he was picking her up in Lausanne, spending a night in Geneva with her, and taking her to Rome.
Natalie was still uncomfortable about being a secret to his daughter. They had been romantically involved for six months, and it just didn’t feel right to be clandestine. Most of the hotel employees had figured out by then that there was more happening than just decorating, but no one asked, and no one ever dared comment on it to Hugues. It was kind of an open secret in the hotel as time went on. And he finally admitted it to Jennifer, but she knew anyway. Natalie had told her months before. Jennifer was her biggest fan and happy for both of them. He deserved more of a life than he’d had for years, and Jennifer was thrilled that he had found a woman to love, other than his daughter, and the flash-in-the-pan women who drifted through his life for two dinner reservations or a night somewhere else. Jennifer had always taken care of the dinner reservations for him. He took care of the nights himself.
Natalie had confided to Jennifer several times how upset she was that Hugues hadn’t told Heloise about them yet, and Jennifer understood better than she did how potentially delicate that situation was, given how close they were, and she urged Natalie to be patient. She was, but she was more anxious than ever for him to tell Heloise about them over Easter. It was almost as though their relationship didn’t exist in reality, until Heloise knew. Natalie told him that she was beginning to feel like the Other Woman, and a dark secret. He insisted that wasn’t true. She was the woman he loved. But so was his daughter. It was beginning to seem extremely neurotic to Natalie, and she hoped that the veil of secrecy still surrounding them would drop soon. She was ready to be out in the open with him and had been for a long time.
In spite of the tension of Heloise not knowing, romantically things were going well. They were more in love than ever. And she would have loved to go to Europe with him over Easter, but there was no question of it with Heloise still unaware of her existence, other than as the designer who was redoing four suites at the hotel. She had even suggested meeting him in Paris, after he dropped Heloise back at school, but he said he had to get back, as they had several important guests arriving in late April, and even more in May and June. It was a busy spring for him too.
He flew to Geneva on the Wednesday before Easter, landed on Thursday morning, picked Heloise up at school in Lausanne, and spent the night with her at the Hotel d’Angleterre in Geneva, which was a gem. It was an exquisite small hotel with beautiful rooms, and was a great beginning for their trip. And on the morning of Good Friday they flew to Rome and strolled down the Via Veneto, tossing coins into the Trevi Fountain, eating gelato, and standing in the Sistine Chapel gazing at the ceiling in rapture that afternoon. It was exciting just being there, and they were going to stand in the square with millions of others on Easter Sunday, to receive the Pope’s blessing. It was the perfect place to be.
