Hotel Vendome

“I think I have connections, and maybe I can help you,” she teased him. “And congratulations to both of you. Or best wishes to the bride. Have you told Heloise yet?” she asked, trying not to look worried.

“I just did.”

“Was she all right with it?”

“No. But she will be. It was a shock.” Jennifer wasn’t surprised to hear it, but she was glad Hugues had followed her advice.

Jennifer smiled as he signed the papers, and she left the room with them. She was happy for him. And she was absolutely certain that Natalie was the perfect woman for him. And once they got Heloise on board, it would be smooth sailing for them after that. She was excited about their plans. And hopefully Heloise would get used to the idea soon. Jennifer was happy too that Heloise was getting the mother figure she had needed for so long. Natalie was what they both needed, whether Heloise knew it or not.

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 Ecole Hoteliere 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.