But she already had. Heloise knew that she had lost a part of her father to her. Things weren’t the same. She was no longer the only woman in his life. She wanted to crawl back into the womb.
He spoke to her very clearly then, seeing all that she felt in her eyes. “You’re not going to lose me. You never could. No one is ever going to replace you. There is room for all of us here.” He said it with enormous love for her in his eyes.
“No, there isn’t!” she said with tears in hers. It was the worst shock she’d ever had, since she didn’t remember her mother leaving. “I’m going back to France,” she said, pacing around the room, and although he didn’t feel it, Hugues tried to appear calm.
“No, you’re not. You have an internship to do here. You won’t get your diploma without it. And besides, this is your home.”
“Well, it’s not hers. I don’t want to see her around here.”
“I’m not going to hide her from you, Heloise. I respect you both too much. I should have told you a year ago, and I didn’t. It was a big mistake, and I’m not going to do that again. I hope you’ll get used to the idea, and to Natalie. She wants to be your friend.”
“I have enough friends. I don’t need her. She’s twice my age.” He didn’t say anything and waited for her to calm down, and instead she grabbed her coat, turned to look at him, and said, “Thank you for ruining my life.” With tears running down her face, she ran out of the apartment and slammed the door. He was sure she was going to one of her friends to complain about him, but at least he had finally told her. Now she had to make the adjustment to Natalie being in his life. And he knew it might take her a while. He wasn’t shocked by what she said, just sad for her.
He called Natalie later that morning and repeated the conversation to her, without the comment about ruining her life. He had been true to his word. He had told Heloise at last and got the reaction he had expected. She was grateful it wasn’t worse.
“How is she?” Natalie asked, sounding worried. She hoped it hadn’t been too bad, for either of them.
“She’s very angry at the moment. And probably scared, and hurt. She’ll get over it. She just needs a little time.” He sounded confident and calm now that he had done it.
Heloise slept at a friend’s that night, and on Christmas she was still not speaking to him. Natalie was at her brother’s in Philadelphia, as she was every year for Christmas, so he didn’t ask her to join them, which was just as well. It was a very tense Christmas. Heloise refused to have dinner with him and worked at the front desk instead.
And the day after Christmas, Natalie came over when she got back to town. They were having dinner quietly in the apartment, when Heloise came in, saw her, stomped into her room, and slammed the door, without saying a word. The fear and hurt she felt had turned to rage. She looked like a tornado tearing through the suite, and she was acting like a child.
“Wow!” Natalie said softly. She could see why he hadn’t told her before. She was being anything but gracious about it. Heloise had spoken to several of her favorite people around the hotel, including Jennifer, and they had all said that Natalie was a kind person and good for her father, which made Heloise even more upset. She wanted them to hate her as much as she did, but no one would sign on. She was alone in the fight, and they all thought that it was time he had a serious woman in his life again. Heloise thought they were all traitors and hated them too. But she hated her father most of all, for the ultimate betrayal of replacing her. She had no intention of sharing him with Natalie or anyone else. He was hers.
“She’ll be all right,” Hugues tried to reassure Natalie, but she was upset too. She hadn’t wanted to destroy his family, or the relationship he had with his only child. But there was nothing they could do now except wait out the storm. And it looked like it was going to be a long wait.
The next day Heloise left to go skiing in Vermont with friends. And she said not a word to him when she left. In a way it was easier that she had gone away for a few days. Natalie could stay with him, and they could spend New Year’s Eve together in peace. They had no particular plans other than being together, and Natalie was worried now that she might be ruining his life.
“Do you want me to get out of your life again?” she asked him, feeling guilty for the trouble she’d caused.
“No, I don’t!” he said sternly. “I did this for us, and it’s the right thing to do. Now help me see it through. You can’t just bail out of the boat the first time we hit a wave.” She nodded and didn’t know what to do to calm things down, other than support him and wait it out.
“Do you suppose she’ll ever give me a chance?” Natalie asked him, looking anxious.
“Not for a while. She was always a very stubborn child, and she hasn’t changed. The storm will have to blow itself out. And I’m sure it’ll be pretty unpleasant for a time.” He put an arm around her and kissed her. And as much as he had feared Heloise’s reaction for the last year, he was ready for it now and willing to endure it. It was Natalie who looked scared.
When they went to bed, she tossed and turned for most of the night, and she looked tired the next morning.
“Try to stop worrying about it. We just need to give it time,” he said firmly.
Natalie finally relaxed on New Year’s Eve, and they spent a wonderful evening together, watching old movies and drinking champagne. Hugues had tried to call Heloise to wish her a happy new year, as he always did, but she didn’t answer her phone. He left her a voice mail and sent a text message. Natalie was amazed at how calm he was. Now that he had finally told her, he was fine. And he refused to talk about it that night. The evening was theirs.
Much to everyone’s amazement, Heloise was still angry when she came back. More so than ever. He had betrayed her, in her eyes, and betrayal was something she couldn’t forgive. She started her job at the front desk two days after New Year’s, and she scowled at her father whenever she saw him. He gave her plenty of space and didn’t force the issue. She had the information she needed, that Natalie was part of his life now. She had to get used to it, whether she liked it or not.
She didn’t relent for all of January and barely said two words to him in five weeks and ignored Natalie entirely. Hugues was a little discouraged by then. He wondered how long she could continue the vendetta. Apparently a very long time. Jennifer tried to talk to her too, to no avail. Heloise didn’t want to hear it, from her or anyone else. She said she hated Natalie and that was it. But Jennifer dared to disagree.
“This isn’t the temporary catering manager flirting with your father and sleeping with the sous chef in the freezer,” she reminded her. The reference actually made Heloise smile. She had forgotten about Hilary. “Natalie is a decent woman. She won’t give you a hard time. And she’s not trying to take him away from you. You should give her a chance.”
“Why? I don’t need a mother. I have one. And I don’t want to share my father with her.” It was honest at least, although she sounded about five years old, which was part of the problem. In some ways she still was. She was acting immature and spoiled. And Jennifer told her so, which made her even more furious. Jennifer told her she wasn’t being reasonable, and that she was better than that. Heloise stormed off in a huff and went back to the desk, where she was doing a very good job. Her father was pleased to hear it and giving her a wide berth. Natalie was staying away from the hotel when Heloise was there.
At the beginning of February, Heloise was still angry and upset, Natalie was a nervous wreck, and Hugues was getting a little tired of it all. Natalie kept offering to leave him, Heloise would have loved it if she did, and he wanted them both to calm down. He reported to Jennifer about it every morning, and she kept telling him to hang in and be patient. He said he was.
“Why don’t you just marry her then?” Jennifer said one morning. “You might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb. If Heloise is this mad, she’ll just get mad all over again if the two of you ever get married. Why not get it over with all at once? And then Natalie can just move in.” He hadn’t shown Heloise her new apartment. He didn’t want to spoil it by doing it when she was so angry. He wanted her to enjoy it and was waiting for her to settle down, and she hadn’t yet. And it was beginning to look like she never would. But he liked Jennifer’s idea and thought about it for a few days. Maybe she had a point. Heloise was already mad and had been for nearly two months. What difference would it make? And he loved the idea of spending the rest of his life with Natalie. They had talked about it a few times, before the furor began when Heloise got home.
He didn’t say anything to anyone, and he bought Heloise a beautiful red Givenchy coat for Valentine’s Day and gave it to her at breakfast. He could tell that she was tempted to give it back to him, but instead she opened it with a surly expression that melted when she saw the coat.
