Watching them interact, Dillon found himself envying their closeness, and wishing he could find someone to love him who loved him back the way Steven had.
Ordinarily, Dillon didn’t welcome being in the spotlight. However, Ellie would be the one with all eyes on her and he knew his brother’s new wife thrived on the favorable attention.
“Everyone,” Dillon said, raising his voice as he addressed the people in front of the wellness spa. “If I could have your attention for a moment, please,” he began.
Slowly, more and more people turned to look in Dillon Fortune’s direction, their conversations halting until relative silence reigned.
“I want to welcome all of you here today and thank you for coming,” Dillon said, addressing the gathering. With that, he turned the proceedings over to the town’s mayor. “Madam Mayor, they’re all yours,” Dillon told her.
All eyes turned toward Ellie, waiting for her to cut the white ribbon and officially open up the spa to make it become a part of the townspeople’s lives.
“I’m not going to bore you with a long, fancy speech or a lot of rhetoric,” Ellie began warmly. “We all know why we’re here.”
“Yeah, for the refreshments,” someone in the back of the crowd called out.
Laughter rippled through the crowd.
“Exactly,” Ellie agreed. “Refreshments for our bodies as well as for our souls, which is exactly what this spa with all its new techniques and amenities promises to deliver,” the mayor told her constituents. “Paz Spa brings what all of us would agree is a much needed shot in the arm to the residents of Rambling Rose. I for one can’t thank the Fortune family enough for having traveled here and bringing their ideas and their revitalizing energy to our heretofore sleepy little town. Though in the beginning, some of us weren’t quite convinced about the merits of this undertaking, you,” she said, pausing to smile at her husband and at Dillon, “have shown us the error of our thinking. Believe me when I tell you that you have earned our undying gratitude many times over.
“In the famous words of Humphrey Bogart at the end of the classic film Casablanca, ‘I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.’ And I can say that we are all looking forward to watching that friendship unfold and thrive.
“So now, without any further ado,” Ellie declared, taking hold of the over-sized scissors that Dillon had handed to her, “let me cut this ribbon and declare Paz Spa officially open for business!”
With that, holding onto the two large halves of the scissors, one in each hand, the young mayor cut through the fabric. The two severed white halves of ribbon fluttered to the floor amid enthusiastic cheers.
Steven put his arm around Ellie’s shoulders as he pressed a kiss to her temple. “Well done, Madam Mayor,” he told her with a pleased laugh.
“Actually, holding onto those two ends and getting them to cut through the ribbon isn’t all that challenging,” Ellie cracked.
“Well, you pulled it off with grace, the way everyone knew you would.” Hailey knew that some women had a tough time coordinating the demands of their jobs with pregnancy. But Ellie seemed to sail right through things, unaffected.
“I wasn’t worried,” Ellie said, glancing over her shoulder toward her husband. And then her dark eyes twinkled. “I had a backup waiting in the wings.”
“Everyone, please, there’s a lot of food waiting for you to do justice to it. So eat, drink and—well, you all know the rest of that saying. Now go do it!” Hailey instructed, waving the crowded gathering to move into the spa’s reception area where a buffet had been set up.
There were all sorts of sandwiches as well as several kinds of tortillas to choose from. Alongside that were different cuts of fried chicken. They were sitting next to french fries, pizza slices and so many different kinds of pastries, Dillon lost count when he’d tried to catalog them. There were also a selection of salads, smoothies and fresh fruit for the dedicated purists.
When he’d instructed the spa’s manager to spare no expense for this celebration, he hadn’t thought that much of his words, but she had obviously taken them to heart.
Coming up to Hailey, Dillon felt that he had to tell her what he thought of the tempting array.
“You certainly do know how to put on an inviting spread.”
Hailey turned toward the sound of the deep male voice and smiled warmly up at Dillon. She appreciated him telling her that.
“Thank you, I’m glad you approve. I wasn’t sure exactly what you had in mind,” she confessed, “so I figured that if I got a little of everything, I’d wind up covering it.”
“Yes, I noticed,” he said with a laugh. “If we get locked in here for a week for some reason, we certainly wouldn’t starve,” Dillon commented. “By the way, I didn’t see a bill for all this.” He felt he had to bring that up because he didn’t want her getting stuck footing the bill for this celebration. From what he gathered, she wasn’t being paid enough for that.
“That’s because I haven’t forward it to you yet,” Hailey told him.
She had been so completely immersed in all the preparations there’d been no time to pull the tab together. But it was nice of him to make that point.
“Well, just make sure you do,” Dillon told her. He looked around the huge salon again with all the people milling around, enjoying themselves. “Everything really looks great, Hailey,” he repeated with feeling, as well as an element of approval.
Hailey could feel that same warm sensation spread out all through her again. “Thank you, Mr. Fortune.”
Dillon looked surprised that she had used his surname. “I thought we decided you were going to call me by my given name,” he reminded her.
“Sorry, I forgot.” She hadn’t, but by the time he’d left the spa last time, wearing his not-quite-dry shirt and hurrying off to his car, Hailey felt that their
