Chapter 14
With a slight screech, the plane touched down at Las Vegas’s McCarran International Airport at precisely 1:40, just as scheduled.
Melanie and Bryce were seated in first class and had been given the royal treatment, courtesy of Caesars Palace and Bryce’s checkbook. When he’d originally booked the trip, he’d had his mother’s creature comforts in mind. Now he was glad he’d sprung for the extras. Melanie looked like a kid at Christmas when he’d picked her up this morning. She’d brought a small Louis Vuitton carry-on and nothing else. A woman with taste, he thought as he’d watched her at the airport in Denver. A true class act.
“What?” Melanie asked him while they waited for the cabin doors to open. “You’ve got this funny look on your face.”
Bryce placed his hand on her cheek. “It’s just the look of a guy head over heels in love, that’s all.” All the corny, lovey-dovey stuff he’d made fun of in his younger days wasn’t corny anymore.
“Oh.”
“Yeah,
oh.
”
Melanie giggled. “Sorry. You just looked funny to me. Guess I’ve never seen what a guy in love looks like.”
A flight attendant’s voice came over the intercom, telling them they were allowed to unfasten their seat belts but should remain seated.
“I know it’s crazy, but I’ve never felt this way. Ever,” Bryce said. He’d told her about Diana, and she’d told a few stories of her own. Both were on equal footing in the romance department.
Another flight attendant told Melanie and Bryce their limousine was waiting on the tarmac.
“Top of the line, Bryce, top of the line.”
“Only the best.” He grinned.
Since they were going to be in Vegas for just two nights, both had brought only carry-on luggage so they wouldn’t have to wait at the baggage claim. Bryce carried both pieces of luggage in one hand.
In a cordoned-off private section on the tarmac, a sleek white Lincoln Town Car limousine waited for their arrival. Inside the limo, they found a chilled bottle of Cristal with two crystal goblets. With expert skill, Bryce removed the cork. He filled each goblet, the creamy white foam overflowing. “Let’s make a toast.”
Melanie nodded, holding her flute aloft. “Cheers.” Bryce touched her glass with his. “To the future.”
“To the future,” she repeated.
If anyone would have asked Melanie a week ago what she would be doing a week later, she certainly could not have told them she would be drinking champagne while riding in a limousine with a man she was madly in love with. She still hadn’t told Stephanie or her mother and dad about her blossoming relationship with Bryce because it was still so new to her. They hadn’t even slept together. Melanie was a patient woman, and she knew for a fact that Bryce was a patient man. They’d had more than one opportunity to throw all caution to the winds, yet they hadn’t.
Lost in her daydreams and expensive champagne, Melanie reclined into the soft leather seat, suddenly too tired even to think about anything romantic, let alone act on it. She closed her eyes. She was almost asleep when her cell phone rang. Fumbling through her purse, by the time she located her phone, whoever was calling had hung up. She didn’t recognize the number, so she assumed it was a new client. She wasn’t even going to think about work until after New Year’s.
She and Bryce were on the same page in that department for sure.
“Anyone I know?” Bryce asked as she put her cell phone back in her purse.
“I don’t recognize the number, so it’s probably just a new client.”
“Spoken like a woman of means,” Bryce teased.
She winked at him. Though she hadn’t gone into avid detail about her finances, she had told Bryce that her grandmother had made her a very wealthy young woman. He told her that was fine with him, but he wasn’t interested in her money.
When they arrived at Caesars Palace, a uniformed attendant actually rolled out the red carpet for them as they entered through a private entrance reserved for VIP guests only. He took their luggage and followed them at a discreet distance. Melanie felt like a movie star.
“A girl could get used to this kind of treatment,” Melanie whispered.
“I have no clue where I’m going,” Bryce remarked. The young man with their luggage revealed a small card in his hand. “If you will follow me,” he said politely.
Bryce and Melanie stepped aside, allowing him to take the lead. Roman elements with a contemporary style made the elegance at Caesars Palace stunning. Everywhere one looked, there was marble, sculpted statues, and chandeliers that glistened like diamonds.
A replica of Michelangelo’s statue of David stood eighteen feet high in the center of the grand lobby, adding a more imperial atmosphere. Melanie had only been to Las Vegas once, with a group of girlfriends right after she turned twenty-one. They’d spent most of their time lounging by the pool drinking wildly mysterious-looking cocktails. (That’s probably why she didn’t remember the trip that well.) So in a way, Las Vegas was as new to her as it was to Bryce.
The young man used the card to open the door to their room. They were staying in the Palace Tower Deluxe suite. After their luggage was put away inside a closet, Bryce gave the guy a wad of cash, then closed and locked the door behind him.
“This is awesome,” Melanie said as she gazed around the room.
Decorated in brown, gold, and several shades of cream, the suite boasted a living room complete with sofa and contemporary end tables with exquisite lamps atop each one. A small dining area close to the balcony gave one a bird’s-eye view of the famous Las Vegas Strip.
“So, what to do first?”
Melanie laughed. “Now that’s a loaded question if ever I heard one. This hotel is humongous. It’ll take days to see everything. It’s a shame we only have two. I don’t remember much about my last trip here. I guess I wasn’t old enough to appreciate the concept.”
She walked over to the sliding doors that led out to the small balcony and stepped outside. The December air was dry and cool, similar to that at home, but not nearly as cold. She had forgotten to pack a bathing suit, but somehow she doubted she would have time to visit the various swimming pools at the luxurious hotel.
“Let’s go to the casino while you decide what you want to do first. Remember, this is my first time here.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
If anyone were to see them together, odds were good they would pass as a happily married young couple on their honeymoon. Certainly not a man and woman who, until last week, barely knew the other existed.
They spent the next six hours in the casino, Bryce at the blackjack tables while Melanie tried her hand at the roulette wheel. Deciding too much thinking was required, Melanie had wandered over to the slot machines, content to lose her winnings. She’d draped her purse shotgun style across her shoulder. Reaching inside to grab another twenty-dollar bill out of her wallet, she spied her cell phone. Flicking it open to check her missed call list, she saw that the same telephone number she’d seen in the limousine had called her numerous times. Highly unusual. Melanie felt a tinge of alarm. For someone to make so many phone calls, it must be something important. She clicked on the number and pushed the SEND button.
What she heard sent shivers down her spine.
“I’ve been looking all over for you,” Bryce said. “I was starting to think you ran out on me. Hey, are you okay? You don’t look so good. Melanie?” The sudden change in his tone brought her back to reality.
Not knowing what to do, or say, Melanie opted for the truth. At the bar over lattes, she told him about her desire to adopt a child. She explained that her reason for not telling him was that their relationship was too new, too fresh. Tears pooled in her eyes when she said, “I think I should just go home.”
“Why would you even think such a thing? So, you want children, you’re willing to adopt, become a single parent. What’s not to like about that? Hell, I admire you even more than I did already.” He blotted her tears with the tip of his finger.
“Really?” she asked, surprised at how easily he accepted her choice. He really was the most perfect man alive. Almost. They still hadn’t slept together, but that didn’t matter. When the time was right, she knew it would be worth waiting for.
“Yes, really. Now dry those tears, because we’ve got tickets to see Cher. You still up for that?” he asked, a wicked grin revealing his sexy white teeth.
When did I start thinking of teeth as sexy?
“Of course I am, but, Bryce, there’s more.”
“I’m listening.”
Five hours later, they were on a flight to Denver. Only this time, as man and wife.
And what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. They still hadn’t slept together.
Chapter 15
Melanie looked at the fake, cheap, metallic gold ring on her finger. Then she looked at the fake cheap metallic gold ring on Bryce’s finger. Then she looked at the marriage certificate printed on cheap, plain white paper. Then she looked at Bryce, who was still in a state of semishock.
They were married. Husband and wife. Till death do them part. The old ball and chain. She had married Bryce Landry. She was Melanie
Landry
now. She had to admit, she liked the sound of her new name.
Unlike the flight to Vegas, they were unable to purchase first-class tickets on such short notice, so the only seats available to them were those in coach at the very back of the plane. By the restrooms. The stench was atrocious.
Melanie had barely uttered a word since she’d confessed to Bryce that, even though she had been told by the horrible woman at the adoption agency that she wouldn’t be able to adopt a child unless she was married, she’d gone ahead and had her application processed anyway. She said that she knew it was selfish and foolish of her.
She was flabbergasted when he told her there was no time like the present, that he would’ve married her anyway. He said it was his destiny.
“I told Ashley when I got married she could be my maid of honor.”
Bryce took her hand in his. “Let’s worry about one problem at a time. We can always have another wedding. Now, tell me again what this woman Carla said.”
Melanie’s eyes flushed with unshed tears. “It’s like something right out of a fiction novel. Apparently there was an eight-car pileup on I-70, nothing new there. A couple in their early thirties died at the crash scene. Carla said there were no relatives, no foster parents available. So I guess the next step was World Adoption Agency.
“According to Carla, Olga Krause has been stealing the state practically blind. She believes Olga is hoarding away money for when she retires. There are eleven other children in need of a home. Those poor little kids; I should’ve known something was wrong. And to think that old bat was in charge of all those innocents! She reminded me of Scrooge—I remember thinking that at the time. She just had a mean look about her. I hate to judge, but I hope that woman is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Let her live the remainder of her life behind bars. Carla said the children were malnourished and frightened. Oh, Bryce, what in the world have I gotten myself into? And you, too.”
Bryce squeezed her hand because, for once, he really didn’t know what to say. The only thought that kept beating against his skull was the fact that he’d married Melanie. They’d been dating for less than one week, and he’d married her. What he couldn’t get past was the fact that he’d never felt such pure and complete happiness. Yes, it had been a crazy thing to do when Melanie told him she wouldn’t be able to adopt a child unless she was married. Like the gentleman he was, he’d quickly made arrangements for a Vegas-style wedding, and now they were on their way home to Denver. Melanie had called her parents, telling them she was returning sooner than planned and that she would pick up Odie and Clovis as soon as she could. She had neglected to mention she was coming home a married woman.
Bryce had a feeling this Christmas was going to be unlike any other. Past and present.
“We’ll work things out. I have lots of friends in Boulder.” What he didn’t say was that he wasn’t sure if any of them would be willing to take in thirteen children.
Less than twenty-four hours after leaving Denver International Airport, they’d returned to Placerville. Seated in the rear seats of the private jet Melanie had engaged, they were the last ones to exit the plane. Neither spoke while they waited for the other passengers to retrieve their book bags, diaper bags, and the like from the storage compartment.
Bryce would’ve been happier seeing Cher, but Melanie and the thirteen kids were much more important. Being in academia, he was around young adults most of the time. Of course, he was beyond thrilled to be Ella’s uncle, but would he pass muster as a parent if it came to that? He could only hope. Now more than ever, he wanted to be the stand-up kind of man his father would’ve been proud of.
After they had gotten to Denver, Carla had explained that there was no prohibition on single-parent adoptions in Colorado—that Olga must have deliberately misled Melanie on that score, because anytime a child left the orphanage, the funds available for Olga to embezzle decreased. But neither Melanie nor Bryce had the least regret about the solution Bryce had come up with for Melanie’s adoption woes. Married they were and married they would remain. Till death do them part.
With a renewed sense of purpose, Bryce vowed those thirteen children were going to have the best Christmas ever.
He would make sure each and every child found a home, and, maybe, if he was lucky, each and every one of them would have a home before Christmas.