Something About Lorelei (23 page)

Lorelei

Jack climbed into the tub first and held out his hand to me. Placing my hand in his, I climbed in and laid my back against his muscular chest. He wrapped one arm around me while he handed me a glass of champagne.

“I have a question for you. It’s something that’s been bothering me for a while.”

“What is it, baby? You can ask me anything.”

“Who was that woman you were with in Paris?”

“What woman?”

“I saw a picture of the two of you online on the balcony of your hotel room. You were both drinking coffee and wearing robes.”

“That was my cousin, Meredith. She was at fashion week and her room was next to mine. She stepped out the door in the morning to grab the newspaper and the door shut. She knocked on my door because our rooms were joined and we just ended up having coffee and talking. Did you think I slept with her?”

“Well, yeah. What would you think if you saw a picture of me with some guy in our robes on the balcony?”

“True. Why didn’t you ask me about her when you saw the picture?”

“Because it was none of my business. We hadn’t even slept together at that point.”

“I’m sorry you thought that and carried that question around with you all this time. God, what you must have thought of me.”

I laughed. “I thought some pretty bad things about you.”

“I’m sure you did. So, when are we going to tell Hope that we’re dating?”

“We can tell her tomorrow. She misses you, Jack. She asked today when she could see you again and I told her that I’d give you a call to see if you wanted to hang out over the weekend.”

“I want to hang out with the both of you every day. I love your little girl, Lorelei. I can honestly say that both of you have changed my life.”

“And you’ve changed our lives, Jack.”

“I want to take you and Hope on a trip.” He softly stroked my arm.

“Where?”

“Disney World.”

I looked back at him in shock. “You do realize that place is crawling with children, right?”

He chuckled. “Yes, I realize that. Hope would love it. Especially Cinderella’s castle. I’ve never been there. Our vacations growing up always consisted of Hawaii or the Virgin Islands. Monaco, Aruba, Bahamas.”

“Okay.” I laughed. “That really sounds like an amazing childhood.”

“It was okay. But I never got to experience Disney World like most kids. So, I want to go.”

“I’ve always wanted to take Hope there, but I could never afford it.”

“Well, now you don’t have to worry about that. I was looking things up online and did you know you can have breakfast with the princesses? Hope would love that.”

“And do you know that you have to book that at least a year in advance?” I smiled as I turned around and straddled him.

He brought his hand up and pushed my hair behind my ear. “Don’t you worry about that. Hope will have breakfast with the princesses. I will make sure of it.”

I smiled as I brought my lips to his. “I know you will.”

****

The next morning, Jack and I made love a couple of times before going down for breakfast. I pulled my phone from my purse and noticed a text message from Stella.

“No need to thank me. You’re welcome and I love you too!”

I smiled and showed the text message to Jack.

“When did the two of you plan all of this and how?”

“I ran into Stella at Bloomingdale’s when I was picking up my suit. She was looking for a sweater for Sebastian. We got to talking and then we went and had coffee. We planned it from there.” He winked.

We climbed into the limo and headed back to the apartment, where we waited for Stella to bring home Hope. As soon as she walked through the door, she saw Jack and ran to him.

“Jack! What are you doing here?”

“Your mom told me you wanted to hang out, so here I am.”

She giggled as he tapped her on the nose.

“I’m going to go now.” Stella winked at both of us. “Call me later, Lorelei.”

“I will. Thank you again.” I walked over and hugged her.

When she left, we sat Hope down on the couch.

“There’s something we need to tell you, Hope,” I said as I ran my hand down her hair.

“I hope it’s that you two are dating!” she exclaimed in excitement.

“We are, Hope,” Jack responded with a smile.

“YES! I knew it. I knew you’d never give up, Jack.”

We both looked at her in shock. “What do you mean?” he asked her.

She turned to him and placed both of her small hands on his cheeks.

“You are Prince Charming, Jack, and Prince Charming never gave up.”

Not only did tears form in my eyes, but Jack’s became watery as well. He pulled her into him and gave her a tight hug.

“You are one special little girl. How would you like to go to Disney World?”

Hope’s eyes widened as she looked at me and then back at Jack.

“Are you being serious, Jack? Because it’s not nice to play with a girl’s emotions.”

Jack and I both busted out into laughter at the same time.

“I’m very serious, Hope Flynn, and I would never play with a girl’s emotions.”

“YES! When. When. When are we going?”

“I was thinking in a couple of weeks, right after Thanksgiving.”

“You’re the best, Jack. Can we go, Mommy? Please!”

“Of course we can go.” I smiled as I tickled her.

“Then I guess I better start booking this trip,” Jack said.

“You don’t want your PA to handle it for you?”

“Nah. This is something I want to do all on my own.” He smiled as he leaned over and kissed me.

Jack

Thanksgiving was right around the corner and so was our trip to Disney World. I spent the weekends at Lorelei’s apartment, but during the week, I would pick her and Hope up. We’d drive Hope to school, stop at Starbucks together for our morning coffee, and then we headed into the office together. We even went out with Garrett and Coco and Stella and Sebastian.

Coco and I convinced our mother that it was time for her to retire. We told her that if she didn’t, we’d both be leaving the company and starting something of our own, which I still wanted to do, but instead, we decided that it would be in the best interest of the company to incorporate a division called Lorelei Designs. With our connections and help, Lorelei’s clothes would be in stores across the world. The bad thing about that was Lorelei was no longer going to be able to be my PA.

Garrett sighed as he sat down across from my desk.

“Here we go again, Jack.”

“Things will be different this time, Garrett. Clearly, you can see that I’m a changed man.” I winked.

Lorelei sat next to him and laughed.

“When you have a list of potential candidates, I would like to sit in on the interviews,” she spoke. “That way, I can help you decide who will and won’t be a good fit for Jack.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Garrett smiled. “I’ll get to working on some interviews and I’ll let you know.”

We spent Thanksgiving at Lorelei’s parents’ house. Coco and Garrett spent the holiday with Garrett’s family in Tribeca. As for my mother, she flew back to Paris. She told us that since she was retiring from the business, she would probably be moving there since that was where Jacque was. That was music to my ears. I really just wanted her to be happy and if Jacque made her happy, that made me and Coco happy.

****

We arrived at the Grand Floridian and were escorted to the two bedroom suite I reserved us. Two bedrooms was a must if Lorelei and I wanted alone time together. The expression of happiness that overtook Hope was the best thing I’d ever seen. She was so happy and excited to be at Disney World. I had a surprise for her and it was something that even Lorelei didn’t know about. As we were settling in our room, there was a knock on the door.

“Hope, can you answer that please?” I asked.

“I can get it, Jack,” Lorelei spoke.

“No, baby. Let her answer it.” I smiled.

“What did you do?” she asked, narrowing her eye at me.

“Nothing.”

Hope opened the door and shrieked when she saw Cinderella standing there.

“Hello, little princess. Are you Hope?”

“Yes.”

I swear she was going to cry.

“I’m Cinderella. It’s so nice to make your acquaintance. I’m here to escort you to lunch and then spend some time with you and show you around my castle.” She held out her hand to her.

Hope stood there, frozen for a moment, and then turned to me and Lorelei with her mouth open, only no words were coming out.

“Go with Cinderella, Hope. We’ll be right behind you.” I gave her a smile.

I took hold of Lorelei’s hand, and as we followed behind them down the hall, Lorelei whispered in my ear.

“How the hell did you manage that? Oh my God, Jack. Did you see the look on her face?”

“I made a few calls. No big deal. And yes, I thought for a minute she was going to pass out.”

“How much did that cost you?”

“You don’t want to know, baby. You don’t want to know.”

She hooked her arm around me and kissed my cheek. There was no price too high for the happiness of my girls.

We had a private lunch with Cinderella and, after, she showed us around her castle. It was a wonderful trip and well worth every penny spent.

****

Three Months Later

Christmas had come and gone and it was the best Christmas holiday that I’d ever spent in my entire life. Spring was coming and Lorelei’s birthday was today.

“Where are we going?” she asked as we sat in the back seat of the limo.

“You’ll see when we get there.” I brought her hand up to my lips and softly kissed it.

Tony pulled up to the curb to 110 E. 64
th
Street and Lorelei looked out the window.

“What are we doing here?”

“You’ll see.” I smiled as I grabbed her hand and the three of us climbed out of the limo.

We stepped through the black wrought-iron gates and through the beautiful glass doors that led into a 6,300 square-foot home.

“Wow. This is beautiful. Who lives here?” Lorelei asked as she looked around the foyer.

“I’m hoping we will. The three of us.”

She laughed and I frowned. “What do you mean, Jack?”

“Happy birthday, baby.”

Her eyes grew wide as she looked at me. I took hold of both her hands.

“I love you so much, Lorelei, and I want this to be our home. But only if you like it. Come on; I’ve been dying to show you this place.”

“Jack, I don’t know what to say.”

“Mommy, come look at this. It has an elevator!” Hope exclaimed.

“I’ll be right there, baby.”

I took Lorelei on a tour of the six-story townhome. The expression on her face filled me with joy as she stepped into each room. Hope ran through the house as if she had already made it her castle.

“Do you like it, Lorelei?”

“I love it, Jack.” She threw her arms around me and hugged me tight. “I love you! I can’t believe you did this.”

“Does that mean you’ll say yes to living here?”

“Yes. Yes. Yes!” she spoke with excitement.

I reached down and high-fived Hope. Lorelei narrowed her eyes at both of us.

“Did she already know about this?”

“Yes, Mommy, I did. Jack brought me here the other day. He explained to me that if you said you liked it, then that means I would have to switch schools, which is okay with me! I love this house. I already picked out my bedroom.”

“It’s perfect, Jack.”

Elaine, the realtor stepped inside the home and gave me a smile.

“Well, Mr. Sutton?”

“She loves it, Elaine. She absolutely loves it.”

“Excellent. All I need is your signature on this line and the house is yours.”

I took the papers from her and signed them on the kitchen counter.

“Welcome to your new home.”

Later that evening, I had another surprise for Lorelei. We dropped Hope off at her parents’ house and then I took her to the top floor of the Empire State Building.

“Why are we back here?” Lorelei asked.

“Why do you have to ask so many questions? Just go with the flow, baby. Just go with the flow.” I kissed her lips.

When we stepped off the elevator, I took Lorelei off to the corner to look out at the brightly lit city.

“It’s so beautiful up here,” she spoke.

“Not as beautiful as you are.” I reached inside my pocket and held the small blue box behind my back. “Do you believe in soulmates, Lorelei?” I asked.

“Yes. You are my soulmate, Jack.”

“Do you believe in love at first sight?”

“Yes.” She smiled. “Why are you asking me that?”

I took hold of her hand. “Because it was love at first sight when I saw you. I had never seen a more beautiful woman in my entire life. You are my soulmate and you’re the only person I’m meant to spend the rest of my life with.”

“Oh, Jack.” Her eyes started to fill with tears.

“I love you so much, baby. I never knew it was possible to love someone so much. You opened up a part of me that I never knew existed, and for that, I thank you. You and Hope make my life complete and you make me whole. You, Lorelei Flynn, are the air I breathe. Without you, there would be no breath left in me.” I got down on one knee and held out the opened box in front of her. She placed her right hand over her mouth as I held her left hand.

“Will you marry me, Lorelei?”

By this time, tears were streaming down her face as she nodded her head.

“Is that a yes?” I laughed.

“YES, Jack. Yes, I will marry you.”

I slipped the two-carat white gold ring on her finger, kissed it, and stood up, hugging her as tightly as I could.

“I love you so much and I promise to give you the world.”

“I love you too and you’ve already given me the world, Jack.”

The patrons on the top deck started to clap and congratulated us as we stepped onto the elevator.