by Cee, DW
“Are we going to Versailles?”
“Nope. We are going somewhere sweeter, smaller, and a lot more romantic.”
“No clues?”
“Maybe I’ll give you a clue if you’ll clue me in on why you wear the camellia necklace everyday and why I’ve only now seen the ‘D’ charm on you.”
“So it was you!” I happily declared. “Those were all from you – the clutch, the shoes, and the charm?”
“They were,” he grinned smugly.
“Why?” I truly had no idea what would have possessed Donovan to go on such a shopping spree for me back in Hawaii. “And why didn’t you give it to me yourself? Why hide behind Emily?”
“You first. Why the camellia around your neck every day?”
I shrugged my shoulders, embarrassed again to have to confess my weakness for him. “Because...it felt like you were with me, close to my heart, everywhere I went. I missed you horribly when I left you back in the States. That necklace was my only physical connection to you that I could have on me at all times, and I thought maybe if I kept that close to my heart, somehow it would connect us emotionally, too.” I put my face in my hands. “I’m such a serious loser!” I now shook my head at the frivolity of my actions.
“I’m the loser for not having admitted how much you meant to me before you left for London.” He took the hands off my face and held them instead. “There were many times I asked myself if I had feelings for you, and I always passed it off as lust. You are beautiful, funny, and you have an insanely tempting body. I kept telling myself it was wrong to lust after you—not ever understanding that it wasn’t just lust. I think all those times we were together, I was falling in love with you. But I had convinced myself that it wrong to have feelings for you.”
“Why?”
“Because you are the Chief’s daughter, Jake’s cousin, Doug’s younger sister, the little girl who pushed me in the ocean when I was wearing my brand new Calvin Klein suit.” We got a chuckle out of that Easter memory. “You were always a little girl to me, and then one day, I see you at Jake’s wedding and you were this goddess, a nymph, my houri. I couldn’t take my eyes off you until Jake informed me that you were the little girl who used to drop notes in my pocket, and I was horrified to be attracted to a girl I once wished was my little sister.”
“Is that why you didn’t speak to me that day? I so hoped you’d notice me and acknowledge me.”
“Oh, I noticed you. Trust me, my entire body noticed you, and it did not make my date happy to see me staring at you.”
“You did not stare at me! Every time I looked at you, you were turned away from me.”
“I turned away, but I still couldn’t take my eyes off you. I thought about calling you after that night but decided it wasn’t prudent since you were only a sophomore in college. I probably would have freaked you out if I had asked you out at age thirty, when you were only twenty.”
“Donovan,” I giggled. “I would have gone out with you in a heartbeat and married you all within that same month, if that were an option.”
He laughed with me. “Once I saw you again at my office, dressed like Coco Chanel, I knew I couldn’t stay away for long.”
“Then where does Jane fit into all this?”
He thought about it for a while and said, “Could I give you that explanation a bit later? Could we finish up this conversation about your gifts from Hawaii?”
“Sure.”
“When we went shopping in Hawaii with Jake and Emily, I saw that look of longing in your eyes when Jake took Emily into the jewelry shop. I knew it wasn’t any type of jealousy, but you just had this forlorn look that tugged at my heart. Then that look almost turned desperate, or maybe despondent is a better word, when Jake was changing out Emily’s shoes. Your lost look didn’t sit well with me, and I wanted to reach out to you. The only feasible way to reach out to you was to buy you those gifts.”
“When I saw my cousin and his wife at that shoe store, it hit me that I’d never have that kind of intimacy and bond with anybody as you never noticed me, and I refused to notice anyone else. I guess I mourned a life that was never to be mine. You were right. I was so lost that day, not able to get myself out of that haze.”
“I could tell when we met up again. That’s when I decided I wanted to fill your void and returned to the mall after dropping you three off at the hotel. But why haven’t you worn the charm till now?”
“Well...I don’t have any necklaces, so I couldn’t place the charm anywhere. And I also wanted to wear it on the camellia necklace because I liked pretending that it came from you.”
“You’ve had this necklace on since that night at the sushi bar?”
“Yes, except when I knew I was going to see you. I didn’t want you to think I was some loony stalker-girl wearing a crazy expensive necklace with shorts and a t-shirt.” I laughed.
“You loved me that much?” He was confounded by how much of an obsessed loser I was.
I nodded. “And I still love you that much. That’s why I’m scared of you. I’m scared to get hurt. I’m scared to believe. You never showed me an ounce of interest, and now you want to marry me. Would you believe you?”
“Princess, if you are honest with yourself, I showed plenty of interest in you. You were the first and only person I took up to my beach house. I didn’t want to be apart from you that night we babysat the twins, so I picked you up when you were sleeping and brought you into my bed.”
“That was you?” I was shocked!
“How else do you think you got from the twins’ room to the guest room?”
“I thought the loser that I was, I walked over to you in my sleep.”
Donovan almost died laughing. “It was all me.”
“But then you ignored me the next morning and went to meet up with Kate.”
“I was embarrassed. I figured you knew what I had done so I tried to play it off.”
We had so many more things to resolve, but we got to our destination and Donovan took my hand and slowly led me to the water lilies of Monet’s Garden. We were in Giverny exploring the beauty called Nympheas that inspired Monet to draw some of his most famous paintings.
“This is incredible,” I whispered.
“Of all the places in the house and the gardens, this is my favorite spot.” Obviously he had been here before. As for whom he visited this romantic landscape with, I would not ask, and I worked hard not to wonder.
Personally, I loved the long branches of the huge weeping willows that outlined the water lilies on the pond. This was the picture I envisioned when I thought of a Monet painting. We strolled hand-in-hand to another familiar picture in my head—the Japanese Bridge.
“Donovan, it’s so beautiful here. I thought Amsterdam was gorgeous; I think this might just beat the canals.”
“You want to spend the night here in a true French château?”
“Can we?” I asked with much too much eagerness. “Don’t you have to get back? Shoot, I have to be back by noon, too.”
“I’ll push my meeting for noon. Then we can have a leisurely breakfast and head back into the city.”
“I don’t have a change of clothes.”
“You can sleep naked tonight, then wear the same clothes tomorrow,” this squirrely man suggested.
“Obviously, we are getting separate bedrooms?”
“Hell no! We haven’t slept apart since I got to London. I’m not starting now.” He kissed the hand he was holding. “We can buy what we need for tonight and just re-wear what we have on for tomorrow. We’ll get back to Paris early enough to change.”
“Can you give me a moment to call Michael?” Donovan didn’t look happy. “I need to do this. It’s unfair to Michael.”
“You’re breaking up with him?” That question was more like a demand.
“Yes,” I answered, exasperated with his mother hen-like clucking.
He dug his phone out of his pocket and sighed
, “Go. Do what you have to do.”
“Thank you,” I tried to give him a kiss on the cheek but he turned around and immediately we were in an amorous clinch on the picturesque Japanese bridge with violet wisteria as our overhang. This would have made an idyllic picture of the two of us—something I would have liked to frame.
“Let me get this done so I can decide with a clear conscience what to do with you.” I pulled away much to both our chagrin.
He gave me his usual megawatt smile and let me walk away.
I, on the other hand, did not feel happy about the call I had to make. “Hi Michael.”
“Laney.” He sounded excited and reserved at the same time. “Duchess. How’s Amsterdam?”
“Well, we are now in Paris because Bee needs my help.” Michael was quieter than usual. “You remember Bee?”
“Yes. I do. What kind of help did she need?”
“One of her models dropped out at the last minute and she’s coerced me to step in and model two outfits.”
“Model?”
“I know! Crazy, huh? I can barely put my right foot in front of the left.”
“You’ll be stunning, as always.”
“How are you?” I asked with caution. “I assume you’re at your grandfather’s?”
“Yes, I’m here. The weather is gloomy, I am gloomy, and my whole family is upset with me that I couldn’t persuade you to be here.” I flinched at the thought of disappointing the Bennington family. How would I break up with this man?
“Michael,” I whispered. “I’m sorry. Back when you convinced me that a relationship could work, I was selfish. I knew deep in my heart it wouldn’t last forever, but I really liked you. I enjoyed your company, I loved your family, and you were and are about as perfect as they come.”
“But...” he said it first to spare me the pain.
“No buts, Michael. I enjoyed our time together, you have been the utmost gentleman to me, and you accepted all my foibles. You are too good for me.”
“Spare me the condescension, Laney,” he answered with much bitterness.
“Michael...” His acrimony caught me off guard, and all I could think was to get away from this conversation for now. “Maybe we should talk again, later.”
“Yeah. I think that would be best.” And he hung up on me.
I stood in place, numb from what had transpired.
“What’s the matter, Princess? Do not tell me you didn’t break up with him, again!” Now this man was biting my head off. What the hell did I do wrong to court the ire of two men, when normally no man paid any attention to me? “Well?”
My shoulders drooped, and immediately Donovan put his arms around me and apologized. I accepted the apology and explained our conversation. “He’s so angry with me, Donovan. What have I done? It was all selfishness on my part. I shouldn’t have toyed with his emotions all this time.”
“Princess,” he rubbed my back and kissed my head, “you weren’t playing with his emotions. He was probably good to you, and you liked him as a person.”
“And not as a man?” I asked for kicks.
“Of course, not as a man. Why the hell would you look at another man when I was always hovering?”
“Why the hell would I?” I imitated his voice.
Donovan had quickly turned this into a lighthearted conversation. “He’ll get over you faster than you would like to believe.”
“I hope so. I don’t want him hurt. That’s not a feeling I wish upon anyone.”
“Is this your roundabout way of telling me I was an asshole to you all these years?”
I giggled. “Not my intention, but if the shoe fits...”
“The only one who found her lost shoe is you, my princess. You are my Cinderella and I plan to be your prince. Make a clean break from Michael and let’s start our future, today.”
“I’ll call him tomorrow and try again. In the meanwhile, let’s see the rest of Monet’s garden.”
The dining room was almost entirely yellow with accents of blue stemming from the dinnerware. And like most artists of his time, he had collected Japanese prints and covered the walls. The kitchen was decorated in shades of blue with copper accents coming from the sink and all the cookware.
“What a fabulous stove!” I declared. “The French make everything so beautiful, huh?”
“You want one? I can put one in my kitchen right now if you’ll come live with me. You cook, Princess?”
I didn’t answer the first question, but I was more than happy to answer the next one. “Nope. I don’t cook, but I can reheat.”
“You clean?” he asked dubiously.
“Nope. And I’m a serious packrat, too.”
“You...you do anything that most housewives do?”
I had to think about this for a while. “Maybe you should stay home and take care of the house and kids if I choose to go down that path with you.”
“You’re going to be my sugar mama? Hell, yes! I’d stay home for that option.” He laughed and kissed me again. “But we’d need a nanny for the kids and a housekeeper for the house.”
“What the hell are you good for, then?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing. You don’t cook, you don’t clean...I guess as long as you pop out babies, we can hire people for the rest. Seeing you with the twins, I know you’ll be a fantastic mother.”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself, Mr. Taylor.”
“I don’t think so, Ms. Reid. You love me, I love you, the rest is easy.”
“Are you going to ever tell me about you and Jane? Whenever I’m with you, I forget all my woes and live in this giddy fantasy world where everything is perfect. But when I’m not with you, I still see images of you and Jane in that hospital room.”
“Damn!” he sighed. “Let’s go to dinner and I’ll tell you everything.”
Donovan took us to a house that looked like an extension of Monet’s house. The restaurant was housed in an English Tudor with French overtone building. It was the wooden slats, painted in blue, that gave off the Monet vibe.
“Have you been here before? This neighborhood tops our cul-de-sac in the charming category.”
“I believe this restaurant is fairly new. I haven’t eaten here before, but yes, I’ve been to this area of Vernon and Giverny before.”
“Oh,” was all I could muster as I felt my face falling with the disappointment that I’d never be this man’s first in anything.
“Maybe I should explain Kate, before explaining Jane?” He understood my discontent.
“Will Kate always be our shadow?”
He chuckled. “I hope not. Let’s go in so I can have some sustenance before I explain the last ten years.”
“Ten years...with Kate...” I droned. That’s how long I’ve loved you while you loved another woman.
“Don’t.” He stopped me from delving deeper into my melo mood. “I wasn’t committed to Kate the entire ten years. We were off more than we were on. It’s not as serious as you’re making it out to be.”
I just nodded. We walked into the pristine restaurant and were startled to find a group of people waiting for us.
“Laney! Oh my gosh, it that you?”
“Kelley? What are you doing here in France?”
“Hi Laney.” Becky and Al were here, as well as a man I assumed was Kelley’s husband.
Kelley and I had a love-fest reunion as she and I hadn’t seen one another in many years.
“You’re so tall, now. Last I saw you, you were this tiny girl in pigtails and braces.”
“I’ll never outgrow that image, huh?” I laughed with Kelley. It was good to see her again. She never wavered in her support for me whenever I got into trouble as a youth. I was sorry she and Jake didn’t work out, but seeing Jake and Emily as a couple, I knew he’d made the right decision.
“What the hell are you four doing here?” Donovan’s exasperated pretense fooled no one.
&n
bsp; “How about a hello for me, Laney?”
I walked over and gave Al a great big hug, but Donovan pulled me back immediately.
“Now I know why Jake does this anytime Emily touches another man.”
“Bro’,” Al teased. “We’re family. Family members hug one another and even give each other loving kisses.”
Donovan shook his head and muttered, “Stick to Becky!”
We all sat and the explanations began. “Al and I wanted one last getaway before this baby arrived, and Mom called to say she and Dad were going to Paris the same day my OB gave me clearance to fly. And since Al was already coming here for work, I tagged along.”
“And you, Kelley?” Donovan inquired.
“Becky called me to tell me she and Al were headed to Paris. I complained to Noah that we hadn’t gone away since the boys were born. Noah’s parents offered to take the kids for a week, so here we are.”
“You decided to fly all the way here on a whim?” Donovan didn’t believe his sisters.
“Were you listening, Donny?” Becky spoke sarcastically. “Al was headed to Europe so I tagged along, and Kelley and Noah needed a vacation so they came to Paris.”
“How did you know we were here?” I asked.
“Donny called Pa, and Ma told us where you’d be. I thought this reunion would be a nice surprise.” Kelley was the one talking now.
“It’s a wonderful surprise. I’m glad you’re here Kelley. It’s really been a long time, huh?”
“Yes, Laney Reid. I knew from when you were little you had a crush on my brother, but never did I think this was going to happen.” Kelley pointed back and forth to me and Donovan.
“This is way beyond my imagination, too.” Becky joined our conversation. “I thought after seeing Donovan with Jane in Chicago, he’d end up with my best friend.” As soon as Becky spoke, Al nudged her, Donovan groaned and Becky apologized. “So sorry, Laney. I’m just caught by surprise.”
“How could you not have seen the attraction between these two when we were in LA for Mother’s Day? Your brother was mad for this young lady, but comically, he had no clue he was in love with her. That’s why he was such an asshole to her in LA and in Austin, because he didn’t have an answer for his feelings.”
