He made a face. “Santa Barbara is quite a drive if you’re planning on doing it every day. I think that would be too much, don’t you?”
“I do, if it was every day. This program is designed for people with busy lives. It’s only two days a week… it just takes a bit longer to complete than the other one.”
“Oh… okay…” He didn’t look happy.
“Is this a problem, Alex?”
“No, of course not. I think I told you that first day we were together that I didn’t expect you to be a maid your whole life, I also don’t expect you to be my paid mistress. You are too smart for either of those roles, Vicki. I want you to have a life that’s fulfilling and I intend to do whatever I can to make sure of that. It will just be tough on you with the baby. We definitely need to get busy hiring that nanny. Did Karen mention if she had any interviews set up yet?”
I nodded, I’d given in to the idea but I still only wanted one part time. “She has three coming in this afternoon. It’s another reason I’m so glad you’re home. I think this is something we should both definitely be a part of.”
“Good, okay… one more thing?”
“What?”
“Would you think me too controlling if I hired a second driver to take you to and from Santa Barbara when school begins?”
I laughed and said, “I would think you terribly controlling.” He made a face and I leaned up and kissed him and said, “But I always have and I’ve come to accept it as one of your charms.”
He laughed too. “Thanks. I just can’t stand the thought of anything happening to you. Since you seem to be a little more comfortable leaving Michael for a few hours at a time, maybe you and I could go out to dinner tonight and have a real date?”
“I’d like that. I don’t know about Karen staying so late to watch him though… maybe I should ask Liz?”
“If you’re comfortable with that?”
“I am. Liz loves him like an aunt. I’ll call her now and see if she’s available.”
Alex went upstairs to change while I called Liz. When she answered I said, “I have news…”
She laughed. “What did you do?”
“Nothing, I just told Cook that I have this really pretty, really smart, really nice friend that I think he would like a lot…”
“Oh my goodness, I feel like I’m in high school, being set up by the bestie.”
“He was really receptive to it. It seems that he has trouble finding women who don’t just want to use him for his money.”
“He has money?”
“Shut up!”
She laughed. “You know that I don’t care about that. I can take care of myself. Thank you… I think… maybe I should meet him before I thank you.”
“He told me to talk to you and set up a coffee date. In the meantime is there any possibility you’re free tonight for a few hours?”
“For the coffee?”
“No… to babysit Michael so Alex and I can have a real date.”
“Oh absolutely. For Sir Michael I am always available!”
“Aw, thanks Liz. You’re a great friend.”
“Hey, you hook me up with your cook, I babysit your kid, it all works out in the end.”
I giggled. “We have interviews for a nanny this afternoon… just a part-time one. I’m looking to go back to school soon.”
“Good for you! I’m so proud of you, Vicki. Have I told you that lately?”
“You have, but I like hearing it. Thanks, Liz.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll see you tonight.”
***
The first woman showed up at three for the nanny interview. I’d just fed Michael and he didn’t want to sleep yet so he got to sit in. It was nice for him to be there and see how the woman was with him. She was about forty and she looked like a Mom was supposed to look to me… far different from my own mother. She said that she raised four children of her own and then went back to school to get an early childhood development. She’d never had a nanny job before, so she didn’t have any job references, but her character references were stellar. She held Michael for a while and said all of the things a new parent wants to hear.
“He’s beautiful, what pretty hazel eyes,” and, “Look at those eyelashes,” and, “He’s really strong for a newborn, especially a preemie.”
I liked her, but I could tell that Alex wasn’t happy that she had no real job experience taking care of children though. After she left he said, “I’d prefer someone with job references.”
“I agree,” Karen said.
Alex looked at me and said, “What did you think?”
“I liked her, but as far as hiring employees goes, you and Karen have me there, so I will defer to you both there.”
He smiled and squeezed my hand before Karen led the next woman in. This one looked like a college student. She was cute, but a little over-bubbly, I thought. She did have references from two families she’d worked for. With one of them she had just gone on vacation with them and their newborn, but it was an extended holiday in Europe for three months. They recommended her highly. The second family was one that Alex knew well. He’d gone to college with the man and he’d even attended their wedding. They gave her a high recommendation as well; they had only terminated her services because at three years old their child got into a very progressive preschool. It was one that Alex had already mentioned to me that he really wanted Michael to get into. It was another area where we slightly disagreed. I hated the thought of treating pre-school and grade school the same as the struggle for a college admission. It seemed like a lot of unwarranted stress on everyone involved. When all was said and done with that one, I didn’t care for her on a personal level, but Alex and Karen were leaning heavily towards hiring her before we even met the last woman.
The last one’s name was Becky and she was a pretty, young twenty-something who came from one of the most influential families in Orange County, even I had heard of her family. Her father was a Bio-technical engineer as well and he had designed one of the L.A. areas most prestigious theme parks. When Alex saw her name he said that he knew her family. I was confused right off the bat.
“I’m sorry if this sounds like a rude question… I don’t mean for it to in anyway… I’m confused as to why you would want to be a nanny? It’s not something most girls of your… social standing would be interested in.”
She smiled and said, “That’s a perfectly legitimate question. I’m a trust fund baby, that’s for sure. But, my father was raised up to believe that the one person and the one thing we will always have to depend on in this life is ourselves and our own brains. My little brother works on a fishing boat in Alaska right now. My father is willing to pay our room and board, utilities and education, things like that until we’re thirty, but nothing else. So if we want a car or nice clothes, anything like that, we’re to get a job and pay for it ourselves.”
“So you don’t have any experience?”
“Not yet,” she said. “I have a degree in early childhood development.” She looked at Alex then and said, “I used to be a counselor at that summer camp every year, you remember that, right? You worked with me one year.”
He smiled and his eyes looked like he was remembering as he said, “That’s right, I remember! I was already nineteen my last year and you were just a kid still…”
“I was fifteen, and very insulted then that you thought of me as a kid,” she said, in a flirtatious way. Alex didn’t seem to be fazed by her flirting. Sometimes, I think he gets so used to being flirted with that sometimes he doesn’t even notice.
“Oh well, sorry about that,” he said, laughing. “It must have been the fact that I was such a worldly nineteen… everyone seemed young to me.”
“And everyone either wanted to be you, or with you,” she said, with another laugh. I looked her over as she flirted with my boyfriend and took in the Jimmy Choo shoes and the Prada pantsuit and the Michael Kors bag. I had to wonder if “Daddy” didn’t pay for those things and s
he’d been in school, how did she afford them? After she left, Alex again asked me what I thought.
“I don’t like her.”
He looked at me with a shocked expression. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you just flat out say you didn’t like someone.”
“You asked me what I thought.”
“True… but, I do like her and her family is above reproach. Karen, what did you think?”
“She seems like a nice, responsible young lady to me.”
“I don’t like her,” I said again. Alex laughed.
“Yes love, we’ve established that. What is it that you don’t like?”
“The way she blatantly flirts with you for one thing… right in front of me.”
He laughed again. “I don’t think she was flirting. I think it’s just the way she talks to people.”
“She didn’t bat her eyelashes once when she was talking to me,” I said.
Karen was trying not to smile as she said, “May I make a suggestion?”
“Sure,” Alex and I both said at the same time.
“I need to hire someone to help while Marco is out for his surgery. How about if we hire her temporarily for his position. That way, if the nanny we decide on doesn’t work out, we’ll have her as a back-up.”
“That sounds like a great idea,” Alex said. “What do you think, Vicki?”
I knew that I still didn’t like her. I didn’t want to be overly difficult though so I said, “Okay, but can we hire Mrs. Yost then?” Mrs. Yost was the forty-something woman I’d taken such a liking to.
Alex laughed again and said, “Okay, Mrs. Yost it is. Karen, go ahead and offer Tracy Marco’s position while he’s gone. Make sure she knows that it’s temporary, but let her know if she does well, we’ll keep her in mind for any other openings that might come up.”
I had a bad feeling about that girl even being in the house for some reason but I had nothing to back that up with other than petty jealousy, so I kept my mouth shut… for now.
CHAPTER FOUR
VICTORIA
I was excited about dinner out with Alex. It had been quite a while since I’d been out and an evening alone with Alex is always a bonus. I was a little worried about what I would wear since I hadn’t bought any new clothes since before I found out I was pregnant. None of the clothes I did have before the pregnancy were really appropriate for the kind of restaurant I assumed Alex would pick either. With a bit of my excitement ebbing, I went up to start getting ready while Alex was on a business call. When I got to the master suite I was shocked to see a gorgeous black and white Vera Wang dress laying out on the bed. Next to it was a beautiful pair of black Manola Blahnik pumps and next to that sat two dozen long stemmed roses in a box. There was a note.
I picked up the note and read it: “To the most beautiful woman in the world. I didn’t get you a gift for doing such an amazing job of giving me an heir… so please accept these. P.S. Your friend Liz helped me with the sizes so hopefully they’re right. Love, Alexander.”
I had tears in my eyes. I read the note again, this time pausing longer on the part that said, “Love.” Did he love me? He hadn’t said it yet… but then neither have I and I loved him with my heart and soul. I picked up the dress and held it up to me. I looked at it in the full-length mirror on the closet door. I was going to feel like a princess in it. I turned back around to put the dress back on the bed and that’s when I saw the white velvet box. It was a long, thin box. With trembling hands I reached down and picked it up. When I opened it, my breath caught in my throat.
It was a necklace with a delicate white gold chain and a stunning black onyx pendant with white bands running through it dangling from the center of it. There were two small diamonds on either side of the onyx and I knew at a glance that it must have cost a fortune. I felt one of the tears in my eyes spill over onto my cheek and I turned around to go find Alex. I didn’t have to look far; he was standing in the doorway behind me, smiling.
“Alex! It’s all so beautiful, but it’s too much, really.”
He came over to me and took the necklace from my hands. He took it out of the box and held it up to my neck and said, “I saw it and I couldn’t stop thinking about how pretty it would look on your gorgeous neck.” He stepped sideways so that I could see the mirror as he held it against my skin and said, “Look, I was right. Please accept it, Vicki. I would never buy you anything that I didn’t want you to have or that I didn’t think you deserved.”
I was speechless. I felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. When I finally let him go, I voiced that thought aloud. I saw him furrow his brow and for a second I wondered if maybe he’d never seen the movie, but then he took my chin in his hand and tipped my face up towards him and said, “Do you know what the big difference is?”
“I’m not Julia Roberts?” I asked, kidding… sort of.
“No, you’re not,” he said. “You are ten times as beautiful, first of all. Second of all, she played a call girl in that movie. You’re much, much more than that. You’re my son’s mother and you’re my… I hate the term girlfriend, it seems so juvenile, and I just don’t like it. But you mean so much to me, Vicki. I look into your eyes and I just feel it… it’s like… Damn!”
“What? What is it?”
“I don’t want to scare you.”
“Scare me? You’re scaring me by not saying it.”
“When I look into your eyes Vicki, I feel like I’ve found my soulmate. I love you… I’m in love with you.” The lone tear on my face was joined by about a hundred more. After a few seconds it was a torrent and I could hardly see his beautiful face through them. “Please don’t cry… I’m sorry.”
I had to sniff and like a six year old, I used the back of my hand to wipe my tears away as I said, “Oh no! Please don’t be sorry. They’re happy tears. I’m so happy! I love you too, Alex. I just wasn’t sure how you felt about me.”
He grinned. I melted. “I love you. I want you. I need you, and when Cassandra is out of our lives I want to put a ring on your finger. I’m not going to do it yet because I don’t want anything to take away from that moment.”
I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Did he just say he wants to marry me? I threw my arms around him and he held me until I was able to get my tears under control. Most of them ended up all over his shirt, his shoulder was soaked. He lifted my head with a touch and pressed his soft lips to mine. He kissed me deeply and passionately and for the first time in my entire life I finally knew just exactly where I belonged.
***
He took me to Santa Monica for dinner to a place called Mélisse. It’s a French/American restaurant, and probably the nicest place I had ever been inside of. The outside looked like a picture of a French Bistro. It was wood and glass and had a big, green and white striped arbor over the entryway. There were potted plants on either side of the door and as soon as we entered we were greeted by a chic-looking hostess dressed all in black.
The walls of the restaurant were a deep purple color and there were beautiful gold lights all around the top of them that pointed towards the ceiling. They let off enough light to eat comfortably but still allowed for a romantic ambiance. The tables were all covered with white linen table cloths and set with fine silver and linen napkins. A hand-blown blue glass candle holder sat in the center of each one and a votive candle cast a glow across each of the patron’s faces. Fine artwork adorned the walls and a silver bowl sat in the center on a fine wood table filled with ice and chilling champagne.
“It’s so pretty in here!”
Alex smiled, “Yes, it is. The food is fantastic too.”
The hostess led us to a quiet corner of the restaurant to a small table near one of the windows that opened up to the man-made pond outside that had what looked like a handcrafted wooden bridge going across it and real ducks swimming and white lily pads floating. It was amazing. Alex didn’t take the seat across from me, instead he took the one next to
me and angled it so that we were facing each other and close enough to touch knees.
Alex took my hand in his and brought it to his lips and said, “That dress looks beautiful on you.”
I smiled. “Thank you. I love it.”
He winked at me and said, “Thank you for agreeing to come out.”
“I needed this,” I told him. The waiter brought us a wine menu. I’d pumped enough milk for Michael for the night so that I could have wine tonight; Alex knew exactly which one to order.
The waiter brought the wine back and poured us each a glass after Alex tasted and approved it. After he’d gone away again Alex said, “Have you been to a restaurant with a tasting menu?”
Maid To The Billionaire: Forever His (Part Three) (Billionaire Romance) Page 2
