Hotel Vendome Page 5

  Chapter 3

  FOR THE NEXT four years Hugues continued to develop and improve the hotel, and to build on its success. It became everyone’s favorite venue for fashionable weddings, a favorite destination of knowledgeable jet-set travelers, politicians, and heads of state. The president of France was one of their more frequent guests, as well as the British prime minister, and the American vice president, and numerous senators and congressmen. Hugues’s staff handled the related security challenges flawlessly and made everything easy for the guests. Ten years after he bought the hotel, eight after he opened it, the Hotel Vendôme was an undeniable success and favorite haunt of the elite from all over the world.

  His personal life didn’t change during that time, despite several brief affairs he managed to squeeze in between hotel association meetings, negotiations with labor unions, and overseeing improvements made to the hotel. And Heloise remained the bright star of his world.

  At twelve, Heloise was still the princess of the Hotel Vendôme. She had started working for Jennifer in her father’s office, doing small tasks, and organizing things for her, and she still loved helping Jan the florist and looking things up at the concierge desk when they were swamped, like the addresses of restaurants and obscure stores the guests asked for. She enjoyed spending most of her spare time at the hotel. She was in that no-man’s-land between childhood and adolescence, when her interests were still focused at home and not yet fully directed at the outside world or consumed by boys. And in her case “home” was a very interesting place. She stood next to her father sometimes in the lobby when he greeted important guests, and when she met the president of France she was a hero at the Lycée Français for several days.

  Occasionally she invited girls from school to spend the night with her in the apartment upstairs, and her friends loved cruising the hotel and checking out the kitchens, visiting room service, getting their hair done when the hairdressers had free time, or stopping in at the spa, where they always got free samples of skin and hair products and now and then a five-minute massage. Spending a night at the Vendôme with Heloise was an exciting gift for her friends, and once in a while her father sent them downtown shopping in the Rolls. Her friends all thought it was very glamorous. And sometimes they peeked in at weddings and big parties too.

  Her braces had come off by then, and she was beautiful and growing tall. She still had a child’s body, had lost the curl in her long hair, and she looked like a young colt when she bounded down the halls. She was still close to Jennifer, her father’s assistant, as a kind of surrogate aunt and older friend and Heloise confided in her on important matters, which gave Hugues a source of additional information about what was going on in her life and head. He was relieved that she wasn’t interested in boys yet and still enjoyed childish pursuits, although her beautiful doll from Eva Adams had been gently placed on a shelf in her bedroom two years ago.

  She hadn’t been to London to see her mother since the last, unsuccessful visit, but whenever Miriam came through New York for a day or two with Greg, she would invite Heloise to spend a night at their hotel with them. She had seen her mother three times in four years. She fantasized about what life would have been like with her, if her parents had stayed married. She couldn’t imagine it, although it would have been wonderful to have a mother. Miriam was completely absorbed into her rock star husband’s life and didn’t seem to care about Heloise or anything she did. Only Greg and their children mattered to her. Their two children were very cute, but whenever Heloise saw them, she thought they were wild and badly behaved. She said so to Jennifer but never to her father. She knew enough not to discuss Miriam with him. Even the mention of her name shot a look of pain into his eyes. And she knew he disapproved of her and was still hurt and angry. And Heloise had loyalties to them both, although more so to her father. Her mother became more of a stranger every year.

  Heloise’s world consisted of her father, a hotel full of people who loved her, and a mother who seemed not to and made rare cameo appearances, like a shooting star in a summer sky. Heloise had more of a relationship with Ernesta the maid, Jan the florist, and Jennifer her father’s assistant who watched over her benevolently; they were all loving role models for her, better than her mother, Hugues knew. There had been a story in the tabloids about Miriam having a fling with a young cabana boy at a hotel in Mexico, and Greg had been arrested twice that year, once for possession of marijuana while on tour in the States and then for assault and battery when he got in a bar fight while severely inebriated. Videos of the fight and his subsequent arrest had appeared on YouTube, which Heloise admitted to Jennifer that she’d watched. She’d seen her mother in the crowd in the background at the bar, looking horrified when they dragged Greg out in handcuffs. Heloise had felt sorry for her mother, not for Greg. She told Jennifer he looked disgusting, and it seemed like he really hurt the man he hit with a vodka bottle. But apparently the man was his drummer, and the charges were dropped afterward. Hugues disliked the fact that Miriam lived in an unsavory world, but never commented on it to his daughter. He thought it would have been wrong to do so and never crossed that line with her. Jennifer was well aware of how much Miriam still upset him and what a terrible mother he thought she was, but she never mentioned it to Heloise either. She respected Hugues and Heloise too much to do so.

  Hugues wanted his daughter to have good values and a wholesome, happy life. He was glad that she had no interest yet in boys, drugs, or alcohol. And although she lived in a fairly sophisticated setting at the hotel, he saw to it that she was well protected and only spent time with those he thought were good influences on her. He kept an eye on all she did, while appearing not to and seeming to be more casual and cool than he was. He was very Swiss about his child, with traditional and even conservative values and ideas for her, even if he was occasionally a little more playful himself, although always discreetly.

  Heloise was completely unaware of any of the dalliances he had, and he kept it that way. He saw to it diligently that nothing of his personal life ever appeared on Page Six or anywhere else, no matter who he went out with. Jennifer teased him that he was the mystery man of the Vendôme. And his discretion always gave Heloise the impression that she was the only woman in his life. Hugues preferred it that way, since none of the women was important to him and he always knew his brief affairs wouldn’t last. The only one who mattered to him was Heloise. And he thought she’d been through enough with her mother, without having to worry over the insignificant women he went out with too.

  He had a penchant for women in their twenties and early thirties, always beautiful and somewhat striking, models, actresses, a few movie stars, an important heiress he met at the hotel. None of them would have been a good partner for the long haul, and he knew it, but they were fun for a night or two. And Heloise thought he hadn’t dated since her mother. It was a myth he was careful to preserve, although Jennifer warned him he might regret it one day if he met someone he cared about, and Heloise put up a strong resistance because she wasn’t used to him dating and thought she was the only woman in his life. Hugues didn’t agree with Jennifer’s motherly or sisterly advice and said that would never happen since he couldn’t even imagine being in a relationship again or falling in love.

  “I’ll deal with it if it happens,” he said vaguely, “but don’t hold your breath.”

  “I’m not,” Jennifer said with a rueful grin. She knew him well. He was carefully defended against any woman getting past his protective armor to his heart again.

  Among other solid values Hugues tried to instill in his daughter was a sense of responsibility for her fellow man, despite their comfortable surroundings. He didn’t want her to think that life was only about luxury and people who lived well and were rich. And he pointed out that the wealthy had an obligation to help those less fortunate. The hotel had been donating a portion of its unused food to a local food bank since it opened. And Heloise was proud of her dad for that.

  Hugues wanted her t
o realize how blessed she was and that there was more to life than just living in a fancy hotel. She lived in a rare and unusual world, but she had a social conscience as well. She volunteered in a soup kitchen through school, and collected toys for the fire department on her own at Christmas, asking hotel staff to donate old toys discarded by their children. She was acutely aware of how lucky she was and grateful to her father for the life they led. And she was generous with her allowance and collected money for UNICEF at school. World disasters, particularly those that affected children, went straight to her heart. More than anything, as difficult as it was in their surroundings and circumstances, Hugues wanted Heloise to have balance in her life and remain aware of those who needed help, and the suffering of mankind. She was a good girl, and more aware than many children her age.

  She had been working in the florist shop all afternoon, helping Jan cut flowers and snapping thorns off stems, when she left finally and went upstairs to do her homework. She had a big assignment due at school. And there was a big wedding scheduled in the ballroom the next day that she wanted to attend. As usual, Heloise was planning to “drop in” and check it out. Her father assumed that she had been watching the room being set up when she came in late for dinner with him that night. Everyone was talking about the wedding, which was going to cost a million dollars between flowers, catering, decor, and the bride’s Chanel haute couture gown.

  “Where were you?” he asked her casually as the room service waiter brought their dinner in on a rolling tray. Hugues would have liked to cook for her himself, but he never had time. There was always some crisis he had to manage, or the constant overseeing of the hotel. The Vendôme was a huge success because he was always there himself, attending to every detail. And his staff knew that he was ever present, aware of everything that went on and everything they did. It kept them on their toes.

  “I was with Jan all afternoon, working on the big wedding. She has a lot of work to do. She hired four assistants and she’s still afraid she won’t get it all done. I was lending her a hand,” Heloise said vaguely, as the room service waiter served them lamb chops and haricots verts. Hugues was careful about what they ate and spent an hour in the gym every morning before he went to work. At forty-five, he looked younger than his age and was in great shape.

  “I went by there, and I didn’t see you,” her father commented.

  “I must have been up here doing homework by then,” she said innocently.

  “A likely story,” he teased her with a grin. Her grades were decent even if they weren’t great, and it was a difficult school. She was equally proficient in English and French, and her Spanish had remained fluent, due to her long conversations at the hotel. “So what are you doing this weekend? Are you having friends over?” he asked warmly. He had four VIPs checking in that weekend and a foreign head of state on Saturday, which meant additional security and Secret Service in the lobby and all over the hotel. The foreign dignitary had booked an entire floor, save for Hugues’s private apartment on that level, and they had to close off the floors above and below him, which was annoying since they couldn’t use their two penthouse suites on the floor above, nor the presidential suite on the floor below. And those three suites alone were big revenue sources for them. They charged fourteen thousand dollars a night for the presidential and twelve thousand for each of the two penthouse suites. They had two dead floors on their hands for the weekend, although they were charging the foreign government a fortune for their occupancy but the hotel’s security costs would be high too, with their entire security staff working overtime all weekend.

  “Yes, I think I’m having a friend over, maybe two,” Heloise said, staring at her plate. Hugues thought she was unusually quiet, but she’d had a cold and he assumed she was tired. They both had had busy weeks. It was January and bitter cold outside, and everyone was sick. Illness spread like wildfire through the hotel in flu season, with so many people working there. Signs everywhere reminded employees to wash their hands. “I think Marie Louise is coming over tonight, and maybe Josephine. We’re going to sleep downstairs.” It was a privilege he accorded her, particularly at this time of year when the hotel wasn’t fully booked. There was a small room on the second floor that people used for their assistants or bodyguards.

  “Just don’t drive room service crazy with a lot of requests. No grilled cheese sandwiches at four in the morning, or banana splits. Order before midnight, please. The room service staff is too small after that to take care of you girls too.”

  “Yes, Papa,” she said demurely, and smiled at him, which for a fraction of an instant made him wonder what she was up to. If he hadn’t known her better, he would have thought she had a boy hidden somewhere up her sleeve, but Jennifer assured him she wasn’t ready for that yet. But he knew that day would come, and he would mourn her childhood and total adoration of him when it did. He loved being at the hub of her world, just as she was at his.

  They finished dinner quickly because he had to get downstairs for a security meeting in anticipation of the foreign president’s arrival the next day. Heloise went to Mrs. Van Damme’s room then and offered to walk the dog for her. The elderly dowager was very pleased. She’d had a hip replaced recently and no longer walked Julius herself. And she liked it when Heloise took him out. She took him on long walks and came back with brilliant pink cheeks from the cold, and Julius had fun with her, more so than with the bellmen who walked him quickly around the block and brought him back.

  Heloise left the hotel a few minutes later in a parka and jeans, with a wool cap on her head and a long knitted scarf and gloves. It was bitter cold, and she ran the old Pekingese quickly around the corner. She stopped in a doorway where a man was lying under a cardboard box in a sleeping bag. She tapped politely on the box as though it were a door, and a wizened old face peeked out and smiled when he saw her. He looked a little drunk, and he had a filthy blanket wrapped over the sleeping bag, which looked new. She had bought it for him with her allowance the week before. She had been checking on him for several weeks and brought him leftover food they gave her in the kitchen. No one ever questioned her requests or asked what they were for. They just assumed she had a healthy appetite or was taking it upstairs for a friend.

  “Are you ready, Billy?” she asked the man lying on the sidewalk, and he nodded. She looked like an angel fallen from the sky to him. She had promised him a room for that night. He didn’t really think she’d do it, but he followed her anyway and was surprised she had shown up. He got slowly to his feet, and she helped him fold the blanket and the sleeping bag. He smelled awful, and she tried to hold her breath, as the Pekingese watched.

  “Where are we going?” Billy asked her, and she pointed around the corner away from the main entrance of the hotel. There was a door that some of the employees used that led up a back staircase. It was kept locked, and she had taken a key from maintenance that day. And together they walked slowly toward the unmarked door that was on the back side of the hotel. She rapidly unlocked it and told him they had to walk up two flights of stairs.

  The room she had blocked that afternoon herself on the computers was on the second floor. She knew the maids had already done their turn-down rounds, so the coast was clear, except for the security camera she hoped no one was watching too closely. She counted the half flights until they got to two, as Billy followed slowly and the dog panted on his way up. She had first met Billy two weeks before, when she stopped to talk to him one afternoon. He’d told her he’d been sick but hadn’t been able to get into a shelter, and Heloise wanted to get him out of the cold and off the street. This was the only way she could think of to do it, and she’d been planning it for two weeks. This was the perfect night. They weren’t fully booked, some of the security staff were out sick, and she was sure she could get Billy into a room, for the night at least. How to get him out again would be another problem, but she was sure she could figure out a way, so no one would ever know he’d been there. And she planned to put a Do Not D
isturb sign on the door and clean the room herself after he left. But first she wanted to get him warm and fed and off the streets for the night. It was her gift to him.

  “Are you okay?” She turned to smile at him, before she opened the door into the second-floor hall. Julius continued to watch them with interest, turning his head from side to side.

  “I’m okay,” Billy reassured her. “I like your dog,” he said politely as Heloise smiled.

  “He’s not my dog. I walk him for a friend.” And then she put a finger to her lips, opened the door, and led Billy to a door only a few steps away. She had the key in her hand and unlocked it rapidly and ushered him inside.

  The homeless man looked around and began to cry. “What are you doing?” he asked with a look of panic. “I can’t stay here. They’ll put me in jail.”

  “No, they won’t. I won’t let them. My father owns the hotel.”

  “He’s going to kill you for this,” Billy said, looking worried for her as well.

  “No, he won’t, he’s a nice man.” She was turning on the lights in the room. It was one of their smaller rooms, which was how Heloise knew she’d get away with it. It would be one of the last rooms they gave out, and in the slow season like January they wouldn’t need a room this size. Billy was looking around in amazement at the luxury and comfort she had brought him to. It looked like paradise to him. It had a king-size bed, an enormous TV, antiques all over, and a large immaculate bathroom. His eyes were huge in his ravaged face as he looked at the young girl who had brought him here.

  “What about your mom? Won’t she get mad at you?” He looked genuinely worried about her.