Lily's Dream (Unexpected Lover Series) (15 page)

He kissed her and lifted her out of the
shower. He dried her, then himself. She put on the robe and he suggested she
lie down on the bed while he ordered dinner from room service.

He ordered their dinner, then went over
and sat next to her on the bed. He opened the robe exposing her body and kissed
her gently, saying, “I love you so much. I love to look at your beautiful body
and kiss you all over. When I’m at work I think about you stretched out on the
bed and then get so hard I have to put on an apron.”

Finally they heard a knock on the door.
He put on his robe, quickly covered her and opened the door to their dinner
cart. He put the food on the table and picked her up and put her in her chair
at the table. “I’m really getting special treatment tonight.” “Whatever you
want, I’m your servant,” he responded. He ate his dinner with gusto while she
just picked at hers. “What’s wrong with your dinner?” he asked. “I’m just not
hungry. There was too much highly charged emotion today, I guess.”

 “That’s true. Are you finished with
your dinner?” At her nod, he removed their dishes to the car and rolled it
outside their room. He lay back down on the bed beside her and reached for her
hand.

“You know I think about you during the
day, too. It’s not just a guy thing.” She rolled over on her side and sniffed
his neck and kissed his face and lips. She rubbed his arms, chest and said, “I
think about your hot body, beautiful eyes and having you inside me. I think
about how sweet, kind and thoughtful you are. I am so lucky to be married to
you. And you give such wonderful back rubs.”

“Is that a hint?”

“Hmmm…”

She turned over on her stomach and he
began to rub and massage her shoulders and back.  He felt her relax and shortly
realized that she was asleep. He pulled the covers up and they both went
promptly to sleep.

The cell phone rang and Andrew answered
it and listened intently. He was unable to get in a question or comment as
Andre was talking fast. Andrew agreed to relay the information to Molly and
hung up. He had a stunned look on his face and Molly asked what had happened.

“It was Andre giving a rather strange
report of what happened in Cincinnati. Jenny and Lily aren’t blood sisters,
Keith shot Jenny’s gun out of her hand, Lily hit Jack on the head with a brass
lamp and they’re coming home tomorrow morning and will tell us all about it
then. Lily is pretty tired and still shook up by what all happened. That’s all I
know.”

They looked at each other wide eyed and
puzzled. “Why would Lily hit Jack on the head with a brass lamp?”

Andrew shrugged his shoulders saying, “I
don’t know any details. We’ll just have to wait until they get back tomorrow.
The only thing I can think of that would make Lily hit anybody on the head with
a lamp is to protect someone….particularly someone she loves.”

“Likely Jack was going to hurt Andre,
although I don’t know why unless it was jealousy.”

They both thought about it for a while.

“There’s something I’d like to ask you.
What do you honestly think about my ideas for my store?”

“I truly think starting the store would
be fun. I’d like to help if there is anything I can do. Jacqueline won’t be
pleased as you’d be big competition for her. On the other hand, maybe she has
her client base and this would not draw from it.”

The Next Day

Andre phoned his father from the airport
telling him they had arrived and would stop by Molly’s apartment when they got
home. His father replied they were eager to hear what happened in Cincinnati.
Both Molly and Andrew were waiting eager to hear about what had happened.

Lily and Andre told of Jenny and Jack’s
arrival and what followed. Both Molly and Andrew were shocked at Jenny’s
behavior but her probable inherited mental illness would explain many things.
Jack’s intention of killing Andre left them speechless. Andrew hugged Lily
saying, “Thank you for saving my son when I have just found him.” Molly, too,
was crying. Andre looked embarrassed and said, “Let’s don’t get too maudlin
here or I’ll be crying, too. I’m proud of Lily….she’s a wonder woman.” He took
her in his arms and kissed her.

“How are plans for the store coming
along?” inquired Andre.

“I’m going out later to look for
alternate locations but I want to be in the mall. I hope that works out.”

 Everyone was thinking about the store
when Andrew asked, “Are most of your clients regulars or tourists?” “That’s a
good question. Most of them are regulars with some tourists. But the steady
income is from regulars. So that’s an important consideration in choosing a
location,” replied Andre.

“That gives us some guidelines to work
from. I’d really rather be in your mall location but I’ll see what I can find
tomorrow.

The Next Day

Andrew knocked on the Mall Manager’s
door and entered to find the manager and a middle aged man standing. This is
Mr. Ronald McMillan, owner of the mall. Mr. McMillan held out his hand and
Andrew and he shook hands and exchanged greetings. The owner invited Andrew to
sit down and Andrew realized he is being given the VIP treatment, very
different from his previous conversation with the manager.

The owner told Andrew he had him checked
out and found that he is indeed one of the wealthiest men in Chicago and was
financial sound. Andrew replied that he would expect them to do that. “I have
the money to do what I want to do. What I need is an acceptable location with
enough space. I looked at possible locations yesterday and have considered the
possibility of purchasing a building in need of renovation and renting out
retail spaces. I’m interested to hear your opinion on my plan should I be able
to rent space here,” responded Andrew.

At the owner’s request, Andrew pulled
out his plans for his store, explaining that he would have professionals design
the space. Both the owner and manager studied the plans carefully. “This could
certainly be a store appealing to the wealthy woman and an asset to any mall.
This would probably put
Jacqueline’s
out of business, particularly if
the
Lily Collection
is carried by your store. I understand Lily is your
daughter-in-law so I assume you would be carrying her collection.”

“Lily’s contract with Jacqueline is for
a year with ten months remaining. She is planning a new collection which could
probably come to me when the store is ready but, yes, I will be handling Lily’s
designs which are very hot right now. Plus she has an exclusive with Marcella
Devereaux which has not been made public yet,” replied Andrew. “I don’t doubt
my store will bring in wealthy customers with all that I have planned.”

“I don’t doubt it, either, Mr. Nelson,
and I want your store in our mall. I understand you want to locate on the
second floor close to an elevator.” Andrew replied, “The primary requirement is
sufficient space in an acceptable location in the middle third of the floor. My
store will draw in lots of customers and be helpful to all stores in the mall.
I assure you it will be upscale in every way and something we can all be proud
of. When can I expect to hear from you?”

“Obviously we have many decisions to
make regarding space but we will come up with something to offer you that will
meet your requirements. Let’s say no later than two weeks?” Andrew agreed with
this time requirement, rolled up his plans and shook hands on the agreement.

He walked around the mall again and
decided he liked the second floor better and hoped that would be a possibility.
He also picked up a newspaper.

Andrew started reading the newspaper and
noticed an ad for a dance troupe performing in Miami. He called Molly and asked
if she might be interested in attending. She was extremely excited and he noticed
that the performance was this evening at the Red Parrot. “Let’s go, Andrew, and
ask Lily and Andre to go with us!”

“If you want to go, we’ll go. It should
be interesting. It’s at that restaurant you and Lily like.”

Molly called Lily and told her about the
dance troupe performance at the Red Parrot. Lily was excited and said she and
Andre would go with them.

When Molly was dressing that evening,
she put on the red chiffon dress which was her favorite. When Andrew, Lily and
Andre arrived, she was fairly bouncing with excitement. “I just can’t wait to
see if there is anyone I know dancing tonight. Do you remember what the name of
the group is?”

“I think it is Miami Dancing Troupe. I
thought it a very unimaginative name.”

They pulled into the parking lot to find
it much more crowded than on their previous visit. There was an attendant this
time so parking was not a big issue. “I’m glad I made reservations,” commented Andrew.
“This seems to be a popular event.”

They were seated and drink orders taken.
Lily asked Molly if she wished she was to be dancing tonight.

“Dancing is hard work. Your entire life
has to be devoted to practice and more practice. Just for me to get in shape
would take a tremendous amount of hard work. I have other interests now and no
desire to go back to that life, although I enjoyed it at the time. People enjoy
watching dancing performances with no idea how much precision and practice are
involved.”

Lily expressed her interest in the
routine of the dancers. “What would they be doing now, Molly?” “Putting on
their costumes, warming up, and joking around to make the atmosphere relaxed.
Some dancers get the jitters pretty bad. That’s true for any performer,
whatever you’re doing. I never got nervous probably because I’d been dancing in
front of an audience since I was a child. I was always excited and ready to get
on the stage. I tried to help the nervous ones relax because they’re most
likely to make mistakes. I loved performing,” replied Molly.

“Oh, I see Rita. She had to quit dancing
because of an injury. Please excuse me. I want to go speak to her.”

Molly walked around the tables to sit
next to an attractive woman with blond hair. She excitedly greeted Molly and
they talked with animation for quite a while. Molly returned to the table excitedly
telling Lily she had something to tell her. “That was Rita Romano who used to
dance in the same group I was in. She has a daughter, Elena, who designs and makes
all the costumes for the troupe. She has recently made some new ones and Rita
is here to see the costumes for this performance. Apparently Elena has been
sewing for years and is very talented in this area. I didn’t mention you, Lily,
because I didn’t know if you would want to talk to her or not.”

“Do costume designers make a lot of
money?”

“No they work on an
as needed
basis so it’s not a regular job. They don’t make a huge amount of money
either.”

The show started with the announcer introducing
the dancers. The first number was a slow waltz with the lead female dancer wore
a red dress of a shimmering material with sequins on the bodice and sprinkled
around the skirt. Lily and Molly grinned at each other since Molly wore her red
dress that she wore when she was lead dancer with her troupe.

The show continued with fast music where
the male dancer lifted the lead female above his head and flipped her around
over and under his body. There was a sexy Latin number and the crowd whistled
and clapped clearly enjoying the suggestive movements. There were many more
performances by various dancers but the petite female lead dancer was in almost
all of them. When the show ended and the dancers took their bows, she received
a standing ovation along with her partner.

They all enjoyed the performance. Andrew
had an odd expression on his face when he asked Molly, “Did you do all those
things that lead female dancer did?” Molly looked surprised and responded, “Of course
only I did them better. My partner was a better dancer than this dancer. Why?”

“I shudder to think how you could have
been hurt if he’d dropped you. Thank God you’re not doing that anymore.”

Everyone smiled at this comment. Lily
was very impressed with the creativity of the costumes and said she would like
to meet Elena. “We probably should go over to where they’re sitting as Rita was
injured and can’t walk.”

“How was she injured?” asked Andrew.
Molly looked at him with narrowed eyes and said, “I’m not going to tell you.”

“I’ll bet she was dropped by the guy
holding her up and fractured her spine,” guessed Andrew.

Molly stood and looked at him with one
hand on her hip. “You are so often so disgustingly right, Andrew,” she said and
walked off with Lily.

While Andrew looked smug, Andre said, “If
you were married, you would end up sleeping on the sofa tonight, Father.”

Molly introduced Rita and Lily and asked
when Elena would return to the table. “She supervises packing up the costumes
so they don’t get torn up. They are so careless with all her hard work and it
really gets me fired up at the way they take advantage of her. She gets paid very
little and works so hard on their costumes.”

Elena sat down at the table and
introductions were made. With long blond hair in a ponytail framing a beautiful
face with large hazel eyes, Elena was much younger than Lily expected. Lily
complimented her on the beautiful costumes and said that she, too, designed and
made dresses. “I need some help with my sewing business and wonder, Elena, if
you would be interested in working with me. I will pay you a very good salary.
You would have to be committed to my line of dresses and there would be no time
for costume work. There is a good future for you if things work out. Would it
be possible for me to examine the red dress with the sequins?”

“Yes, I’ll go get it. I just packed it
in the trunk.”

Lily examined the dress carefully. She
saw to her relief that Elena was a very good seamstress. Everything was very
carefully and well done. “This is very well done and I think you would enjoy working
on my beautiful dresses. Are you interested?”

“Oh, yes. I am very interested. It is
hard for me to get work and I get such small pay. My mother can’t work and we
have been having a very hard time getting along. This offer is so wonderful for
us. When can I start?” replied Elena.

“Rita, you haven’t said anything. Are
you okay with this?” asked Lily. “It is a wonderful miracle for us, Lily. I
haven’t interfered because it depended on whether or not you liked Elena’s
work. I am so happy that you do because things have been very difficult for us.
Elena and I are close. We have always lived together and right now are living
with my sister and her family. It’s hard for Elena to sew because we have only
one room. Give us your address and Elena will be there for her first day of
work.”

Lily gave them her address and asked
Elena to be there at 9 a.m. They all hugged and thanked Molly for bringing Lily
over to meet Elena.

Molly and Lily returned to their table
and it was obvious Lily was very happy. She took Andre’s hand and with
enthusiasm said, “Oh, Andre. I think I’ve really been lucky and found a
seamstress who will be a lot of help! She designed and made all those costumes.
Her work is good and I think once I show her something, I won’t have to show
her again and again. She really needs work so I’m starting her tomorrow. Rosa
is not a self-starter but I believe Elena will be. I’ll just have to see how it
goes.”