New Beginnings (34 page)

I was in the bathroom putting the finishing touches on my make-up when Xavier strolled in. He looked devastatingly handsome in his black Armani suit.

Placing his hands on my shoulders, he leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be down in the car, sweetness,” he whispered in my ear.

I frowned as I watched his retreating form in the mirror. That was odd. He always waited for me. I was quickly distracted watching his perfect ass disappear through the bedroom. The smell of his cologne hung in the air. My cheek tingled from his kiss. Will this ever get old? Will I always feel this way about this incredible man?

As I walked through the lobby of the Fairmont, I saw the long, black limo waiting under the overhang of the grand entrance. The doorman graciously held the door open for me before rushing to open the limo door.

“Have a nice evening, Mrs. Hart,” he said, smiling at me.

I was surprised that he knew who I was; then again he was working the door when we arrived at the hotel yesterday. It was startling to hear him call me Mrs. Hart, though. It was the first time since we had gotten married that someone other than Xavier had called me that.

I slid onto the bench seat next to him smiling like the love-struck fool that I was. As soon as the car door closed, the limo started pulling away not even giving me the opportunity to buckle my seat belt.

“Hey!” I hollered, frowning at the black privacy screen.

As they sped out of the Fairmont’s driveway, I got jostled into Xavier’s side. I watched in horror as he slumped over and fell to the floor of the limo. My blood ran cold as he rolled over onto his back revealing a single gunshot wound to the chest. His crisp, white button-down was stained crimson.

I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out. The limo stopped short causing me to fly off the seat and land directly on top of him. My hands slammed down onto his bloody, still chest. Hot tears were streaming down my face as a stared into his lifeless eyes. Who would do this? How could this happen?

The whir of the black privacy screen caught my attention. When I glanced up, I found myself staring into the barrel of a gun. Stephen’s cold eyes were staring at me from behind the gun. Carline was sitting in the passenger seat with an evil smirk on her face.

“Die, bitch,” Stephen said scornfully.

My legs were tangled up in my gown from being thrown out of my seat. I struggled to get to the door. My blood soaked hand slipped on the door handle, causing me to stop and stare at Xavier’s blood smeared on my hands. Suddenly, someone grabbed me from behind. Fighting hard, I tried in vain to break their hold, clawing at the arms now wrapped around me. I finally found my voice as a blood-curdling scream ripped from my throat.

“ELLA!”

Hearing Xavier bark my name in that commanding tone made my eyes fly open. The hotel room was dark. I was in bed drenched in sweat. My legs were tangled in the sheet. My hands gripped the side of the bed while Xavier’s arms were wrapped around my waist keeping me from falling off the bed.

“Holy … shit …” I gasped for air as I collapsed into the bed.

Xavier released me. He got out of bed and opened the heavy drapes some, allowing some light from the cloudy afternoon to stream in. I watched with wide eyes as he made his way into the bathroom. My heart was pounding in my chest. I sat up struggling to take deep breaths. The water ran for a few moments. Xavier came back into the bedroom carrying a washcloth.

“Easy, calm down, sweetness. It’s all right,” he said soothingly. He brushed the hair off my damp forehead before wiping the sticky sweat off my face. “Do you want to talk about it?”

I shook my head causing him to exhale roughly in irritation. The dream was so life-like I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to be ready to talk about it.

“I had to keep a pretty hard hold on you. You were fighting me so vehemently I was afraid you were going to fall out of the bed. I didn’t hurt you, did I?” he asked cautiously.

I shook my head at him. “No. What time is it?”

“It’s 4:30. We don’t have to meet your parents downstairs until 6:45. I’m afraid it’s the Metropolitan Grill again. Apparently, your father enjoyed their prime rib so much he was asking to go there again instead of the hotel restaurant like we originally planned for tonight.”

“I’m sorry. I warned you about my father and his love of prime rib.”

He chuckled. “Yes, you did.” He lifted my chin to make eye contact with him. His eyes were full of worry. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

I smiled weakly at him. “Yes,” I said not sounding very convincing even to my own ears.

He frowned. “I’ll go start us a bath.”

After our relaxing bath, I sat in front of the mirror finishing my make-up when a sense of deja vu washed over me. Xavier strolled into the bathroom looking devastatingly handsome in his black suit and crisp, white shirt.

“You look gorgeous as usual,” I said, smiling at him in the mirror. “What suit is that?”

“Armani.”

I blanched, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was too busy looking at his watch and frowning. “I’m afraid our bath left us running a bit behind. I’m going to go down to the lobby to meet your parents. I don’t want to leave them waiting.” He placed his hands on my shoulders and kissed my cheek. I stared as he walked out of the bathroom. Suddenly, visions of my dream came flooding back to me.

I jumped up so quickly the little bench I was sitting on toppled over. It landed on its side loudly on the ceramic tile. “No! Wait!” I frantically yelled.

Xavier came charging back into the bathroom. “Ella, what is it? You scared me half to death.” He walked over and righted the bench seat.

“You can’t go down. Wait for me. Please.” I clutched his arm sounding like a crazy person.

“Ella, I …” Placing a hand over mine, he frowned. “Baby, you’re shaking like a leaf. What is it? Are you not feeling well? Is it the babies?” he asked, sounding panicked.

I shook my head at him. “The babies are fine. It’s … it’s my dream from earlier.”

He gripped both of my arms. “Tell me,” he demanded as he guided me down to the vanity bench.

I sat and explained the entire dream to him watching him wince, squirm, and frown during certain parts. I was sure not to leave out even the tiniest detail. Usually, I forget a dream or a big chunk of it over the course of the day. But the last two times I’ve dreamt about Stephen, both vividly, the dreams remained with me with full details intact. I remember them as if they were memories and not dreams. It was unsettling.

I chuckled nervously as Xavier remained quiet. “I’d say I blame the pregnancy hormones, but the last time I dreamt about Stephen I wasn’t pregnant.”

He met my eyes. “That’s not entirely true, Ella.”

I frowned at him. “How do you figure?”

“Granted, your first dream about Stephen occurred shortly after the first time we were together. But, you know, it’s possible that you could’ve gotten pregnant then. It only takes once.”

“True, but you were wearing a condom.”

He gave me a cheeky smile. “Not the second time. Remember?”

Holy shit. He was right. I gaped at him. We were all over each other. I told him not to bother. I couldn’t wait. At the time, I thought it was impossible for me to get pregnant.

He smirked at me. “Finish getting ready. I’ll ring your parents room.”

He held my hand as we rode the elevator to the lobby. I obsessed over my choice of dress. “I should’ve changed,” I said for the fifth time since we got in the elevator. I was wearing a simple, red, sheath dress that was formfitting. It totally accentuated my little baby bump, leaving me feeling self-conscience. Wrapping my coat around me, I attempted to hide it.

Xavier pulled my hand from my coat allowing it to fall back open. “You’re beautiful. Relax.”

My parents stood as soon as they saw us approach. “Ella,” my mom said excitedly as she patted my abdomen. “Is that a little baby bump?” I glared up at Xavier as I wrapped my coat around me. He just smiled and winked.

Following dinner, Xavier turned to me and said, “I have a surprise for you.” I looked at him expectantly. “While I really wanted to fulfill your dream of visiting Tuscany, the doctor felt a twelve hour flight would not be conducive to your condition.” He paused to give me an apologetic look. “So, I’ve made other arrangements. We leave tomorrow out of SeaTac. That’s all I’m going to say about that. I’d prefer to leave it a surprise.” He gave me a wicked smile.

“But my parents are here.” I gave them an apologetic look.

“Ella, your father and I have several appointments to look at houses over the next two days. We’ll be heading back to New Jersey after that. We have a lot of things to do before the move. We’ll see you again real soon.”

Once back at the hotel, we said our goodbyes to my parents. Mom promising to keep in touch with me concerning their progress on finding a house and all that had to be finalized before leaving New Jersey. Having quit my job, I thought the distraction of having them move out before the babies were born would be good for me.

As soon as we got back to the hotel room, I was surprised to see our suitcases sitting by the door. “What’s this?” I asked curiously.

“Stewart will be by to get them shortly. We leave tonight,” he said casually with a wicked gleam in his eye.

“What? Tonight?” My eyes widened in surprise.

“Ella, the flight is going to take about six to seven hours. I arranged to go on the company jet. The chairs completely recline so you’ll be able to get some rest before we arrive at our destination. It was the only way I could get the doctor to agree to let you go.”

“But we haven’t packed for any kind of a vacation,” I said, sounding a bit panicked.

He gave me my favorite half-smile. “It’s all been arranged, Ella. Your mother and Renatta were quite busy today.”

“What?” I was stunned.

“I couldn’t allow you to pack yourself. That would have given too much away about where we were headed.”

I just shook my head at him smirking. I was certain this was just the beginning of a life full of surprises now that I was Mrs. Xavier Hart, and I couldn’t be any happier!

Within an hour of getting back to our room, Stewart showed up to get our bags. We checked out of the Fairmont and made our way to SeaTac. It was nearly one in the morning by the time we reached Xavier’s company jet. It was white and sleek with the Hart to Hart logo on the tail. It looked like a fast jet just sitting on the tarmac.

Standing at the foot of the stairs was a tall, older gentleman with gray hair and luminous gray eyes. The uniform he was wearing indicated that he was part of the flight crew. Xavier introduced him as our pilot, James. He was very polite, addressing me as Mrs. Hart even though Xavier introduced me as Ella.

We stepped onto the plane and I found the sheer lavishness of the interior to be quite impressive. It was tasteful and luxurious. There were gleaming hardwood accents glistening under the cabin lights. A bar complete with crystal wine glasses hung carefully in a row. There were twelve plush leather seats that looked bigger than first class seats on a commercial airline. A small flat screen was available at each seat.

A young man was sitting at the controls flipping a bunch of switches and recording information on a clipboard. Xavier assured me he was just doing the usual preflight checks, but he didn’t disturb him to introduce me.

Xavier took my purse and placed it in a bin under the bar. He directed me to one of the plush seats. The butter-soft leather creaked as I settled in. Xavier then disappeared toward the back of the plane to retrieve a pillow and blanket.

“Once we get in the air, sweetness, I want you to try and get some sleep,” he said, handing the items to me.

An older woman with blonde hair pulled back into a neat chignon and large brown eyes approached us. Her silver engraved nametag read Julia. Her white button down shirt had the Hart to Hart logo embroidered on the left side. She politely asked if there was anything we would like before take off. I declined her offer while Xavier politely asked for a cup of coffee.

Once we got in the air, Xavier showed me how to recline the chair. He lovingly made sure I was comfortable before kissing my forehead and returning to his seat. The cabin was dark except for a small light that lit up a foldout table in front of his chair. He had some papers spread out and his laptop open.