Hungry for More (2012) (24 page)

“I promise to take you with me wherever I go,” Paul winked.  “I did think we might be able to get in a little sightseeing?” he said causally.  “It’s your home country after all.  I thought you might show me around.”

Bridget’s face lit up again.  “Do you mean it?” she asked. “That would be fun!  I’d love to play tour guide.”

“Now Tad, do you have everything you need?”

“Yes, Nanny.”

“Are you
sure
?” Bridget asked, rechecking Tad’s backpack.  She had packed all of his clothes, but if a favorite toy got left behind then it would be disastrous!  “What about Mr. Hoppypants?  Is he ready to go too?”

“Mr. Hoppypants says he’s going to stay here and look after
D
addy’s apartment while we’re all away,” Tad nodded, ferreting out an extra game to take with him to his Auntie Dixie’s. 

Bridget nodded and didn’t say anything.  She had noticed that Tad had stopped mentioning his imaginary friends
and stuffed animals
as much as he did in the past.  Back when Phoebe was still alive, Tad had done everything with Mr. Hoppypants and Frog.  Tad was getting older. Bridget understood that, but she also thought that it had a lot to do with the fact that he was happier and felt more secure these days.  Paul was making a huge effort with his son. Tad was clearly reaping the benefits.

“Okay, then I think we can tell Daddy that we’re ready,” Bridget smiled.

“Yay!” Tad cheered, grabbing his own bag and running out to wait by the front door.

Bridget followed, smiling to herself.  She had worried that Tad would object to being left behind, that he would feel upset and left out
;
but he appeared to be just as excited about going to stay with
his
aunt, uncle and cousins again as she was about her holiday to England!

The journey to D
.
C
.
was uneventful, but it seemed to take forever.  Paul laughed and commented that Bridget had less patience than Tad.

“I know- I know, I’m sorry,” Bridget flushed, and told herself that she wouldn’t look at her watch again until they arrived.

“I think it’s cute,” Paul chuckled, reaching for her hand to bestow a tender kiss.

There wasn’t time to linger once they finally got to Dixie’s.  Paul hurried everyone through their goodbyes, seemingly eager to get Bridget to himself (and oddly, she thought to herself afterwards, away from Dixie).  After that, it only seemed to take the blink of an eye for them to board their plane and be properly on their way.

“Oh Paul, thank you so much for bringing me,” Bridget beamed at her lover, before taking a moment to glance at the fluffy white clouds outside.

“I wouldn’t have come without you,” he winked.

Bridget flushed.  “Don’t be silly.”

Paul laughed and shook his head.  “It’s not silly!  But anyway, you’re looking forward to going back for a little while?”

Bridget nodded her head eagerly.  “I’ve got a whole list of things that I want to show you,” she beamed.

“Any people on that list?” Paul asked casually.

“People?”

“Family?  Friends?  You must know people in London?”

“Oh… a few I suppose,” she confessed, with seeming reluctance.  She gave her head a little shake and smiled brightly at Paul.  “But I don’t want to share you!  I know you have to do this show, but the time you have off I’m going to selfishly claim all for myself,” she giggled.

“Yeah, it will be nice to have so much uninterrupted grown-up time,” Paul grinned wolfishly. 

It was a shame that the other first class passengers prevented him from benefiting from having Bridget all to himself right now, but he still enjoyed the hot flush that reddened her cheeks.  He loved that he could still make her blush.

“I
know
you’ll miss Tad as much as I will,” she said, flustered.

“I will,” Paul chuckled, secretly marveling that this was now the case.  He had been lucky with Tad, obviously; he couldn’t imagine missing any other child as much as he missed his son.  “But I’m not above using his absence to my advantage.”

“Is that so?” Bridget giggled.  “I’ll have to be on my guard then,” she teased.

Paul nodded. 

“Why don’t you take a nap now?  I don’t plan on going easy on you when we get to England just because you’re jetlagged,” he warned.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Bridget whispered.  She licked her lips, and her pupils dilated instinctively.

Paul groaned and tried to take his own advice.  Sleep was the only way that he would be able to keep his hands off his lover!   She looked so luscious and inviting.  He could afford to be patient however.  She was his, and soon he wouldn’t ever let her doubt it again.

Chapter 21

The plane ride was comfortable and relaxing. Bridget even managed to persuade Paul to concede that the food was edible.  It took a little while to get through customs and immigration at Heathrow once they landed, but not so long as to dampen their spirits.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re staying now?” Bridget asked Paul.  He had been saving the name of their hotel as a surprise.

“You’ll see when we get there,” he grinned, helping her into a taxicab, before quietly telling the driver the name of their destination. 

Bridget poked her tongue out at Paul in frustration when he slid in beside her.  He almost took advantage.

“So, what’s it like being back?” he asked, glancing out of the window at the passing English scenery.

Bridget looked thoughtful.  “A little bit strange.”

“Strange good or strange bad?” Paul demanded.  A small frown furrowed his brow, until Bridget turned to him with a warm smile.

“What do you think?”

Paul reached for her hand and gave her fingers a gentle squeeze.  “I think I want you to have the best time of your life,” he murmured earnestly. 

Bridget beamed at him, and the rest of the journey took place in comfortable silence, which was occasionally broken by Bridget playing tour guide as she pointed things out to Paul.  She even pointed out their hotel without realizing that they were stopping.

“Paul?” she gasped, as the taxi pulled up outside the London Ritz.  “We’re staying
here
?”  He smiled and nodded.  “Did the studio arrange this?” she whispered, as she was helped out of the cab.

“Something like that,” Paul murmured, not giving Bridget a chance to respond before he swept her inside.

Bridget followed quickly in Paul’s wake as he strode through the opulent lobby. She was torn between feeling like a princess and feeling like a fraud. She couldn’t believe that they were actually going to stay here- for an entire week!- but she supposed this was a perk of fame. Perhaps her parents were right
.
Perhaps she
should
have done something better with her life than training to teach at primary school
.

The thought of her parents dampened Bridget’s spirits quite a bit. She hadn’t phoned them yet. She wasn’t certain yet whether she was going to ring them, but she did feel incredibly guilty for the omission. She knew from her mother’s monthly e-mails that both of her parents were in town- as was her sister, Claudia.

Bridget couldn’t contain a weary sigh when she thought of her younger sibling. She did
love
the girl, she supposed, but the relationship was very strained. Claudia had been a sickly child. Born with a rare heart condition, she had demanded almost all of her parents
’
attention- and never relinquished it when her condition was healed.

Claudia was…

Bridget tried to think of a good description, but she had only really thought of her sister relative to herself. Claudia was everything Bridget wasn’t: smart, popular, aggressive- and most importantly,
thin
. Bridget couldn’t remember a time when she didn’t covet the younger girl’s naturally petite physique. How she loathed being told she had a “pretty face” while everyone commented on Claudia’s figure. Rationally, Bridget knew that being skinny wasn’t the answer to all of life’s problems, but she had never been able to fully shake the suspicion that it was
close
to the answer or that she’d be happier and more successful and more
loved
if she could only lose fifty pounds.

“Baby? Is something the matter?”

Bridget blinked, jarred back to present by Paul’s question. She was embarrassed to discover how long she had been lost in thought. Paul was holding both of their room keys, and a porter was carrying up their bags.

“No, nothing’s wrong,” Bridget responded, forcing a smile that she didn’t feel. She was annoyed that thoughts of her family had cast a shadow over her formerly
ecstatic mood. She vowed to recapture her earlier feelings and slipped her arm around her lover’s waist as they moved toward the elevators. “I’m just tired,” she told him.

“It’s only ten a.m.,” Paul answered, amused, but understanding. They had flown all night- although he had taken his own advice and caught some sleep on the plane.

“Are you saying you don’t want to go to bed with me?” Bridget asked with uncharacteristic boldness.

Paul grinned back, “I’m saying that I don’t want to
sleep
…”  Mollified, Bridget smiled- until her lover continued: “You promised me some sightseeing today!”

“Big Ben will still be there this afternoon!” Bridget replied, grumpily. The elevator had arrived at their floor. She stepped off, waiting on Paul to fish out his key and to open the door.

The room
,
which was actually a small suite, was breathtaking. There was a separate sitting area and a pair of large windows that looked out over Hyde Park Corner. She caught her breath, still unable to believe that she was actually here.

Paul walked up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. “Good to be home?” he asked.

Bridget nodded.

“How long has it been?”

She paused for a second to consider- and then realized, “Well…I guess a little over four and a half years?”

Paul gaped. “Are you serious?”

She nodded, “Yes- I mean, I haven’t been home since Tad was born.”

“Phoebe didn’t let you take vacations?”

“What? Of course she did! It was just…well, Tad always came along with me
;
and like you said, it’s really too long of a flight to-!”

“She made you take Tad on vacation?” Too cognizant of his own neglect, Paul had never delved too deeply into how his ex had taken care of their child. The answer now seemed obvious: She
hadn’t
. She had dumped it all on Bridget instead.

“I
wanted
to bring him with me!” Bridget insisted, seeming to anticipate Paul’s thoughts. “I don’t trust him with anyone else!”

“Even his mother?”

Bridget hesitated, feeling as though she ought to be loyal, but unable to manage a lie: “
Especially
his mother…I can’t imagine what Phoebe would have done with him for an hour, much less a
week
! I only ever took my weekends off when her housekeeper was in for the afternoon!”

Paul blinked, still taking in this new information, “But surely you haven’t
always
been around?”

Bridget nodded, a smile teasing her lips as she remembered: “I was at the hospital on the night he was born…”

It was one of her most cherished memories. Just thinking about it made her heart start to glow. She didn’t believe in love at first sight until that night.

Caught up in her pleasant musings, Bridget hadn’t noticed the frown on her lover’s face.

“I missed it,” Paul said glumly.

“What?” Bridget asked. She had lost the thread of their conversation.

“The night that Tad was born. I wasn’t there.”

“No,” Bridget answered quietly, as she remembered that as well.

Since she was so new to her position- and to her employer- Paul’s absence had been inconceivable to her at the time. She had never met the baby’s father, and knew him only from Phoebe’s less than flattering
reports. As far as she knew, Paul D
evoe was a low-life commitment
-phobe who heard about the baby and balked. Bridget had thought that “Mr. Devoe” must be a monster not to visit his own child on the night of his birth!

Of course,
other
Devoes log
ged their appearances. None of them were at the hospital, but they all paid their calls to New York. Bridget thought that Paul’s parents were sweet, his older sister Molly and her husband Brian were intimidating, his brother Jack and his wife Catherine were very nice- and she absolutely adored Dixie from the start (even more so when Phoebe insisted on counting her silverware after her former sister-in-law left!). Paul’s adorable family softened her to him a bit, and she had managed to remain polite in his presence during the few awkward occasions that they met, but it still seemed impossible to reconcile the warm, tender man that she knew now with what she’d thought of him not so long ago.