Epilogue
5 Months Later
"Put on your coat."
Wilhelmina lifted her head to see Daniel walking inside her brand new office, holding her coat up. She narrowed her eyes and ignored him, lowering her gaze again and going back to the book opened on her desk in front of her. She saw Daniel's hand reach for it and shut it.
She opened her mouth to complain, but he simply held up the coat before her eyes. She sighed and snatched it from him, remaining on her chair. "What? Where are we going?"
"I have to show you something," he said, beaming at her. "Come on, it's just a couple of blocks away, I swear.
She sighed and finally stood up, putting on her coat. She circled her desk and he grabbed her hand, leading her outside, towards the elevators.
"Amanda," he said, passing by the girl's desk in front of Wilhelmina's big circular window. "If anyone calls for Wilhelmina, tell them she's in a meeting. And I'm in a meeting too. Just…whoever it is, we're in a meeting, ok?"
"A private meeting, I guess?" Amanda said, suggestively wiggling her eyebrows.
Daniel laughed and dragged Wilhelmina away with him. People turned to stare when they walked by, many still gasping as they saw their linked hands. Daniel loved it, because somehow it still made it feel like something forbidden, and it lit up his desire.
The elevator doors dinged open, and the people inside ushered out when Daniel and Wilhelmina stepped in, no matter if that was really the floor they'd intended to go. No one was really keen on spending the briefest minute in the same with the two Editors. It was still weird to see the two whispering into each other's ear, standing in close proximity. It was awkward because they often couldn't keep their hands to themselves.
The hype had died out, eventually. The first months, it had been hell. They'd been bombarded with critiques and the support seemed to turn into hatred and mistrust. The first Mode issue, however, had been the best selling issue in the history of the magazine. Slowly but surely the shock had faded into amazement, and everyone had accepted that Wilhelmina and Daniel's move had been the wisest for everyone.
Even Elle, after the first months, had managed to get back to normal sales. They were not close to Mode, but they were no longer at the bottom. Robbie had finally recovered completely from the Wilhelmina's little stunt, drugging her on live TV. Lindsay Lohan and her latest rehab scandal were much more interesting.
Robbie had indeed filed for divorce from her husband, and Wilhelmina knew it was because eventually she had accepted that Arnaud might be more than a friend. She still chuckled at the idea that she had been the match maker in that situation. She would deny it, if anyone ever asked, but she was happy for them both. After all, they were good. Arnaud was almost as good as Bradford was, and Robbie… Maybe she was not as good as her, nor as good as Anna Wintour, but she knew what she was doing most of the time.
Marc enjoyed his new position more than he let on, but she knew him so much she could always read through him. He always tried to act as if he missed his old job, when she was around, but she knew he would never go back. And Wilhelmina wouldn't want it any other way, because now he was really her friend. True, he was still scared of her from time to time, but the fact that she was no longer in the position of firing him on the spot sure had done him some good, and he now felt compelled to tell her the truth instead of what she wanted to hear. She had gained a lot from it: a real friend.
Amanda had found her niche, working with Wilhelmina. The girl had the right dose of wickedness to follow the Editor's little schemes, and the right dose of twisted morality to help her see reason when her old ways seemed to creep in. Weirdly, Wilhelmina had found in Amanda a person to talk to, something she'd never quite found in any assistant after Marc. She couldn't go as far as to call it a friendship, but it was a relationship.
Betty was still…Betty. Always trying to do the right thing, and sometimes trying to tell Wilhelmina too, in the illusion that her relationship with Daniel had somewhat changed the fact that she didn't like people talking to her like she was someone who would ever care what they were saying.
Now, alone in the elevator, Daniel embraced her from behind and began placing butterfly kisses below her ear. She smiled and tilted her head to the side, placing her hands over his, on her stomach.
"This is not some childish way to bring me home and have your way with me, isn't it?" she asked, closing her eyes, letting the sensation wash over her.
"As if you would complain," he joked, closing his lips over her earlobe.
"I wouldn't," she agreed. "But I would be very upset at being kidnapped."
He smiled. "That means you would have to punish me?" he asked. "Because you know I love to be punished."
She chuckled in her throat, turning into his arms and sneaking her arms around his neck. "Confess."
"I'm a very bad boy," he said, leaning in, brushing his lips against hers, pulling back quickly with a knowing smile. "But that's not it. I'm sorry Miss I-Know-It-All."
The elevator reached the hall and the doors opened up. "Oh my God, can't you two give it a rest?"
The blonde stepped inside the elevator and Daniel detangled his hands from Wilhelmina, reaching for her hand again. The two stepped out and turned, smiling at Claire like a couple of embarrassed kids. "Never," Wilhelmina said, grinning.
Daniel tugged at her arm and she followed him, leaving an amused Claire behind them.
"Alright, where are you taking me?" She asked, now growing impatient. "You know I'm not a fan of surprises."
"That's not what you said when I showed up dressed as a pirate," he said.
"Now, while that was enjoyable, I'm still doing my best to erase that memory."
"Shut up, you loved how I handled my sword," he said, opening up the town car's door for her. She jumped in and he followed her.
"That was lame," she stated.
"I know."
The ride lasted less than forty seconds, and the car pulled up at a building two blocks away from Mode. "You really weren't kidding when you said it was only two blocks away," Wilhelmina said, shaking her head. "But I love you, because you knew I would never walk those two blocks in these heels."
He smirked, pleased, and helped her exit the car. He led her inside the building and, in the hall, Wilhelmina looked the surroundings. It was a beautiful place, with a tall white ceilings and marble floors.
"Where are we going?" she asked, following him to the lifts. He pushed the button and the door opened immediately. They stepped in and Daniel pushed button for the 36th floor. "Are you going to answer?" she insisted.
Daniel shook his head and looked up, faking interest in the perfectly white elevator. She folded her arms and leaned against the wall, tapping her foot on the cold tile. "Daniel, I'm not someone you can drag around without an explanation."
"Weird, I thought I just did that," Daniel exclaimed, with a smirk.
They reached the 36th floor and Daniel stepped out. Wilhelmina followed him once again, reluctantly. She stopped dead on her tracks when he saw him stopping in front of a door and extracting a key from his pocket.
"What are you doing?"
He looked at her, smiling, and inserted the key in the keyhole, unlocking it. He opened the door and entered, waiting for her to follow him, but she remained where she was, a safe meter away from him.
"I said, what are you doing?"
"Will you please come in?" he asked, with a mock bow.
Still, she didn't move. "Daniel, if you don't tell me what this is I'm stepping back inside the elevator and I'm going back to Mode, heels or not."
Daniel scoffed. "Wilhelmina, if you trust me, you'll come inside this fucking apartment."
She didn't know if it was the fact that ever since they'd been together he'd grown an attitude and that aroused her, or whether it was because she really did trust him after all, but she finally moved and stepped over the threshold. Daniel closed the door behind her, and when he looked at her he was glad to see her mouth was open in amazement.
The huge room they were in was completely empty. The walls were so white it was almost blinding, and the huge circular windows reminded him of the Mode office. The ceiling was tall and vaulted, with an elegant crystal chandelier hanging from it.
"What do you think?"
Wilhelmina couldn't speak. She walked further inside the house, reaching the other side and going inside another room, similar to the previous one. She turned around and stopped on the threshold of the first room, Daniel still standing on the other side, near the entrance. Her expression was undecipherable.
"What is this?"
"Will you keep answering my questions with more questions?" he asked, getting nervous.
She looked up at the ceiling again, not knowing what to say. She drew nearer to the big windows that offered a spectacular view of the city and let the sunlight pervade the place. She ran her hand down the curve, looking outside the window, before spinning around. "Is this what I think it is?"
"It depends on what you think," Daniel whispered, biting his bottom lip. "I swear it's not another sex dungeon."
Wilhelmina just couldn't bring herself to come out with a witty remark. She was mesmerized by the beauty of the place, and by its meaning. "Where do I fit in this?"
"Willie…" Daniel began, taking a few steps and reaching her in front of the window. "I love you. Seven months ago, I was alone. I was surrounded by people, but I felt alone. I had no one I felt I could talk to, no one that could understand my problems. I was a different man, a weak person always trying to please others. I was always struggling with what people wanted me to be. And then you came along."
Wilhelmina felt the urge to stop him, because she didn't know if she was strong enough to hear those words, but something inside her was keeping her still. He reached for her hand and held it in his.
"You came along, and you changed my life. It doesn't matter what our past has been, you turned my world upside down. And I don't think, in a million years, I could ever been happier than I am right now, in this moment, with you. There's nothing more I want from life, because I have all I need right here next to me. You changed me, Wilhelmina Slater. You made me the person I am today; a man who's no longer afraid of making choices, a man who knows how to get what he wants."
Wilhelmina looked down, and tried to free her hand from his grip, but he kept her tighter.
"And I changed you. You're a strong woman, but now you know that you don't have to fight anymore. You don't have to watch your back, because finally, you know that you're in the right place. I am your right place. I want to be the place you feel at home at. I want to be the one that you rest your head on, and I want to be the one to look at you every night, while you're sleeping. I don't want to spend one minute away from you, because I know my body, my brain and my heart can't function without you. I want to be your right place, Wilhelmina."
She stopped resisting and bit her bottom lip, still looking down, trying to fight the huge smile threatening to curve her lips. Mainly because she was too scared it would wrinkle her face, and secondly because she didn't show emotions. She didn't do emotions. But it was getting harder by the minute. All she knew was that now her hand was squeezing his, no longer shrinking at the contact, no longer afraid at the intimacy of what he was telling her.
She realized in that moment that she was no longer afraid.
"And now…Before I get too nervous and forget all I have to say…now I'm asking you…" he paused and she looked up, staring straight into his eyes. "Wilhelmina Slater…Will you move in with me?"
Wilhelmina narrowed her eyes. "You know, for a moment there I thought you were proposing."
"You just killed the romance."
"Yes."
Daniel frowned. "Yes what?"
"Just…yes."
She couldn't keep it anymore, the smile she was holding was much too strong than any beauty tip or absurd steely exterior. She smiled, and he smiled too, taking in the meaning of that single syllable. In one swift movement he hugged her, picking her up from the floor. She kissed him, running her hands through his hair, and he spun her around in the air.
She pulled back and he put her back down, still unable to contain his excitement. "We're going to live together!" he exclaimed, touching her arms, as if he was trying to assure himself he was not hallucinating, that she was really there.
"We are," she said. "But I have two conditions."
"What?" he asked, quickly. "Anything. You want me to be your welcome mat? I will. You want me to build a walk-in closet? I will, I will do it myself."
"No, none of that," she said, placing her hands on his shoulders, trying to calm him down. "I have two simple requests."
"Do tell?"
"Firstly, I want to keep my own apartment…for practical reasons. I'm not trying to kill the mood here but it makes sense."
He nodded once, "Done…next?"
"We never tell your mother where it is."
Daniel looked at her, quizzically. "Why?"
"Because I need to be able to have sex with you without interruptions!"
Another 5 months later
He opened the door and let her walk in front of him. She hadn't spoken to him the whole way home and walked through their home with her back rigid in anger. He followed her into the kitchen and watched as she poured herself a glass of wine, neglecting to get one for him.
'Willie, what's wrong?'
'Nothing.' She sipped from the glass and carried it with her to the lounge, she sat on the antique love-seat positioned in front of the large circular window, as she did every night, and cast her gaze out over the city.
He shrugged, knowing when she was in a mood like this, she wouldn't offer him anything until she was ready. He walked through to their bedroom, decorated in rich warm tones at Wilhelmina's request. Everything in the apartment had been decorated to her say so. Daniel hadn't minded, he had enjoyed watching her get excited about designing a home for them to share. The home had taken almost eight weeks for it to come up to Wilhelmina's standards and they could move in, they had shared a home for three months now and it had been surprising how easy the transition had been, how in sync they already were and how he couldn't ever imagine not waking up with her in his arms.
Taking his suit jacket off, he popped a couple of buttons at the top of his shirt and removed his tie. He lay on the top of the bed and counted to fifty, giving her a bit of space to calm down. He rolled on his side and swung his legs back off the bed. He walked slowly back to the spacious living room and smiled as he took in her figure, still sitting in the spot he had left her; she had kicked her stilettos off and had her legs curled under her, massaging her feet with her free hand.
Moving quietly he took a seat beside her. 'Here, let me.' As he reached for her foot she slid her legs back to the floor and stood up, sliding her feet back into the heels, walking away from him.
He slumped against the plush cushion of the seat. 'Willie, come on, what is it I'm meant to have done?'
She turned to face him and sighed. 'Nothing, that's just it Daniel, you've done nothing.'
'You're mad at me…for nothing?' He asked, eyebrows raised.
'Exactly.' She nodded and left the room.
He ran a hand over his face and resigned himself to the fight he knew was ahead of him. Deciding it was better to get it over and done with, he followed her. She was back in the kitchen, refreshing her glass of wine. He leaned over the counter, looking up at her. 'Are you going to make me guess?'
She stayed silent. 'Wil, I need to know what I'm apologizing for, I'm not a mind reader. What's got you so angry at me?'
'I'm angry at myself okay, and it's your fault. So I'm angry at you for making me angry at me…got it?'
He shook his head slowly. 'Not even a little bit.'
She sighed and placed her hands flat on the surface, either side of her glass, and wouldn't look at him. 'Well if I wasn't living with a corny, sentimental fool then I wouldn't have felt the need to do something so out of character it makes me shiver just thinking about it; and to top it all off it turns out I needn't have bothered because you're not the corny sentimental fool I thought you were.' She rambled.
'Okay you're still not making any sense…what did you do?'
'Do you know what today is?'
'Friday?'
She bit the inside of her cheek. 'I got you a gift.'
He brightened and straightened up. 'You did? A gift? For me?' He smiled inanely. 'Why?'
She turned to face him and leaned her hip against the counter, tracing her finger over the edge of her glass. 'Oh I don't know, can you think of any reason that couples may buy each other a gift?'
He screwed his face up. 'It's not my birthday, it's not Valentine's…' He shrugged.
She tilted her head. 'No other reason? Nothing you could think of that two people would perhaps celebrate together? Perhaps something annual…' Her gaze took on a steely glint.
Daniel went rigid and his eyes widened; 'Shit…' he whispered. 'I'm sorry, really I…'
She held her hand up. 'Stop, I don't want to hear it. You're just being a man, forgetting anniversaries, birthdays…'
'You refuse to tell me when your birthday is!'
'Your point?' He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. 'Look, I don't want to get into this, you're only going to piss me off with your overdue apologies and I'll say something I'll regret. I don't want to fight…I'll be back in a while.' She put her glass down and walked from the kitchen.
'Where are you going?' His answer was the slamming of the door.
xXx
She had hailed a cab and it brought her to the place she always returned to when she needed to blow off steam. Her heels clicked on the tile as she walked through the deserted office, texting furiously on her Blackberry, telling Marc what an ass her boyfriend was. She was so engrossed in her task she didn't notice the dim light coming from her office until she was at the door.
She gasped as she slowly stepped inside, the source of the light came from clusters of candles placed throughout the room. In the centre was a small circular table; set for two, petals adorned the surface and an elegant candelabra set in the middle. As she stood perfectly still, staring at the scene before her in wonder, she felt two hands slide over her arms and the weight of a head leaning on her shoulder. She felt lips kiss the side of her face and warm breath in her ear.
'I can't believe you thought I'd forgotten.' He whispered.
She turned around, her expression becoming more stunned as she took in the tuxedo he was wearing. 'How...?'
'I had a town car waiting. Here's a tip, changing into a tux in the back seat of a moving vehicle is harder than it looks.'
She laughed, eyes still wide, still amazed at what he had done for her. 'But all this…' She gestured the room. 'You were with me, how did you do it? How did you know I'd come here?'
'Please woman, I know you better than you know yourself. Marc came over and helped Amanda and Betty set it up.'
'Ah of course, our little cheer-leading squad.' She brought her hands up to hold his face. 'So you really are the corny, sentimental fool I thought you were huh?'
'I'm afraid so.' He laughed.
'Just as well I love you then.' She brought his head down and kissed him. He pulled back before she could deepen the kiss.
'There's more.'
She arched her eyebrow at him and he relinquished his hold, he walked over to the small table and picked up a long black velvet box. He handed it to her and his smile broadened when he saw her eyes widen as she opened it. 'Daniel.' His name came out in a breath.
'You like it?' He asked, hopeful.
She took the delicate diamond bracelet from the box and held it in front of her, watching the light catch it and it sparkled in the dim room. He took it from her and clasped it around her wrist, she looked at it, smiling and leaned in to kiss him. 'I can't believe you did all this…again.'
He smiled at the memory of the last time he had attempted something like this. 'You better not fall asleep on me this time. The dinner and bracelet are only part one, I plan on part two of my gift lasting all night.' He leered, wiggling his eyebrows.
She smiled at him. 'Now I feel awkward.'
'Why?'
'Because you did all this…you kept it a secret, put in all this effort, got me this beautiful gift. What I got you doesn't even compare.' She pouted. 'You know I don't like to be outdone.' She slapped his chest, jokingly.
'Oh that's right, you got me a gift.' He smiled, expectantly.
'Not as such.'
'What do you mean?'
She shrugged, 'You know what, forget it, it's silly. How about tomorrow we go out and you can pick anything you want…better still, let's go upstate this weekend.'
'Willie…tell me what you got me.' He chuckled.
'I didn't get you anything…I did something.' She finished softly.
'What did you do?'
She swallowed and looked up into his eyes and locked her arms around his neck. 'I sold my apartment.'
His face split into a wide smile, 'You did?'
She nodded. 'I think it's about time I show how serious I am about this… about us. It's no romantic dinner, no beautiful piece of jewelry; but it's real…and it's from me, I may not be one to say it every day but I wanted to show you that I do love you; this is it, you're my right place.'
He grinned 'That's better than anything you could have ever bought me.' He leaned down and caught her lips with his own; the kiss was slow as they both poured their feeling for each other into it. Breaking the kiss gently, their faces stayed close to each other, noses touching. Daniel moved his mouth to the side of her face, kissing her gently under the ear.
'Happy anniversary Willie.'
The End
