Love Never Goes Out of Style/CH 7
A/N: Sorry about Henry. That was mean, I know. You know I hate him, too. But he was a necessary evil, I'm afraid. We had to 'stir the pot' a little to keep Daniel on his toes. He's just too darn cute when he's jealous!
The next morning, Betty woke, finding herself almost wondering if the whole preceding day and night had been a dream, instead of only a small part of it.
She looked at her cell phone and saw that she had received a text from Daniel minutes earlier.
"Can you believe yesterday? I don't know about you, but I feel like it was all some crazy, hot dream. Call me when you wake up, sweetie. -D
P.S. I love you." She smiled and didn't waste any time calling him back.
He sounded surprised but happy to hear from her so soon. "Hey, Betty! Great, you're awake. Dancing last night was fun.
You're so short, I kept losing you in the crowd, though. Especially when you took off the heels." he teased.
"They hurt my feet." she complained.
"Poor baby. I'll have to rub them for you."
"Thanks, but you know you can't do that. I'll start laughing. I'm too ticklish."
"Yeah, I know. I bet I could figure out something that might distract you from your aching feet.
We'll have to see what I'm inspired to do under the table at my mom's today."
"Daniel! Don't you dare... I'd be mortified! Promise me you're going to behave yourself?"
"I don't think I can do that, Betty. The only hope for having this brunch NOT be a total disaster is knowing you'll be coming."
"Daniel...please, I don't want to be embarrassed at your mom's today. I know you have a very devious and uh...dirty mind."
"So do you, apparently, Miss Suarez. I notice you never have any trouble catching on to my many innuendos over the years.
I know you better than anybody. And I know you're not nearly as innocent as you'd like people to believe, Betty. At least, not with me."
She chose to ignore him for the moment, "Daniel, I am glad you texted me. I was beginning to think I dreamed yesterday all up, too. That's kind of weird that you did."
"Not really. I was drunk the night before, remember?
So, I had to make sure I wasn't just having a really hot dream about my sexy best friend."
"Thanks. What time should I be ready?"
"Well, since we're obviously both awake now anyway, why don't you go ahead and get dressed and I'll just come on over? I've been up for a little while. Hell, you don't really even have to get dressed on my account."
"Funny. Right now? But it's only nine o'clock! We don't have to be at your mom's until eleven."
"I want to see you, Betty."
"That's very sweet, Daniel. But you did just see me seven hours ago when you dropped me off."
"So? That's all night. All night, all by myself. In my bed, all alone. Lonely. Thinking about you."
She laughed, "Daniel, stop. You sound pathetic."
"That's sort of the idea, Betty. You're supposed to feel sorry for me.
This was so much easier with girls who weren't so smart.
You shoot me down too easily. I thought we had a good time last night on our little 'trial date', didn't we? The kissing and groping and dancing was nice.
You should have let me in afterwards, though, I'd still be there. " he teased, using his low and sexy voice.
"Whatever, Daniel. Can you please give me at least a half an hour to get ready? And TRY to be good? By the way, about that whole ...groping thing. You were...a little handsy last night.
I felt terrible because I kept slapping some poor guy on the dance floor thinking it was him touching me, but then when he went to the bathroom, I finally realized it was you!"
He laughed, "I can't believe you didn't figure it out before then.
You would have been disappointed if I didn't try something. Besides you loved it and you know it, Betty. Admit it."
"I'm not admitting anything. Promise me you won't do that in public, please? Especially not at your mother's today!"
"If you're not admitting anything, I'm not promising anything. I'm coming over. I'll be there in twenty-nine minutes."
"Daniel!" But he had already hung up, so she jumped out of bed, and ran to the shower to try and get ready quickly.
So much for a leisurely morning of sleeping late! The thought of Daniel coming over made her heart race.
She hurried to find a nice skirt and blouse that Justin had bought her and some sandals with a much smaller heel than the 'fancy' shoes she had mistakenly worn out dancing.
Before she knew it, Daniel was at her door again. She opened it, and smiled as she saw him standing there, his elbow against the doorway, this time holding daisies.
He handed her the daisies and leaned down to kiss her hand, "Okay, Miss Suarez, this is our first 'official' date in your book, right?
You will notice the gentleman caller has observed the lady's preference in floral arrangements."
"Thank you for the daisies, Daniel. That was very sweet and thoughtful. You didn't have to do that, though. I loved the roses last night."
"Good. I'm glad. By the way, you look really beautiful, Betty. We could freak my mom out and get their early? That way, we can get this thing over with that much sooner.
Either that, or...we could go see your family first, do the whole meet the family thing all in one day and be done with it.
It's kind of weird, since we both already know each other's families so well. This part should be easy. Not stressful like it normally would be for new couples, right?"
Betty bit her lip, thinking for a moment. "I don't think I'm quite ready to 'come out' to my family yet. For one thing, I don't want to upset Justin."
"Justin? What are you talking about? Justin won't be upset about you and me being together. He likes me, Betty. I think he's going to be happier about us than anyone, actually."
"No, it's not that. Of course he loves you, Daniel. My whole family does. It's just... he's going through some changes right now. I think he's about to finally admit to himself and us...that he's gay.
I'm pretty sure Austin is more than just a friend. He's probably waiting till after his mom's wedding to come out, though."
"Oh, wow. That's fantastic! He's a great kid. I'm happy for him. I'm sort of surprised he hasn't already said something to you guys. You're such a close family. He's got to know you all support him and love him."
"He does. It's just really a hard thing for him to actually say, I think, you know? He had that whole thing with that girl Lilly, that both he and Austin thought they liked for a while."
"Sure, I understand, Betty. I don't want to rain on anybody's parade. If you want, we can wait till after Hilda's wedding, if you think she'll be upset you're stealing her thunder or something.
But...I definitely want to dance with you there. If you're feet are recovered enough in a month. Are they better? Maybe don't wear such high heels. Oh, wait, I...hope I'm going to get invited?"
She bit her lip again and looked up at him, rather shyly, "I was actually sort of thinking you could be my plus one at their wedding. If you're not too busy."
He took her hands, and smiled down at her, "I'd love to be your plus one, Betty. I'd be honored to go with you."
She looked at him with concern, "Are you sure it won't be too...difficult for you? I know it's only been a year since..."
"Since Molly died? You can say it, Betty. I'm good, thanks, sweetie. I'm healing, thanks in huge part because of you. You were there for me; you saved my life, getting me out of that crazy cult.
You saw me through all my pain. You've always been here for me." he kissed her hands. She nodded, trying not to get too emotional.
He brushed aside a strand of her hair, looking into her eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath, and smiled, "Come on, let's go see how much we can mess with my mother."
He grabbed her hand, and pulled her out the door as she rushed to pick up her purse, giggling.
"Daniel, wait!"
They arrived at the Meade mansion before ten. Daniel had managed to not only keep his hands to himself, but hadn't even kissed Betty yet since he picked her up.
He was trying his best to be a gentleman and get on Betty's good side. But he was obviously nervous about seeing his mother after their fight and about having to confront Tyler and deal with having a new half-sibling.
He felt very much like he had when Alex had first revealed himself as Alexis after her family had assumed she was dead.
That his whole world was being rocked under his very feet and nothing he could do was going to change it.
Betty noticed he was squeezing her hand rather hard, a sure sign that he was nervous about this little family brunch. She could relate to his feelings about being misled and left in the dark by a parent.
She had felt the same when she knew her father had been lying about his social security number and coming to America illegally. Not to mention, the history with her mother and her first husband, Ramiro Vasquez.
AS they stood outside the main door to the house, she intertwined her fingers through Daniel's and leaned against his shoulder, whispering, "I'm here, Daniel.
We'll get through this. Bottom line, your mother loves you very much. Don't ever forget that. And...so do I, you know."
He nodded, his eyes glistening, "Thanks, Betty. I...love you, too." He leaned forward and kissed her slowly.
They didn't realize it, because it wasn't audible from the outside, but Betty was leaning against the doorbell.
The door suddenly flew open, and since they had been leaning against it, Daniel lost his footing, and landed on the floor, squarely on top of Betty, who was scrambling to get up.
Claire looked down at them, obviously amused, "Oh good! I see you've both had your amuse bouche."
She put out her hand to help Daniel up. He pulled up Betty, as she pulled down her skirt and smoothed her hair, trying her best to compose herself.
A tall, dark-haired man, in his early thirties came and stood next to Claire. Betty had seen him at Mode before but didn't know who he was of course, simply assuming he was a male model.
Claire turned to Tyler and motioned to Daniel and Betty, "Tyler, you've met my middle son, Daniel and this is Betty Suarez, his...girlfriend, apparently.
Betty is also one of our junior features editors at Mode. She's been a friend of the family for years and has helped us through all kinds of trials.
I've always considered her a second daughter to me, especially before I knew I had a daughter!
My husband Bradford is the one who first hired Betty, because he saw her potential and she and I have talked about her goal to someday run her own magazine.
I have no doubt with her talent, drive, and hard work ethic that she will absolutely make that dream a reality someday."
Betty was clearly moved by Claire's little tribute and was thankful the matriarch with her usual diplomacy had not questioned them about the kissing and had neglected to mention the 'real' reason she had been hired by her late husband.
Tyler put out his hand, first to Daniel, "Hey, Daniel. Good to see you again. Sorry we sort of got off to a rocky start. I don't blame you for looking out for your mother's best interests."
Daniel nodded, shaking his hand, and glancing down at Betty to make sure she was recovered from their somewhat awkward arrival.
"Good to see you, Tyler. I hear you had a good time in Paris, meeting Alexis and DJ. DJ's an awesome kid.
Is his English getting better? I know, I sure couldn't speak French very well to him when he was here in New York."
Tyler laughed, "His English is a damn site better than my French. I was sort of lost trying to understand anything anybody was sayin there.
I have a hard enough time here in New York, just with the accents!"
There was an awkward silence for a moment, then Tyler looked at Betty and extended his hand to her,
"Well, Miss Betty. It sounds like you're quite a lady! I think I've seen you at mode before. It's a real honor to officially make your acquaintance!"
Claire ushered them all into the dining room, "Well, I see we all are here early and clearly have our healthy appetites. Let me just ask Marta if we can go ahead and eat before we starve to death!
Please, have a seat, make yourselves comfortable. I'll be right back. I'm dying to hear how your weekend has been going so far. I have no doubts it should be an interesting story!"
The two men seemed a bit uncomfortable, so Betty stepped in, trying to ease them into conversation. "So, Tyler, when you visited Alexis and DJ, did they speak English the whole time, even to each other?"
"No, they spoke French to each other. And...uh Claire speaks French, of course. But they usually spoke English around me, thank goodness."
She was clearly excited about just the thought, "I think that sounds amazing to get to live in a foreign country and experience a completely new culture! My parents moved to the United States from Mexico and a lot of my family still lives there, but I've only been once, thanks to Daniel.
When he found out my father needed to return there to straighten out his immigration problems he sent my whole family there.
It was a wonderful experience. I got to meet my maternal grandmother, who I didn't even know was alive! She and my mother had estranged when she left Mexico."
"So, your dad never told you your grandmother was alive?"
She shook her head, "No. I was angry with him at first, but he explained that it was very painful for my mother.
She had been married to an abusive man that her mother preferred, simply because he was rich. She disowned my mother when she ran away with my dad to America. They never spoke again and then...my mom died of cancer and they never had a chance to reconcile.
But my abuela seemed haunted by my mother's memory and was clearly full of regret for her actions when I saw her. She thought I was my mother and she apologized. It was very healing for my dad, too, I think."
Daniel smiled, as he took Betty's hand and kissed it. He bit his lip and mouthed, "Thank you."
He turned to Tyer and asked, "So, what kind of dirt did you get on me from Alex? Sorry, I mean...Alexis. You've got to understand, Tyler, this is a very weird family you're getting yourself into here."
Tyler laughed, seeming more at eased and clearly moved by Betty's revelation. "Well, yeah, I sort of gathered that. She said she and my father met at a rehab facility in South Dakota. I guess I was destined to be an alcoholic!"
Daniel and Betty glanced at one another, then both turned to Claire as she walked back in, carrying a tray with tea and coffee, smiling.
"So, Mom. Tyler here was just telling us about how you and his father met at a...rehab facility, is that right? That wasn't the one run by the Hartley family, was it?"