Never Too Late for Love?
A/N: I'm just checking to see if there is still "anybody out there"! I don't think I've written anything new for Detty at all this year. It seems as if pretty much the last of our readers have faded away, sadly. IF there are still any readers who want more stories, please let me know. I have plenty of them from the six years I wrote soley on Live Journal that I had begun curating to here for a while. But this one is new.
Was it too late? Had she waited too long to (finally) come home, Betty wondered? As she finished glancing over the article she had written back when Matt had suddenly decided to leave her to go and become a philanthropist in Africa, she sighed, thinking a lot of those same feelings could also apply to her relationship with another man who had been such a huge part of her life back at Mode.
"I've had to say goodbye more times than I may have liked, but everyone can say that. And no matter how many times we have to do it - even if it's for the greater good, it still stings.
"And although we will never forget what we've given up, we owe it to ourselves to keep moving forward. What we can't do is live our lives afraid of the next goodbye, because chances are, they are not going to stop.
"The trick is to recognize when a goodbye can be a good thing - when it's a chance to start again."
She had said goodbye to that other man when she left him behind to take her job in London. She knew it was simply that next step for her, one of those cases of "moving forward" that she couldn't say no to, no matter how many reasons she had not to leave New York. Now, almost twelve years later, she was returning to New York, having accomplished those lofty career goals of her youth. Was it too late to try and recapture what she had walked away from personally, though?
Closing her eyes to try and picture what lie ahead for her now, after all this time, she eventually gave into the silent darkness.
Daniel tapped his pencil rather nervously on the desk he had fought his sister for when they came back to New York because their mother was retiring. He told Alexis she should take Bradford's old office and redecorate it to "get the stink out". He knew she didn't really want it anymore. Hell, neither did he!
Both brother and sister had been a lot more comfortable staying away from their father's legacy. Especially Daniel. After a few months, he had left London and that woman he had stupidly followed to visit his sister and nephew in Paris. While he was there, he met someone. A young woman named Monique Dubois, who lived in Belgium, where many more of the locals spoke English, to Daniel's delight, after struggling to try and speak French and more or less giving up.
His relationship with her quickly became quite comfortable, to the point that he and Monique moved back to her native Brussels together. She was younger than him, only twenty-two when they met. Their relationship was fun, and kept his mind busy, but ran its course, with Daniel coming home to find Monique in bed with one of her fellow students from art class.
A few times when he was drunk and feeling sorry for himself, he found his finger on the trigger to call HER, but he learned that she went and got herself some British banker, of course! She really had a type!
Strangely enough, he was able to start his own advertising business in he stayed until he and Alexis "got the call" from Claire that she was ready to step down and hand over the reigns to the next generation of Meades.
That now also included DJ, since he had graduated from Harvard, like his mother and uncle, but had additionally returned to Paris to complete his MBA at the Sorbonne. Unlike his "cool Uncle Daniel", however, DJ had actually completed his studies at Harvard in less than four years.
This delighted his sister to no end, as she often bragged about her son's brilliance to her younger brother. To her dismay, Daniel merely agreed with her that DJ was "a freaking little genius" and shared in her pride of his nephew. "He's not so LITTTLE anymore, you know! DJ's tall, like me!"
Daniel wasn't biting, though, as he smiled, glancing at his sister's five inch stilletos, "Is that with or without the heels, Sis? You know, I could always run to the Closet and see if they have some nice Gucci pumps in my size, too!"
Alexis rolled her eyes, "Right! Do you have any idea how hard it is to walk in these damn things? It's like trying to avoid falling face first while you walk around on your toes like a freaking ballerina or something! Their absolute torture! I guarantee you, they were invented by some homely, disgusting misogynist pig, no woman wanted, getting his jollies watching us poor women, trying to run away from him!"
He looked at her almost sympathetically, "Yeah, they look REALLY uncomfortable! Why not just ditch the stupid things and wear regular shoes, Alexis? Hell, like you said, you're already plenty tall enough!"
Alexis shrugged, pouting prettily as she looked down at her lovely shoes, "Because! They're so pretty!"
Daniel rolled his eyes, nodding "Well, yeah, there's no arguing with that logic! Are you ready for Mom's retirement party tonight? You look nice. I guess…wear your pretty shoes there!"
She made a face, "What on earth are you talking about? I have to go home and get ready! I'm not wearing what I wore to work all day! You can't wear that, either! Please tell me you're going home to change into something marginally stylish! Men have it so damn easy! Wear a nice shirt, tie and just find a suit that fits. Boom! Comb your hair, and you're done! Jesus! What the hell happened to you, Danny? You USED to take pride in how you dressed when you worked at Mode!"
He looked down at his slightly rumpled shirt, his sleeves rolled up and glanced down at his shirt, open at the collar. He had stopped wearing ties and a jacket as much as possible, he admitted. He often dressed more casually, just as he had when he ran his advertising business. He missed working for himself. Being back at his father's "global empire" felt forced, and completely uncomfortable. He felt as if he was still trying to please his father and failing miserably, just like he always had when the old man was alive.
He took a deep breath and put his hand on his sister's shoulder, smiling, "Don't worry, Alexis! I promise, I'll go home and clean up, just like I used to when I kicked Wilhelmina's Brazilian-lifted ass, back at Mode! Just for you and Mom, okay? Hell, who knows? Maybe there will be some hot models there I can hit on, just for old time's sake, right?"
The diva herself glared at Daniel and his sister, as she walked around the corner, hurriedly headed for the elevators, "Hello, Alexis. Daniel. Did I hear you right, Daniel? Did you just ask if there were going to be models at old chicken neck….I mean, Claire's retirement party tonight? I fear that may be wishful thinking on your part! I don't imagine there will be any youn girls there, I'm afraid. Not to your standards, anyway. Or your nephews. Perhaps you can check with Marc? Do be careful and ask for ID, though!"
Daniel winced, as the woman gave her best fake smile just before the doors closed, and turned to Alexis, shaking his head, seeing her about to lay into him, "Don't! Just…don't! It's too easy! YES, trust me I'm well aware that I created that "monster" by handing her Mode on a silver platter when I left. What can I say? I plead temporary insanity! The mere fact that she and our mother have managed not to kill one another all these years while we were gone is a miracle by itself!"
Alexis felt herself unclench as soon as Wilhelmina left. God, she still hated that woman! But after years of therapy, and untold letters of apology to her brother and poor Christina, she closed her eyes and tried to take cleansing breaths. The truth was, the woman had at least done her job at Mode all these years. And Claire had managed a detente with the bitch because of what she had done for Tyler to make amends. She figured if Danny and their mother could deal with the devil for the good of the company, so could she. It didn't mean she had to like her!
Claire looked in the mirror at herself, putting on the final touches to her makeup. She had finally done it! She had kept things going at Meade Publications for more than ten years while her two older children were off in Europe, "finding themselves". But Meade was their father's legacy. And she wasn't getting any younger. She had wanted to retire at least five years sooner, but she had waited.
But this annoying thing with Daniel? THAT was getting to be utterly ridiculous! He was…well, STILL just like a five-year-old boy is some ways, even as he past forty-five, forty-six, and forty-seven, it seemed. Claire had done all she could over the years to force his hand. But when he dug in his heels and just seemed to give up on his own happiness, there was only so much as his mother she COULD do to help him. This was her final big shove to try and push him in the right direction, to put him back on the right path.
Thankfully, at least since returning to New York, her daughter and younger son had both found a better work/life balance and had met partners who gave them someone to come home to after work. And so had she. A nice man, who loved her and was faithful and kind to her. Quite the change from the previous men in Claire's life! But her Daniel, that boy…
Everything at Claire's retirement do was elegant, yet fun and bold, much like the woman of the hour herself. She had allowed Alexis and Amanda to do the planning, along with her assistant, Maryah, a close friend she had met "in the joint" who had been one of her original early hires, back when she was first starting Hot Flash.
Betty's idea to "use her resources" and use cheap labor for her work force when her own daughter had cut her funding drastically had provided Claire with the staff she needed to prove she "still had it" in publishing. Her "silly idea" her children had made fun of had indeed fed into a sorely untapped demographic, HER demographic!
Walking into the main hall of The Foundry, Betty looked around, seeing the guest of honor, holding court just outside, in the courtyard and not looking any less lovely than she had since the last time the two women had seen each other six years ago. She tried to avoid tearing up, to no avail as she made a beeline to hug her mentor and surrogate mother. "CLAIRE! OHMYGOD! ITSSOGOODTO SEEYOU!"
When Betty let her breathe, Claire smiled and took her face in her hands, "BETTY! My dear! It's been too long! You look absolutely beautiful! When did you get back?"
"Last night. Late. I've done nothing but sleep all day today. I just hope I don't pass out with my face in the soup! The food looks wonderful! And so does this place! It's really gorgeous! Just like you, Claire! Are you sure you're ready to retire?"
Claire leaned closer, "You KNOW I am, Betty! I've been ready for years, dear. I was just waiting for you to be ready to come back home. So was he, you know. It's YOUR turn, now. Oh, by the way, be a dear, will you and see if I left my wrap over at the table inside, please? It's getting a bit chilly out here."
"Oh, sure! No problem! I'll be right back."
As the young woman hurried back on the errand for her, Claire smiled and shook her head, commenting to herself, "Take your time, dear."
Betty searched the main table inside, and spied what looked like a somewhat sheer scarf in the same material as the matriarch's dress. As she went to pick it up, she felt a man's hand on top of hers and heard a familiar voice, "Oh, sorry, but I think that's my mom's scarf, Miss…BETTY?! BETTY? You're…HERE?"
As she turned slowly to see the very man she had been thinking of all week (at least!) standing behind her, she dropped the scarf and nodded, "I'm here! Surprise! Yeah, Claire just asked me to get that for her! You know Claire…um…your mom. Well, of course you know that! She's your mom! Okay I'm going to shut up now. Hi, Daniel!"