Chapter 151

Natalia sat in a chair by the window of their bedroom at the farmhouse, staring out into the starry sky. Olivia had just finished putting Emma to bed and was now checking the house before they retired for the evening. They would be leaving for Chicago the following afternoon and then their family vacation. After entirely too much research, Natalia had decided where she wanted to go.

She had spent days researching vacation hot spots and finally decided that Galveston Texas was the most family friendly since she didn't want to go to Disney World or something like that. She wasn't ready to plan an extravagant expensive vacation just yet, years of struggling still entirely to fresh in her brain. She wanted something most families would be able to afford and enjoy. She figured they could do the run of the mill vacations in years to come. As well as the insanely expensive ones she knew Olivia would plan. Besides, she had never seen the ocean before, and it would be warm enough to swim in the Gulf of Mexico, if they were lucky. She had put together a detailed itinerary, making sure to include something for every member of their family.

As she sat there, the last week played through her head. Their grand opening in St. Louis had been a huge success. The food had been spectacular as well as the disk jockey Ashley had hired. They were at ninety two percent occupancy, not counting the rooms they had set aside for their family and friends who flew in. Which included, Blake and Doris, Reva, Josh, and Collin, Buzz and Lillian, Phillip, Beth, and Payton, and Clara had, of course, come to help her daughter open her families latest hotel.

The entire family danced and mingled with guest and business collogues. Just after the meal was served, Olivia gave a brilliant speech, with Natalia, as always, standing at her side. Giving special thanks to Ava, Rafe, Ashley, and Isabel for making this opening possible, as well as Trinity, Christian, Rachel, and Jordan. She also thanked the rest of the members of their staff and gave an outstanding mention of her wife.

Natalia could still hear the beautiful words flowing from her wife's lips as she gazed up at the stars. "Natalia and I would like to give thanks to everyone that made this possible. Our new staff, who was trained in record time. Our friends and family who have supported us at every turn. And everyone here tonight to help us celebrate this joyous occasion. We would also like to give a special thanks to our two eldest children, Ava, and Rafe, who worked especially hard to get this hotel up and running and our baby girl, Emma, who was always there to make us smile after a tiring day. As well as Isabel Rivera and Ashley Wolfe, for not only assisting us in gathering venders for the hotel, but also for throwing this amazing celebration together. We would also like to give an extra shout out to our co-general managers, Trinity and Christian, for taking the reins in our absence and keeping this opening on schedule while we were unable to be here. Rachael, our banquet manager, who has only been with us for two days now but was a huge part in bringing this night together. And of course, Mr. Jordan, for making certain our staff was up to par in such a short amount of time. And," she paused and looked deeply into her wife's eyes. "I would personally like to thank this amazing woman standing next to me. My wife, my partner, the love of my life. Without her, none of this would be possible. You have stood by my side from the very beginning, pushing me to fight for another day, even when I didn't want to. Making me see myself in a better light. Because of you, I know that anything is possible, with enough hard work, dedication, and," she winked at her wife as she finished, "faith, all of our dreams can become a reality." She looked back out over the crowd as tears bubbled in her wife's eye. "Now, enough of that, let's all enjoy our night and have a pleasant stay at The Beacon St. Louis, the third property obtained to date by Spencer-Rivera Hotels and Resorts."

Natalia was brought back to the present when strong arms wrapped around her shoulders from behind and a gentle kiss landed on the side of her neck. "Hey there beautiful. Penny for you thoughts?" Olivia asked.

Natalia nuzzled her face against Olivia's and hummed. "How wonderful you are, and how lucky I am to call you mine."

Olivia kissed the side of her head and tightened her arms. "I believe I'm the lucky one."

Natalia cocked her head enough to see her wife's beautiful eyes. She cupped her cheek with one hand and brought their lips together. "You truly have no idea how amazing you are. Do you?" She asked as their mouths parted.

Olivia kissed her once more and straightened, taking Natalia's hand, and rising her to her feet. "No more amazing then you are. Let's go to bed." She led her love to the bed and climbed in, holding up the covers for Natalia to join her.

Natalia easily slid into her lovers arms, wrapping her own arms around her, and snuggling into her further as she kissed the dip in her neck. "I love you Olivia, so much."

"I love you too beautiful." She kissed the crown of dark hair before the two fell into a peaceful sleep.

The following morning, Olivia and Natalia stayed home while Ava, Rafe, and Clara headed to work. Emma had already gotten on the bus for school and Isabel was just making her way into the kitchen. The two planned on packing for all three kids before Emma got out of school. They hadn't told any of them they were going on vacation. The three kids all thought they were just going on a two-day trip to Chicago and had packed accordingly. Rafe had even put their luggage in his Ma's SUV before heading for work.

Now, the two were tasked with packing for all three kids and getting all of their luggage to the airport and onto the Spaulding jet before picking Emma from school and meeting the older kids at the hotel. Luckily, they had packed their own suitcases the previous couple of days and just had the kids left.

"Good morning." Isabel said sleepily as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "Ready for your trip?"

"Morning." Olivia said over her own third cup of coffee. "We are; however, we need to get suitcases packed for all three kids."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Natalia smiled at her sister as she rose from her chair and rinsed her cup in the sink. "Actually, since you're going in late today, maybe you could get some of Emma's things together while we work on Rafe and Ava's?"

"Sure. I can do that. You said you are going to Texas, will she need pants and shorts, or just shorts?"

"Um, I looked up the weather and it should be in the 70's and 80's mostly, so probably just shorts, but a few pairs of pants would be good in case it gets cooler in the evenings and a couple of sweaters. Oh, and don't forget her bathing suit and water shoes."

"Got it. I just need to finish an email I was working on before leaving work yesterday and then I'll get started."

"Thank you Isabel."

"Yes, thank you." Olivia added. "Oh, did you hear back about that promotional deal you were working in Chicago?"

"Not yet. That's actually the email I was working on. Ashley set up a mock web page, promoting local business in the area, giving examples of the deals we could promote, such as a stay with us giving a percentage off a meal and vice versa. I just needed to finish with the final numbers and email it out to several business owners and see what they say."

"Sounds good. If you could email me what you and Ashley have, I would like to look at it before you send it out."

"Yeah. Sorry. I should have thought of that."

"It's okay. I'd just like to approve of what you two have worked up before we get anyone excited about the idea."

Isabel nodded and got up to rinse her cup and head upstairs to start packing for Emma. It took the three of them only a few hours to have all three kids packed and all five family members luggage loaded into the SUV. After bidding Isabel goodbye, the two women headed to Towers to meet up with Doris and Blake for lunch before their two-week vacation/honeymoon.

Walking in, Olivia placed a hand on the small of her wife's back and led her to the back booth where the blonde and redhead were already seated. "Wolfe, Blake. How are you?"

"Wonderful, thank you. Hi Natalia." Blake answered as Olivia slid in next to her wife.

"Hi, Blake, Doris. It's nice to finally be able to get together. It feels like it's been forever since we've sat down to chat." Natalia said with a smile.

"Right. I know two are super busy right now, and Doris, with all her mayoral duties, but, we really need to get together more often." The redhead said, placing a hand on her lovers thigh.

"I agree." Doris said. "Besides the opening we really haven't seen you two since we went over to St. Louis before the party. How is the new hotel doing by the way?"

"Good. Trinity and Christian are doing wonderful. I wish we would have had a little more time with them before the hotel opened, but, they seem to be swimming fine after being thrown into the deep end. Their reports are good, and they seem to have a good handle on the staff." Olivia responded.

"That's good. I'm glad. So, where are you headed on this vacation/honeymoon of yours."

"Well, Natalia has planned a week in Galveston with the kids, and then they will come back home and we will continue on to our honeymoon."

"Which will be….?"

"Nu-uh, I'm not telling. That is a surprise for my lovely wife."

"Pfft. You're no fun Spencer."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Anyways. How have you two been? Seems you're getting closer?" Natalia asked with a glint in her eye.

Doris flushed a little as she smiled at her girlfriend. "We are good, thank you for asking. Taking things slow."

The four carried on through lunch making small talk. They chatted about everything from the hotels to Natalia's family to their upcoming trip. When finally, it was, regrettably, time to say their goodbyes, the four friends embraced in hugs and kisses on the cheek before each couple departed in their own direction. Doris dropping Blake at Company before heading to town hall and Olivia and Natalia heading to the airport to get the luggage loaded on the jet before having to grab Emma and meet up with their other two children.

The five Spencer-Rivera's stepped into the lobby of The Beacon Chicago just after seven that evening, more than ready for dinner, a relaxing movie, and bed, however, that wouldn't be happening for the moms. They needed to meet with Andrew and go over a few things before they could retire for the evening. So, they sent their children up to the suite as they went to find Andrew in his office.

Approaching the opened office door, Olivia plastered on her business face and knocked quickly on the open door before stepping inside. "Hello Andrew." She said as his head quickly popped up from the document he was reading.

Andrew quickly recovered from his surprise and smiled at his bosses, standing from his desk. "Mrs. and Mrs. Spencer-Rivera, how nice to see you both again. Please, come in, have a seat." He said as he shook both their hands.

"It's nice to see you too. How have you been?" Natalia asked, always the polite one.

"Fine. I've been great actually. How was your flight?"

"Good, as always. Thank you Andrew."

Olivia watched her wife and GM for a moment before clearing her throat and moving the conversation onto business. "So, your reports have been outstanding. The hotel is doing very well. The compliment and suggestion cards reflect that our cliental feels the same."

"Thank you ma'am. The staff here is wonderful. I only had the one problem and that was taken care or quickly. We are at nearly seventy percent every month, some months getting closer to eighty and ninety."

"So, I've seen in the reports. You are doing a wonderful job. How is the new banquet manager assistant? Any problems there?"

"She is doing well. Seems to be helping a great deal with all the parties we've had recently. She was a quick study and appears to be fitting in just fine around here."

"Good. I'm glad to hear it. We also wanted to talk with you about the promotional deals Ashley and Isabel have been working on. Have you had a chance to look over the mock web page Ashley put together? I believe Isabel was going to email it you this morning."

"I have. I believe it will be very beneficial to us."

"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow at him, clearing wanting him to elaborate.

He got the unspoken message and continued. "Yes ma'am. Although our restaurant is of five-star quality, it only serves one style of cuisine, I think partnering with other bistros and restaurants in the area will attract even more business. I did mention in a return email to Ms. Wolfe and Ms. Rivera, that they might also want to look into some of the other businesses around town. Chicago has so much to offer. If we branched out to offer deals on local hot spots, events, and entertainment, I think we could grow even further. Possibly bringing us to full capacity on our good months and bringing our slower months up from seventy to eighty."

"You are absolutely correct. Thank you for bringing that up to them, I'm sure they will both look into it as they move further along with the project." Natalia said, equally pleased with their Chicago manager.

"No problem ma'am."

"Alright then, we would like to steal some of your time tomorrow to walk through the hotel, meet our new banquet manager assistant, and we would like to talk to you further. Do have a time that would be better for that?" Olivia asked.

"I don't believe I have anything pressing tomorrow. The paperwork was finished and faxed just before you arrived, so, anytime is good with me."

"Okay, let's say around ten in the morning. We won't keep you long, just a couple of hours and then you'll be free to have the rest of the day off."

"Thank you ma'am." The three stood and shook hands again. "I'll see you both in the morning. Have a wonderful rest of your evening."

"Thank you, you too."

"Yes, have a nice evening and thank you for staying late to meet with us tonight." Natalia added.

"Not a problem ma'am." The two women smiled once more before turning and exiting the office, heading for the elevator and their suit, where, hopefully, their children had dinner waiting for them and a film started.

As they had hoped, their two eldest had ordered room service for them and had it waiting when they walked in. The three kids were cuddled under a blanket on the couch and watching Finding Nemo, Emma sandwiched between her siblings.

Olivia walked over and kissed each of their heads from behind. "Hello my children. How was your dinner?"

"It was really good mommy. Ava said maybe we could get cake after you and mama eat. Can we?"

Olivia chuckled at her youngest daughter. "We'll see Jellybean." She ruffled her hair affectionately and moved over to the table to join her wife for dinner, placing a kiss to the crown of her head as she passed on the way to her seat.

After eating dinner together, the wives joined their children for the second half of the movie and some chocolate before the family all separated to go to bed. In the morning, the five ate breakfast as a family and then Olivia and Natalia set out to meet up with Andrew while the children went to explore the city for a few hours with strict instructions to keep an eye, and a hand, on Emma and to be back no later the one in the afternoon.

"Alright guys, you ready to go?" Olivia asked as she and Natalia re-entered the suite after their meeting with Andrew.

"Um…" Ava started.

Olivia shared a look with her wife, both knowing their children were up to something. "What did you do?"

"Well, you see, we might have, maybe…"

"They promised me we could go the Hersey factory this afternoon." Emma blurted out after a few seconds of her sister floundering for words.

"You did, did you?" Olivia asked, looking from Ava to Rafe sharply. "And when are you supposed to be doing this?"

"We didn't promise mom. We just thought that since it's Saturday and Emma has Spring break this next week anyways that maybe we could see about staying in Chicago for a few days. I've never gotten to come except to the hotel and Rafe's never been able to really enjoy everything the city offers." Ava answered sheepishly as she did her best to copy Emma's puppy dog eyes.

Olivia pinched the bridge of her nose and ran a hand through her hair. Of course, her children would want to plan something fun and exciting for their family when she and Natalia had already made vacation plans. She didn't know what to do, she and Natalia really wanted to surprise their children with their vacation plans but, she didn't want to say no to this either, especially without an explanation. But, they needed to leave in the next hour to make their check in time at the hotel in Galveston

Natalia sensed her wife's struggle and placed a hand on her lower back, rubbing soothing circles with her thumb. "Okay, we can go to the Hersey factory, but, then we really need to go. Your mother and I have some very important things to attend to." At the disappointed looks on their sweet faces, she quickly added, "but, we can plan a weekend trip here for nothing but fun in a few weeks, or maybe a whole week once Emma's out of school for the summer. We can go in every shop on the magnificent mile then if you want." That seemed to cheer them up a little, though she could still tell they were disappointed.

"Okay mama." Emma said, only half as enthused as she was just a few moments ago when she first mentioned the Hersey Chocolate world.

It killed Natalia, but, she knew in just a few hours those dejected faces would be smiling wide once more. She just needed to hold it together until then. "I'm sorry guys. Why don't you get packed up and then we'll go." All three nodded and headed to pack their belongings. Natalia turned to her wife and sighed. "I hate seeing them so disappointed."

"I know, me too. But unless we ruin the surprise…" She trailed off with a shrug of her shoulders. "And, aren't we going to be late for our check in at the hotel?"

"I am going to call now and see about changing our check in time. We can still be there this evening, it will just be a little later, only by a couple hours. I'm sure they will be fine with it." She kissed her wife's cheek and went to their bedroom to make sure their own suitcases were ready to go.

Their trip to Hersey's chocolate World seemed to cheer all of them up a bit. Emma ran from one shelf to another marveling at all the candy laid out before her. She took the longest to choose which of the large candy bars she wanted. Eventually settling on a Reese's almost as big as she was. Rafe chose a box of chocolate model cars, a '97 Ford F-150 and a'70 Ford Mustang Boss 302 trailer set, since he couldn't eat the candy. He figured he could keep it as a keep sake. They did have a sugar free cup cake for him. Ava chose an overly large jug of Hersey sauce to go with her love of chocolate milk and a giant chocolate chip cookie sandwich instead of a cupcake.

Natalia's eyes had been as big as Emma's as she looked around the store, having as big a sweet tooth as her little girl. She couldn't stop herself from buying a gift-wrapped basket full of all different candies and a Hersey kisses coffee cup. Olivia was all about the Twizzlers, purchasing the biggest bag she could find, a throw pillow for the couch, and a t-shirt to sleep in.

As soon as they were done, they headed over to the airport, Olivia, and Natalia both struggling to keep the smiles from their faces and give away their surprise. Once the plane took off, they settled on the two couches together.

"So, we do have to make a stop before we head home." Olivia started, looking at the, once again, saddened faces before her.

"For what?" Rafe asked, trying to keep his voice even and not let on how disappointed he was that they didn't get to stay in Chicago and enjoy all the city he'd grown up had to offer.

"Um…"

"We just have some business to check in on." Natalia said, trying to cover for her wife, who was all but giving away the fact that they were lying.

"So, we're going to St. Louis?" Ava asked.

"No. We are going somewhere else."

Ava stared between her two mothers'. She knew something was up. She could tell her mom was trying desperately not to tell them something and that Natalia was struggling to cover for her. Interesting. She thought. This could be fun. "Where are we going mom?" She asked with a glint in her eye.

Olivia knew they were had then. Her daughter's tune had changed in an instant and her eyes showed she knew something was up. Damn it. She thought to herself. Now what. She looked to her wife, hoping she would have an answer for their eldest, but could tell she had nothing. "We are going to meet with a friend of Phillips about a corporate jet for SRHR in Texas." It wasn't a complete lie. Olivia had hoped to convince Natalia into looking for a jet for them while they were on vacation, and she had even called an associate of Phillips for them to speak to while they were in Texas, she just hadn't mentioned it to Natalia yet, and, if the look on her wife's face was any indication, she was in deep shit at the moment.

Ava and Rafe also noticed the death glare their ma was giving Olivia, deciding it best to let the interrogation go, they allowed Emma to carry on most of the conversation for the rest of the flight. Which, the youngest Spencer-Rivera did with gusto. Going on and on about how awesome their short trip to Chicago had been and how excited she was to be going to a state she'd never been to, even it was for her mommies to do business. She figured Rafe and Ava could take her to the beach if it was warm enough.

Natalia had spent the rest of the flight only half listening to her daughter. She was unaware that Olivia had set up a meeting to see about a jet for them. She knew they needed one. They were flying quite often between the hotels, and it was rather inconvenient for them, and Phillip and Josh, to have to borrow one all the time and it would be extremely expensive to always be buying flight tickets. It was just hard for her to envision owning her own jet. She was still adjusting to the wealth she now had.

As she glanced over at her wife, she could tell that Olivia was worried about how upset she was. She wasn't really that upset. It made sense for them to buy a private jet for their company, especially since she knew they would be expanding even more. Probably sooner then she would have thought since Olivia was already talking about another property she wanted to look into. As she sat and thought about how logical it was for them to make the purchase, she began to feel awful about how anxious Olivia looked at the prospect of being in the doghouse.

With that in mind, she tugged on Olivia's hand bringing them closer together. Without a word she pressed her lips to her wife's. Kissing her with all she had, wanting her to know that she wasn't upset. This kiss was her way of letting her love know she was forgiven for making the appointment, and that she agreed with her.