*Thank-you for the reviews on the last chapter. They were greatly appreciated. Thank-you all so much!
April 2012
And here I am today at 28 years old a mother of a beautiful 7 ½ year old little girl. "Angelina!" I yell for her at the bottom of the stairs. We are already running late. I have to drop her off at school and then get to work to have a meeting with my employees about the opening of Hersheypark in less than a month which usually means more visitors from out of town which makes my hotel a busy place and with summer concerts and sporting events we're even busier. I need to make sure my employees do their best to make sure our hotel stays the best in Pennsylvania. "ANGELINA KATE!" I yell once more before going into the kitchen to get her a bowl of cereal so that is one less thing to keep us from being later.
"I'm coming, Mommy," she says skipping into the kitchen in her St. Joan Of Arc school uniform wearing a white knitted polo and navy blue pants. She walks over to the table and sits down by her bowl of cereal. "Cereal again?" she asks me looking at me with her blue eyes. I swear everyday she looks more and more like her father.
"What do you want, Angelina? We're running late AGAIN. I have no time to cook eggs and pancakes maybe on Monday," I say hoping this pleases her she is a very hard child to please.
"Okay," she says putting her spoon in her cereal. "Did you sign my field trip paper? We're going to the Crayola Factory and I really want to go. I don't want it to be like last time."
"Yes, Angelina, I signed it, put it in your folder and gave the money you need. It's all taken care of. You don't have to worry so much," I say. She is also a pretty worrisome child but nothing matches her determination; a trait from both John and myself. She is a hard worker like the both of us and very much a perfectionist.
"Well, last time we had a field trip you didn't sign the paper and I had to stay at the school and read books. It wasn't as fun as it would have been if I went to the Farm Show."
"I know. I told you I was busy. I'm sorry. Are you ever going to let me forget that, Angie?"
"I don't know maybe," she says flashing me a smile just like the one her father used to flash me.
"Eat," I say before getting her lunchbox out to pack her lunch.
The kitchen is full of silence before she says, "Mommy, there is a father daughter dance coming up at my school. I really want to go."
"Angelina," I say, "You're 7 I don't think you need to go to a dance. You're only in 1st grade."
"But Mommy, Ruthie is going with her daddy. I want to go," she says. "Can Uncle Jay take me?"
"Honey, Uncle Jay lives in Boston. That's a really far way to ask him to travel to in order to go to a father daughter dance," I say. I feel bad instantly as she asks me about going to a father daughter dance. It reminds me of the fact she doesn't know her father and I feel even worse when she asks if her uncle can take her instead of her father. She doesn't ask about not having a dad too often just once in a while. I am hoping this morning isn't one of these days.
Sure enough as I close up her lunch box she says to me, "Mommy, is my daddy ever going to come back to us?"
"Angelina, I doubt it," I say. I never told her the truth about John and I never told her that he doesn't know about her. I just simply said things didn't work out with her daddy so we went our separate ways. That's half the truth. I don't ever expect John to pop up in our lives so I'm not really worried about it. It's been 8 years and we haven't crossed paths. I hope we never do.
"Is Max going to be my daddy one day?" she asks talking about my boyfriend of 4 years. "I like Max."
"I like him too," I say but honestly we have never talked about marriage. It just isn't something we plan on doing I guess and I never asked him to take responsibility for Angelina. She has always been my responsibility since the day she was born and I made the decision to keep her. "I just don't know that yet," I say. Max doesn't even know about John. He just thinks that John is some deadbeat dad that doesn't take care of his kids. I have lied to a lot of people and kept secrets from a lot of people. Even my parents don't know John is Angelina's father. My brothers know because they guessed but they have kept my secret for me.
"Oh," she says finishing up her cereal. "I'm done," she says as she gets up and takes her bowl to the sink.
"All right," I say, "go get your shoes on we're running late!"
"Okay," she says running off to get her shoes.
I drop her off at school before heading to work. I am 10 minutes late as usual and I park my car before rushing into the building. I meet Max in the parking lot. "Good morning, Beautiful," he says to me before greeting me with a kiss. Max is actually my boss I met him 4 years ago at a manager's meeting. We ended up running into each other after the meeting where he asked me to go out to dinner with him and everything went on from there. It is really weird to be dating my boss but it's not like we work in the same building every day just when we have meetings like the one we are having today.
"Good morning," I say with a smile.
"Here's some coffee," he says handing me a cup of coffee.
"Thanks," I say. "Sorry I'm late."
"No need to apologize," he says as he takes my briefcase from me. "I just wish I could have been the reason you were late," he says with a smile as he opens the door for me.
"Stop," I say with a smile of my own. "Maybe tomorrow morning?"
"Maybe," he says with a smile, "So we're still on for tonight?"
"Yes," I say. "And Angelina is going to her friend Ruthie's house to spend the night so we'll have the house to ourselves."
"Hmm. I like that," he says. "I have a surprise for you tonight though."
"I love surprises," I say as we walk to the conference room of the hotel to prepare for the meeting.
30 minutes later hotel employees are filing into the conference room along with Max's boss. I always hate when his boss watches in on my meetings because I get very nervous. I watch as everyone gets seated. "All right. Thank-you for coming," I say. "I just wanted to run through a couple of things. As you know we are at the end of April and entering into the beginning of May. May marks the beginning of a very busy season. Hersheypark opens up which means more visitors for us and more hotel guests. We also have summer concerts and sporting events coming up. I want all of you to make our guests feel as welcome as possible. I want you to satisfy their every need and request. I want you to go beyond normal heights and give them the best. We are the best hotel in Pennsylvania. I want it to stay that way. Now I am going to hand the floor over to Mr. Max Winters. Do you have any questions?" I wait for responses but no one says anything so I take my seat as Max walks to the spot I was just standing in.
"As Ms. Morgan has stated May marks the beginning of a very busy season for Hershey, PA. We will start getting more visitors and hotel guests and like she stated it is important that we maintain our reputation as the best hotel in Pennsylvania. I want you to know that our hotel has been chosen to host some entertainers." The room is filled with oohs and ahs as he tells this news. He had told me the news earlier in February but never told me who the entertainers were. I was hoping maybe the Backstreet Boys and New Kids on The Block since they did have a show coming up in the summer for a mixed tape festival. I wait with everyone else before Max makes the big announcement. "We will be hosting WWE superstars," he says with a smile as my heart jumps into my throat. "They have a live Smackdown show coming up in May. We will have WWE executives, ring crew and superstars staying here. It is important that we all follow rules and give them their space. It is also important that we do not allow non-guests to enter the hotel in search of these superstars. They want their down time and would like to relax after their shows. Privacy is very important to them."
I sit breathing heavily because I have no idea who the superstars are that are coming but I am really hoping John isn't one of them. One of the workers; Callie, must have been reading my mind because she asks, "what superstars are they?"
Max looks down at his paper and says, "Randy Orton, Zach Ryder, Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler and many more."
"And what about John Cena?" she asks. Hearing his name makes me sick to my stomach.
Max looks at the paper and says, "It doesn't say anything about a John Cena." I am relieved. No John Cena is a good thing. One less chance I have of running into my past.
"Oh man," she says. "He is one of my favorites."
"I don't even know who he is," says Max. That's good to know. I can see it now me having to introduce Max to John and tell him that John is the deadbeat father that doesn't even know he has a kid because I chose not to tell him. That would go over well. "Anyway, it doesn't matter what superstar it is. They need their space and their privacy." Everyone nods their heads in agreement but I am too sick to do anything. "Ms. Morgan, are you okay?"
"I think I need some fresh air," I say as I get up. "Please excuse me."
"Sure," says Max giving me a strange look. I look at him and walk out of the room to go outside in the cool April air to get back my composure. About 5 minutes later Max joins me outside. "Nat, what's wrong? You look like you saw a ghost."
"Nothing," I say. "I'm just not feeling well."
"But you were feeling fine this morning before the meeting. What happened?"
"I don't know," I say although I know fully well what made me sick; the fear of possibly running into my past. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Baby," he says. "Maybe you should go home, relax and I'll come take care of you."
"No. I think I'll be fine," I say.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," I say, "thanks though."
"You're welcome. Nat, I love you and if anything is bothering you I am here to help you."
"I love you too, Max," I say before kissing his lips softly. "Let's go back inside."
"Okay," he says as we walk back into the building. I feel much better especially since I know John will not be staying at the hotel.
John's point of View:
I am walking down the hallway of the arena as Vince McMahon approaches me. It's always fun to see my boss heading my way. "Hello, Mr. McMahon," I say.
"Hello, John, How are you?"
"I'm all right. I'm having some problems with my wife but I'm okay," I say thinking about how my wife and I had the biggest fight of our married lives. Things just aren't looking good for my wife and I. We have only been married a couple years and before that our relationship was off and on.
"Still?" he asks me. "You two looked so happy at Wrestlemania."
"Yeah," I say, "it varies. One day we're so in love the next we're not," I say. "It's a vicious cycle."
"I know that feeling," he says with a laugh. "Are you two going to be okay?"
"I don't know," I say. I really have no idea what is going to happen with my wife and I. I just can't take anymore fighting. "So what's up?"
"Well, we have a little bit of a problem with our Smackdown brand," he says.
"Yeah?" I say, "what's wrong?"
"Well, Randy is out for 60 days," he says. "He got into some trouble so we need you to replace him on the tours. We need you for both shows."
"Vince, I don't know. That's a lot of travel time. My wife is already on my ass about working so much."
"I know but we need you. You're the most reliable guy we have. Please."
"All right," I say knowing this is going to be another fight between my wife and me. I will do anything to help out this business. It is my life. I have no kids and just a wife. WWE is my baby.
"Thank-you, John. You're going to be working Smackdown beginning in two weeks. Your first Smackdown show will be in Hershey, Pennsylvania."
"Hershey; the chocolate capital of the world," I say with a smile. "All right. Anything thing else?"
"No not right now but John this means a lot to us. We're going to put you in the title hunt soon."
"No problem," I say with a smile. "I'm your guy."
"I know I can always count on you."
"Yes you can," I say with a smile. I love being the guy Vince can go to when he needs something and I love being that guy that will do whatever it takes for his job. That is dedication and determination to be the best.
*A/N: So what did you think? Please review and thank-you for reading.