Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter or provided feedback. You are all wonderful. Your kind words keep me happy and writing.
Chapter 51: Life opens a window
August 5, 2010 2:35 PM EDT
"When is your mom supposed to get here," Gio asked, checking his watch for the 15th time. They were sitting in the private dining room of his restaurant upstairs, waiting for her mother to show up. "Not that I don't enjoy getting to spend some time with you because I do."
"And we haven't had a lot of time together between the restaurant launching and me trying to get my first true issue out," Monique added for her husband. As she grabbed one of the artichoke spinach bites, he brought her. She hadn't ordered yet because she was waiting for the rest of her party to arrive.
"But I thought this was supposed to be a business lunch with Britney?" Her husband asked as he stole one of her snacks.
"Yes, along with at least one attorney and my mother. However, they are meeting with my dad first earlier, which is why we were doing this so late. I wouldn't be surprised if I get a text in 10 minutes telling me they're not coming because it was so bad."
"Why did your mom want to meet with us with Britney and the lawyers? She is not trying to get us to do a revised postnuptial agreement?" Gio asked, slightly concerned.
"She wouldn't dare. But Vivian let us use the Jersey shore house yesterday for the Thanksgiving shoot with only two days' notice because Isabella stole our original location. So I owed her and had no choice but to agree to this meeting with very little idea why I'm going to this meeting." Because of this, somehow, Monique ended up with the day where she had breakfast, lunch, and dinner meetings. She hates when that happens. Monique actually brought her work laptop to work from Gio's office instead of going back to Mode. She would need to be back here by 6:45 PM anyway for the 7 o'clock with the rep from Alexandria confessions and her husband. She would gain an extra hour of work time this way.
"At worst, I'm expecting trust fund discussions about Antonella. She loves her little grandbaby to the point she may have done something very illegal to a certain ex-boyfriend that she wouldn't tell me about." Actually, Monique is hoping that will come out during this conversation. Probably whatever she did is not phone appropriate.
"She did. It's better that you don't know the details." Gio told her.
"How do you know the details?" Monique asked.
"Because he was with me, darling." Her mother said, walking into the room with Heidi showing her the way. Monique was so asking questions later.
"I must admit at first I was a little upset that you were dating the deli boy, but Gio has grown on me. I like a man who protects the children he's responsible for." Of course, her mother grabbed one of the artichoke bites off the table.
"You just like me for my food," Gio responded.
"It is delicious. I like your ambition." Vivian took the seat beside her. "You have barely been open a month, and you are already the hottest new restaurant in New York for 2010. That's also after the success of the sandwich shop. Eventually, we will have to talk about next steps, such as opening sandwich shops at some of my more low-end hotels and maybe a high-end sequel in Vegas. Now that sourdough girl is out of the picture, it's time to think of expansion."
Because Vivian never misses a business opportunity, she has a 20% stake in the new restaurant. Although she is a very silent partner.
"Because you definitely didn't want to expand with her?" Monique asked.
"It was already too messy, and she was never going to sell to you. Thankfully Wilhelmina provided the perfect solution." Vivian explained.
"Now that Wilhelmina is working with us, expansion is an option?" Gio asked.
"You have to admit she's good at what she does." They both nodded their heads. Things were definitely going a lot better with Wilhelmina. "She actually was the one who brought it to my attention at the shower Sunday. With her move to Australia when Connor's incarceration ends, it makes sense for her to expand our brand there."
Monique kept her mouth shut because she had just assumed that Wilhelmina would go to Mode Australia like they originally agreed. But even Monique is well aware that Wilhelmina has been doing well at the restaurant. Maybe she was ready to fully embrace the next stage of her life. Of course, Vivian held the keys to both. How her mom ended up owning all Meade publications in Australia, Monique has no idea. However, she's not going to question her good fortune.
"Partnering up with locations in the hotels might be a good way to do that. Some of our existing restaurant contracts will be up in the next 18 months. I rather do something new in-house." That makes a lot of sense. Especially because, if she remembers correctly, some of the restaurants with their contracts ending soon happened to be owned by her father. Vivian wasn't about to do him any favors at the moment. She was fucking furious when she found out about the ex lying to Britney about the vasectomy. This is on top of him refusing to have anything to do with baby pudding pop if they turn out to be female.
"I'm not against it," Gio told her mom. "But this is not a discussion for today. At a minimum, Wilhelmina should be with us."
"Of course, your business partner needs to be here. I'm too used to sourdough girl who we locked out most of the time. Where is Wilhelmina?" Vivian asked.
"Visiting her husband. Your ex is being a prick to her.
Not only does he not believe what she said in the article, but he's arguing that she made the entire thing up just to destroy his reelection campaign. You saw his interview this morning? He called Wilhelmina a liar on morning television."
After that, Monique called in a favor because Wilhelmina definitely needed Connor time. Monique also made the largest campaign contribution she legally could to the man's opponent. She's also been consulting Byron on a counter-strategy. He is enjoying the challenge.
"I did. If it wasn't already August, I would run against him myself. Instead, I'm going to do a fundraiser with the competition. It helps that Chloe use to work for the foundation years ago before going into politics. She's going to put out a statement later today saying she believes Wilhelmina implicitly."
"Good for Chloe. If she's unsuccessful, you can try in six years to unseat the jerk." Monique suggested, although she really hoped it didn't come to that.
"I might be too busy running against your father. The idiot is furious at Hilary now because of something that happened at the wedding. He is planning to ruin her political plans. So, if she runs in 16, he will too. We all know that man should never be the president of the PTA, let alone the country. I may have to save the Republican Party from itself." Her mom was a Democrat-leaning independent, but her mom would do a lot to save the world from her asshole father.
"Well, that's mostly because he doesn't give a fuck about his children. Although if you don't care about your kid, you will not care about anyone else's kids. That should probably preclude you from public office." Gio told her mom. Her husband knew all about her very complicated relationship with her sperm donor. She has a better relationship with her biological mother.
"I completely agree with my husband on this. I can totally see him running for office for petty revenge and maybe as a get-rich-quick scheme to screw over the country. When did you even talk to him? Did he actually show up this morning? I thought the meeting was just with his attorneys. I didn't see anything on TMZ."
To say that her parents hated each other would be an understatement. If they had to talk to each other for business reasons, they went through their attorneys. For personal reasons, they went through Britney up until recently. Monique's rehearsal dinner was probably the first time they been in the same room for at least a year. That ended up with her mom offering to pay for Britney's divorce attorneys after exposing his latest affair.
"Yes, he did actually show up at the attorneys this morning. Thankfully, he did see things my way, and Britney will be free of him once and for all." Vivian explained. That was good because he's been dragging his feet about the divorce, much to everybody's annoyance.
"And what about baby pudding pop?" Monique asked just as Britney walked into the room.
"I took 20% less than what the prenup said I should have, and he agreed to completely terminate his rights to baby putting pop no matter what." Monique was relieved to hear that. She didn't want baby pudding pop anywhere near that man. She and Mercedes already had too many scars because of his bad parenting. "Sorry, I had to go pee. Pudding pop likes to sit on my bladder."
"What an asshole," Gio mumbled under his breath, and her mother just nodded her head in agreement.
"I am over it," Brittany said as she took the seat across from her. "The idiot can use his alimony savings to artificially inseminate the next trophy wife. That way, he can select the gender of the child." Britney was extra bitter this afternoon.
"I feel like Alexis senior would call bullshit on that. However, I won't say anything the next time I have the misfortune of being in a room with him," Monique remarked.
"Thank you so much," Brittany replied sarcastically.
"Since you ladies are here, I will go grab your food if you tell me what you want," Gio asked as he pulled out one of the iPhones that they were using to take orders at the restaurant. They would be on the cutting edge no matter what.
"I know it's not probably on the menu, but could I get a cheeseburger with smoked Gouda, pickles, and jalapeños here? Oh, and some bacon cheese fries with a side of the sauce that goes with the French dip sandwich." Considering some of Amanda's weird cravings before London, Monique is not surprised at all by Britney's order.
"Neither of those things are technically on the menu, but we have the ingredients. I can make it happen." Gio gave Britney a giant smile.
"You have much better taste in husbands than I do," Brittany remarked.
"She has better taste than both of us." Her mother added. "I want to stuff cranberry chicken with the arugula salad and grilled asparagus. Although could you make a large portion of those cheese fries because after spending time with my ex-husband, I could use some." Monique chuckled at that. Her mom rarely ate junk food. It usually only happened after an encounter with the ex-husband.
"Of course, Vivian. Mo, what do you want?" Her husband asked.
"Add even more fries to the cheese fries, but I think I'll just have a turkey burger with Swiss but no bun. Instead…"
"Serve it on a bed of mixed greens and spinach. I know." Her husband finished for her.
"The doctor said I'm supposed to be eating less bread. Inflammation risk." Monique explained.
"I am supposed to be as well, but the baby likes what they like. Although maybe just half of one." Britney added.
"No problem. I'll give the other half to Monique because she'll still want one." He said before kissing Monique goodbye before leaving.
"So this is what a good marriage is like?" Britney asked a few moments later.
"I don't know. After the asshole, I never actually made it down the aisle again. I got close once, but it didn't work out." Vivian said as she took a long sip of water.
"Because he was an asshole too," Monique remarked. She was so over the senator.
"I definitely dodged a bullet there," Vivian commented.
"It all worked out in the end. Hey, where is your attorney? I thought Madison was supposed to be joining us?" Monique asked.
"She's looking for a parking space for her car." Vivian rolled her eyes. Her mom thought it was ridiculous to have a car in Manhattan. Although her mom was also the type of billionaire who took the subway.
"Which could take a while if she doesn't want to use our valet service." They had a valet service for a reason. "Although we probably should have ordered her something."
"We sent a text message to Heidi with her request earlier," Vivian explained.
"I feel like you know more of my husband's staff than I do." Monique Remarked.
"I do have to make sure our investment is going well. I also enjoy spending time with Wilhelmina and seeing pictures of the brand-new grandbaby. Jade is so adorable."
"Who you hung out with all day Sunday." Monique retorted.
"Yes, but there's just something wonderful about grandmothers talking about their children. Also, I can always get a table here, so it's great for business lunches." Since the opening last month, this has become her mother's go-to place for all business lunches. They should just put a sign with her mother's name in front of the private dining room and be done with it.
"Sorry, I couldn't give you any," Monique replied, annoyed.
"You gave me Antonella, who I adore. And you're young. You never know what the future might bring." Why did her mom sound like her uterus will magically regrow itself? Because that definitely wasn't happening.
"We have talked about adopting, and it's something we hope to do at some point. Thankfully it will be a little down the road and doesn't involve me becoming a grandmother before I turn 30."
"I thought Antonella said she was going to let you and Gio raise the baby as your child?" Brittany asked. "Although it's good to know you're still considering adoption."
"That was the plan, but we just had to do with a pregnancy of the mine. This means lots of therapy to deal with a truckload of issues that need to be dealt with. We're working through them. And bonus no dirty diapers." Any of the baby stuff she bookmarked online during those few days became baby gifts for Brittany, Marc, and Amanda.
"That's good. I wish you would've brought Antonella with you. I would love for her to be part of this." OK, that made Monique worried that this lunch may actually be about Antonella getting a trust fund.
"She is at a photo shoot at the Bronx zoo with Katrina and Megan. They are shooting coats in front of polar bears in August. She is their assistant. Just because she's my husband's sister doesn't mean that I'm letting her have all the fun and easy assignments. She has to work." Monique explained.
"Which is good," Vivian said just as Madison walked into the private dining room.
"Sorry it took so long. It's so hard to find parking in this neighborhood. I ended up in a lot two blocks away." Madison explained as she took the seat next to Vivian.
"We do have a valet service," Monique remarked. They had to with their level of clientele and the lack of parking. They were definitely already becoming a hit among the upper echelons of New York despite having much better prices the most of the other restaurants in their class.
"I know, but I don't trust valet service." Vivian rolled her eyes again.
"She also doesn't trust the car service, which we could've taken here and have her drop back at the firm afterward. But Madison wouldn't have it." The theme was highly annoyed.
"Because Britney is really, really pregnant right now," Madison explained. Which was true. Britney was originally supposed to deliver on August 1. But Britney's new OB/GYN, Dr. Rivera, changed her due date, which led to a lot of crying on her part.
"I really can't wait until D-Day. I'm still annoyed they changed it to the 14th. I'm so done with being pregnant." Monique was excited; Britney was not. She actually cried during the childbirth video last week. She also started crying when she had trouble putting the diaper on their practice baby. The parenting/birthing classes have been hard on Brittany.
"However, before that day comes, we need to talk." About what Monique still wondered, "Where is your husband?" Madison asked.
"Telling the kitchen staff how to make his signature bacon cheese fries. Thankfully they can probably use the base from the Alfredo sauce, so no canned cheese sauce for us." Monique explained.
"I'm looking forward to trying that," Madison said just as Heidi walked in with what looked like a martini. Along with a tray of water and juice. Monique just gave her mom a glare.
"I know you and Britney aren't drinking, but I deserve a drink. Again I dealt with your father today."
"This is true," Monique remarked.
"I also drink. I'll have a glass of the house wine. Just one though since I have a business meeting after this."
"Right away," Heidi said just before leaving.
"You don't drink?" Madison asked.
"I mostly stay sober now. I only drink on December 26. I had some problems after my first husband died and ended up in rehab." She was getting used to referring to Jordan as her first husband, but it was still hard. Gio got it. That's why she loved him so much. He wasn't even hurt when she kept Osbourn as part of her last name. It was who she was. "I do mocktails at most parties and work events."
"Although you did meet Alex. Too bad it didn't work out." Her mom adored him.
"It worked out the way it needed to," Monique said just as Gio walked back in a lot sooner than she expected. Although he did bring the cheese stuffed olives that she adored.
"My chef kicked me out of the kitchen and told me to go have lunch with my family up here. So I hope everything arrives in 15 minutes."
"Possibly faster because knowing you, you're probably sending out another appetizer," Monique said, grabbing one of the olives.
"The spinach artichoke dip and lobster stuffed mushroom caps."
"You Spoil me." She said before leaning over to kiss Gio. Thankfully he was in the seat next to her now.
"If you are here, I guess we can begin this conversation, or do we want to wait for food?" Madison asked. "I've heard marvelous things about your filet mignon."
"We do it now. Then when the food gets here, we have a built-in excuse to stop talking to each other if it goes really badly." Monique suggested because she had this feeling that things might go badly.
"I taught you so well. Honestly, this could go badly." Vivian mumbled that last part under her breath.
"What are you here to actually talk about?" Gio asked.
"You know I wasn't planning to become pregnant. Your father literally lied to me about having a vasectomy. It also came out during discovery that he drug me with fertility meds." Monique was halfway tempted to grab her mom's martini at that point. Instead, her husband just passed the olives to her. She took two.
"He was always a controlling piece of shit. I apologize for not warning you away." Vivian remarked, finishing her martini, which was honestly for the best.
"I wasn't exactly ready to listen back then. And here we are with me being really pregnant and terrified on the cusp of single motherhood if I survived delivery."
"I know you're worried about that, but science has come a long way since you were born." Monique tried to comfort Brittany.
"Not enough in the African-American and Latino communities. I'm significantly more likely to die in childbirth than your sister Mercedes just because of my skin tone despite income." That was, unfortunately, true. "I'm worried about being a single mom. You know how badly I'm doing in the parenting and birthing classes."
"It wasn't that bad," Monique said, trying to be reassuring.
"I killed our practice baby twice." Brittany lamented and that she got her strange looks from Vivian and Madison.
"She means the doll, and it was an accident," Monique explained quickly.
"That happened twice."
"The instructor said it was normal." Of course, she said in a way that made Monique think she was lying, but Britney doesn't need to hear that.
"That does not make me feel better," Brittany replied.
"You could get a nanny. That's what the divorce settlement money is for." Monique suggested.
"That's all going into pudding pops trust fun. I'm not touching any of it." Brittany explained.
"You will definitely have income coming in from the design business. After you get done redoing my place, I know mom is having you do all the hotels." Maybe they should've waited until after Britney delivered to start the renovations. However, the team could work without her during her maternity leave.
"At least the one that sourdough girl torched," Vivian remarked bitterly. "Once we get done with that renovation, we will let the board decide if we should continue the refresh, with Britney being our chief designer. However, I trust they will completely agree with me once they see the final results. That will begin after your maternity leave."
"I'm already working on sketches, and it will be my next project after I finish the renovations on Monique's loft."
"I hope it's soon because living in a hotel is hard," Gio added.
"We might need an extra week or two depending on your reaction to what I say next," Brittany said, pulling a folder out of her bag.
"During the pre-wedding sleepover, I spent a lot of time talking to Antonella, helping her try to figure out what she wanted to do."
"You read through all of the adoption literature," Monique remembered Brittany fixating on that.
"Especially the things on open adoption. That's what you had growing up, right?" Brittany asked.
"Yes, although considering the circumstances," the whole thing being a tabloid spectacle that was the talk of the country club circuit for years. "It would've been hard to hide the truth from me. Although after talking to Amanda, I realize my experience was significantly less traumatic than discovering the truth as an adult." She found out she was adopted by accident and was terrified she accidentally had sex with her half-brother. However, Monique wasn't mentioning that at lunch. "She gained like 20 pounds from chocolate alone."
"I know that Antonella really liked the idea of an open adoption. I think it might also be a solution for me." Monique wasn't expecting that.
"What do you mean by that?" Her husband asked.
"You and Monique would make much better parents than me. You're both older than me, for one thing. You're completely settled in your careers and happily married to one another. You're already raising one kid together, successfully. Also, you have the top marks in our childbirth class." Britney explained.
"Technically, yes, but…" Monique started to say but was interrupted by Brittany.
"What I'm trying to say is I want you and Gino to adopt baby pudding pop. I've been thinking about it for a while, and I feel like baby pudding pop would be better served raised by the two of you. Even if I survived birth."
"You're just scared."
"I hope I do make it, and if I do, I would still want to be around like your biological mom was with you. Maybe even more. Even though I won't be married to your father anymore, I could still be the step-grandma. Or would that be weird since I'm technically younger than you?" Brittany asked.
"Not really. My current husband was a grandpa at 28 due to his first wife," Madison remarked.
"When do you need a decision?" Gio asked because Monique was still too shocked to talk. "Do we have some time to think about this, or do you need a decision now?"
"Of course, you have time," Madison told them. "I would not be a good lawyer if I expected you to decide on something this big right on the spot. You and Monique need to talk about it as well as look over the terms of our proposal." Madison said, handing the document to her.
"Also, take a look at this. I may not have mommy instincts, but I do know how to design a great nursery. I want baby pudding pop to have the best." Brittany said, passing the sketches to her and Gio.
"This is for the other guest room. That's why you never showed me the sketches?" Monique finally asked.
"I've been thinking about this for a while, and I wanted to get things set up with Madison before approaching you. Last week's parenting class just made me realize it's the best thing to do for pudding pop. I still want to be around. I could even stay the first couple of weeks to breastfeed. I just don't think I can be a full-time mom." Brittany was crying at that point. Monique walked over and hugged her.
"We'll figure it out, OK. Let Gio and I look over the terms and will talk Sunday again, OK."
"Good, we can have brunch," Vivian remarked.
"You just want a mimosa," Monique replied.
"I could have one now. I want the chocolate blueberry waffles and that delicious egg casserole thing." Her mother replied.
"We will take care of it," Gio said just as their appetizer thankfully arrived. Along with the cheese fries. This was good because Monique thought best with cheese fries, and she had to do some serious thinking about adopting her brother or sister.
Xxxxx
An hour and ½ later.
"Your mom and stepmom are gone, so we can actually talk about this," Gio said as he led her through the kitchens to his office. Wilhelmina redecorated it, so the room actually looks nice and not pure chaos like the deli's office.
"We were already thinking about adopting. And I actually joked about this possibility before." Monique told her husband as she sat down on the couch in his office.
"Very true."
"Although I was leaning toward an older child," Monique said, remembering a recent conversation with Daniel.
"Which we can still do. Although in a few years once Antonella is in college." Gio told her.
"That works. We should stick to two kids at a time." Gio smiled at her joke.
"I think you always felt this was a possibility. Again you made jokes about it."
"When I was kind of under the impression that Britney was a golddigger. Not someone terrified and angry about a forced pregnancy. He drugged her with fertility meds and lied to her about having a vasectomy. This should be some form of sexual assault." Monique was very angry about that.
"Her being angry is completely understandable," Gio said as he sat beside her on the couch. "I think it would be better for pudding pop to be raised by people who aren't angry at their very existence. That could be us."
"And we would be the best parents. But a part of me is worried that this is just the fear talking. Brittany could change her mind. This would be like my miscarriage all over again. But worse because I would still be around the baby." Monique explained. She doesn't want to lose another child.
"I don't think Britney will change her mind, though. Did you look at the contract?" Gio asked her.
"No, I had to make small talk with my mom while you were hiding in the kitchen."
"I was kicked out of the kitchen. I was hiding up here reading the contract," Gio said as he got up to grab it from his desk. Monique forgot he took it with him when he left for an alleged kitchen emergency.
"And I think it's good. Britney would still be part of the baby's life. She even wants to provide breastmilk, like she mentioned. There could even be possible babysitting. I think she just wants the grandma perks."
"Babysitting and bringing expensive presents. While we take care of the heavy lifting." And Monique isn't necessarily against that because she wants to do the heavy lifting. She wants to be a mom. She is already in some ways, but Antonella is already a teenager.
"I could see that as a preference for her. And I prefer it for us too. I think we would be great parents. I know we've only been married for a few weeks, but we're ready." Gio argued.
"You really think so?"
"Yes."
"Before we make a final decision, I need to read through the contract. Plus, we need to talk to Antonella. I think she'll be back from the zoo this evening, so we can talk then."
"You're not going back to the office, and all you had was busywork. I think you can put that aside for a couple of hours." Gio suggested.
"I wasn't going back to work because I have a business dinner at 7 PM, which is only a few hours away. I can get more done here than going back to the office."
"Can Marc take the meeting with whoever you were supposed to have dinner with?" Gio asked.
"He could, although I might have to agree for Jade to come with us to our family meeting. Also, you'll need to make sure Wilhelmina is coming in."
"I will send her a text message on the way to check the deli." They had a competent management team at the deli, allowing Gio to spend most of his time at Ross. However, he did stop by for an hour every day to check up on things.
"Besides, a baby at a discussion about possibly adopting might be a good thing." He remarked.
"This is true," Monique replied as she leaned over to kiss her husband. "I will send a message to Cliff."
"Why Cliff?" Her husband asked.
"With these clients, Marc is going to need a partner. You were going to do that for me, but Cliff can do that for Marc."
"This is just you playing matchmaker again." Her husband gave her the glare.
"I think Marc and Cliff will get there on their own. This is business." The look that Gio is giving her tells Monique that her husband doesn't believe her at all.
To be continued…