Prince Everhart often sent Pepper shopping to put together a gift package for whoever was his latest rejected married lover. Pepper secretly thought of this as the "rich-bitch consolation prize". He never verbally announced an end to the relationship. He just suddenly quit calling and became unavailable to the woman. As his personal assistant for nearly two years Pepper certainly knew the routine by now and often went to the Westbrook Candle and Gift Shop where she was friends with the owner and proprietor, Sheena Buckley. Sheena wore her silver hair in a perky ponytail and at 64 years of age she packed more pure sizzle into her 5'4" frame than most 20 year old coeds. Her sister, Georgia Buckley, was the nanny for Andy and Holly Lomax's kids.
While there on this particular day Pepper ran into Margo Candeloro whose husband was an important customer of Prince's. Pepper really liked Margo and didn't mind passing the time of day with her. She lied and said she was there to get a gift for a friend, because she had to be vigilant when it came to her employer's privacy. Other stores that she frequently used for this chore were Aromatic Delights Perfumery, Chelsea's Flowers and Bluewater Jewelers.
The aforementioned gift packages were compiled per Prince's specific instructions. They usually consisted of a small but pricey piece of crystal, usually Waterford or Swarovski, and a large bottle of expensive perfume (his personal favorites were Chanel's Chance Eau Fraiche or Cristalle, or Viktor & Rolf's Flowerbomb. These were accompanied by two dozen long-stemmed pink roses and some candy. Ex-lovers who had lasted a long while before disastrously angling for a proposal and who had been especially discreet and amenable up until the end also rated some sort of glittering bauble for their wrist, finger or ears.
Waterford Swarovski
It easily cost Prince $700 to $1,000, depending on whether or not the gift bag included jewelry. It was just a ridiculous waste of money in Pepper's opinion. It was almost as bad as the swag bags they handed out to already rich movie stars at the Oscars; ostentatious, unnecessary and definitely unwarranted.
She was of the mind that, one, Prince's love life was costing him dearly and, two were she the woman in question she would have sent back the gifts and conked him over the head with the box of flowers. But, no. A return of the gifts had never happened, at least not since she'd been working for him.
In reality every time one of his latest loves was abruptly discarded Pepper's first thought was good riddance to bad rubbish. Somehow--although she was critical of him and hated to see all that money spent on these women--she didn't really think any less of Prince. In fact, she still held him in high esteem and was extremely protective of him. He couldn't help it if he had such excellent taste that he refused to send cheap stuff and that he was very generous with the money he seemed to make so easily. It was her opinion that the women got what they deserved in the long run and she thought they should be classier and reject these token tributes. However; even though they were all filthy rich, without exception they remained greedy and kept the gifts.
"Might as well be hush money," Pepper fumed.
Of course, it was all to soothe Prince's guilty conscience and to keep the women, supposedly, appeased and out of his carefully styled hair. Pepper reflected grimly that often it backfired on him when they mistakenly thought the gifts meant he still cared. So after these packages were delivered (and sometimes before) the exes bombarded his office with calls and notes and even personal appearances. Pepper had to deal with these for weeks after each "breakup". She always answered graciously and tried to let them know gently, but firmly, that the affair was a thing of the past and there would be no future calls from Prince. More and more lately the whole thing was getting on her nerves having to hear some affluent, over-indulged married woman blather on about Prince's sexual prowess and personal charm while asking Pepper whatever had she done wrong and how on earth could she get him back? Eventually the spurned paramour either burst into tears or cussed Pepper out, sometimes both. She had ceased feeling sorry for them long ago and the last time was barely able to stop herself from blurting out,
"Listen, lady, it is over--okay? You haven't a prayer of getting him back, believe me. When he's done; he's done. Why don't you go back home to your husband where you should have stayed in the first place and quit bothering me whining and blubbering about Mr. Everhart? And get some therapy. Seriously."
Pepper was shocked at herself for even thinking of saying such a thing. She never talked that way (okay, sometimes she did talk that way in her head). But it would have been thoroughly unprofessional had she actually said it and she couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. Really this had always been a part of her job description and she'd taken it on as enthusiastically as she had every other thing Prince asked of her. It was her job as personal assistant to stand between her boss and the rest of the world and she'd never cared if the women had transferred their anger with Prince to her. It wasn't just the overeager society matrons; customers she had to stall while Prince was on the other line, or who had to wait in her office while he ran overtime with another client tended to do the same thing; they would get testy with her instead of Prince. It was usually no biggy to Pepper; so why was she now suddenly out of patience with this group of spoiled, wealthy women who acted like teenagers? Why, indeed.
Unaware of his assistant's growing impatience with the fallout from his romances, Prince headed over to Red's Hideout one night and ran into his youngest brother, Parker, who was engaged in a poker game which Prince promptly joined. After watching Parker wreak havoc for a while as he won over and over again, Prince said with a grin,
"Time for you to head somewhere else, kid. You made some money tonight so hold on to it by walking away."
"Oh, you should talk," Parker complained, "You gamble all the time. You even go to Vegas and the islands to gamble."
"Yeah, but I've got the dough to throw around--you're still working to make your first million, remember?"
You just don't want me to take any more of your dough," Parker scoffed in the way that headstrong young men tend to do. Still, he pocketed his money and stood up while the other player looked daggers at him.
"That's right," Prince placated him while nudging toward the door, "Go find a hottie and spend the big buck on her--time's a'wasting. I'm sure you can find more respectable places to hang out than here, anyway."
"Okay, maybe I'll go over to Midnight Flows, a lot of the University chicks hang out over there for the karaoke," Parker agreed, smiling, "Later, bro."
A few minutes later Count Floyd skulked in to the place. Prince went to greet him but before he could say one word, Floyd threw up his hands and ordered Prince to look into his eyes. Prince peered into them and said,
"Well, my man, I'd have to say they are majorly bloodshot. You must be suffering one hell of a hangover."
In the next moment Prince felt his will and his strength melting away. It was the scariest feeling in the world for a man who prized himself on his control and power.
He couldn't move; as though he were paralyzed and yet he was still on his feet. That was bad news for Prince because the hair on the back of his neck was telling him he needed to get away from the count, or deck him, one or the other. Neither seemed to be possible yet he knew the count could not have doped him up with anything, and he'd only had one drink so far. At this rate what was going to happen next? Prince was sure that it couldn't be good.
Suddenly the count grabbed him and leaned into his neck. Prince thought for a moment that maybe he'd misinterpreted the count's sexual preferences. Then he felt a sharp pain and realized fangs had sunk into his neck. Big fangs, and definitely not fake. And now, oh, damn, Count Floyd was sucking his blood. Prince wasn't sure if he would die from this or the count would just want a mouthful or two. He wasn't clear on the rules and etiquette in the vampire world having never been a fan of the Dracula movies; he'd preferred The Wolfman or The Mummy. And Twilight gave him a major pain. He never watched TV anymore except for sports so he'd barely heard of Vampire Diaries or True Blood.
He still could not move or by now he'd have kneed the count's nuts up into his brain. Old Floyd would have been singing soprano. Outwardly Prince appeared to be in a daze, but inwardly he was getting more and more furious. Like the "where's my gun; a bullet ought to slow you down" kind of furious. Oh, wait, bullets didn't work on vampires, did they? Yeah, now that he thought of it, in the movies, books and he assumed, TV, monsters, unlike humans, hardly ever could be killed by a gun. Except the silver bullets could kill a werewolf. That was of no help to Prince.
When would all this end? And then, impossibly, Prince felt fangs growing from his gums. His senses were suddenly magnified and he felt strength and almost an omnipotence he'd never known before. At last he could move freely and he glared at the count, full of outrage as he roared,
"What the hell, Floyd!"
Not long after Lalique and Perry announced their engagement Arlene informed Lalique that she was leaving to go back home to Garden City. She thought it would be just too awkward to live with Lalique. After all Pres Everhart might occasionally show up at Lalique's with his brother. Even if they had mutually agreed that the romance was over, they had not really parted on good terms. Bluewater Village was a very small town and very close to Pleasantview where Pres had rented a small house. All of Pleasantview shopped at Bluewater. It was more than likely she would encounter him while shopping or dining.
Explaining that while she was okay with the breakup now that she realized she and Pres were incompatible, Arlene wanted to start over somewhere else. Besides, Perry and Lalique were going to be married soon and the kids would have two parents to care for them. Alain and Desiree no longer needed the very close supervision they once had with a nanny.
Lalique was actually flabbergasted when Arlene and Pres had called it quits. Right after Arlene first found out Ray's true identity his brother Perry had told Lalique about his undercover work. She had thought Arlene would be overjoyed and things would all work out. Only a week or two later had come their split. When Arlene told her that she just didn't feel the same about Pres Lalique didn't know what to make of it. In her opinion he was the same man and she didn't understand Arlene's quick dismissal of him now that she'd learned he was on the police force instead of being possibly on the wrong side of the law. Lalique knew that she wouldn't blink an eye if Perry were to confess that he was not an attorney but, in fact, his job was shoveling whale poop on the bottom of the ocean. She'd probably just sign herself and the kids up for scuba diving lessons in preparation.
Having grown fond of Pres as Perry's younger brother Lalique felt bad for him. Arlene was adamant though, the relationship was over. She even admitted that, once she'd let Pres know her true feelings, he'd seemed to lose interest in her just as quickly. Shrugging she told Lalique,
"There's someone out there for me, I know it. It just isn't him. I thought he was such a sexy bad boy, so tough and yet soft with me. Instead he's a cop with a conventional life planned. Dull. If he'd stayed undercover it would be different--I could help with his work. But no, he says he'll never do that again, that he hated it. I don't like cops anyway, they always try to give me tickets when I'm not even doing anything wrong."
"Well, he couldn't have done such a good job playing that part unless he had a bit of bad boy down deep. A man shouldn't have to be a felon to attract you, Arlene," Lalique muttered. She knew she should just shut up but, honestly, Arlene's behavior was perplexing to her. How could Lalique have known her all this time, lived in the same house as her, yet not realized that under the soft and sweet persona she projected she was rather insensitive and superficial. It kind of gave Lalique the creeps. Why, she didn't even seem to be grieving about the end of what had been an important relationship for her, but rather she seemed slightly resentful and definitely impatient to move on.
"Oh, well," Lalique thought to herself, "Mom always says it takes all kinds to make a world."
The older twins had been prepared that Arlene would someday be leaving, but now that the time had come, and rather quickly, they were very upset to see her go. She was more like a big sister than a nanny, and they loved her. They were quite tearful, although the little twins didn't really know what was going on, and even Arlene's eyes were moist. After she said her goodbyes, the taxi honked and then, just like that, Arlene walked out of their lives, never once looking back. They did not know if they would ever see her again.
Before Alain and Desiree could cry too much more about the loss of an important and beloved presence in their lives, a week later Perry's parents showed up to stay at their house for a few days. Philip and Rhonda Everhart had planned to stay at a hotel, but Lalique asked them to stay in the guest room (Arlene's old room), so they all could have more time to get to know one another. It would be busy around the Flynn house for the next week or so, but the twins were fast making friends with their new grandparents. Both the senior Everharts seemed to be old hands at dealing with toddlers as well so Lalique and Perry stole some time alone to play a video game and talk.
Perry now took the opportunity to press his advantage in regard to the wedding.
"Honey, with my folks here we could marry now and they could stay with the kids while we go on a short honeymoon," he coaxed, "That way they won't have to go home and then turn around and come back for the wedding in three months. And we'll have them to keep the kids since Arlene is gone. Mom's gone nuts over all four of them."
She didn't give an answer yes or no so he continued to convince her the next day as he prepared the grill for her. There would be a cookout that afternoon.
"We'll see," Lalique smiled as she brought the food out, "You can mention it to them today and see what they think."
Philip and Rhonda were all for his plan--Lalique had to wonder if Perry hadn't been doing a number on them for days whenever she wasn't around. And so it was that in a very few days and with a crazy whirl of activity, they pulled together a very small, casual but lovely wedding. They enjoyed the wedding cake out on the deck in back. Only the kids and Perry's parents were in attendance. Errol and Olivia were on vacation in Cannes, France and Lalique knew Olivia would not be happy that the wedding had gone forth without them. She decided she would deal with that later. The only ones who were as happy as the bride and groom that day were Alain and Desiree. Later Lalique and Perry took a break, while still in their bridal duds, to feed Brett and Noelle and the fond look in Perry's eyes as he attended to Brett made Lalique love the man more than ever.
That night was a quiet evening with the family gathered around, including Rhonda and Philip. After the kids were all safely in bed, the adults enjoyed banana splits and felt no guilt at all. Too much sugar late at night for little ones, right?
When she and Perry retired to their bedroom Lalique felt herself wrapped in a contentment she'd never known before. Except for one small thing. Perry wanted to adopt all four children to give them his name. Lalique had no problem with that. But she knew John Lassiter would never agree to Brett and Noelle being legally Perry's children. For now, she intended to enjoy her honeymoon and think about the rest later. Perry knew she was worried about telling John their plans and his hand closed over hers, so strong and warm.
"Why don't you let me tell him, man to man? John and I have known each other professionally for years. I've even played golf with him from time to time. I think I can get him to be reasonable.
"Ha! Anyway, I can't put it off on you. He'd expect me to tell him myself."
"All right, you can tell him, but I'll come along."
When Lalique still looked unsure Perry said,
"I don't want you dealing with him alone, Lalique. I mean it."
That was his "I have spoken" voice which occasionally irked her but actually this time Lalique found it easy to cave. She didn't really want to be alone with John either, especially not in this case.
"All right, but let's forget about it until we get back from Belle Isle," she smiled.
He kissed her; a quick hard kiss, and then his lips came back gently and lingered a long time before he broke away. Lalique felt breathless, as she always did when he kissed her and Perry raised one eyebrow and smiled,
"Not a problem, Mrs. Everhart."
The newly married couple left the next day for their romantic four day island honeymoon. It was hard for Perry to get away from work right then, but they planned to take a longer trip when the time was right.
Next blog update: The Brothers Everhart - Prince Ch. 13 Pepper and the Women
