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Perfect for a rich bachelor who was hardly here.
Less than perfect for a spill-prone daughter and her mommy.
“Elsie,” Xavier called to his assistant. “Can you—”
“Already on it.” She squatted next to me with a miniature vacuum, a spray bottle, and a rag. “It’s a good job, too. Otherwise, we’d never get this mess out. Ruin a twenty-five-thousand-pound rug.”
My jaw dropped. The rug alone cost more than half my entire salary.
“I think we need to make a few changes in the decor, Els,” Xavier said, still holding Sofia’s hand. “Not quite appropriate for Little Miss here, and I’m sorry I never thought of it. Can you get Rose to redo it?”
Elsie nodded. “I’ll see what her schedule looks like.”
Xavier turned to Sofia. “I do have one more thing to show you. Would you like to see your room?”
“I have my own room here, Daddy?” Sofia wondered. “Just like at home?”
Xavier winced slightly at the mention of home. “Of course you do, babe. What kind of dad would I be if I didn’t at least give you that?”
Sofia giggled. “Show me!”
To the tune of Elsie’s vacuum saving the day, I followed them down a long hallway, counting at least seven doors before we reached the end, where two opened into a large bedroom that I guessed was the primary suite, and another that appeared to be for Sofia.
“I seem to remember someone loves a certain Disney movie,” Xavier said as he led us into the smaller of the two. “I hope you’re all right with aMoana-themed bedroom, babe. Because that’s what I told the designer.”
It was every little girl’s dream—especially Sofia, who immediately catapulted onto the bed in the center of the room. The walls were painted with a tropical mural of palm trees and water with decals of the Disney characters from the movie integrated into the scene. The bed itself was shaped like one of the Polynesian ships the characters took and draped with blue and green veils of silk to recall the sea, while the rest of the furniture similarly evoked the aesthetics of life in the South Pacific. There was even a replica of Maui’s hook on one wall, an array of Disney princess costumes hanging on the other side of the room, and every single character in stuffy form lay waiting for Sofia to explore on the bedspread.
“I hope it’s not too much,” Xavier murmured as I came to stand beside him.
“Oh, it’s definitely too much,” I replied. “But look at her. She’s so happy.”
“Well, I’ve got some years to make up for. Figured I’d start here.”
“I think you’ve filled your quota.”
But Xavier just shook his head while he watched Sofia discover a dollhouse in the shape of a Polynesian hut. “Not even close. Come on.”
He took my hand, and we left Sofia introducing herself and Tyrone to a new collection of dolls while he guided me into the room next door. Well, sort of room. Suite. Apartment. Mansion-sized wing. Airplane hangar.
“This is my room,” he said.
Technically, it was a bedroom, if you could call something that might shelter a small jet a bedroom. It was covered wall-to-wall with the same plush carpet that made up the rug in the living room, with a four-poster bed swathed in near-transparent white fabric that matched the linens. A couch faced another fireplace near a window overlooking Hyde Park and a sliding glass door opening onto a terrace. One of two other doors opened into a bathroom the size of the Taj Mahal, continuing the same gorgeous marble as in the rest of the apartment, with a tub that could fit four Xaviers, a shower for as many, and a double sink lit with mini-crystal chandeliers that sparkled light all around.
I wandered back out to the bedroom, where I found Xavier leaning casually against a long bureau, thumb to his lip while he watched me pensively.
“Well,” he asked. “Like it?”
I couldn’t quite read his face.
“It’s beautiful,” I agreed, somewhat nervously. This felt like a test.
“But?”
I sighed. “Why do you think there’s a ‘but’?”
He folded his hands over his belt. “Because I know that look on your face, Ces. It’s your ‘good mum’ look, when you’re checking for danger.”
I grimaced. “That obvious, huh?”
