Page 37 of Henri's Little One
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Vitas drew his brows together. “What time is all of this going to happen?”
“Mr. Blanc will be here at ten with a selection of rings for us to look over.” Henri poured himself some coffee as Aline made a pot of strong tea for Vitas.
“Mr. Blanc? Rings?” Confused, Vitas stared blankly at Henri. “What rings?” He must still be half asleep. Vitas hadn’t done much sleeping in the past three days.
“You really aren’t awake yet, are you? Wedding rings…we have to pick out our wedding rings, so we have them when we get married today.”
In confusion, Vitas asked, “You’re buying me a ring?”
“Yes, of course. If you want, you can get a bigger diamond than Julio.” Henri laughed as he cut into his egg.
“No, I wouldn’t do that to Julio. He’s so proud of his ring that to get something larger than he has would not be nice. Besides, my hands are small, it would look dumb, and I don’t do flashy.” Vitas put a forkful of the eggs Benedict in his mouth. “This is delicious. I’ve never had this before. What kind of sauce is this?”
“Hollandaise, Aline makes a great hollandaise sauce.” Henri took some more bacon.
“I’d eat shoe leather if it was covered in this.”
Henri chuckled.
Vitas’ face scrunched up. “Should I wear my suit, the one I wore for Richard’s wedding?” Vitas didn’t know how gay weddings worked. They had no such thing in Russia.
“Wear the other one, the blue pinstripe.” Henri opened theTimes.
“I have another suit?” Vitas raised one eyebrow. “I don’t remember another suit.”
“That’s because you weren’t there when Bertrand packed. Julio brought them from Macy’s. You were still sick in bed. But tomorrow, we’ll go to Mr. Abbott’s and get you proper suits, tailored to fit you.” His Mate was distracted by the newspaper.
“You’re talking about bespoke suits?” Vitas’ jaw dropped open. “I heard my father talk about them in Ireland. The president of the company where he worked wore them.”
Henri put down the paper. “Of course, they fit best, and Mr. Abbott has an excellent selection of material. Julio, Etienne, Sean, and Armand will come with us. We’ll also pick up some shirts and ties.”
“First, I don’t need bespoke suits. Second, why are all those people coming with us? I can pick out a suit.”
“Armand comes because he likes to think he dresses the Mates inproperclothing. Julio comes to curb Armand’s rather conservative tendencies and naturally, if Armand and Julio come, so will Sean and Etienne. After that, we’ll go on to Bloomingdale’s to get you casual clothing to wear, here in the city. Come autumn, we’ll order from the Duluth Trading catalog for warm things for Alaska.”
“I know I need clothing. I arrived wearing only the clothes I had on, however, Julio bought me perfectly serviceable clothing in Oregon.” Vitas pressed his mouth in a firm line.
“I didn’t believe the others when they told me the Mates were stubborn about buying them clothing.” Henri shook his head. “You of all of them should know that I have to appear prosperous, so the packs know that they’re going to stay prosperous. You are a reflection of me, ergo the clothing—handmade shoes, too.”
“You’re right, but I didn’t think it was like that here.” Vitas sighed.
“It isn’t. We don’t do challenges. We don’t fight for the pride of place, but we’re still wolves, and wolves are competitive. Look at how the housekeepers compete over the Mates’ luncheons. We have elders, loup garou in the packs and at Garou Industries, who like the old ways. If you walked around in fashionably ripped jeans, they would think I was broke, and it would follow that they soon would be, too.”
“I understand. Does the council compete to see which Alpha can dress his Mate better?” Vitas slumped his shoulders in resignation.
“Hell no. Each of the Mates has their own style. Armand tried to dress Ian up, but outside of the bespoke suits he needs for business occasions, Ian works in paint-splattered jeans, T-shirts with a button-down shirt thrown over the top in the spring and summer and a sweatshirt in the cold weather. Sean wears a lot of things from Abercrombie and Fitch, but when he’s working at his potter’s wheel throwing a pot, he changes into a mud-stained T-shirt, and jeans or sweats, depending on the season.”
“And the others…” Vitas cocked his head.
“Colin dresses down in a sports jacket over a T-shirt with a scarf or button-down shirt with jeans. He teaches at NYU. Kane dons sweater vests, blazers, and ties because he teaches at Garou Academy. Donal is very passive and wears whatever Julio tells him to get. Julio has Donal looking like he attends an Ivy League college. And Richard is a carbon copy of Julien because he’s Julien’s intern. Julio has a style all his own. Call it dampened outrageous.” Vitas burst out laughing. Henri smiled and continued, “The dampened is because he doesn’t want to give Armand apoplexy, but he also is going to stylist school in the fall, and he wants to open an upscale salon, so he’s pulled it back a little bit.”
“I can just see Armand trying to get Julio to dress like Sean, not happening.” Vitas giggled some more.
“Julio will dress up when the occasion calls for it. He has a tuxedo, but it’s iridescent gray with a dark pink vest and a lighter pink tie. Classy, but still Julio. He used to have pink hair done in a long Mohawk. Etienne asked him if he wanted it pink for their wedding and he said he was going to cut his hair a bit more conservatively now because the clients wouldn’t necessarily like pink at a high-end salon.”
Vitas laughed out loud as he finished the last piece of Canadian bacon.
