Page 61 of Broken SEAL'S Secret Baby
I don’t like having to overtly surround my household with private security, but corporations are under heavy scrutiny. Here at home, where we are surrounded by family and loyal employees, I feel relatively safe. But at an amusement park, some added watching eyes will not be a bad idea at all.
Manuela is a great cook, but she is an outstanding coordinator and dispatcher. She not only speaks English and Spanish, she is also fluent in French and has a working grasp of Japanese. I would never have known any of that if she hadn’t almost accidentally fallen into her current role. I need to give her a title and a salary to match — and it sounds like she and her family needs a Branson vacation, too.
“Thanks, Manuela, you’re the best,” I say. And I mean it. It just should not have taken my wife’s death and a pandemic for me to appreciate her value. What else am I missing?
Chapter twenty-four
Kate
We, all five of us, and our security team, shiver in the chill wind as the parade goes by. Squares are taped off on the sidewalk to help people remember to spread out from one another.
I’m not sure what I expected. Something more? Something spectacular? It isn’t your average December holiday school parade, but it isn’t the New York Macy’s parade, either. There are bands, floats, and Shriners zipping around in go-karts with advertising slogans on the sides of the carts.
In deference to safety and sanitation of all sorts, masked clowns hand out tiny plastic bags of pre-wrapped candies instead of people throwing the goodies from the floats as they go by. I remember James and I scrambling under and around adults and bigger kids to get our share of the treats.
Cece plasters herself against my thigh and shivers. “I can’t see,” she complains.
Charles turns toward her, but I place a light hand on his arm. His hip troubles him more and more. This cold cannot be doing it any good. How little I had understood about Charlesthat long-ago day of his wife’s funeral, or how much it must have cost him to hold Cece through the last thirty minutes.
“James?” I asked.
“Sure,” my brother replies. He reaches down and swings Cece up to his shoulders.
“I see Santa!” Cece crows.
I stand on tip-toe, barely able to see over the crowd. Sure enough, there is a float headed our way, with someone dressed in a red and white costume. Other people, dressed in green elf costumes, roller skate among the viewers, handing out “goodie bags” shaped like holiday stockings.
Larry, the custodian who had carried my bag down out of the Agri-Oil tower, snags one of the Santa stockings and hands it up to Cece.
“Thank you,” she says from her perch atop James’ shoulders.
I sneeze into my mask. Charles quickly turns to me. “Are you all right?”
“It’s just cold out here,” I say, fishing in my pocket for tissues and a fresh mask.
A final band goes by, playing the “To All a Goodnight” medley. Cars start creeping along the street behind the parade. People cross the street randomly.
“We should all go in and have some lunch and something hot to drink,” Grace says. “Where is a good place?”
“I vote for room service,” Charles says. “The hotel has a good menu. We can enjoy it in front of that magnificent fireplace in our suite.”
“You’re the boss,” James says cheerfully.
“Giddyap,” Cece seconds her father’s vote. “I’m hungry, an’ Miss Kate probably won’t let me eat any candy until it gets checked all over.”
She makes a face at me, and I laugh. “You are absolutelyright. Although those bags were packed at random, it still doesn’t hurt to be safe.”
Our hotel is only a four-minute walk from where we watched the end of the parade. We all hurry toward its cheerfully lit entrance, decorated with artificial poinsettias, pinecones, and greenery.
James sets Cece down at the revolving door, and we all walk through it and into the lobby.
It is a beautiful lobby, decorated in Grand Central Station style, but with a large central fireplace. A gas flame burns under a hood, carrying away any fumes.
The Grand Hotel is new. It is connected by a series of sheltered train tracks to most of the local attractions. The corporate suite has twelve individual bedrooms, a large central living room, and a small en suite kitchen. Each pair of bedrooms shares a luxury bath, including giant dipping tubs with whirlpool jets.
Room service delivers their special guest lunch which includes a variety of a la carte foods, ranging from hot dogs to caviar, as well as assorted drinks from fancy water to coffee or wine.
I know it is gauche, but I blurt out, “Can we save some of this for later?”
