A Distant Memory

Chapter 26 - Another Gala

"Those!" I was rising two pairs of toddler shoes, a white pair and a light pink pair. Rosie wanted the pink one, "okay" I put the white ones away and gently put the pink pair on her little tiny feet.

That night there was another gala, some children were allowed and if they caused any troubles, there would be a couple babysitters to take care of them. This event was to welcome the new fall season.

"I want to have curls mommy" she was excited, I smiled in adoration. "Of course, honey" I smiled, "now, do a little twirl for mommy" I gave her space so that she was able to get off the bed. She giggled and twirled a few times, I stopped her.

"Woah, careful or you might get dizzy" I chuckled, "Only if you do my hair" she shrugged, expecting something. "You're something else" I stood up and started heading to my bathroom, her whole face lit up and she giggled, I didn't need to turn around to know that she was right behind me.

The boot was gone, I was myself again... well... kinda. I don't know who I truly am anymore, I've never had time to figure it out. After Rowan went missing I changed, but before I could work on myself, my sweet babygirl was born, and I dedicated all of my time to her. It would be ridiculous to blame her for not finding myself, it wasn't her fault that she was born when she was born, she was the light that I needed to pull me out from my rock bottom.

It had been a couple weeks since the... encounter me and Anderson had had at the janitor's closet. While working, I only replied in a professional matter, whenever he would bring up our one night stand, I would quickly shut it down. When he called or texted, I only answered if it was work related, if not, I would just tell him that whatever it was, it was unprofessional of us to talk about. I didn't know how, but I kept my ground. 

Even if it was tearing me up from the inside out.  I had just finished curling her hair "I love when you curl my hair mommy" 

"I don't feel like it'll be a boy" he shrugged, "me neither, but what if it is? we have to have some sort of name idea, right?" I scratched the back of my head, we had been looking at baby names all day and I was exhausted.

"Let's move on to girls names, yeah?" I suggested, "You look awfully tired, love. Wouldn't want my future wife to stress this much. Let's have a break, yeah?" He took the book out of my hands and snapped it closed, he started placing gentle kisses on my neck, the touch of his lips made my body tingle.

"Row we have to know what its name will be" I yawned, "let me make you a nice cup of tea, meanwhile you think about the name Rose" he got up, I groaned at the absence of his touch, "so needy..." he chuckled, I ignored his comment and focused on what he said before.

"You like the name Rose?" 

"Yeah, short and sweet, we'd call her Rosie. Think about it" he shrugged as he left the room, I was all alone smiling to myself like a stupid idiot thinking; 'how did I get so lucky?'

"mommy?" Rose called out, she seemed worried for me. "Yeah, Rosie?"

"Can I have the pink thingy?" Rose had a beautiful white dress on paired by the pink shoes she chose, she wanted her little pink purse to match her little pink shoes. "Of course, honey"

After I gave her the purse all I had to do was put on some perfume and my heels, grab my purse and then we would be good to go.

I was wearing a gold ankle-length tight dress, it hugged my body in all the right places, I had a white purse on as well as white heels. You know those singular days were you feel pretty? that day was one of those.

-

Once the car was parked, I saw the paparazzi waiting for us. I grabbed my baby and put her on my lap.

"Rose, listen to me. When we go out of the car there will be big, white lights. I will carry you inside, you have to ignore the lights, okay? It's very important that you don't look and that you don't listen to what the people say. Do it for mommy, will you?"

"okay" she gulped. "You are such a big girl" I pinched her cheek and she giggled, I observed her while I smiled. "Let's go" 

I did exactly what I told her I would do, the paparazzi tried to get to us but my security got us to the building as fast as they could, Rose did everything I asked of her.

I didn't like the fact that Rose had to live through this while being so young, I hated that for her. But at least she had me, right?

Anyhow, we got in. As soon as we entered and the door closed behind us, I put my daughter down and held her hand, I squeezed three times which meant 'I love you', she squeezed back three times.

We passed through nice couples, the older men with young wives half their age stared me up and down like I was dessert, everyone absolutely adored my little Rosie and were fascinated to how well behaved she was. 

We sat down, I shared my table with some business partners that I knew well, the host loved Rosie so much that he let her eat with us. Then, I saw someone walk in who I never expected to see in my life;

Jackson Mathews.

Jackson Mathews as in the owner of Vingt Corps. And he sat down next to me, I was screaming internally. "Look who it is... Olivia Luxor Rossi... I've heard quite a lot about you and Hatchel" he said smugly.

"You heard about me?" I could not contain my excitement, I sounded like a teenage girl who just met Justin Bieber, "You heard about Hatchel? What do you think about it?" I was jumping up and down with joy, my eyes were wide open with anticipation and I only hoped that I didn't look too crazy to him.

"Of course, I love what you made. The clothing, the advertising, all in all everything." 

I could just grab the man's face and kiss him.

"You- You can not understand what this means to me, I've looked up to you when I first started digging into how to make my brand" the movements of my hands dramatized my words by a thousand.

He chuckled, "it means a lot to me" he was smiling, bright. "Can I ask you something?" I blurted out after a sudden silence. "Uh- sure, shoot" I could tell that I caught him off guard. 

"Why did you run away?" I asked, he sighed and a waiter passed us with a tray full of glasses filled with top-notch champagne, he took one for himself and downed it as quickly as he got a hold of it. 

"The spotlight was just... too much. I'm sure that you know how that is" he shrugged with a sigh. "Can I ask you something else?"

"Why not?" he chuckled, "Why are you here after so many years, why especially here? I mean I'm sure that you're invited to all types of events, so why did you decide to randomly show up" I chuckled nervously, I was bouncing my leg up and down

"You know Marko Anderson?"

My smile dropped.

"You're kidding me."