Danielle Steel - The Apartment

Her father asked Alex about his residency, and they talked until dinnertime, and then had an early dinner in the gazebo on the lawn. They left by eight o’clock, and all Sasha wanted was to go back to New York. It wasn’t anything like their trip to stay with his parents in Chicago, where they actually had fun. With Alex’s family, they all had medicine in common, and his mother was the nicest woman she’d ever met, who actually seemed to care how Sasha felt.

“Thank you for being such a good sport. My parents exhaust me.” She laid her head back against the seat and looked wiped out as they drove back to the hotel.

“Your father is nice,” he said honestly. They were in agreement about her mother and had said it all the night before. Her father and Charlotte were like something in a Southern movie and never seemed real to her. No one was ever tired or dirty or messy or swore, or talked about problems, or things she cared about. It all stayed very superficial.

“My mother is going to have apoplexy when she sees Charlotte pregnant again at the wedding, although she should be used to it by now. And they’ve been divorced for nearly eight years. I think she’ll be pissed till the day she dies, and she wouldn’t want to be married to him anyway. They were both unhappy. I think she forgot.”

“Pride maybe. It doesn’t help that Charlotte’s younger than you are, and she’s a damn pretty girl,” Alex said sensibly.

“Yes, she is.” Sasha sighed. It was too late to catch a flight that night, but she switched their flight to an earlier one the next morning, and they left the hotel at eight o’clock, and were back in New York at one. She wanted to kiss the ground.

“Well, that’s over with,” she said, as they got into a cab at the airport. “We don’t have to see them again till the wedding. Are you ready to back out yet?” she asked him, and he laughed.

“Of course not. Just don’t ever leave me alone with your mother. She scares me to death.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t. I promise. Don’t leave me alone with her either.” He agreed.

They went back to the apartment to drop off their things, and everyone was out, even Morgan, who had hardly left the house recently. Sasha hoped it was a good sign.

—

At that moment, Morgan was sitting by the river, thinking about her life. She didn’t want the baby, but she felt a responsibility to it. It wasn’t the baby’s fault she had gotten pregnant. She had made her decision. She was going to have it. But she was leaving Max. The fact that he’d been willing to leave her if she didn’t have his baby told her what she needed to know. She didn’t want to be wanted for their child. And if he wasn’t willing to stick by her, whatever decision she made, he didn’t really love her. He could have visiting rights to the baby, and even joint custody if he wanted it. But he couldn’t have her. He had blown it.

She had written him a letter and dropped it in the mail. She wasn’t going back to the restaurant, and didn’t want to see him. It was over, and she’d let him know when the baby was born in October, since that was all he cared about. She went for a long walk then, alone.

Morgan stuck to her decision about Max, and the baby. He groaned when he got the letter at the restaurant, and tried to call her, but she wouldn’t take his calls. She had the rest of his clothes dropped off at the restaurant. They hadn’t spoken in four weeks since his ultimatum, and now the tables had turned. Morgan wouldn’t speak to him. And Max felt helpless to reach her. She had shut the door, and intended to keep it closed. Finally Max called Sasha in desperation.

“You two need to talk to each other,” Sasha said sensibly.

“She thinks I don’t love her, just the baby.” His threat to leave her if she had an abortion had hit her too hard. “I want the baby because I love her, not in lieu of.”

“She’s very emotional right now,” Sasha explained.

“She won’t see me.”

“And you wouldn’t see her for four weeks.”

“I wanted to pressure her into keeping it. I wasn’t trying to break up with her.”

“You said you’d never see her again if she had an abortion. Now she’s keeping it and won’t see you.”

“What can I do, Sash? This is a disaster.”

“I know. Maybe give it time.”

“I want to be with her, and help her. It’s our child, and I love her.”

“I think the whole mess with her job and now this was too much for her,” Sasha said sadly. Morgan was being very quiet at the apartment, sleeping a lot and going for long walks every day. She was feeling physically better, but Sasha could see she was very depressed. And she was very quiet at their Sunday-night dinners, which Oliver was cooking now. It was strange without Abby and Max.

Morgan decided to tell everyone about the baby later, when it showed. She wasn’t happy about the baby and didn’t want to pretend she was. The only one she told was her brother, and Oliver and Greg were thrilled and promised not to tell the others. Morgan was in no mood to celebrate it. She was in mourning for her life, Max, and her career. She had called a headhunter for a short-term job for four or five months, but nothing had turned up yet.

She had a lawyer contact Max with an agreement for visitation rights, with an offer to negotiate possible joint custody later. He had thought she was kidding when she said it in her letter. And it almost killed him to hear from her through an attorney. She wasn’t fooling around. The letter said that she didn’t know the sex of the baby, and didn’t want to, and he would be advised after the baby was born. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he read it. Morgan was out of his life, even if she was going to be the mother of his child.

Max spoke to Oliver too, who said his sister was the most stubborn woman he had ever met. Oliver said she was deeply upset and emphatic that she didn’t want to speak to Max. All he could do now was wait till the baby was born, and see if she softened then, but that was more than five months away, an eternity to him. He couldn’t even concentrate on his work, was short tempered with his staff, and whenever he cooked, he burned the food. He was obsessed with Morgan and the baby. He still had the key to the apartment, but he didn’t dare use it to see her. She’d probably call the police if he did, and have him arrested. He knew now she was capable of it. As far as Morgan was concerned, there was no turning back. Her relationship with Max was over, and Max had gotten the message, loud and clear.

—

Claire’s shoe samples arrived from Italy the first week in April, and they were gorgeous. She screamed when she saw them and danced around the room while her mother laughed. And they had come just in time for the trade show in Las Vegas. She had hired an assistant to go with them, and work for them for a while in New York when they got back. And her roommates were continuing to be patient about the boxes and samples arriving at the apartment. With Sasha and Morgan’s permission, she had turned Abby’s bedroom into a storeroom, and she and her mother slept in her room. And there were more boxes in the living room. She hired a fit model for an afternoon, and checked the fit. The model said they felt great, and the high heels were at a good pitch. Claire was beside herself with excitement when they got on the plane to Las Vegas.

They stayed at the MGM Grand, and spent most of the day at the convention center, with her mother and Claudia, her new assistant. They set out all their samples in a good-looking display, and a number of retailers wandered by to check them out, including buyers from several big department store chains. They asked her questions about the styles, availability, their price point and delivery capabilities, and quantity, which was an issue for big stores. Claire could satisfy one store, but not ten branches, until they started producing on a bigger scale, and this would only be their first season. But the reaction to their designs was positive from everyone. The buyers loved them.

And on the second day, Claire got the ultimate satisfaction. She spotted Walter from across the room, and he sauntered over to them, trying to be nonchalant, while ogling the shoes on the table. Claire almost laughed and pointed him out to Claudia and her mother. And then he headed straight for her.

“Whose shoes are you selling now?” he said in a cantankerous tone, and she smiled at him and pointed at their sign, with the logo she had designed herself. The sign said clearly Claire Kelly Designs, and his mouth nearly fell open. “Where did you get them made?” he asked her, shocked.

“In Italy” was the only information she gave him and then turned to a buyer who was back for the second time, this time to place an order. And a minute later Walter slunk off.

By the end of the show, they had a stack of very respectable orders, enough to launch their business and support a season. Claire and her mother were beaming and high-fived each other and the young assistant. She had been very helpful during the show, and Claire had decided to keep her. The show had been a wonderful experience. Claire Kelly Designs was up and running, and in the fall would be in some of the best department stores in the country.

“Thanks, Mom,” she said as they packed up. “I can never thank you enough.” Sarah just smiled at her and gave her a hug. This was why she had come to New York. And she loved that they had started the business together, and so did Claire. She knew she would be forever grateful to her mother for the opportunity she’d given her.

—

At the beginning of May, Morgan was four months pregnant, and was having trouble concealing it. She still hadn’t told Claire or anyone else yet. Only Sasha knew, and her brother and his partner. And she was embarrassed to have Claire’s mother know. They all knew that she and Max had broken up, but she refused to discuss the details, or say why. She and Max hadn’t spoken in two months. He finally couldn’t stand it, and sat on the front steps of her building one morning, waiting for her to come out. He knew she would sooner or later. She came downstairs an hour after he got there, on the way to a Pilates class for pregnant women. She was looking good, fit, and in shape, and had gained very little weight, except her face was a little fuller.