A thought came to Kit, “If it’s worrying you this much, why don’t you go visit Bette, talk about it with her?  Don’t worry about our baby Angelica.  I’ll be here to take care of her, just like when you had to go to Paris several months ago, and found Bette while you were there, thank heavens.” 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Next evening in Chicago 

Bette was smiling as she walked through the doors held open for her by the hotel’s doorman.  He tipped his hat at her, swallowing hard after being favored by one of Bette’s thousand watt smiles. 

The brunette had just finished a call with Tina, who was reporting that everything in the construction work was going well, all things considered.  There had been some delay in the delivery of special lights Bette had ordered from London, but many of the core construction elements were shaping up well.  Plus, Matt had sent over the notes and plans from the original construction, so Bette was excited to see what could be learned from those. 

She was thinking that at times, it was a good thing she had a heart issue that she could use as an excuse, if she really needed to.  Like tonight.  She was increasingly positive about the investment, but she really just wanted to stay in tonight, and blamed her heart while begging off from the dinner party invite that the firm had extended to her. 

She was still smiling when she swiped her key on the door, thinking about her call to Tina. 

Her eyes widened in surprise upon seeing the flickering lights from candles lit up in the living area of the room, and by the fireplace also.  Ylang-ylang and sandalwood.  Hmmm… very familiar.  She kept the lights the way she found them, dimmed.   

Her pulse quickened when she realized a new bouquet of flowers had been arranged as a centerpiece in the breakfast table by the window.  Very familiar.  Same flowers, like the candles, as the scene in Paris.

She was hoping against hope that Tina herself was hiding somewhere in the room, and had not just had all this prepared by staff in the hotel. 

“T….?.” she called out, in a hopeful voice.  No answer. 

She tried again, “T….?”