Chapter 10 - The Bed on the Top Floor
Late that night, after the last guests had left the ballroom and the grand hotel settled into its peaceful midnight quiet, Anna and I took the private elevator up to the 30th floor.
The master suite was quiet and warm, bathed in the soft, romantic glow of the Manhattan city lights stretching out beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows.
I stepped out onto the balcony, holding two glasses of warm cider, breathing in the cool night air.
Anna joined me a moment later, wrapping a soft cashmere throw blanket around her shoulders, leaning her head against my arm as we looked out over the glowing skyline of the city that had brought us together.
"The kids are fast asleep in their room," Anna said softly, a peaceful smile playing on her lips. "Ethan insisted on taking his stuffed elephant to bed again."
"That elephant belongs in a museum," I laughed gently, wrapping my arm around her shoulders, pulling her close against my side. "It saved Vance Financial's dark secrets and brought down an empire."
"It brought us to you," Anna corrected softly, turning her face up to look at me. "That was its real job."
We stood together on the balcony for a long time, watching the yellow yellow taxicabs move quietly through the streets far below, enjoying the serene, unshakeable peace that we had fought so hard to build.
A few minutes later, we walked back inside the suite, closing the heavy glass balcony doors behind us.
Anna walked into the master bedroom, stopping beside the massive king-sized bed—the same bed where three years ago, I had found two tiny three-year-old twins sleeping beneath my sheets on a cold, desperate night.
She smoothed her hand over the crisp white cotton duvet, a quiet, nostalgic smile lighting up her face.
"Do you remember the first thing you said to me when you walked in here that night?" Anna asked, looking up at me with playful, loving eyes.
"I think I said, 'Those children are in my bed,'" I smiled, walking over to her, wrapping my arms around her waist, pulling her close against my chest.
"And do you remember what I said?" she whispered, resting her hands against my lapels.
"You said, 'Please don't wake them.'"
Anna smiled, reaching up on her tiptoes, pressing a soft, lingering kiss against my lips.
"They're not sleeping in your bed tonight, Daniel," she murmured softly against my mouth.
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"No," I smiled, lifting her up gently, laying her down onto the soft white duvet, looking down into the eyes of the woman who had transformed my world completely. "Tonight, this bed belongs to us."
Outside the window, the lights of Manhattan burned bright and warm, illuminating a story that had started with a lost shoe on a marble floor and ended in a love that would last forever.
