A Beautiful New Life (2 page)

“Hi Nancy, this is Mrs. Gilab. If you’d direct her to her room please, I’ll get her
car
parked and her bag delivered.”

“Yes, John. She’ll be in our VIP wing, let’s see, room 1122.
”
She turned to Louise, “Mrs. Gilab if you’d wait one moment I’ll have an escort for you.”

Louise waited and took the time to look around some more.
O
verstuffed chairs and couches
,
and coffee and end tables
furnished t
he lobby. All the furniture
was trimmed in pine or made from it
. The only part she could
n
o
t find a piece of pine
was
the west wall. It was made of glass giving an un-o
bstructed
view of the lavish gardens beyond it.

How is it possible, it
is
so cold outside?
She thought as she continued to look around
the lobby
. The place seemed warm and welcoming but the people were so different. John had been friendly enough, fatherly you might say. Nancy
,
however,
with her hair pulled tight into a bun and her stiff stance did not
seem
friendly
at all
.

“This way please, Mrs. Gilab.” Louise turned
. A
different, but
pleasant personality
, greeted her and t
he young man took her arm and guided her down the east hall toward the VIP wing as indicated by the gold plated sign hanging on the taupe wall. They walked down the hall until they
arrived at
her room.

“Here you go, room 1122” The young man unlocked the door for her. “I hope you enjoy your stay.

“Thank you.” She
said as she
extended a hand but
he
ignored
her
as he turned to walk away. “Excuse me
,
m
y room key.”

“I’m sorry, here you go.” He handed her the credit card key.

She took the key and entered her room. It was decorated similar to the lobby
with two overstuff chairs and an end table with fresh picked flowers that Louise was sure came from the garden outside the lobby.

“Wow”, she laughed, and like a young
kid
she got a running start and jumped on the king size pillow-top bed. “Such a big bed and no one to share it with; this is going to be a great weekend.” As she lay
,
hugging one of the many pillows on the bed
,
there was a knock at the door. She hopped down from the bed and skipped across the room to open it.

“I hope you’re finding everything to your liking?” John handed her the bag he had promised to deliver.

She took the bag. “Yes,
I like it
very much
.
I think I’m going to get lost in that be
d though.” She turned pointing to the now messed up bed.

“Well you’ll find your itinerary and instructions on the desk and if you have any questions please feel free to pick up the phone and you’ll be connected to Nancy.” He turned to walk away.

“Oh, speaking of the phone, can I make a call home?”
Louise asked.
“I’d like to let my husband know I made it.”

John
stopped and turned back toward her.  “Nancy has already contacted him.”

“Oh.” It was all she could say as she
choked back the tear
s
. “Well, okay then. I guess.”

He reached out and gave her arm a squeeze.
“I’m sure your kids are fine.”

“How
…h
ow did you know?”

He smiled, “I have a wife and kids
,
too. Trust me, I know. You moms are all alike.”

His warm and sincere answer lifted her spirits and she relaxed. “You’re right, of course they’re fine. It’s just for the weekend.” She said it more to convince herself.

“Relax and enjoy this time alone. You never know what life will throw at you.” He turned
and
walked towards the lobby. She watched him
as he
walk
ed
down the hallway. His words left a haunting feeling with her but his confident swagger made her feel safe in her unfamiliar surroundings. She shut the door and went to the desk to read the itinerary and instructions left for her.

Oh how I could use one of those.
She thought as she read on the itinerary that first
on the list
was a full body deep tissue massage. The last year had been trying with the turn of the economy cutting their income in half, the kid’s busy schedules, and all the little emergencies that seemed to pop
up
.
She got undressed and slipped into the
lightweight
white cotton personalized robe and a very comfortable pair of white slippers
and
lef
t the room
.

“Excuse me ma’am, is there something I can help you with?”
The same young man who took her to her room earlier stopped her just outside her room
. He looked like he could have been in the military with his fresh shaved face and short haircut. He was not much taller than
she was
and at
just over five feet,
she was not very tall. He seemed solid under his uniform of navy blue pants and a plain tight fitting navy blue t-shirt.

“I have some time before my massage so I thought I’d stretc
h my legs after that long drive. I also
wanted to check out that garden I spotted earlier when I arrived.” She pointed down the hall in the direction of the garden.

“Ah yes it’s
very lovely this time of year.
Well, actually, it’s lovely anytime of the year.” He laughed a hearty laugh. “Most of the vegetation, bushes and trees, are there year round but they rotate the flowers throughout the year.”

“Did the flowers in my room come from that garden?”
She asked as he
followed
her down the
hall toward the lobby.

“Yes they did in fact. Are they okay? Did you want them changed out?” He stopped walking.

“Yes. No.” She laughed. “They’re beautiful. I didn’t recognize some of them and was wondering what they might be.” They continued walking now.

“There’ll be information tags on all the plants in the garden.
So
anything you want to know you can find out from the tags. They even have where you can purchase them if you would like them for your own garden after you leave here.”
He said as t
hey reached the garden
.

“That sounds perfect; thanks…um…I’m sorry
,
what’s your name?”
She extended her hand to him.

“Scott, my name is Scott.” He shook her hand.

“Scott
;
thanks for the information.”

“You’re welcome, Mrs. Gilab. Enjoy
the garden
.” He excused himself and headed off to the front desk.

As Louise approached the glass wall looking for the door, the wall slid to the right opening a way for her to pass. She was immediately
drawn in
by the amazing aroma permeating from every bush, tree, and flower in the garden. She soon discovered
it was a solarium
, built to
display all the flowers that were native to the areas of their visitors
. On the comment card
,
you could let them know what flower you would like to see but likely
,
they already had it. 

Louise walked around stopping from time to time to smell the flowers and read the information tags. She was particularly interested in the ones in her room
.
She came upon one she was sure she knew but wanted to make sure. The flower had brought back strong memories of her childhood. She read the information tag, Mountain Laurel
, a
nd as she already
knew,
it was native to her home state. When she was
younger,
her family would go camping in the mountains. The flower was a favorite of her
mother’s
and immediately after setting up camp her father would hike out into the woods and bring back a large bouquet of them for the center of the table. She missed those days when she was young and innocent and life was so easy. She missed her father even more.

He had been her hero, her mentor, and her friend. He knew she had big dreams of moving out into the world and making something more of herself than she would if she stayed in their small economically depressed town. Only months before setting out on her own, her father
was critically injured
after crashing his police cruiser while pursuing a robbery suspect. She had rushed to his side and sat with him every day and night. She read him the paper and reminisced about past cases he had solved or ones they had solved together. She also shared her fears about going out on her own. A month after the accident he passed away from complications. She did not even hesitate, right after his funeral she got in her car and drove. The tears flowed as free now as she felt the day she drove fast and far away from now what was only a memory.

Louise grabbed her chest and turned as she felt a hand on her shoulder. “Oh gosh you scared me”.

“I’m so sorry ma’am, you’re late for your massage and I came to collect you. I did call out your name but you seemed to have been somewhere else.” He looked at her now and noticed the tears. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, some old memories that’s all.”
She took a deep breath and r
egain
ed
her composer.

“Well my mom always said a hug makes everything better.” He reached for her and gave her a warm hug.
She allowed him and enjoyed feeling his strong arms around her. How long has it been s
ince Arlin hugged her that way?

“
Thank you.” She smiled and pulled away from him
but the feeling of his arms around her lingered
. “
I’ll head to my massage
now
.”

“I’ll walk with you, Mrs. Gilab. Of course, if you’d like?” He returned her smile.

“Yes, I think I’d like that, thank you. And please, call me Louise.” She was blushing. “Calling me Mrs. Gilab is making me feel old.” The memories of long ago made her feel young and she wanted to hold onto that feeling for
a while
.
She was also starting to enjoy Scott’s presence.

“Very well then, Louise it is.” As they
walked,
he talked about the history of the resort. It was a prison camp in the late 1800’s. They had hidden tunnels and passageways, he explained. “Most have been uncovered and converted into open hallways to adjoining buildings. But it’s believed that there are many that have not been uncovered.”

“How exciting
;
w
hen I was younger I always wanted a place that had hidden rooms and passageways. It was the mysterious air about it that intrigued me so much.” She almost skipped along
with
him as the excitement of this information bubbled over inside her.

“
But I’m surprised to hear that
there are more buildings
.
All I saw
when driving up was
trees and almost missed the entrance if it wasn’t for
John stepping out and waving at me to pull over
.”

“Oh!” He stammered. “Well I guess you can say there’s only one building now.” He continued to stammer searching his brain quickly for a plausible explanation. “You know that’s why it’s so big inside but looks small outside.”

The explanation did not sit right with Louise but before she could question
it,
they had reached the massage room. Scott excused himself after handing her over to Katy who assured to take
really good
care of her.

“Since you were a little late we swapped your appointment with the next client. So there will be a slight wait.” Katy
said in her
very apologetic
voice.

“That’s fine, I don’t mind waiting.”
Louise tried to
reassure her that it was okay.

With the exception of the fountains, the reception area here was decorated the same as the reception area of the hotel. The soft music playing set the mood for relaxation. “I’ll just sit over there until you are ready for me.” She pointed over to a corner with a fountain and a bouquet of mountain laurels she had spotted almost immediately upon walking in.

As she sat in one of the
lounge
chairs Katy walked over with a tray of crackers, cheese and wine. “Please accept these as an apology for moving your appointment.”