as she flipped through the other rack. There were beautiful dresses in just about every color of the rainbow and she knew from the fabrics and the labels that they had all been expensive. Any one of them would have done, but she kept coming back to the same one, a dark red dress with an asymmetrical hem.
“What do you think?” she asked Thomas.
He glanced over and then shrugged. “It’s pretty?” he replied uncertainly.
She stepped into the adjoining bathroom and changed into the dress. It looked even better on her than it had on the hanger and it gave her a small, much needed, confidence boost. When she walked back into the bedroom, Thomas was wearing a different outfit, too.
“I didn’t think price mattered, but these jeans just feel more, I don’t know, better.”
“More better? I’m an English teacher,” she said, shaking her head at him.
Thomas laughed. “They feel soft and super comfortable and I really want to wear them every day for the rest of my life.”
“They’ll need to be washed once in a while.”
“As expensive as they are, they should repel dirt.”
Terri nodded. “And wash dishes when they aren’t being worn.”
Thomas laughed. “That might be asking a bit much, even from expensive jeans.”
When they walked back into the suite’s living room, Lucas had joined Douglas. Both men got to their feet.
“You look stunning,” Lucas said to Terri.
“Thanks. I wasn’t expecting a new wardrobe out of this. I thought some of the money you were paying me was supposed to help me buy what I needed,” she replied.
He shrugged. “I’m working on a project with Amelia’s. They were happy to provide a few racks of clothes to me at wholesale cost.”
Amelia’s was the town’s most expensive and exclusive clothing shop. Terri had only ever shopped there once, and even the items on clearance had been outside her budget.
“What sort of project?” she asked.
“One that I can’t talk about yet, not even with my fiancée,” he told her.
She might have objected, but Douglas cleared his throat.
“We should get downstairs,” he suggested when everyone looked at him.
Lucas looked at his watch and then nodded. “I was going to offer you a glass of wine before everything started,” he told Terri as they headed for the door.
“I don’t think I want to drink anything right now,” she replied.
“We’ll open a bottle of champagne after the press conference,” he told her as they boarded the elevator. “It’s a night for celebrating, after all.”
Half an hour later, she and Thomas were sitting together on a small platform along the back wall of the hotel’s dining room facing rows of neatly arranged chairs. Lucas and Douglas were standing near the door, talking.
“I don’t want to do this,” Thomas said tightly.
“You don’t have to,” she replied. “I’ll tell Lucas that you’re leaving. I’m sure someone can take you home.”
“But then you’ll be up here all alone.”
She looked over at him, touched by his concern. “I’ll be fine.”
“Everyone okay?” Lucas asked. “Douglas is going to start letting the reporters in shortly. Are you both ready for this?”
“Thomas wants to go home.”
“No problem. I can get someone to take him and stay with him until we’re done,” Lucas said quickly.
“I’ll stay,” Thomas said softly. “I don’t want Mom to have to do this on her own.”
Lucas nodded and then sat down next to Thomas. “I’m sure your mother appreciates that, but she isn’t going to be on her own, anyway. I’ll be here and I won’t let anything bad happen to her.”
“I’m still going to stay,” Thomas replied.
“Good. And here we go,” Lucas said, nodding toward the back of the room.
Terri watched as dozens of men and women pushed and shoved their way into seats. By the time they were all seated, the neat rows had become a jumbled mess. Lucas looked over at her and winked.
“Just think of them as overgrown children,” he suggested.
“My students behave better than that,” she told him.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Lucas doesn’t normally talk to the press about his personal life, but he’s decided on this occasion to make an exception. He will be making a statement and taking questions, but this is the one and only time he will be discussing the matter. He’s only doing this today in an attempt to preempt any misinformation that might be spread otherwise. Ladies and gentlemen, Lucas Hogan,” Douglas announced.
He handed the microphone to Lucas, who’d moved to stand next to him while he’d been speaking. As Lucas took another step forward, Douglas sat down