Toni smiled at the doorman as she slipped into the front door of the St. Regis Hotel. Her heels clicked against the expensive tile floor as she waved farewell and headed for the front desk. She needed to speak with her father before she headed up the elevator and into her mother’s domain. She reached the counter and requested use of their phone to call a guest’s room. The receptionist smiled and politely refused, stating that the phone was for guest use only. Toni smiled back, but unfortunately for the young girl, it was not a nice look.

“My name, darling, is Antoinette Duke. Please ring room 329 and tell Mr. Ralston, and only Mr. Ralston, that is step-daughter is in the lobby wishing to speak with him. My mother will only stay in room 329 and I don’t think you would prefer to lose her business over something as trivial as the use of the phone.” Toni hated to have to throw her name around in this hotel, but this girl was obviously new. The attendant helping other customers on the other side of the counter looked up and smiled, rushing over to greet her, completely ignorant of her request to his co-worker.

“Toni, how are you, dear? We haven’t seen you in ages! Are you waiting for your family?” He smiled and started to pick up the receiver, the number etched in his memory.

“Actually, Charles, I was hoping to speak with Daddy for a few minutes in private before going up. Can you ring him for me?” He nodded, the phone already ringing. She smiled calmly at the senior attendant and waited for him to get off the phone. She didn’t bother to look back at the woman next to him. The young receptionist smiled in embarrassment and backed away from the station to attend, or pretend to attend, to another issue. Charles laid the receiver in the cradle and smiled warmly.

“He’ll be down in a few minutes, Ms. Duke. He requests that you meet him in the bar with a drink.” He laughed gently. “I’m guessing if you want to meet with him in private, he’ll need it.” Charles waved her off as he returned to his duties. Antoinette smiled warmly at him and with a little wave, turned toward the bar. Her step-father only ever drank one drink: Seagrams Seven and Seven-Up, Toni could only hope they still served both drinks here. She walked up to the barkeep and ordered his drink, debating one for herself, and reluctantly deciding against it as she requested a glass of lemon water and carried them over to a corner booth. Charles had been correct she thought as she watched the elevator bank – her step-father made it down in record time. He slid into the booth next to her and took a long swallow of his drink, savoring the liquid. Refreshed, he turned to her and asked what was wrong. Since, he could not see her stomach below the table level in the booth, Toni skated briefly around her problem before diving into her predicament. There was no question of paternity or what she would do with the child in her mind, she just wanted her ‘daddy’s support before facing the she-dragon of her mother. She knew she could count on his support no matter what happened, but she refused to surprise him and put him on the spot in front of her mother and sisters. Thomas Ralston had taken Toni in as one of his own when he had married her mother. She had become as close to him as his own son, who was a few years Toni’s senior. Thomas Jr. had no problem treating her as a sister, either. As if by fate, Toni had been more like her step-father in coloring and disposition than she had ever been like her mother. She had only seen her real father once or twice, and then she was not introduced. It was her mother’s expression that had given away the woman’s once affection turned to scorn and Toni had avoided pressing the issue. But, then her mother had met Thomas Ralston at a beauty pageant in Dallas that she had dragged Antoinette and Madeline into, and that as they say, had been the end of it. Thomas was everything her mother had been looking for, and while Toni had not won the pageant, more by choice than anything else, she now had something more important to her to keep her involved. Thomas was rich, newly divorced, and able to completely dote on Analise anyway she wanted. Thomas wanted a full family and a faithful wife, and Analise wanted nothing more than to be adored. She would be faithful to the end to anyone who treated her like a princess and bought her jewelry. Love had come later, but it had come and so had Toni’s half-sister Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn was a bare year younger than Thomas’s daughter, Bridgette, as Thomas’s divorce had been spurred by his pregnant wife’s unfaithful personality. He had no trouble keeping the tiny girl and thrusting her into the care of a new mother and a loving older sister. Antoinette had been nearly 8 at the time, and Thomas Junior, more often called Tommy or T.J. to his friends, had been in his 14th year. Antoinette had never had a real family before T.J. and she had dogged his every step until Bridgette and Kaitlyn had come along. From that point until the time she had left for college on the west coast, she had been her sisters’ greatest care taker, providing every minute she could to the young woman who had been Antoinette’s nanny throughout the years. Her mother had spent enough time with the girls to shape them and mold them in the way she had wished for Antoinette, sending them to debutante classes and encouraging the girls to spend extra time keeping their skin perfect and their bodies lean and gorgeous. Bridgette had flourished, now as a fashion designer for a very prestigious up and coming line of dresses using her younger sister as top model and inspiration for every show.

Toni came back to the present from her thoughts as her father had finished soaking in her story and posed a quick question to her, trying to understand how his daughter was feeling.

“Toni,” he smiled. She returned the smile, thankful that her step-father called her Toni rather than Antoinette, as her mother always did. “I was going to sponsor Mr. Brighton as a bid for Senate in South Carolina this coming year. If you don’t feel comfortable spending that much time with him, due to your situation, I can find someone else to support him and leave our name out of it.”

Toni reached over and hugged Thomas Ralston. “Not at all, Daddy.” She leaned back in her seat and patted his hand. He had aged rather gracefully over the years and was still a very handsome man. She considered her mother unduly luck to have found such a wonderful man. “I think Chase would make a wonderful Senator and he has some great plans for his positions. Also, regardless of my personal situation with him, he deserves your support. I think our family supporting his bid would show that there are no hard feelings between him and I and that we can be civilized modern adults.” Thomas lifted one salt and pepper eyebrow and grinned.

“I am very proud of you, daughter.” Thomas pulled Toni to her feet and began to lead her out of the booth toward the rest of the hotel. “You have become a very lovely and responsible young woman and I think you’ll make a fine mother. I for one, can not wait to be a grandfather.” He reached over to push the elevator button. “Now, let’s go tell your mother.” He had just a little laugh to his voice. The elevator doors dinged open and Thomas led his step-daughter into the small area. As the doors began to close, Toni heard her name from across the lobby, followed by a string of curses as a ringtone echoed in the gilded room. She looked up to see Chase beginning to cross the tiled floor, his cell phone in his hand, still playing the obnoxious tune. Her step-father looked down at her stricken face and frowned.

“Toni.” It wasn’t a nice tone. “You didn’t tell him.” The statement was not a question as he leaned forward and stopped the doors. “Go talk to him first, Toni. You can inform your mother after.” Thomas shooed his step-daughter out of the elevator and back into the lobby and let the door close behind her, effectively cutting off her exit and making her talk to the man in question. She bit her bottom lip and weighed her options for a moment as he frown and debated for a few minutes with the person over the phone. Finally, she walked right past him and back into the bar, not hesitating this time to order a strong shot of Maker’s Mark whiskey and another glass of lemon water sit down at the table in the back. Toni braced herself as she slammed the shot back and placed the glass on the table, using the burn of the shot to fortify her nerves a little. She waited for a few more minutes, sure he would be a while with the unwanted phone call, but that call gave her a few minutes to calm her nerves. She wasn’t sure why she felt so nervous all of a sudden. It wasn’t as if he was a stranger, or worse, a one-night-stand she was meeting up with again. This was Chase. The same Chase she had grown up with, swinging from trees and jumping in lakes. They would just have to act like adults and talk this over calmly. He sauntered into the bar a few minutes later, a frown marring his model-friendly features. Toni was absolutely sure this conversation was not going to go well, and she wondered why she had the sudden urge to run.



Word count: 1,693 words
Total Word Count: 10,182 words
Words Left: 41,511 words (1,487 words less than day 7 goal)
Days Left: 23 days