“That’s ok. We’ll figure out what to do. My lawyer is still working on getting you new identity papers. I have a question I wanted to ask you and Karen. If we can’t find your old identity would you mind if I legally adopted you so we could build you new identities based on that?”
Penny’s eyes lit up and she had a big grin on her face. “That would be wonderful!” she gushed.
“What would be wonderful?” Karen mumbled as she walked from the bedroom rubbing at her eyes. She was completely naked.
Ben looked away and sighed making Penny giggle. She leapt to her feet and rushed over to Karen, turned her around and pushed the grumbling girl back into the bedroom. Moments later a contrite young blonde returned wearing a dressing gown cinched tight around her. Penny followed her out.
“Sorry Ben,” Karen mumbled.
“Like I said to Penny, be more careful in the future,” Ben said. She nodded.
“Now what would be wonderful?”
“Ben is going to adopt us!” Penny gushed.
Karen’s eyes popped fully open and her jaw dropped.
“I was saying the lawyer can’t find information about your past so we may need to build you new identities. I would like to adopt you two so they could use that for the identities,” he explained to them.
Karen squealed and rushed over to the couch and jumped on Ben. “Papa! Papa! Papa!” she cried and Penny giggled madly and joined the pile.
There was a beep and the door to Ben’s room opened. Gabriella entered and took in the pile of giggling females trying to kiss Ben’s face.
“Hello?”
Two happy faces popped up over the back of the sofa and they scrambled off Ben to rush to hug Gabriella giggling all the way.
Ben sat up and tried to collect his wits.
“Ben is going to adopt us!” Penny gushed.
Gabriella looked at Ben in surprise.
“My lawyer can’t find their original identities so we may have to build them new ones. They’ll need a sponsor,” he explained and Gabriella smiled at him shaking her head.
She turned to the ladies. “We’re going to the beach today. You two should get ready for breakfast. I need to speak with ‘Papa’,” she grinned.
“Yes Mama!” Penny giggled at her shocked look and rushed back into the bedroom with an equally giggly Karen. They closed the door and Ben was alone with Gabriella.
“Come sit with me, Mama,” Ben grinned.
“Don’t you start!” she growled, but she was struggling not to smile.
She sat and Ben gave her a kiss.
“How did it go with Margaux last night?” Gabriella said, getting right to the point.
“Dinner was very nice and we had a good talk. She’s going to be in the States for a conference in a couple of months and will visit then. She seems to be coming around but I guess we’ll see how it goes,” he shrugged. Then he frowned. “I had another memory loss event last night when we went dancing. You’ll have to ask Margaux what we were talking about when it happened.”
Gabriella took his hand in hers.
“And something worse happened,” he growled.
She looked very worried.
“I’m famous!” Ben barked.
Gabriella’s expression froze. “What?”
“A couple at dinner recognized me and had to have their picture taken with me before they’d go back to their table. Then the taxi driver invited me to his home so his wife could cook a traditional Persian meal for me. When we went dancing they gave us a reserved table, free champagne, and we were swarmed by paparazzi when we left! It was horrible!” Ben exclaimed.
Gabriella understood where this was coming from. The notoriety and hero worship must have really agitated Ben’s subconscious issues. “We’re going home tomorrow so things will hopefully get back to normal then,” she said and patted his hand.
“I did get some good news today!” Ben smiled and Gabriella brightened up.
“Barry Walker is selling me his house. He’s moving to his condo in Florida permanently with Phoebe. They wanted to offer it to me first before it went on the market. I had Trish’s cousin take care of it. I’ll sign the papers when I get home,” he said with a grin.
“Let me guess, it needs renovations,” Gabriella grinned and chuckled at the glee on his face.
“Listen, as today is our last day the plan was to go to the beach. Considering your ‘fame’ situation maybe we should just go up to the pool,” she suggested.
“No, I don’t want this to take over my life. We’ll go to the beach,” he said with a stubborn look.
“Ok, but if you do attract unwanted attention we’ll come back to the pool,” she replied and he nodded.
The door beeped once more and Catherine walked in. She smiled at them and plopped herself on the sofa and reclined back across Ben’s and Gabriella’s laps with a tired grin.
Gabriella snorted. “So I take it the date went well?”
Cat just grinned and nodded then yawned.
“Didn’t get much sleep last night?” Ben teased.
“Chanel had to get an early flight back to Paris this morning… and yes, we were up late too,” she answered.
“She’s probably on the same flight as Margaux,” Ben said.
“Oh! She’s left?” Cat asked.
“You’ll see her again in a couple of months when she visits,” Ben replied. “What about Chanel? Are we going to be seeing her again sometime?”
Catherine smiled and looked at her friends with a blush. “We’re working on it.”
“Good! You two are so cute together!” Gabriella grinned and Catherine’s smile showed how truly happy she was.
“Ben’s going to adopt Karen and Penny,” Gabriella said, bringing her friend up to speed with the morning’s developments.
Catherine blinked. “Is that even possible? They’re adults!”
“So my lawyer tells me. He’s already working on the temporary visas from the US embassy required to bring the ladies home with us. The police have apparently been very supportive and have supplied their findings regarding their abduction and enslavement to the embassy. Fingers crossed they leave on the plane with us tomorrow. Otherwise they will come once the paperwork is finalized,” Ben explained. “I’d better see about getting two more seats on the plane.”
He turned back to his laptop after helping Catherine sit up on the couch.
Cat looked at her best friend and smiled sleepily. “What’s the plan for today again?”