Love Conquers All

by Galia Albin

  Chapter 33

  “How wonderful!” Talia purred pleasurably, stretching herself like a cat, her eyes closed. Every cell in her body was relaxed, and she felt groomed and pampered like a baby. Her friend Eva had invited her for a day of pampering at her beauty salon. Her feet had been softened and pedicured and her toenails painted dark red. For her fingernails, however, she requested light pearl pink, and they looked just as she wanted them: long, narrow and squarish. Her face was entrusted to Mali, the beautician, who did wonders with her complexion. The dark circles around her eyes vanished. “There’s not much work with you,” Mali said almost ruefully, “I wish I had your complexion.” Still, she did her whole routine, not skipping any treatment: cleansing, ozone vaporizing, beauty mask, and light make-up to highlight her cat’s eyes, high cheekbones, the pear-shaped chin and high, smooth forehead.

  Most of all, she liked having her hair done. She surrendered herself to the sheer pleasure of it. Eva shampooed her hair dexterously and massaged her scalp, just as her mother had done when she was a child. Then she trimmed her tresses that had grown below her shoulders, and gave her a new hairdo, one that made her look like atypical businesswoman in a magazine. Talia had great admiration for Eva, who had begun her professional career as a neighborhood hairdresser, working her way up to becoming the top beautician in town, thanks to her manifold talents in fashion and interior design, her beauty and the friendly relations she fostered with her clients and her employees. When she opened her salon, she focused on its management and relegated the professional work to younger, creative workers. Only her faithful friends, those clients who were with her from the start of her career, still enjoyed her personal, skillful care.

  “What a wonderful profession you have, Evie. People love being taken care of, being touched and pampered. Take Jonathan’s chauffeur, for example. He is divorced and very lonely. But you should hear him when he talks about visiting the barber! He sits there with his eyes closed and wishes the haircut would never end. Do you believe there are so many lonesome people!?”

  Eva peered at Talia’s face in the mirror and said nothing. Talia wished she had not said what she’d said. How transparent she must be! She was talking about herself. Three months had passed since Jonathan had touched her, since any man had touched her. A once she was filled with shame and deep regret. Even earlier, when she felt so relaxed and pleased, having her hands and feet so well taken care of, she felt pangs of guilt. Here she is having fun when Jonathan is buried under the ground.

  Eva threaded the comb through Talia’s reddish-brown mane with broad, bold movements. “That’s why we have kids, isn’t it? So we can touch them, and they can touch us. Believe me, I wanted very much to have another baby, but it didn’t work out. When your kids grow up, they don’t need you anymore, they hardly ever kiss you, and as for a husband, after twenty years, he’s like milk gone sour. You should be happy that you have small children...”

  “And that I have a loving, beloved husband,” Talia thought.

  Talia could feel the shock of surprise that went through the members of the board when she entered the conference room. They were all seated in their places. She walked lightly along the impressive mahogany table that Jonathan had bought on one of their trips to Italy. Their eyes scanned her from head to toe. In her heart she thanked Eva for the relaxing beauty treatment that infused her with self-confidence. The new hairdo improved not only her looks, but also her sense of self. Similarly, the dark blue dress with large white collar and rows of buttons that Jonathan‘s mother had brought her from Zurich, contributed significantly to her appearance—it highlighted her shapely figure, revealing her rounded knees and long legs. She felt the effect her appearance was making around the room, as if the air suddenly became charged. She thought, how much energy must women invest if they want to penetrate the circles of power and influence; how much thought and planning does it take for a woman who has decided to become a businesswoman: she must invest in every movement, in every action, including the choice of appropriate apparel; for instance: it has to be modest yet impressive, suggestive without being loud, subtly seductive. ..How easy it is for men, who are spared such efforts and can, therefore, channel all their energy toward the attainment of their goals.

  These ideas flashed though her mind, reinforcing thoughts she had developed in the last few weeks that at the same time also aroused in her rage and indignation. Motivated by rage, she decided that, from now on, she would take advantage of all her personal assets and enlist all her feminine advantages in order to reach her goals. And what does femininity mean? To her, it was she, herself, all of her, that was the manifestation of femininity, but if to the world—the man’s world that is—being feminine meant be able to seduce—something she had never consciously practiced—well, then she would learn to use her powers to further her own interest, just as she had always made use of her acute intuition to ingratiate herself quickly, to create what Ditty used to call “chemistry,” a much needed commodity, especially when it came to men...

  The chairman’s chair, next to Uzzi Levin, was empty, Mr. Lehavi was not expected to attend the meeting, as he was recovering from by-pass surgery and needed to stay in bed. As Talia sat in the empty chair, she looked around trying to decipher the looks that the other were passing her. To cover up for her nervousness, she took her documents out of the big, black Gucci leather briefcase that Jonathan had brought her from his last trip to Geneva.

  “Well, greetings to all of you. I’d like to open the meeting,” she declared, quite self-conscious, aware that the pitch of her voice was high, though not grating. Uzzi nodded assent, more in surprise than in agreement.

  “I am not here just as a matter of formality. I have a perfect right to be here. As you all know, Jonathan, my husband, was the founder of this company and its major investor. Everything that Uzzi Levin has, came from Jonathan. He wouldn’t be here had it not been for Jonathan.”

  The air was thick with tension. Her speech was a total shock. A few murmurs were heard, but they died instantly. Uzzi tried to say something, but Talia cut him off with a gesture. “From now on, I will sit in Uzzi’s chair which is, in fact, Jonathan’s chair. You know that I am his heir. Before his unexpected death, Jonathan tried to introduce me to the business world, but I refused. I was spoiled. But the tragedy has changed me, and now I have an interest, mine and my children’s. I was sure that Jonathan’s friends would protect me but, unfortunately, they disappointed me. They were fair weather friends.”

  “Talia, what are you talking about?” Uzzi burst out. “We are all on your side. You should know that all of us here are your friends and... and...” he stammered, overcome by excitement, “I...don’t have to tell anyone here what kind of friends Jonathan and I were...”

  She rose from her seat, aware of the impressive figure she cut, of the blush on her cheeks, of the looks they darted at her. “Yes, you were friends, Uzzi, as long as it was worth your while. But behind his back you stuck a knife in him. I have proof!”

  “Talia, what are you talking about? Something must have happened to you since Jonathan...”

  “Of course, something has happened to me. I became a widow, I lost the person closest to me in the world, but I never thought that Jonathan’s best friends would betray him and his memory. Don’t pretend to be such a saint! You robbed him like a Cossack. And I am the victim of your duplicity.”

  Uzzi’s face went ashen and contorted; he looked like a beaten bulldog. He was about to get up and leave but then thought better of it, sat quietly and waited. The silence in the room was deafening.

  “Talia, you are bringing a very serious accusation against Uzzi,” said Shlomo Tamirin a soft voice, “can you substantiate your claim?” He likes her, there was no doubt about it; his facial expression and the tone of his voice testified clearly to it, but at the same time he was afraid of scandal.

  Talia smiled at him; he had been, after all, her father’s close friend, but her face soon resumed its serious
expression. Her knees trembled, and she was obliged to put both hands on them. Luckily, she thought, relieved, the table covers it up.

  “Of course I have proof, but I won’t submit any documents to you, only to the police. I want to make it clear: I did not come here to mourn Jonathan, but to demand what is rightfully mine, as his wife and sole heir.”

  Talia looked around the silent table, waving an accusatory finger at the man sitting next to her. “Uzzi Levin!” He trembled for a moment at the mention of his name. She continued to stare at him. “You sold the Mazor stock that belonged to Jonathan Schwarz while his body was still warm! You conspired to deprive my children and I of the inheritance that is rightfully ours. You thought that I would never find out, but as my Uncle Leopold used to say, Fortune favors fools. Somebody high above looked out for me,” her voice broke down. She straightened her tall body and pulled herself together.

  “This man, gentlemen,” she addressed the assembly, raising her voice, “this man was Jonathan’s childhood friend. Jonathan raised him from his humble origins, took him under his wing, made him a millionaire. Now he is richer than any of you, and thanks to whom? To my husband, his good friend. Yet he summoned Jonathan here from London to settle a stupid tiff over an office! I’m sorry the chairman is not here to give you all the details of that infantile incident. So how does the childhood friend repay his benefactor and show his gratitude and loyalty to the widow and her young children? By cheating them! He tried to deprive me of my legitimate ownership of this company, denied that he was in possession of stocks that Jonathan entrusted to him. Entrusted!” She breathed deeply and spat out the words derisively. “Trust is a word that cannot be found in Uzzi’s vocabulary. He is hiding more of my assets, but I promise you, Uzzi, that I will find no peace until I discover them all. I may not be an indigent, helpless widow, but this is robbery, gentleman, plain and simple. I won’t go so far as to say, ‘Have you killed and also taken possession?’ but come to think of it, who knows?”

  There was commotion around the table. She noticed heads bending together, notes passing hands, but she charged ahead, carried on waves of anger and a burning quest for justice that was almost intoxicating. “Such a treacherous person is capable of anything. How can I be sure that our Uzzi was not part of the systematic persecution of Jonathan? How come the police always knew where to find Jonathan and me? How did they find out details that nobody else could know? How was it possible that Jonathan fell into the hands of the police without anyone knowing about it? And I haven’t told you yet what I’ve been through.”

  “Talia, you’ve gone a little off the track here,” Rabbi Eitan tried to pacify her, in his thick, warm voice with Yiddish inflections. As was his custom, he included aphorisms and quotations from the Sages in his words, “I know you well, and I know that you would never bring forth false allegations in such august company. But perhaps you are still in mourning, and as our Sages said, a person should not be censured for words uttered in agony. I find it hard to believe that a Jew would treat his friend’s wife so shabbily, but if the allegation is true, God forbid, then we must come to very grave conclusions concerning Mr. Levin’s future in this company. As it is written in Scripture, ‘So shall you put the evil away from the midst of you’...”

  As Talia’s allies spoke, Uzzi was busy organizing his supporters. He whispered excitedly to Manu and Dan, and passed notes to people seated further away. One of them was a lawyer whose name escaped Talia, Raviv or something. Now she regretted not having been more pleasant with him.

  “I would like to say something.” Emanuel Ma’or rose to his feet, and his towering gigantic frame made Talia wince. “We, Jonathan’s friends, know, no less than his widow, what he would have wanted right now. The last thing Jonathan would want right now is more scandal. His name was besmirched enough when he was alive, and even more so after his death. So I suggest that we settle all our differences here, amongst ourselves, and try to reach a compromise. What do you say, Talia?”

  “I will not compromise on what’s mine by right. If this man does not give back what he fraudulently took away from me, I’ll bring charges against him.” She spat out the words indignantly. Uzzi tried to say something, and Manu shot her a baleful look, but Talia turned her back on them, dumped her documents helter-skelter in her black Gucci bag and strode proudly from the room.