Love Conquers All
Page 42
"Mr. Goldberg, we've already had such a meeting, and in the end you accepted my position. Who's claiming that that stock is yours?׳'
"Samuel, my son.'׳
"Don't believe him! That's what he says about everything and everybody, Mr. Goldberg. According to him, everything belongs to you. To him, you are like the cruel god Moloch who demanded human sacrifice and tributes of money and property. You know he will do anything to please you, even if it means crushing widows and orphans along the way."
Goldberg's eyes narrowed and he said nothing. Talia waited. She knew his personal history well and, feeling she had no choice, decided to take advantage of his weak spot. He had lost his father at a tender age, and was forced to earn a living to support his widowed mother and her seven orphaned children. This memory was an open wound that had never healed. From the moment he discovered that his mother had died at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, he stopped being a practicing Jew. But deep down in his heart he remained a scholar and an ethical man, who knew the commandments and the halachic injunctions and restrictions. The one line he would never cross was "the torturing of widows and orphans." He used to say, "God shields orphans and protects widows, and whoever forgets this, will have to account for it before the Master of the Universe." It was as if his beloved brother was speaking, the one who, with his help, had become the head of a religious academy.
Goldberg scrutinized her intently, but his gaze was Jess piercing than she remembered. He looked tired. Deep lines furrowed his bulldog's jowls. In the well-lit room she noticed that his thick hair had not a single white hair in it. "If it isn't true, you prove it to Samuel!" he grumbled, and his head fell forward on his chest.
People like Goldberg are made of rare material. They don't make them like that anymore, Talia thought, and despite the damage he had caused many, including herself, she respected, even admired, him. From the time she had reluctantly entered Yoni's world, she had been impressed by the old man's enthusiasm, just as Yoni had been. Few in the financial world were capable of building such an empire from scratch. It was small wonder that Goldberg took to Yoni, that is until the jealous Samuel interfered. Would she ever find out how much damage Samuel had been able to inflict, and if he was directly responsible for her husband's death? The picture of Ann sobbing at the funeral, saying repeatedly, "My father didn't do it," rose in her mind together with the clinking of her necklace.
"He has just returned from the new gold mine in Alaska and hasn't slept in three days," apologized Dina, his loyal and trusting secretary. She was standing next to Talia, holding her coat in her hand. Talia smiled, relieved, and hurried out. With her head held high, she passed by Yoni's old office. Just don't let me run into Ora, Manu or Uzi, she muttered. With every step she took, she felt the evil spirits closing in on her.
In the wood-paneled elevator, she conjured up Yoni's image in her mind; there was something of Goldberg in him - sweet and loving to his friends, tough and implacable to his enemies. She had discerned some of these qualities emerging in herself lately, encouraged by the young, pugnacious lawyer, Adi Solomon. Thanks to his support, she had been able to withstand the pressure and emerge scot-free from the damage suits launched against her. Finally she felt she could relax. After all, she had come out unscathed from this encounter with Goldberg.
Time does not heal all wounds, Talia thought ruefully that night. Not only did the pain not abate, but it got worse. It was only on rare occasions that she was able to summon Yoni's image in the night, when she lay on his side of the bed, on his pillow, and the light from the garden shone onto his favorite armchair.
She walked restlessly about the house that suddenly seemed to close in on her. Every corner, every piece of furniture, reminded her of her beloved. Most painful was the sight of the big empty jacuzzi where the two of them used to relax in the evenings, when the children were asleep. His huge picture, too, the one taken at the London Zoo, which showed him smiling at the two babies in his arms, caused her pain, and she avoided passing it or looking at it.
Her victories over her adversaries were short-lived consolation. Deep in her heart, she knew that she had willingly let herself drift, unwisely, into a kind of business bulimia. What was the point of owning more and more companies, when in fact she has lost control of herself? Her nervous activity concealed the emptiness and anxiety inside. On Jewish holidays she found herself signing fourteen hundred gift certificates, and penning letters to the workers with her signature on it. She managed her companies with a frenzied diligence, leaving every morning with her chauffeur to visit the plants, inspect the sites, and make sure that everything was carried out properly. In the evening, when she came back home, Udi, Michal and Na'ama demanded her attention, and everything in her head became one big jumble. The two aspects of her personality - the mother and the businesswoman - constantly vied for supremacy in her life.
Her reputation as a businesswoman in her own right, not just as Yoni Schwartz's widow, gradually grew until it became the dominant aspect of her existence, and threatened to take over her life, like a weed in a vegetable patch. She could no longer go shopping or meet Ditty in a cafe without the paparazzi flashing their cameras at her, and the callous gossip columnists later attached insulting and infuriating captions to those photos.
She had everything: wealth, fame, beloved children, and yet she felt defenseless, dejected and lacking in mental and physical energy.