Dick ambled back to Lyall Mews the night after, already enjoying the familiarity of Muriel’s street. He asked if they could stay in and talk instead of going out.
While Muriel cooked, Dick talked and drank. As his body warmed with the spread of alcohol, he disclosed to Muriel again just how miserable he was with Marianne. After the birth of their first child, Michael, Dick had wanted to leave Marianne. But his sister Nancy convinced him not to. Soon they conceived their second child. Dick said that he missed his sons terribly, but he just couldn’t cope with Marianne. Especially not now, after this affair.
As the liquor poured, Dick went on and on, rehashing his relationship troubles with Marianne. Muriel listened intently, wincing at the right moments and sympathizing at others. On the inside, she couldn’t have been more delighted.
Dick was slightly ashamed of himself. Even he couldn’t believe he was sitting in another woman’s living room, tired of Marianne after only a few years of marriage. Dick could be fickle, and while Marianne had cheated on him, he was also relieved to have a good excuse to end the marriage. He complained to Muriel that he wasn’t crazy about Marianne’s family and he suspected she had ties to the Mafia because of her stepfather Abe Attell’s boxing associations, and because Marianne admitted that she had dated men who were secretly in the Mafia. She was a city girl, and he, a country boy, and eventually their ideologies clashed. It never occurred to Dick that his behavior might have pushed her away.
Muriel’s little house was cozy and Dick felt safe there. Muriel took pity on him. He seemed sad and conscious of having made many mistakes in his life. He felt guilty about leaving his first wife and his four boys for Marianne in the first place. Blitz didn’t forgive Dick for a long time—only now was Dick allowed to see them again. Dick had missed out on so much. And now he would leave two more boys behind with Marianne if he went forward with his plans.
Rain was pouring in London and Dick and Muriel stayed up all night talking, drinking, and smoking. It was 3:00 A.M. before Dick finally left.
Shortly after, Dick sent Muriel a beautiful bouquet of red roses accompanied by a note that said he was going down to Gosport to tend to his yacht, and he’d like Muriel to join him. She was welcome to bring her mother, too.
The following weekend, Muriel and her mother drove down to Gosport to see Dick’s yacht. He had dinner waiting for them on the boat, and let them stay overnight. He was charming and sweet as ever, and Eleanor was as impressed as she had been at the Ritz. The next morning, Muriel sat with Dick on the deck, watching the boats come in and out of Gosport harbor. Dick was having such a nice time, he didn’t want Muriel to leave.
Dick’s sons would soon join him for their highly anticipated around-the-world trip. Dick said it was his goal to be back in four to six weeks, and he wanted Muriel to have dinner with him the very night he returned. Muriel couldn’t imagine he would make good on that date. She was sure he would end up back in America with his wife instead. She nonetheless promised to be available when he returned.
The weeks passed, slowly but surely. The evening Dick was to return, Muriel got ready and waited for him at Lyall Mews. The night dragged on, seemingly endlessly. Muriel had all but given up when her doorbell rang at nine. Her heart jumped to her throat as she rushed to answer the door. There stood Dick with a fez on his head and two bottles of champagne.
“I told you I’d be here. Sorry it’s so late.” He kissed her on the cheek and let himself in. “The champagne is still cold so let’s open it now.”
After a few drinks, Dick and Muriel walked to a sensuous private club, the Belfry, on West Halkin Street. As they sat in circular booths, surrounded by heavy velvet curtains and dark, mahogany-paneled walls, Dick chatted about his trip with his teenage boys and his assistant and yacht captain, Peter Barber, who had come along to chaperone the boys. Barber had been a captain during the war and had known Dick since his early yacht racing days. Dick trusted him completely with his most valuable yachts and sailing expeditions.
The boys were in for the trip of their lives during their reunion with their father. They first sailed across the Pacific and down to Australia, where Dick had hired a private plane to take them over the Great Barrier Reef. From Australia they sailed to Singapore, where Dick took the boys out to dance clubs and hired Chinese call girls to entertain them. From Singapore, they sailed across the Indian Ocean to Egypt, where, again, Dick ordered a troupe of Arab dancers for his boys, and then took them camping out in the desert for five days. Muriel was riveted by Dick’s sense of adventure.
Candles flickered against the dark wooden walls as Dick leaned over the table and talked about his travels. He loved sharing stories with Muriel, who seemed cool and laid-back, but also sophisticated and well traveled. It was a relief to talk with a woman who could relate to him intellectually and with maturity and understanding. When Dick was feeling euphoric, he kept up the drinks to make sure the good feeling didn’t go away. He ordered several more rounds for himself and Muriel and they drank at the club and later at her house until four in the morning.
It was nearly dawn when Dick, who was by then extremely drunk, tripped up the stairs to Muriel’s bathroom while she waited for him in the parlor. After some time passed and he still hadn’t returned, Muriel went upstairs to see what happened.
“Dick, are you all right?” she called.
He was passed out on her bed. Dick had ended the long-awaited date night with this worldly, intelligent woman, who had listened to his stories all night, by falling asleep on her. He was lucky that Muriel was so good-natured about it.
Muriel was still trying to behave like a lady, although she wrestled with the both humorous and enticing image of Dick in her bed. She took a deep breath and reluctantly shuffled to her guest bedroom.
The next morning, Muriel slipped out of her apartment early for an appointment and when she returned in the afternoon, Dick was gone.
He finally called a few nights later and apologized for passing out at her house. He invited her to join him and his sons for a night out at Ciro’s on Bond Street. Muriel wondered what Dick’s sons would think of her showing up, but she accepted the invitation anyway.
Muriel met Dick and the boys, Josh and John, at the club and found the young men sweet and polite. They did appear to be a little perplexed by Muriel’s presence. Nevertheless, they all went out and enjoyed themselves immensely. The boys were ecstatic to be spending so much time with their father. The trip had marked a return of Dick to their lives; he had been almost completely absent since 1942.
Their vacation with their father wouldn’t last much longer. Dick soon sent the boys back to America so they could return to school in the fall. They would also go back to playing second fiddle to Dick’s boat building and marital troubles for a while. Dick told Muriel that Marianne had turned up in Paris looking for him. She didn’t know he was in London, and Dick wanted to keep it that way. Apparently she’d phoned Gosport repeatedly trying to find him, but they hadn’t told her where he was. Dick felt he must go to Paris to talk to her about the divorce.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Dick? Especially with your youngest sons, who are still just babies?”
“I’m sure. I’ve been miserable in this marriage for some time. The boys will be all right. I’ll make sure they’re provided for, just like I did with my oldest sons.”
They said goodbye as Dick prepared to catch an early morning plane for Paris.
He’ll most certainly reconcile with Marianne, thought Muriel. I’ll never see him again. Surely, once he saw Marianne’s gorgeous face again, he would fall in love all over.
Nevertheless, Muriel sat around her house again that night, hoping Dick would show up. She prepared a small meal and waited.
That night, Dick knocked on her door. Muriel couldn’t believe it.
“You’re here!”
Dick let himself in.
“I told you…”
“Tell me what happened.”
Dick p
oured himself a glass of gin and told Muriel that Marianne wasn’t giving up on the marriage without a fight. Dick was sure she was still carrying on an affair with Porfirio Rubirosa, but he made Marianne a generous settlement offer and told her it was in her best interest to divorce him as soon as possible. She refused. Dick told her that he would go back to America right away to pursue the divorce if she didn’t accept his offer.
“I need to get away. I’d like to make you an offer, too. Come to Italy with me.”
“What?” Muriel stared at Dick incredulously.
“Let’s go away together. See if we like one another and then discuss things more seriously later.”
“What are you trying to say?” asked Muriel.
“I want to spend some time with you. But I need to tell you something.”
Dick told Muriel he had been having an on-again, off-again affair with a girl in Ireland since he had arrived in Europe in the spring: more of Dick’s unfinished business.
“I haven’t told anyone. When I first went there and ordered the San Dera, that’s when I met her. I promised her that I’d take her on a trip. That was before I got to know you.”
Dick felt he should go see the girl in Ireland and formally break things off. At least this time he would deal with another broken promise in person. Muriel thought it was an excuse to carry on his affair, but she accepted that he should go and talk to her. Not to be outdone, Muriel told Dick that her ex-husband Richard Greenough was still trying to win her back and they were due to meet the following week.
“Like you, I’ll just meet him to tell him there’s no chance of reconciliation.”
Muriel went on to say that she thought her husband had emotional problems—always leading a double life—and she wanted to be a friend to him. The irony wasn’t lost on Dick, who was essentially doing the same thing.
“Well, I better go.” Dick kissed Muriel goodbye and told her he’d call when he got back.
Muriel did meet up with Greenough while Dick was away and told him that she and Dick were seeing each other. Although Greenough was upset, he eventually understood and was grateful to at least have Muriel’s friendship.
Dick again shocked Muriel when he returned from Ireland and went straight to her doorstep. He said he had broken things off with the Irish girl. Muriel reported the story of Richard to him as well. Now the only thing in the way of their romance was Marianne, but Dick was undeterred. He knew how to play this game. The next day they flew to Italy.
Milan was breathtaking this time of year. Dick and Muriel arrived at the majestic Villa D’Este and checked in under assumed names. “As I am sure you can understand, we need to be discreet. Marianne is hot on my heels,” Dick explained.
Muriel was taken aback by the elegance and enormity of the suite, which took up an entire floor. A wide, sumptuous living room connected the two bedrooms on either side and had sweeping views of Lake Como.
“It’s magnificent!” Muriel exclaimed.
Dick and Muriel sneaked around the villa like a pair of fugitives. They never left the suite or went down to the lobby at the same time. The first night they had a romantic dinner in their room alone.
With their bellies full, Dick and Muriel sat on the illuminated terrace sipping brandy and smoking Winstons. Cellists and violinists played soft music in the garden. Dick’s handsome, kind face looked even softer in the moonlight. She was having a wonderful time and wondered what Dick was thinking. He caught her stare and turned to her. It had been a relatively innocent courtship thus far, and Dick meant to change that.
“I thought of you a great deal while I was away on my trip, and I like you very much, Muriel.” Dick smiled.
“I feel the same way.”
“I’ve become very attached to you,” said Dick. “I want someone to stay with for the rest of my life. I need a woman in my life, and I want you to be my sweetheart on this trip.”
“What did you mean, then? Are you trying to tell me you love me?”
“If everything works out with my divorce, I’d like to marry you one day,” said Dick.
The Italian Idyll
A heated love affair ensued at Lake Como.
In between numerous trips to their bedrooms, Dick and Muriel took boats around the lake, wandered off for awe-inspiring drives in the mountains, and shared many intimate lunches and dinners around the clock. Romance seeped into every corner of their excursion.
From Lake Como, Dick and Muriel traveled to Florence, stopping for lunch in Siena. They ate in the thirteenth-century town square, which hosts the famous horse race, the Palio, each year. In this delightful medieval town, Muriel would witness one of Dick’s more serious drinking binges for the first time. Up until that point, Dick had been drinking moderately, at least by his standards. Muriel noticed that Dick could be excessively high-strung and often needed a drink to calm his nerves. Not that Muriel minded, normally. She was endlessly fascinated by Dick and found him to be incredibly entertaining when he drank, even if his ramblings made her a bit nervous.
But this particular episode in Siena was alarming. Dick gulped hard liquor hour after hour. At four in the afternoon, Muriel was still trying to get him to leave the restaurant so they could go on to Florence. She tried to hide her impatience. After all, they were having such a good time; she didn’t want to ruin it. But as Muriel gently nudged Dick to get him moving, he growled, “I don’t feel like it!” It was the first indication of trouble for Muriel, and their vacation had just begun.
Eventually, the pair grumpily moved on to Florence. Dick continued to drink heavily all night. Muriel didn’t want to talk and they read in their own corners of their hotel room. Dick finally approached Muriel and rubbed her back.
“If I’m ever unpleasant while I’m drinking, just ignore it because I can’t help it. I don’t mean it. I know I can be mean sometimes when I drink. But I always make things right as soon as I’m myself again. And I want you to know I meant every word I said at Lake Como.”
Muriel took his word for it. But a little voice in the back of her mind told her to be wary of this other side of Dick.
The next morning, Dick was visibly hungover, sick, and acting erratic. Muriel had the urge to take care of him and nurture him. This man could be an unpredictable train wreck at times, but he could also be incredibly sweet. He clung to Muriel—he was needy, tender, and impossible at moments like this. Muriel peeled him off herself and went out to a local pharmacy to retrieve medicine for him. She also called room service to have clean robes brought up and the bedsheets changed—Dick was running a high fever and had sweated through the material. When she returned, she ordered him to the shower and fed him orange juice and broth. It had been a mess of a day, as Dick’s health went from bad to horrible. After a full day of Muriel’s nursing, Dick’s fever finally went down, and they had a quiet dinner on the terrace, overlooking the Arno River.
After two more days of rest, Dick finally regained his health and swore he would stop drinking for the rest of the trip. “Why don’t we go sightseeing tomorrow?” asked Muriel. She was eager to get on with their holiday.
When Muriel woke up early the next morning, she caught Dick lacing his coffee with brandy. Muriel was stunned that he had caved in to the bottle so soon but didn’t say a word.
They went to the city’s premier museums, including the magnificent fifteenth-century Medici Riccardi Palace. They admired the Baroque architecture and arched windows and took in all the exhibits. In the Renaissance-style courtyard, sculptures and other works of art were on display.
The next day, Dick and Muriel packed up and traveled to Rome. When they arrived, they checked into the Excelsior in the heart of the Piazza di Spagna. As always, they checked in under assumed names and arranged for two sets of suites with separate entrances. The celebrity-rich hotel towered over Via Vittorio Veneto. Their double suite rooms were decorated in rich mahogany and blood-red velvet. The rooms were again connected by a living room area.
Muriel wanted to take
Dick clothes shopping. She chose beautiful Italian suits for him and requested that the best tailor in town meet them at their hotel room to have Dick measured. Dick thought the suits Muriel picked out for him were fabulous and he ordered ten more. Emboldened, Muriel added a dinner jacket, four silk suits, and four wool suits. Muriel smiled at Dick as he got measured, looking like a boy on the first day of school.
When the tailor left, Dick went back to bed, saying he didn’t feel well again, which he blamed on an old sinus and lung problem from his youth. Muriel followed him and held his hand while he lay down. He clung to her, a sadness washing over his face. Muriel was stunned by his sudden depression.
“I can’t believe you would order me all these things. No one has ever bought me clothes before. At least not since my mother. I’m always the one getting things for everyone else.” Dick smiled wearily at her.
He seemed so touched and melancholy, Muriel wasn’t sure how to respond. This big, important man looked so small and childlike before her now. She couldn’t imagine that she was really the first person in his adult life to buy him clothes.
“Why don’t you get something for yourself?” he suggested.
“I’ve done enough shopping in Rome for a lifetime. Don’t worry.”
“Please. Sorelle Fontana’s is down the street. Get the best dresses you can find.”
Muriel left Dick to sleep and strolled down Via Veneto. She was greeted by dressmakers at Fontana’s and given the royal treatment as she picked out three dresses.
Dick felt better the next day, so they checked out of the Excelsior and drove to Naples for ten days. Dick phoned ahead to make reservations for them at the Caruso Belvedere at Ravello and managed to snag the last rooms.
As usual, the hotel was spectacular. Muriel was getting used to this lifestyle, fast. It’s no wonder Marianne’s having such a hard time letting go, she thought.
They had a stunning view from their patio, which was perched in a limestone cliff a thousand feet above the Mediterranean. In the distance, they could see fishermen in their tiny boats, seemingly oblivious to the day’s end. It was breathtaking. Perfect. Dick and Muriel couldn’t imagine a time when they’d ever been as happy as they were then, sitting on the terrace that night. With Dick’s illness behind him, their romance was quickly rekindled.
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