“I hope not,” Julie said, looking worried. Hélène was normally quiet anyway, but he had found her unusually so. “I guess we should be more careful about that. She always watches me like a hawk when she thinks something’s wrong.” She was mature beyond her years, and liked the company of adults. Kendra just liked the company of anyone who would talk to her. And Daisy was too young to know. “I guess they’ll be happy about another baby,” she said, sounding depressed about it, which made him feel guilty again. The baby was due in June, and if she didn’t cheer up, it was going to be a long wait for both of them. The news was still fresh and had been a shock to her. She had thought that she was through having babies after Daisy, and now she was starting all over again.
“Is there anything I can do to make this easier for you?” he asked her gently, and she shook her head with tears in her eyes.
“There are probably going to be hard times ahead with my mom, but not for too long. The hospice nurses came yesterday. She wants to die at home.”
“I’m sorry,” he said and meant it, and realized how far they had drifted apart.
“Yeah, me too. And with my sisters in Santa Barbara and LA, they’re not much help. But there’s very little I can do for her at this point, except show up every day. She sleeps most of the time now.” The subject was a dismal way to spend New Year’s Eve, but so was their relationship, and there didn’t seem to be anything he could do about that either. She made it very obvious that she didn’t want to be close to him, and when she finished eating she rinsed her dishes and put them in the dishwasher. He was going to offer her some champagne and then remembered that she couldn’t drink. She left the kitchen without saying anything to him, and went to bed with a book, and he went to his study and poured himself a drink. The house was quiet, and he sat in a comfortable chair thinking about everything that had happened in the past year. He thought of his parents, and wondered what his mother would have told him to do. Probably leave Julie alone until she came around on her own, if she ever did.
He went to bed before midnight, wished her a happy New Year, turned over and tried to go to sleep and lay awake for a long time, until she turned off the light without saying anything to him. It was going to be a long six months until the baby came.
They hardly spoke to each other for the next month. He traveled but less than usual, and he made a point of being around on the weekends. She went to the city several times a week, and daily visited her mother, who was slowly fading away. And a month later, Julie handed him an envelope when she came back from the city. She wasn’t smiling and he was afraid to open it for a minute. It crossed his mind that she might be serving him with divorce papers. Anything was possible. She hadn’t warmed up at all.
“What’s that?”
“Pictures for you. I had the second sonogram today.” He smiled as she said it, and he started to open the envelope. “You got your wish. It’s a boy.” He looked at her with amazement and stood up and put his arms around her. He didn’t care how angry she was at him, he was even more grateful to her now. It mattered to him. He didn’t want his father’s family name to die out. He was the last one left, and now he would have a son. He took the images out of the envelope and stared at them. You could see the baby’s face, and as she watched Max look at them, she smiled for the first time in a long time. “I hope he looks like you, and your father. It’s too bad he’s not here to see him, he’d be pleased.”
“Yes, he would,” Max said, smiling at her. “My mother would be too. Thank you.” She nodded. “I guess we’ll have to tell the girls pretty soon.” It was starting to show, and she thought Hélène had noticed and Kendra would soon too. “They probably won’t be happy it’s a boy.”
“They’ll get used to it,” he said, looking delighted. “We need some guys on our team here,” he said, looking more relaxed, and she laughed for the first time in a month.
“Well, don’t expect me to have two more to even out the score. I’m done.”
“I think you’ve made that clear,” he teased her. “I’m just grateful you haven’t tried to kill me in my sleep.” She laughed again, and they were both relaxed as they left the room, and they told the girls that night when they were having dinner with the nannies, and Max and Julie sat down with them for a few minutes. Julie didn’t like eating with the children, she said they made too much noise. But they told them about their baby brother and Hélène looked relieved. She didn’t know what her mother had done about the baby her father said she was going to kill. But she hadn’t done it. She had prayed about it every night since she’d heard them, and her prayers had been answered. And Kendra said it was too bad it was a boy. She wanted to know if she could take him to school for show-and-tell. One of her classmates had brought in a guinea pig to show them, and she thought a baby would be better, which made her father laugh. It had turned into a good day after all. Julie might not have forgiven him, but she was talking to him again at least. The atmosphere lightened in the house after that. And then got tense again, when he had to start traveling more in April to close a deal.
He tried to explain it to her, but it was just more of the same to her. He’d made a real effort to be around more for three months, and now he was back to the same old tricks. The only big change he had made was that he had bought a plane, instead of buying occasional time shares or flying commercially. He said that this way he could get around more easily and wasn’t dependent on the airlines. It was a big expense, but he could come home from wherever he was.
He asked her if she would go to a big political dinner with him in the city. One of the land developers he was negotiating with had invited him, and he wanted Julie to join him. He warned her that it might be boring, but he didn’t want to go alone. The event was in two weeks at Gracie Mansion and it was supposed to be a glittering affair. A lot of important politicians were coming up from Washington, and major political donors. Julie was always good at events like that and charmed everyone.
“I don’t have anything to wear.” She was already almost seven months pregnant and bigger than she’d been before at the same stage.
“Then buy something.” He smiled at her, hoping she’d go with him. The truce between them had remained tenuous, but things were holding for the moment. She was impressed he’d bought a plane, if it meant he’d come home sooner and more easily. Or maybe it just meant he’d leave more often. She didn’t trust him anymore, and had made that clear.
“I’ll see what I can find,” she said tentatively. And much to her own surprise, she found a dress she liked and said she’d go. It flowed in all the right places and was made of sky blue sari fabric, and she looked spectacular in it. At first glance you couldn’t even tell she was pregnant.
The night of the event, she looked exquisite when she put it on. They dressed at his New York apartment that they still used for a night in town. And she looked like a princess when she walked into Gracie Mansion on Max’s arm and he looked very proud, and then left her chatting to the mayor’s wife while he talked to the group of developers who had invited him, and came back to her just in time to walk in to dinner. He got her seated at their table, and then went off again to talk to a senator, as the man on her other side introduced himself. His name was Richard Randall, which rang a bell with her although she wasn’t sure why. He was tall and slim, with a thick crop of white hair, and he looked very elegant in his tuxedo. He had a slight Southern accent. And then she remembered who he was. He was a major oil tycoon from Texas who lived in New York part of the time, had been a financier at one time, and had houses all over the world. He had been on the covers of both Time and Fortune.
“Your husband’s busy tonight,” he commented with a wry smile.
“Do you know him?” she asked.
“No, but I’ve been watching him work the room since you got here, he’s an enterprising guy. I was hoping to use it as an opportunity to talk to you, but the fates hav
e been kind to me tonight. Or maybe just our hostess, since I’m seated next to you. That’s a lovely dress you’re wearing,” he saw on closer inspection that it was the same color as her eyes. She wondered for an instant if he had noticed that she was pregnant and hoped he hadn’t, and then felt foolish for thinking it. What did it matter? She thanked him for the compliment and let it go at that. He was a charming man, and very good-looking, he looked to be somewhere in his early sixties, and appeared athletic and vital.
“Are you interested in politics?” he inquired in a voice the others at the table wouldn’t overhear.
“Sometimes,” she said honestly, “not always.”
“That’s how I feel about it. At one time, I thought I’d like to be in elected office, but you couldn’t pay me to do it now.” He seemed confident and worldly, and told her he lived in Hong Kong and London part of the year, and it made her feel very boring. She was just a housewife from Greenwich with three small children, and a fourth on the way. It made her long for the days when she went out all the time. And he had already pegged her correctly as the neglected wife of a very ambitious man. “I’ve read about your husband. I used to run that hard. I got over it. I don’t do that anymore.”
“What cured you?” she asked as he flirted with her subtly, but not so overtly that anyone would notice or her husband could object if he glanced at their table and saw them talking. Randall was as smooth as silk.
“Three wives who left me,” he said in answer to her question, and she laughed.
“I’ll have to mention that to my husband,” she said in response.
“Don’t bother, men like him don’t get it till someone lowers the boom on them. I didn’t. I was a bad husband to all three of them, and I deserved it when they left me. They’re all happily married to other people now.” He said it with an easy smile.
“Do you have children?” She was curious about him. He was intriguing, and there was something wonderfully sophisticated and grown up about him.
“Five,” he answered, “all older than you are. I was young when I got started. They’re nice people. I don’t see much of them. I wasn’t a good father either. But I’m on friendly terms with my ex-wives now. It’s hard to build a big career and spend time with your family at the same time. The two aren’t compatible. You’ve probably discovered that by now.” She nodded, feeling slightly disloyal to Max as she did, but Richard Randall seemed to understand perfectly the situation she was in. The band struck up then and he asked her to dance. She was startled when he did, but she accepted, and he led her onto the dance floor until they were ready to serve dinner, and he got her back to her seat three minutes before Max arrived at the table, apologizing profusely for leaving her alone for so long.
“I’ve been boring your wife shamelessly while she waited for you,” Richard said and introduced himself and Julie saw that Max was impressed. He knew exactly who he was. And when Richard got up to talk to a friend he’d seen at another table, Max whispered to her.
“Do you know who he is? He almost ran for president once. But he backed out before he could be nominated. He’s a really big deal guy. What did you talk to him about?” He asked her as though there was no hope that she could hold a conversation with him, and she answered him honestly.
“His wives and kids.”
“I think he’s been married a couple of times. One of them was a major movie star. We should try to get to know him. I’d love to have lunch with him sometime.”
“I’ll try to work it out for you,” she said, and he didn’t catch the sarcasm in her voice. So far, Richard Randall was her conquest, not her husband’s, and Max was very full of himself after circulating among the political figures there that night. Julie noticed that Richard Randall stayed in his seat most of the time, and they all came to him. But it was interesting to know that he’d almost run for president. She was flattered to be seated next to him. Max kept leaving the table between courses, to talk to people he thought were important, and it gave her a chance to talk to Richard about art and life, marriage and travel. He said he had a boat he kept in the Mediterranean and was planning to use that summer. And he asked her what her plans were. When he asked her, it depressed her. She didn’t want to tell him that she was having a baby she desperately hadn’t wanted. But as they had danced several times, she was sure he had noticed that she was pregnant.
“We haven’t made any plans yet.” She’d be recovering from her third Caesarean section. The thought of it sank her spirits, and he saw it in her eyes, and patted her hand gently.
“To everything there is a season. We all have our challenges and down times. You never know what life has in store just around the corner. Like my sitting next to you tonight. You made my evening, Julie.” She was touched when he said it, and they exchanged a smile as Max returned to the table for dessert, and then he sailed off for one last conversation. Richard looked her in the eye, and then laid a pen down on the table next to her place card. “What I’m going to ask you is extremely improper, and I’d be thrown out of any decent club for doing it, but if you write down your phone number, I’d love to call you sometime. Maybe we can have lunch.” She was stunned at first and then she smiled at him.
“Now you just made my evening. I’d love that.” Maybe they could be friends. It was presumptuous to think so, but she liked the idea of seeing him again. She jotted down her phone number quickly and he slipped the card discreetly into his pocket. And after Max returned for the last time, Richard stood up, shook hands with both of them, thanked Julie for a most enjoyable evening, and left the table.
Max looked disappointed, he had never had a chance to talk to him, he had gotten up so many times. “He’s a powerful guy,” he said, visibly impressed by him.
“You were busy tonight,” Julie said noncommittally.
“There were a lot of people I wanted to see here. It was a great opportunity. That’s why I wanted you to come with me. Randall didn’t give you his card, did he?” he asked her and she answered truthfully.
“No, he didn’t,” and she didn’t tell him that Richard had described Max’s behavior perfectly, and had ended the evening by asking for her phone number, and she had given it to him. It was the perfect antidote to feeling fat and boring and like a suburban housewife. He had made her feel glamorous, fascinating, and seductive, none of which she believed herself to be, although she liked her new dress and it somewhat concealed her blimplike figure, or at least enough so that the first question everyone asked her wasn’t “When is the baby due?,” which always made it seem like she wasn’t capable of any topic of conversation or activity other than giving birth.
“You looked very pretty tonight,” Max complimented her as they took a cab back to the apartment. She had noticed Richard leaving in a limousine a few minutes earlier. It wasn’t his vast fortune and success which fascinated her, that’s what Max was interested in, for her, it was the man himself, the one who had flirted with her and had been bold enough to ask for her phone number even though he knew she was a married woman. For the first time since she’d been married, she felt like she had a secret. She’d probably never hear from him, but it had been fun to play femme fatale for a minute, before she wound up in the delivery room again. She hated that image of herself, which was how Max saw her now, as a baby-making machine, and she felt as though she had lost herself in the process. But Richard Randall had found her anyway.
She felt like Cinderella when she took her dress off. She had enjoyed dancing with Richard, and she was thinking about him while Max slept innocently next to her that night. She only felt very slightly guilty.
They both got up early the next morning. Max went to his office to call Europe. And she drove back to Greenwich. She stopped to see her mother on the way, and she was heavily sedated. Julie drove home then and stopped in the kitchen to discuss menus with the chef, and Barbara, their youngest nanny, was taking Daisy out for
a walk in her stroller before her morning nap.
Julie was putting away her dress from the night before when she heard the phone ring and answered it herself. The voice was familiar with the soft Southern drawl. “I was afraid I had dreamed you last night. What are you doing for lunch today?” It was Richard. Her heart gave a leap when she heard him.
“Unfortunately, I’m back in Greenwich.” She sounded disappointed.
“That’s not exactly on another planet. What about lunch at Terra, unless you’re afraid to be seen with a man of somewhat dubious reputation? Although I’ve been fairly well behaved lately. Age is catching up with me.” He didn’t look as though it was, he was very dashing, and she wanted to have lunch with him.
“I think I can handle that,” she said bravely, not sure what his intentions were. She was hardly in any condition to have an affair with him, so he couldn’t have that in mind. Maybe friendship? Or innocent flirtation? She was up for either one.
“One o’clock? I’ll get in my chariot right now and meet you there. It might be a little blunt to have me show up at your front door and pick you up.”
“I’ll be there,” she promised, hung up, and dove into her closet. She didn’t want to wear some enormous muumuu-like dress that would spoil the sophisticated effect of the night before. But she didn’t have a lot of great maternity dresses. She was so unhappy about the pregnancy that she wasn’t going anywhere and hadn’t bought anything and was making do with what she had. But she had one chic navy top she could wear over jeans with high heels, which was appropriate for Greenwich. She was dressed and ready in time with freshly washed hair and carefully applied makeup, and met him at the restaurant on the dot of one. She arrived just in time to see him pull up in a black Ferrari, get out, and hand the keys to the valet, and he spotted her immediately. He looked delighted to see her, and the mood was just as flirtatious in broad daylight as the night before. There was no mistaking her belly, and he politely ignored it. He had asked for a quiet table, and as soon as they had ordered lunch, he told her how happy he was to see her.
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