by C. M. Carpi
A chandelier hanged from the ceiling above a wooden table carved on its sides. This place was the decorator’s paradise. What most called my attention was the piano on the corner, practically abandoned.
“Do you play?”
“No. It was already here when I bought it. I found it suitable with the decoration so I left it there.”
“Did you choose the decoration?”
“An architect who is my friend helped me. In fact I left everything in her hands.”
“Her?” — I raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, a friend.” — He put his arms around my waist and pulled me to him, kissing my nose. — “I’m sure she will like you much more than she likes me.” — I didn’t understand what he meant at first.
“Ah…” — I finally got it.
“You have to see this.” — He called me to a narrow stairway which lead to a flawlessly decorated terrace, filled with brown poufs, blue and turquoise armchairs and plants all around it. That was perfect enough, but he still had the panoramic view of Central Park.
“Daniel, this is astonishing!” — I bent over the black grid on the balcony admiring the view. He hugged me.
“You need to see the sun rising from here.”
“It must be amazing.”
“It is. Are you hungry? I asked Susanne to refill the storeroom and something prepared for when I arrived.” — He pulled me inside the house.
“Who is Susanne?” — Another woman.
“Let’s say she’s my “multi-worker”. She works here twice a week, cooks, leaves me frozen food, cleans the house, and goes to the supermarket, this kind of stuff. What will you drink?”
“Whatever you choose.” — I said sitting on a high bench in front of a big black marble counter. He opened the fridge and came with a bottle of white wine.
“Can you get two glasses, please?” — He pointed to the cabinet behind me.
“You have an amazing apartment.” — I grabbed the glasses on the cabinet over the sink and handed him.
“You need to see the rooms.” — He blinked and smiled maliciously while filling my glass and giving it to me.
“I can’t wait.” — I blinked back.
“I’ll prepare us a salad.”
“Are you finally going to be my cooker?” — He smiled and turned to the fridge.
“Does your family accept well Scott’s marriage?” — I changed the subject.
“Today, yes.” — He shrugged. — “Scott has always made it clear about his sexual option since we were teenagers, but when he decided to open his option with his parents it was a complete disaster. My uncle kicked him off and he came to live with us.”
“Poor of him.”
“It was tough. What his father did was against everything they’ve taught us during life. Two weeks later uncle Carl came and took him back.”
“How long is he and Paul together?”
“Six years. Paul is a lawyer. He’s working in a big case and that’s why he couldn’t leave New York and go to San Francisco. That´s why Scott was always on the phone.”
“They are going to adopt a child!” — I admired their decision to make a family.
“Yes. They’ve been trying for two years. You need to meet Rachel, she’s an adorable child.”
“Do you like children?”
“A lot.” — He cut some cherry tomatoes and put them in the green salad with white cheese, orange and smoked tuna. That was a perfect combination.
“I’d like to go to my house tomorrow.”
“Why?” — He calmly put his fork on his plate and looked at me seriously.
“Because I do. It’s mine after all.” — I answered slowly and evaluated his expression. — “I want to see if it needs improvement.
“Do you want to live there?” — He pushed his plate and crossed his hands on the table while facing me. Was he angry?
“What’s the problem, Daniel?” — I touched his hand, but he looked away and got up. He went to the fridge, opened it and stared into it until he finally closed the door and came back, but didn’t sit. He rubbed his hair before talking.
“I thought you were going to stay with me.” — He wasn’t mad, but uncomfortable with my decision.
“I think we don’t have to go that fast.” — I said and put my hands on my chest feeling my heartbeat faster.
“We don’t?” — He came closer.
“Hum-hum.” — I held his face with both hands and he seemed to relax. – “Daniel, I love being with you, but I need a place just mine. Where will I go when we fight?” — I said before kissing his soft lips slowly.
“And why would I fight with you?”
“You’ve never seen me in a bad mood.” — I kissed him again. — “Of course, my bad mood isn’t as bad as yours, but I need a guarantee.” — He smiled and I bit his lip, pulling him.
He moaned and held me on my waist while opening his mouth to find my tongue. I couldn’t control myself when he kissed me like that. I pulled his hair and went closer to him. With a fast movement he picked me up and put me on the cold marble counter while putting my legs around his hips and kissing me. His hands explored my body easily.
“I thought you were going to show me your room.” — I said breathless while he ran his hands on my thigh and raised my dress.
“I will…” — His breath was fast against my neck. — “Later.” — He kissed me again.
* * *
I woke up alone again. He needed to stop this bad habit of getting out of bed before me. I loved it when he wakes me whispering in my ear and kissing me. Did he go to work? No, today is Saturday and he said he’d be home. Maybe he went jogging, but when I looked at the clock I saw it was already 9 a.m. and he liked to exercise earlier.
I stretched slowly before getting up and while I walked on the hall, I paid attention to the pictures hanging on both sides of the wall. Most of them were landscapes from all over the world. I smiled when I saw the one from Golden Bridge and remembered that night at the beach. Some of them were of naked people, men and women at their backs or profiles or even embracing other people. They were so perfect that I thought they would come to life any time. I touched one of them imagining if it would move. They were beautiful. Who painted them?
I moved my head trying to read the signature on the bottom of Athens temple, in Greece.
D.J. Marshall / 2003
Was it someone from his family? They all had the same signature.
“Daniel!” — I called when I saw him sitting in front of the counter in the kitchen reading the newspaper. He looked at me and smiled, but I became static when I saw that tall and elegant woman with her black hair pulled on the top of her head. She might be forty years old, maybe more, but she was incredibly beautiful. I turned back to my room a little embarrassed for wearing Daniel’s shirt.
“Good morning, Elena!” — I stopped and turned back to them again. She placed a jug oforange juice on the counter. I smiled embarrassed and went closer to the counter.
“Elena, this is Susanne.”
“Ah! Nice to meet you.” — I said in a low tone. — “I’ll get dressed and come back right after.” — I was turning my back when Daniel held my hand.
“You don’t need to worry, I’m leaving.” — And looking at Daniel she continued. — “If you remember anything else, call me on my cell phone.” She grabbed her purse and left, walking graciously to the door. How can she work wearing high-heels?
“Good morning, love.” — He pulled me to him and embraced me while kissing my lips. He looked at me with a malicious smile and continued. — “Have I told you how sexy you are when you wear my clothes?”
“Would you find sexier if I said I’m wearing ‘only’ your shirt?” — He kissed me again while grabbing my butt and pull
ing me, but I moved away.
“What?”
“I really need to eat.” — He smiled.
“Black coffee?”
“No sugar, please.” — I sat on a bench and had myself some eggs, bacon and toasts. I was starving. — “Do you know what would be really good now?”
“What?” — He put the cup of coffee in front of me and went to get something in the oven.
“A croissant.”
“Why isn’t it a surprise?” — He said. — “But I guess today is your lucky day.” — And as he turned again he raised a plate with hot and small croissants. — “I’ve been told they are Italians.” — He shrugged and put them in front of me.
“You bought me croissants?”
“Yes. You’ll be surprised by what one can find in New York.”
“Are they filled with Nutella?” — He nodded. — “I could love you even more just because of that, you know?” — I said before having my first croissant. — “Wow, Daniel! This is delicious. I love you more!” — My mouth was full and I couldn’t really talk.
He smiled and sat beside me.
“Did you tell Susanne about us?” — He nodded and had some coffee. — “I had a different picture of her in my mind.”
“How did she look like?”
“I don’t know. Older and not so pretty. She’s very pretty, isn’t she?” — He smiled. — “I thought she would be short, have messy hair and she would be wearing a black uniform with a duster on her hand.” — He laughed.
“My god, Elena! Where did that come from?” — I shrugged and he kissed my cheek.
“Did you have an affair?”
“What?” — He hit his cup of coffee over the counter. — “NO!” — His voice choked while he cleaned his mouth with a napkin. — “Why are you asking me this?” — He raised his eyebrows and looked at me in disbelief.
“Well, the last two women you introduced me to in Italy were some kind of exes.” — I remembered Isabella and Paola. — “I thought she…”
“Susanne changed my diapers when I was little, I couldn’t even think about it.”
“How old is she?”
“Fifty-five.” — I whistled. She looked much younger.
“She worked for my mother when we were children. She still organizes things around there.”
“She doesn’t look like someone who cleans houses.”
“She doesn’t. There’s another person to do that, she takes care of the other things.”
“I also have a butler and a chauffeur.” — I thickened my voice as to impersonate him, but my performance wasn’t that good and I laughed when I saw his face.
He couldn’t get serious and laughed after me.
“I love it when you laugh.” — He put his hand on my thigh and I chilled all over when he went up to my groin.
I got another croissant and remembered what I wanted to ask him before.
“Daniel, who is D.J. Marshall?” — He put his cup on the counter. — “Your house is filled with his works, is he your relative?” — He denied with a timid smile. I observed his face for seconds. Of course! — “You have a middle name, don’t you?” — He kept his timid smile and looked at me. — “What is it?”
“Joseph.”
“Joseph?” — He assented. – “Daniel Joseph Marshall?”
“Yes.”
“You painted those pictures!” — I said in excitement while standing up to look at the pictures beside the kitchen door.
“Do you remember this place?” — He stepped beside me.
“The vineyard… where was it?”
“Castello II Palagio.”
“That’s it! That was the place where you canceled your meeting.” — I smiling and looked at him. — “Those are beautiful pictures, Daniel!”
“Thanks.” — He went back to the counter.
“I didn’t know you were an artist.”
“I’m not. It’s just my relaxation technique.”
“Then you might have been very relaxed during those years. How do you paint them? Do you use pictures?”
“Most of them, yes. I use the pictures I take during my trips, and some of them I paint by memory.”
I nodded, still looking at the picture before me. Only then I remembered the nudes he painted and looked at him with wide-opened eyes.
“What about those naked people? Do you also… how did you paint them?”
“Well, for those I needed living models.” — I choked after listening that. He laughed.
“You’re hilarious, Elena!” — He bent over to grab my legs and put me on his shoulder. I shouted with the surprise when I saw the kitchen floor getting behind. — “I hope you have eaten enough, because this will demand a lot of your energy!” — He slapped my thigh softly and laid me on bed after closing the door.
* * *
“That’s it.” — He parked his black Range Rover on a wooded street with large sidewalks and houses from XIX century. They were built with red bricks and handrail with black dyed iron on the entrance. They were all the same. It was love at first sight for me, exactly the way I expected them to be.
I got out of the car and stood on the sidewalk with my hands on my waist and looking at my future house.
“You know you don’t have to live here.” — I ran upstairs and put my hand inside my purse, looking for my keys. He came after me. — “I don’t understand why you don’t want to live with me. I just can’t.”
“We’re not discussing this again, Daniel.” — I said while going back to the car. — “I think I left my keys there.”
He turned the alarm off, went downstairs and leaned on the car with his arms crossed in front of his body.
“Found them!” — I was already going back when he held my hand.
“Elena, why don’t you want to live with me?” — He said looking at the house. — “At least you’ll have some extra money while you don’t start your own business. Besides, you know this isn’t a problem.”
“Daniel” — I said calmly putting my hands on his chest. — “I didn’t leave my fiancé on the altar to be sponsored by you.” — He opened his mouth but I interrupted him by covering it. — “I want to live here. I need to do this. It is important for me. I need a place on my own. I´ve just left college, but I was always there on weekends and holidays. It seems I never really left.
He wasn’t happy, but didn’t question anymore. He closed his eyes for a second trying to absorb my words or calm himself down. That was more probable. Only then he said:
“If that’s what you want.” — I kissed his mouth lastingly.
“Yes, that’s what I want.” — He nodded and I went upstairs. — “Ah! There’s something else I forgot to tell you.” — I looked at him again. He looked puzzled and had his hands inside his pockets. — “All these houses” — I pointed to the ones behind me. — “The red ones.” — He nodded and looked at me.
“What about them?”
“They’re mine.”
“What do you mean?” — He came closer slowly.
I didn’t answer, just turned my back to him and continued upstairs, but he held my waist and made me face him. He looked at me frowning and shook his head.
“You’re not telling me what this mean?” — He looked at the houses again.
I took a deep breath and sat on the step. He set beside me and I smiled putting my hand on his thigh.
“My grandfather, my mother’s father, after he got married with my grandmother they went to Beaufort but kept their business here.”
“Business?”
“Yes, business. My family has business here.”
“Besides the houses?” — I nodded. — “There are more than ten houses here!”
“Ac
tually there are eleven plus, mine, and they’re all rented.” — He smiled. — “I inherited them after my mother died. My grandmother manages the others. I don’t know what or where.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what? That I’m a poor rich orphan?”
“This isn’t funny, Elena” — He ran his hand on my hair and put it behind my ear.
“I’m not laughing.” — I drew his eyebrow with my finger. He closed his eyes and I kissed him.
“Is there anything else you haven’t told me?” — He caressed my mouth with his toe.
“Yes” — He looked at me frowning again, waiting for an answer. — “I own the building on the corner.” — I pointed to an old building with ten stores. — “And that Italian restaurant across the street. Ah! And I also own the flower shop on this block. What’s its name again?” — I started laughing. — “I’m joking!”
“What can I do with you, Elena?”
“Hum… let me see.” — I put my hand on my chin and pretended to think. — “You can start by kissing me.”
“You don’t need to ask me this, love.” — And he kissed me as intensely as the first time. I will never get used to it. Every time he kisses me I feel like I’m floating, but he kept his hands on my shoulder. — “If you’re rich why do you care so much when I go to a five-star hotel or travel first class?”
“Because you waste a lot of money.”
“That isn’t true.”
“You know it is.” — I stood up quickly and he followed me inside.