“Don’t you know that under that Hollywood star pretty face there’s a selfish and arrogant asshole?”
“Yes, I do.”
“How could you be with someone like this?”
“I’m very self-sacrificing,” answered Berenice under Marc’s furious gaze.
“Berry, you like me!” laughed Melissa cheerfully, glad to find someone who apparently knew her brother-in-law very well.
When they arrived at the table, Marc immediately noticed it was laid for six.
“Aren’t there only the four of us?”
“No, Leny and Chris are coming too.”
“Arthur had told me mom and pa were out of town,” got angry Marc.
“They visited your aunt Emily who has just been operated on the meniscus. They were supposed to come back home tomorrow, but when Arthur told them you would come to visit us, your mother has insisted on being here. They arrived with the last plane yesterday evening.”
“Well, I’m coming back home then.”
“Don’t be a shit! Arthur hasn’t seen you for ages and does nothing but ask when you’d have come. If now you go away, he’ll get hurt.
“He only shouldn’t tell our mother about it.”
“Also Leny was looking forward to embracing you.”
“My father too?” he asked ironically.
“Maybe it’s time you start making peace with Chris, isn’t it?” tried to convinced him Melissa, but Marc was already making for the door, dragging Berenice ouside.
“Marc, what’s the matter?” asked Berenice once they got to the car.
“I don’t feel like seeing them, ok?”
“Please don’t do that,” begged Berenice, laying her hand on his tense arm. “I’m right here.”
“Each time I see my father we quarrel. I’m tired they are always all against me. Melissa hates me too…”
“…and you do nothing to be loved.”
“It’s not in my character.”
“I know it only too well, but I promise you I’ll support you and if you want to go away, I’ll go away with you,” tried to convince him Berenice.
After a long hesitating moment Marc agreed.
As they went back in, Berenice was unexpectedly hugged by Arthur.
“Thank you. Thanks for making him come back,” he whispered in her ear before stepping back.
When he went away, she noticed Arthur’s sad and annoyed look. He cared about his brother so much, but it was always hard to have a debate with him since Marc had a hair-trigger temper, immediately ran away and no one had ever been able to make him retrace his steps. No one before Berenice.
Luckily it seemed to be all forgotten and Arthur showed his new label he wanted to put on his products on the market. He also talked about the proposal to expand his operating zone thanks to a beekeeper who would have liked to sell his honey.
Marc immediately inquired about what kind of joint work they intended to have and whether it could be profitable.
To hear him speak, Marc was apparently an excellent negotiator and very scrupulous about the implications of some negotiations.
In the meanwhile Berenice helped Melissa in the kitchen and in finishing laying out the table.
“How did you meet Marc? It wasn’t mentioned on tv,” began Melissa passing her the cutlery for the table.
On tv? Did Marc talk about her on tv?
That thought messed with Berenice’s head and all the cutlery fell from her hand on the ground, making a sonorous clinking.
In a flash Arthur stepped into the kitchen, ready to rescue his wife, whereas Marc arrived shortly after with his usual sarcastic smile as if to say: ‘Who else but Berry the clumsy girl could make all that noise?’.
Berenice wanted to grab the first knife coming to hand and thrust it into his heart, but she contained herself and apologized to everybody present.
“ You haven’t changed a bit, Berry! One needs to lead you around on a leash to keep you from causing damage,” laughed Marc scornfully, gazing at her with folded arms, while she was bending to pick the cutlery on the ground.
“Nothing would have happened if someone hadn’t mentioned my name on tv!” got furious Berenice, going to rinse the cutlery.
“I thought you knew that. You’ve a big television set in the sitting room!”
“The pity is that I haven’t been switching on it for weeks!”
“Why?”
“Just to not hear you talk nonsense in some live programmes as you do now.”
“Well said,” exclaimed Chris Hailen’s voice, stepping into the kitchen with his wife.
Everybody present turned to the newcomers.
Leny, the two boys’ mother, was a beautiful woman whose smile was as broad and genuine as Arthurt’s, whereas Chris looked alike Marc and his eyes were as hostile as his son’s.
However aged he might be, Chris Hailen was still the same handsome and very charming actor he was years ago, when Berenice watched him on tv.
“Sorry for interrupting you,” said the mother, going close to the two guests.
“Marc, you missed me so much,” sighed the woman, happy and moved, embracing his son.
“You too, mom.”
“Why haven’t you ever called? I thought you forgot your family.”
So he had the bad habit to never call !
Then she went towards the girl. “Nice to meet you. My name’s Leny Hailen, Marc and Arthur’s mother.”
“Nice to meet you. My name’s Berenice Collins, a friend of his son’s.”
“But wasn’t she your girlfriend?” intervened Arthur confused, but neither Marc nor Berenice gave him an answer.
Also Chris Hailen introduced himself politely, making Berenice blush. She was ill at ease in company with that family whose members were famous and of rare beauty .
Once there were at table a long silence fell until Melice broke it.
“Well, Marc, is it true you insured your body for ten million dollars?”
“Yes, it is.”
“You’re really a show-off! What a stupid narcissist you are! Now I can forget to break your nose.”
“Berry has already taken care of that,” he informed, making Berenice flush to the roots of her hair.
“Don’t you think that having your own body insured is exaggerated?” intervened Arthur who found that idea ridiculous.
“Actually yes, I do, but I was offered that and it didn’t cost me anything. The insurance company that offered me this gift only wanted to have the opportunity to be splashed across the front page of Tabloid and it succeeded.”
“And did you agree?”
“I had to return a favor to a guy.”
“I never won’t be the one who must pay you for damages. The idea of breaking your pretty face and then being obliged to pay for this should be illegal and unconstitutional” snapped Melissa resentful, gazing at him with her slitty very light blue eyes.
“I don’t know. Ask Berry. According to my insurer, she has to pay two million, five hundred forty-two thousand dollars.”
For the second time that day a piece of cutlery slipped out of Berenice’s hand, making bits of tofu and peas spatter in all directions, while everybody present set eyes on her.
She was trying to come out of the shock while Marc took pains to clean her dress slightly spattered with sauce. “Berry, Berry, you’re really hopeless. You can’t even eat without causing damage. ”
That last sentence was like a mine just exploded.
“Am I hopeless? Why should I pay when you’re the only responsible for hitting your own nose against my car or you aren’t able to shave or lift a weight?”
“I ran the risk of breaking my nasal septum because of your clumsy driving!”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry. Next time I’ll put a card in the back seat, written in big block capitals: ‘To all possible maniacs or lunatics who will hide in my car, please fasten your belt’. Oops! What am I saying? I didn’t have a car anymore because of you!”
“Oh my God, I hate you so much!” snapped Berenice furious, before Marc stopped her mouth with a napkin.
“Did you hide in her car?” muttered Leny, Marc’s mother, alarmed and anxious. Why did her son feel the need to hide in a stranger’s car?
“Yes, I did,” admitted Marc, glaring at Berenice.
“Why did you do that?” asked Arthur, stunned.
“What’s up? Are you feeling shackled in the star’s life?” provoked his father, hitting the mark.
“And if am I? You’d get a kick out of it, you wouldn’t, pa?”
“I’ve always warned you to keep off that sick world!” became furious Chris.
“I know, but I like it. Everybody loves me.”
“No, son. Everybody exploits you. You’re only a cash cow for them.”
Marc knew his father was telling the truth. He had always been of like mind. Also for that reason he had decided to distance himself from that world.
“I think Marc is good in his work, although I liked him more as a violist of The Dark Angels,” intervened Berenice, feeling guilty to be exploded in front of Marc’s parents. She had promised him she would have supported him instead.
“The Dark Angels were a band of drug addicts!” got furious the father.
“I know, pa. That’s why I left them,” replied Marc nervously.
“That world will destroy you,” sighed Chris, gloomy.
“Mr. Hailen, sorry if that was intrusive, but I think you should have more faith in your son. Marc is so smart to let the showbiz destroy him. He’s too demanding, precise and severe with people and himself to make a false step such as taking drugs or getting into other dangerous addictions,” intervened Berenice, trying to be as tactful as she could. She had realized Chris was as difficult to get on with as his son and did not want to risk compromising their relationship still further.
“I’ve faith in him but not in those who surround him.”
“It’s understandable. It can’t be easy seeing your own son oppressed in the world from which you escaped yourself many years ago.
“I had no choice.”
“But Marc has. Your son’s not only a showbiz celebrity but also took a degree in corporate law. He has a talent for business and is so meticulous and prudent in his choices that I don’t think he let himself be included passively in some vicious circle.”
“You really have much faith in my son.”
“I know Marc very little, but I know he’s a fantastic person and one day he’ll find his way by himself and it’ll be the right one,” concluded Berenice, giving Marc a meaningful glance. He had been watching her with wide-open eyes all the time.
Briefly everybody present remained silent, stunned by that woman’s words. They did not know her yet but had immediately realized she had succeeded in having with Marc a really strong connection.
Even if Marc apparently did not show his gratitude or particular appreciation for those words, Berenice felt his hand run down softly on her thigh under the table, so she realized that gentle and secret gesture was his way to say: ‘Thank you’.
“Marc, you’re too bastard to deserve a person like that beside you,” burst out Melissa, struck by the girl’s words in her brother-in-law’s defense.
“I could say the same for you,” replied Marc acidly.
“Tell me the truth, how much did you pay her to have such praises?”
“Two million, five hundred forty-two thousand dollars.”
“The first thing I’m teaching my son is to stay away from uncle Marc.”
“Mel, please. Don’t get worked up,” got worried Arthur. “And you, Marc, stop taking it out on her! Berry, I really don’t know how you can tolerate my bro.”
“I don’t know either,” answered Berenice, giving a disapproving look to Marc.
Melissa finally apologized to her guests because felt out of sorts again and asked Arthur to accompany her to the bedroom.
Seeing Arthur’s kindness and tenderness towards his wife reminded Berenice Marc’s rare kindness.
However her thoughts were interrupted again by a pinch on her side.
“Stop it!” Marc scolded her, frowning.
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You were gawking at my brother again.”
“Actually I was thinking about why you couldn’t be as nice and kind as your bro. Arthur is so sweet.”
She couldn’t speak anymore because was pinched again, more painfully than before.
“Anyway, you should be ashamed for how you treated Melissa, a pregnant woman!” she went on, annoyed.
“He behaves like this because is jealous, Berry,” intervened the mother.
“Jealous of Melissa?”
“Jealous because she took his brother’s love away from him when Arthur was only six years old.”
“Bullshit!” exclaimed Marc offended, stepping out in the garden, shortly after followed by Arthur who had come back to his guests.
“Berry, the fact is that Marc has always been Arthur’s idol. Anything Marc did, he did it as well. They were inseparable until Melissa came into our life. That year Chris and I decided to paint the outer walls of the house. We entrusted a new whitewasher with this task. He has just moved near here, was abandoned by his wife and had a little child to take care of. The fate wanted that the child’s baby-sitter broke her femur and Tom, full of despair, asked us he could bring his daughter to our house. Melissa was only six years old, the same age as Arthur. She was a taciturn and always sulky child, sitting on a corner playing with her doll. One day Marc made fun of her about her toy and Melissa collapsed in tears. Arthur was so disappointed that for the first time he went away from his brother to take Melissa to me, so that I could calm her down. Arthur has always been a hypersensitive child and when he saw a child cry, he often cried in his turn. That episode changed everything. Suddenly Marc found himself alone and Arthur and Melissa became inseparable. The whitewashing lasted almost a month and at the end of that period I had to explain to Arthur that Melissa would have come to our house every day. I expected to see him in tears, as it happened when he had to part from Marc, but he looked at me seriously and said to me that he would have married her so that they could have stayed together forever. At the moment I burst into laughter, amused by a six-year-old child’s words, but he insisted, so I finally explained to him that it needed to be of age to marry someone. Then he answered me he’d have waited. I didn’t believe in his words, although, over all those years, Arthur and Melissa never separated… until he reached his majority. I still remember when I went to wake him up that day. I wished him a happy birthday and he radiantly said to me that he finally would have married Melissa. They were still so young. I tried to persuade him, but three months later they got married. They together set up a farm with our help and now they’re having a baby.”
“And Marc has never forgotten her for that.”
“No, he hasn’t. He thinks Melissa is the shrew who took his brother’s love away from him, even if actually that isn’t true. Arthur is very fond of him and suffered a great deal when Marc moved to Los Angeles and lived with my cousin Emily. However we know how handling Marc’s character could be difficult.”
Berenice nodded firmly. She perfectly knew the bad character of the man who had ravished her heart.
“I wish he could be as sweet and kind as Arthur! Yet I wouldn’t replace him with anyone,” sighed Berenice, downhearted for being still so in love with him.
“You’re the first to say it. When he was a teenager he broke many hearts with his annoying and cynical attitude, while now I know he pretends to be the perfect man to all women he met. He doesn’t keep them off anymore for fear of being courted by girls who are only interested in getting close to his father, the famous Chris Hailen, or in his money.”
“I definitely don’t fall under the second category,” laughed Berenice b
itterly.
“Berry, you’re a sensitive and sweet girl. I like you very much and you’re clearly fond of our son, but I ask you to be careful. Just because you’re so special, I don’t want you to be hurt by him.”
“Mrs. Hailen, I’m not with your son. We’re just friends,” confessed Berenice, trying to hide how that admission was painful to her.
“Really? However on tv, when he was asked about his love story with Jessica Baltron answered to be already engaged to another girl. He also said her name was Berry and it was a serious relationship, although it was still too early to see how much it would have lasted.”
“He lied,” muttered Berenice, still upset for what she had just heard.
“As I told you before, understanding Marc is really difficult because of his foul temper and singular manners.”
“I noticed it.”
“Being close to him requires appreciable qualities.”
“Strength and sweetness,” said the girl, repeating the words that once Marc had told her.
“Exactly. The day of Arthur’s marriage, Marc told me that the woman he would have married should have been enough strong to support him and enough sweet to accept him for what he was and love him sincerely,” Leny told her, upsetting her even more.
Once Marc had told her just those words!
Could it be that he had really fallen in love with her?
She would have liked to believe it, to hope it so much… but she knew what kind of sufferance that would have brought.
15
The day with Marc’s family passed by in the best possible way.
Arthur showed everybody his cultivations and stated his ideas about possible future changes in the farm, which made Marc fly into a rage, because he considered his brother too little ambitious and astute for such projects.
“You must learn to exploit better your potentialities!” Marc reproached him.
“I’m not good at these things and besides you forget I’m becoming a father. Melissa is exhausted by pregnancy and can’t follow all the administrative matters any longer. I’m trying to deal with everything, but I’m not good at balancing the accounts and, on top of it all, there are always some problems to solve in the field. Only a few of us are farmers and I can’t afford other farm hands. Mom and pa are starting to get tired too and I’m managing this all by myself. How could you think I’m inclined to the innovations you’re explaining to me? Who could manage them? You?”
A Star in My Life Page 13