The Great Man's Wife

"You know, it's a wonder that I can actually go to the toilet and have a bath or a shower on my own without one of the shadows being there. But in this wing I can keep them at bay…keep them beyond that door in the corridor. If I want to be sure I can lock myself in here."

She picked up a remote control and pressed one of the buttons; there was a faint whirr and a click. "There, I've locked us in. Oh, don't worry, I'll let you out again."

"Now, I understand you've graduated and are working with your father?"

"Yes, I'm supposed to be taking over the family empire one day, so I'm in training."

"Do you like what you do?"

"No, and when I've summoned up my courage I shall probably tell my father so, and then be disinherited."

"Your father has been angling for an ambassadorship for some time, hasn't he?"

"Dad wants to make his mark in the diplomatic field before he dies. You are well informed."

"In this instance, yes. Would you consider leaving your present work very soon?"

"Leave it for what?"

Jemima looked at him intently. "To become my private personal aide."

Robin was taken aback; of all the things she might have asked of him, this would have ranked near the bottom if it ranked anywhere at all.

"Your aide? But surely you've got…I mean, I've seen some of your assistants."

"Yes, my official ones. What I want from you is something different."

"How different?"

"I want someone with whom I can talk…talk as I have tonight, about personal things; someone to share thoughts with that I can be sure won't be related elsewhere."

"What you need is a friend, Jemima, not an aide. Surely you must have lots of friends."

"Oh yes, I've got lots of friends; the only trouble is that in this game you're never sure who is on the make and who isn't. I'm asking you on the basis of our old friendship. You've been invited here and at The Lodge several times. I've watched you, and not once have you asked for anything. You haven't asked either me or my husband to use our influence or power to get something you wanted."

"I suppose that's because there isn't anything I have wanted." He grinned, "In any case your husband hardly knows me, as you saw he couldn't remember my name this evening."

Jemima laughed; "Yes, he can't remember your name because he's never thought of anything he wants from you, and the fact that you've always been my guest and not his."

"And I've been your guest so that you could vet me?"

"Yes, if you want to put it like that. I wanted to know if my memory of you still stood up; that you were still the open, honest boy I used to know; the boy who was always kicking against the system. Of course, what I'm offering doesn't take you out of the system; it only puts you into another aspect of it."

"Frankly, Jemima, it all looks and sounds suffocating, even more suffocating than the system I'm in now."

"Yes, and I'm in it all the time. I called the job an aide, but what I really want might be better described as a confidante. It will pay well."

"I'm not concerned with the pay at the moment, Jemima. What you seem to be asking is if our friendship of the past still holds."

"Yes."

Robin chuckled and said, "Did you ever realise I once thought I was in love with you. I even thought of asking you to marry me?"

"Why didn't you ask me?"

He shrugged, "I was too young at the time; I was immersed in my studies, and by the time I was in a position to ask you, you were already married to The Grea…your husband."

"It's all right, Robin," Jemima chuckled, "I know what people call him, 'The Great Man'."

"Jemima, even if I did accept your offer I couldn't just walk into the job; there'd have to be some investigating to be done, wouldn't there?"

"Oh yes, they'd have to know all about you, but don't worry, it's already been done."

"What! That's rather taking things for granted , isn't it?"

"No, not really; some of the investigating was to do with you're being invited here and to The Lodge; after that there was little more to do."

"My father would create hell if I…"

"You did say you were going to tell your father you didn't want to continue with him."

"Yes but…"

"There's a rather important ambassadorship coming up shortly, do you think that might soften his heart?"

"If anything could that would," grinned Robin.

"Well, have I persuaded you?"

"Not really, Jemima, I mean, all the job seems to entail is being a friend. I can be a friend without being officially appointed."

"That's true, but if you were my personal aide you'd be around a lot more and there wouldn't be a need to constantly be issuing invitations and getting clearances."

Jemima chuckled and went on, "You can keep an eye on me when I'm being cornered by some of the bores I have to put up with, and then you can come and tell me there's an important telephone call for me. There are lots of charities and organizations that I have to keep in touch with; you could take some of the pressure off me."

"By the way, you'll have your own suite of rooms in this wing – a study, bedroom and sitting room, but if you want to have guests visiting it means getting a clearance for them. You'll also have your own rooms at The Lodge."

"But look here, Jemima, having me living in the same wing as you, more or less shut away behind that door in the corridor, wouldn't that arouse suspicion?" I mean, being almost alone with you…a very attractive…wouldn't you be better off with a female aide?"

"Not alone, the children are in this wing as well."

"But your husband?"

Very slowly and deliberately Jemima said, "My husband doesn't care what I do, just so long as it doesn't become public and spoil the domestic image. I could have ten lovers in here every night so long as they had clearance, and it wouldn't make any difference to him."

"And do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Have ten lovers in here every night?"

Jemima laughed and said, "No, it would too much of a bother getting the clearances done. Don't worry Robin, I'm not a nymphomaniac. Will you take the job?"

"Had you considered," asked Robin, "that if I take this job, become your employee, our relationship might change? I can still be your friend without being an employee – more of a friend because you've opened up so much to me. After all, every time I've been your guest, we've had very little to do with each other. We could talk more in future, like we are now."

"Yes, I suppose I've always had to do the circulating bit and we've hardly had time to talk intimately, and you're right of course, as my employee our relationship might change. That's a risk I'm prepared to take, are you?"

"Well, I suppose that if we got on each others nerves, or I proved totally incompetent, you could fire me or I could leave."

"It sounds as if you're warming to the idea, Robin; are you?"

He sat thinking for a moment. He knew that one day he would break with his father's business empire and this might be the opportune moment. If the ambassadorship was dangled before his father in the right way he could make the break with the minimum of upheaval.

"All right, Jemima, let's give each other a try."

"Good, and by the way, if you wanted to have a guest stay with you overnight I could get her clearance just so long as you gave me reasonable notice. I know you're not a celibate."

"My God," thought Robin, "so they know about that too."

"You've been very thorough," he said.

"Not me, my dear, I really didn't want to know about your private life to that extent, but when they vet someone it's just about every aspect of their life they investigate."

Robin wondered for a moment what his current sex partner would think of their relationship being known. She was the forty five year old widow of an oil baron who had died in a Paris brothel while being whipped.

She had come into his life via the network of the business world. She combined the pleasant aspects of being reasonably attractive and rather motherly. It was no overwhelming love affair, but an affectionate relationship that neither of them expected to turn into a lifetime commitment. Robin decided he would keep that relationship away from the environment he was about to enter.

He shook his head and said, "I take it I can have some part of my life away from my work?"

"Of course," replied Jemima, "I just thought I'd mention it. So, as it seems that you're accepting my offer I can get your final clearance through fairly quickly. You'll get a pass that will get you into the main area and into this wing any time. Would you like to see your suite?"

"Yes please."

Jemima picked up the remote control and pressed the button again; a whirr and a click and the door was unlocked. Without bothering to put on her shoes Jemima led the way farther along the corridor. She stopped at a door and opening it went in.

Robin followed to find himself in an office. Like everything else in The Retreat it was large, and was fully equipped for the work to be carried out in it, with desk, computer, swivel chair and two telephones. A new filing cabinet stood against one wall and a bookcase that was empty apart from a few large official looking volumes.

There were three doors, one through which they had just come and Jemima pointed out that one entered her own suite, and the other led to the rest of Robin's suite. Jemima, indicating a red telephone said, "That connects to one of the telephones on my desk. It has no outside line nor does it connect to any other part of the house, it's only for our use."

The next room was obviously a living room, with two deep armchairs and an equally deep sofa. A television set stood against one wall and a drinks cabinet against another.

Beyond this room came the bedroom. At home Robin had the luxury of a large bed, his present room in The Retreat was also provided with a large bed, but this one was truly gigantic. "I'll need a map to find my way out of that bed in the mornings," he quipped, "you could sleep six comfortably in it."

Jemima smiled wickedly; "Perhaps you'll change your mind about me getting a clearance for an overnight guest. It's what I call, a 'royal bed', mine is much the same.

Walk-in-wardrobes, dressing table, chest of drawers and a bedside table, all of substantial construction were inspected.

"Where do I eat?" asked Robin.

"Ah yes, we have a dining room that we all use, the children and the two nursemaids – by the way, be careful of those two, I didn't choose them and I think they might be part of the "protection" set-up. They're nice enough and marvellous with the children, but just be careful what you say in front of them because it all might end up in an official report."

"I was wondering, Jemima, those bloody surveillance cameras are all over the place, are they…"

Jemima laughed, "Yes, they are rather ubiquitous aren't they. But I think you can be sure there are none in this wing. I was rather insistent on that when we moved in here."

They went back to the study and Jemima opened the second door. It led straight into Jemima's study.

"Well, what do you say?" Jemima asked.

"I'll give it a try."

"Wonderful, when can you start?"

"I should think within a month, I'd have some clearing up to do, but if dad knew about the ambassadorship, and it could be hinted that it was related to my taking the job with you, then maybe less than a month."

Robin never did find out how the matter was put to his father, but he was amazed that his father, far from making a fuss about him taking the job with Jemima, actively encouraged him to do so. Thus in less than a month Robin was ensconced, not in The Retreat, but in The Lodge, since The Great Man had moved back there.

The set-up was much the same at The Lodge except the security seemed even tighter. Dark suits and uniformed men toting sub-machine guns seemed to be everywhere.

Robin learned for the first time that the Office in which The Great Man read, signed, held audience, coaxed and cajoled, had a bedroom that led straight off from it.

Jemima and the children had their own quarters in which Robin lived.

One part of his work consisted of maintaining Jemima's personal - one might almost say secret - records. These seemed largely focused on her life as The Great Man's wife. He suspected that one day they would appear either in book form or be released to some newspaper syndicate.

Other tasks included standing or sitting around at social functions until Jemima signalled she was in need of rescue. They arranged that when she touched her left ear with her hand he would step in with the "important telephone call."

He had always through his family been close to the seat of power, but he had never before experienced the claustrophobic atmosphere of life at the top so intensely.

Another part of The Great Man's image promoted by his aides through the media was, "The man of the common people," or "The leader with the common touch." This was no truer than the happy family image. His life was surrounded by those employed to feed him what others wanted him to know, and keep him away from certain life realities they thought it wiser for him not to know.

Often Robin felt he wanted to throw in the job and get out of the suffocating atmosphere, but the closeness he had to Jemima, and increasingly the children, made him hesitate to desert her. As she had pointed out, she was a lonely figure surrounded by people, and never sure who was on the make.

The one place where she could almost get away from the endless round of game playing was The Farm. It had been a long time since it had been a working farm and now served as a small private estate. It was owned by Jemima, but even here there were dark suits, and the nursemaids who Robin humorously pictured as carrying small automatics tucked into the top of their stockings.

Nevertheless it was at The Farm where Jemima became more like the girl Robin had known in earlier days. Here he found that his duties included going horse riding with her, always of course with a dark suit following at a distance. They played tennis together, played with the children and went swimming in the river that ran though the property. He discovered that Jemima and the children had a penchant for Scabble, and many evenings were spent playing.

The friendship that seemed to have been put on hold after Jemima had got married, far from being marred by his being her employee, began to revive and flourish.

In fact the friendship revived to the point where it began to be uncomfortable for Robin. He was still young and susceptible and once at The Farm his access to the widow and sexual gratification was strictly limited.

Being almost constantly in Jemima's company, far from familiarity breeding contempt, he became increasing aware of her attractions. Swimming in the river did nothing to quell a growing sexual awareness of her. The three children had left their marks on her; a slightly protuberant abdomen, and some marks at the tops of her thighs, but for Robin these seemed to enhance rather than detract from her desirability.

In short, Robin began to feel himself to be in love with her again.

Jemima didn't make it easy for him because in the more relaxed atmosphere of The Farm, she was freer in her manner of dressing, and during the evening games of scrabble would often appear clad only in a negligee.

Jemima had said that The Great Man did not care what she did as long as it never became public knowledge and she played the loyal wife game. But Robin knew he could never approach Jemima in the sexual sense.

He half humorously contemplated what had happened to the lovers of long ago Great Ones wives; the extremely painful deaths they had been subjected to if they were discovered. If anything ever did happen between Jemima and him and it was discovered, he didn't expect to be hung, drawn and quartered, but life could be made extremely difficult for him.

He wondered at times if it would have been better if a woman had fulfilled the role Jemima had cast him in, since almost any potent man would probably end up in love with her. But Jemima had selected him and not a woman; his alternative was to leave the job, and this became increasing difficult to contemplate as his love for her developed and his sympathy for her in her situation grew.

There would have been many women who would not only have coped with Jemima's role, but even enjoyed it – women cast in a tougher mould than Jemima.

Many people looking in from the outside, and who did not really know what went on, would think her life to be idyllic, but Robin who did know the truth could see how things were taking a heavy toll of her.

I shall not put forward the "Poor little rich girl" view, but point out that it had been Jemima's misfortune to be born into an aristocracy of privilege with it's vaunting ambitions and willingness to go to any lengths to fulfil them. She had been a pawn in the great power game and was saddled with a man who had probably never loved her, and now she certainly didn't love him.

So Robin continued in her employ, feeling ever more frustrated and impotent as his love and desire for her grew.

Some might be capable of a lifetime's hidden love and devotion, but that was not Robin. At some point something was going to give way; he thought he would either speak about his feelings or he would flee from her, yet he did neither.

Their times at The Farm were usually brief, perhaps not more than a week, and on their return to The Lodge Robin was able to join his widow and at least relieve one part of the tension his absence from her and his closeness to Jemima had built up in him.

His physical proximity to Jemima had increased steadily since she seemed to find more and more reasons why she needed him near her. Any other employee might have felt that he or she was being exploited ruthlessly, especially as Robin began to feel he was really no more than a sort of court jester to her and his tasks those that anyone might have carried out. Yet the pleasure and the pain he felt in her company continued to hold him to her.

Even when Jemima had to accompany The Great Man on state visits to other countries Robin had to go along. It amused him to note that The Great Man seemed hardly aware of his presence, or perhaps it was that he chose not to notice him.

Much of the time seemed to be taken up with posed pictures of The Great Man shaking hands with his opposite number in the country being visited; conferences at which, the media announced, decisions of great international importance had been taken, and of which no one ever heard again; and the family pictures in which The Great Man with the wife of foreign leader at his side, and Jemima at the foreign leader's side, thus demonstrating what harmony there was between them all.

It was after one of these appallingly tedious visits, and as the Christmas season approached – which season was considered to be politically dead – that Robin asked for leave. He had served with Jemima for nearly two years and had taken no leave. He had also decided that after his leave he would offer his resignation to Jemima.

When he approached Jemima on the matter she was adamant. They would be going to The Farm for a fortnight, after that he could take leave if he wished. It made little difference to Robin exactly when he took leave, but he did not relish being away from his comfort lady for so long.

During the time he had worked for Jemima he had tried to understand her in relation to himself. He wondered if his growing love and desire for her was known to her, and if it was in any way reciprocated. In public she was slightly remote, and this was to be expected. What puzzled him was, that at The Farm and in her private quarters at The Lodge and The Retreat, she could be very intimate, sharing some of her innermost thoughts with him, and then in an instant seem to switch off and adopt that slight remoteness she exhibited in public.