A Fantasy about Love Pt. 12

She was beautiful - no other word could describe it. She had chosen a long gown with a simple design, but the exotic fabric complemented her beauty and I remembered the cloth she had imported from Thailand. This gown was made of a dark blue uneven texture with little gold threads woven into it throughout; a decent but tempting décolleté with her big pearl choker on her neck, a wide slit at the side and light blue sandals on her feet. She had a diamond bracelet on her wrist, but our eyes centered immediately on her head. She had put up her golden red hair in a way that the tiara was held firm on her head. The blue center diamond with the lateral diamonds emphasized her big green eye, which were made even bigger by masterful makeup, and her proud smile. Her lips were almost aggressively red and flushed, and when she stepped forward, all I could say was "WOW. Double Wow. Triple Wow! Most exalted lady, may I be your companion tonight?"

She smiled, satisfied with our reaction. "Most certainly, Count de Winter. It will be a pleasure."

She looked at Maureen. "Did you not find anything more glamorous for tonight, Countess?"

Maureen shook her head. "Mom, this is your night. We decided to be just a frame for you so that everyone will look at you and not at us." Eileen was touched and almost hugged her, but remembered her makeup at the last moment. "You will get your rewards later, darlings, but now let´s go and have fun!"

She took her dark blue Hermès bag. It was funny, as even her Mercedes was dark blue!

When we arrived at the Brisbane Convention Centre, Allan was already there waiting for us. His face showed his surprise when he saw Eileen. His jaw did not drop actually, but he was really stunned by her. And he was not the only one. There was silence after she passed through the ranks to her place at the front of the stage; appreciating looks from the men, envious ones from the women. Allan bowed once more and kissed her hand, but he lingered a bit longer than absolutely necessary.

I glanced at Maureen and she nodded: we had to watch the two. Not that anything improper would happen, but as we remembered Frank, we wanted to stop this at the beginning. There was a long line of men coming to compliment her and she was very graceful in accepting their praise. They also stayed a bit longer than necessary and I could not count the glances that were directed at her décolleté. Perhaps they admired the beautiful pearl choker? Allan was getting nervous when the official event began. There were the obvious speeches, the praise for the Queensland economy and the companies that had made this the best year in a decade, and then the Prime Minister called Allan to the front stage. He introduced him as the NSW champion of the year and asked him to announce the Queensland Business Executive of the year. He knew that this would happen and was well prepared. His speech was short and on the point: how she and her husband had founded NT, how she after the death of her husband had taken the reins of the company and expanded it in the biggest logistics company in Queensland.

And then he added "I'm pleased to call Mrs. Eileen Monahan, the CEO of NT, and one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen."

There was a standing ovation of over four minutes, and then Eileen made her speech, also the obvious thanks to the community that had always supported her, her loyal staff that had been there when she needed it most, and her daughter who had taken over the new Sydney branch office and was growing it fast.

She smiled. "I'd like to thank Sir Allan for his compliments not only on my business success, but also that I'm still a woman in this men's world. I cannot comment on his non-business remark, but I appreciate the sentiment. I'm also pleased to inform that Sir Allan will join NT as a Board member starting next month, and I'm certain that we'll benefit greatly from his economic acumen, his leadership and his wisdom to decide when to go - and when to stop. Thank you all for your vote of confidence."

Another standing ovation and she accepted the silver plaque with the official inscription of the Queensland Business Executive of the Year from Allan´s hands. The applause continued whilst he led her back to our table. I realized that Maureen and Jenny were quite upset and looked at them. "What happened?"

Jenny had her professional smile on her face, but her eyes were furious. "She thanked God and the world - and especially Allan, and she did not say one word about you. You're the reason why the company exploded during the last year, and you're not worth one single word?"

Maureen nodded, but told her to calm down, since now was not the time to quarrel. There were some more short speeches and the official event finished. Dinner started and Allan was all over Eileen, looking after her wine, her food, called for a glass of water, and she blossomed in his attention. The live music began and Allan, bowing deeply and extending his hand, asked her for a dance; she smiled and accepted gracefully.

Jenny stared at Maureen. "What has happened to your mother? She practically ignores us, which I would understand on this occasion, but she has not looked once at James!"

I shrugged. "I'm not anymore surprised about anything that Eileen will do, but she's having fun. Perhaps a bit exaggerated, but she's enjoying himself. I'm surprised, however, about Allan. He must remember how Frank fell into her net and embarrassed himself - doesn't he remember Ellen?"

I danced with Maureen and Jenny, and while we were on the dance floor, we watched the two. She stayed for several dances and watching them, it was obvious that he danced well. They looked great together and when he twirled her around, her smile was captivating. Finally, they came back, and Allan looked proudly at Eileen. "Not so bad for an old man, Eileen?" She laughed. "Allan, you are anything but old, Allan!"

I waited for her to drink a glass of champagne and asked her to dance with me. She got up and I was lucky; it was a waltz and I could talk to her.

"Eileen, what are you doing? Allan is a married man; his wife is ill, and you are trying to seduce him?"

She became angry with me. "How dare you to talk this way? I'm having fun for the first time in weeks and you tell me that I cannot do this?" She must have had a glass of champagne too much and her speech was a bit slurred. "I know what I'm doing and am old enough to decide what I want. And tonight, I want to have fun, and may I suggest that you care about your own problems?"

Fortunately, the waltz finished, and I brought her back to the table, as she was angry enough that she might have left me alone on the floor. She smiled at Allan and asked to be excused for a moment, but for him not to go away: she wanted to dance more. She told Maureen to come with her and his eyes followed her as they walked away. I sat down beside Allan.

"Allan, how is Ellen? Did you talk to her tonight?"

His eyes snapped back to me and he seemed to focus on me. "She's well and sends her best wishes to you and your lovely girls, her daughters - our daughters. Eileen is quite a beautiful woman, but Maureen will one day be as beautiful or even more so. And Jenny's standing beside her, not behind her!"

I wanted to keep the conversation on Ellen to wake him up from the path he seemed to enter.

"How is the treatment going? Did the doctors give you any better news?"

He shook his head. "She's stable, but there was no improvement. We decided that we would go for two weeks to a spa in New Zealand that seems to specialize in this illness. Perhaps that'll help; I dearly hope so."

When Eileen came back, we had discussed several treatments he had discovered; all of them were not traditional medicine or methods, but at this moment he would try anything

She extended her hand. "Allan, let´s dance!"

He got up, but I saw him move a little bit different, a bit more distant. I watched him on the floor: he danced well and enjoyed it, but the absolute focus on Eileen, her smiling lips, her shining eyes was gone. He danced and held her close, but there was always an inch between them and when she moved closer, he somehow kept his distance. They came back and she drank more champagne.

Suddenly she asked me to dance. As soon as we were on the floor she whispered angrily.

"What did you do? What did you say to Allan? He's suddenly different and I don't like this. I had so much fun and now he's so distant! Why did you do this? Are you jealous? Didn't we agree that we had our own minds, that we could decide when and how we would do things? I'm not your slave and not your servant, so leave me alone!" and she turned back to the table.

I had to hold her arm because her sudden movement made her lose her balance. I whispered to Maureen that it was time to go and she agreed. Eileen protested, but even Allan agreed that it was late. He promised that when she came to Sydney they would go dancing again, and finally, she let us guide her to the car.

She was still angry and made it quite clear that she wanted to discuss this at home. When I stopped in the garage, however, she was already asleep. I picked her up and carried her to her bedroom; Maureen and Jenny undressed her and laid her on her bed. She was mumbling something, and her voice still sounded angry. I bent and kissed her lips, but there was no response. We left one light in the bathroom alight in case she needed to get up at night. I wondered whether I should stay beside her during the night, but Maureen told me that this was not necessary; one of them would occasionally look after her and call the others if necessary.

We stayed in the sitting room for a moment to try to find out what had happened. We had no idea why she had changed her behavior so suddenly and, in the end, decided to retire and try again in the morning. I went once more to look at her and she was sweating, and her body was cold and clammy. I called Maureen and she decided to call Eileen´s doctor. It took half an hour, but when he appeared, he knew immediately what had happened.

"Mrs. Monahan had severe psychological problems after her husband died; she had nightmares, could enter into a depressive mood or was suddenly too aggressive. I gave her several medicines to combat each of these situations but warned her that she had to be very careful; if she took the wrong medicine, the effect would be opposite to what she wanted. Her situation improved considerably during the last year; there was a period when she had the same problems, but it did not last. The last months she's been happy and relaxed, so looking at her, she must have taken the wrong medicine and if she drank alcohol, the effect doubled. Let her sleep and tomorrow she might not even remember what happened tonight; it's your choice whether you'll tell her. Relax: it's serious, but you caught it in time."

He left and we calmed down. Maureen washed her face and we left her sleeping. The bathroom light was on if she woke up, and the doors between us were open. Jenny looked at us. "Let me propose a scenario that might explain the situation. I'm not a psychologist and have no real experience in that area, but I grew up in a way that I might understand her. She was a wife dominated in every way by her husband: emotionally and physically. Then he died. What could she do? Give up and cry? This is not the Eileen we know, so she went on and battled her way to the top. But she was still alone and missing her other half. Then James appeared and she was satisfied to see Maureen happy, having the man she loved and who loved her. When the opportunity came to join you, she grasped it and was happy, too. ¨

She stopped for a moment, trying to organize her thoughts.

¨Happy, but not completely satisfied, as she wanted to be the centerpiece, not Maureen. And then I came in and she must have been hurt, but she never showed it; nevertheless, I could feel it. We lived in Sydney and she saw James only occasionally; it must have been sad to remember happy moments when lying alone in her bed in Brisbane, knowing that we might make love at that moment in Sydney. She loves you, James, and she loves us, although in a different way. And then Allan shows up. He's the perfect gentleman, has a title (and remember that she is impressed by titles and social standing), and she wants to show that she's still a woman to be admired. So she starts to flirt, feels happy, takes her pill (and perhaps the wrong one in her excitement), and there we are at the ball, drinking champagne, she is dancing in the arms of a dashing cavalier and she flips. Now she wants this to continue, to have a man for herself, and damn the consequences. Allan fell for her; that was obvious, but I can excuse him, since Eileen on the warpath is a formidable person. You did well, James, to remind him of Ellen and he perceived what had happened; he backed off and that made her angry. It was not a game anymore for her and she doesn't want to lose. So she drank more champagne and was furious. Allan left and you were the one who had caused this. Boom!"

She stopped for a moment. "Probably all of this is wrong, but for me at least, it explains part of the reason for her abrupt change in behavior. I'd wait to see what happens in the morning, adapt to her mood and help her to come back to us."

I looked at her, admiring her thinking. It was more or less what I had thought, but her confirmation made me less worried about what would happen the next day. It was temporary (at least I hoped so) and I had always found somewhere a solution to my problems. We decided to go back to our bedroom and after the obligatory kisses, we cuddled and fell asleep.

I had set the alarm clock for an early hour to look after Eileen, but she was still asleep. Since I was up already, I decided to prepare breakfast and when I brought two cups of steaming coffee to the ladies, it was amusing to see their reaction to the smell drafting to their noses. The mouth twitched a bit, then the nose came up searching for the source of the tempting whiff, and one eye opened. There was the obvious difficult choice between going back to sleep or getting the coffee; I helped to accelerate the decision process by moving the cups back and forth in front of their noses. The second eye opened and the decision had been made: wake up.

They sat up and the blanket fell down, uncovering their breast and a sight I adored, and Jenny sighed. "Maureen, what are we going to do with this man? He has a one-track mind!"

Maureen smiled. "Jenny dear, you're wrong: he has a multi-track mind. Our breasts, our pussy, our lips, our ass, our mind, our heart, our soul: he has a track to all of them. And I'm willing to open all of them for him whenever he wants to use them." Jenny added "Hear, hear!" and both reached out for their coffees.

I told them that Eileen was still asleep, but that she was peaceful now. I suggested for them to get up, have breakfast and wait for Eileen to appear. When they were at the bathroom door, I whistled and sighing, they came back. Jenny grinned. "Maureen, I agree to the multi-track mind, but there's one path he travels more often than others..." and she offered me her breasts to kiss. I nodded while I was twirling my tongue around her rapidly stiffening nipple and after paying homage to the other one, too, it was Maureen´s turn. She lifted her breast to give me easy access and it was impossible to decide which one I enjoyed more - they were both perfect.

After this enjoyable interlude, I went back to the kitchen, sat the table and when they appeared dressed in those ugly football shirts, all was ready. "My love, we believed that this moment modesty might be a better idea; let´s see how Mom is feeling."

I heard a noise from Eileen´s bedroom and hastened there; she was opening her eyes and looked at me with confusion in her eyes. "James, what happened last night? Did I do something wrong? I've got a terrible headache; could you please get me my pills?" I found them in her toiletry case, got a glass of water and handed it to her. She swallowed all and then looked at Maureen who had appeared behind me.

"Maureen, what happened last night? I know that Allan was here for tea, we went to the event, I danced a lot with him and that's all I remember. Am I missing anything? And how did I end up in bed undressed? I don´t remember this either!"

I told her that it was a long story and it might be a better idea for her to lie down a moment, wait for the pill to reduce her headache, and then have breakfast; hadn't she told me that in an Australian household, tea would always help.?

"James, stay with me for a few minutes and then I'll get up." I agreed and lay down beside her; she laid her head on my chest and closed her eyes.

"James, I'm afraid that something happened last night; I had a nightmare that I lost you. Tell me, please."

We had promised never to lie to each other and with great hesitation and censoring part of it, told her how the evening went. She was upset with herself. "I only danced with Allan? Did you do anything to make me angry?" She shook her head. "No, I know that you would never do this. What did I do?"

I told her about the doctor´s visit and his suggestion that she had mixed up her medicine and drinking champagne hadn't helped.

"Did I embarrass myself? For God´s sake, what did I do?"

She was really confused, so I told her a bit more: how Allan had been a perfect gentleman, that she enjoyed dancing with him and he danced really well, and that we had been worried about her, because we had never seen her to show any effect of the champagne; so we called it a night and took her home and when I saw how her pressure had dropped, we called the doctor. There was nothing serious and she could relax. She was still the Business Executive of the Year!

She calmed down and giving me a kiss, started to get up. I whistled when she was at the door and she came back happily. "Now I know that you still love me."

I went back to the kitchen and told them what I had said to Eileen; they agreed that the rest could stay secret. Eileen appeared, also dressed in a long shirt, and went to Maureen and then to Jenny, kissing them on their cheeks. "Please forgive that debacle last night; it'll never happen again." She looked up when Jenny mumbled something but did not follow it up.

We had breakfast, looked outside whether we should go to the pool, but the weather was miserable. Maureen suggested playing scrabble: local rules, all women against all men, and this time I lost. Eileen was not very helpful, but Jenny drubbed me. Maureen and I prepared the barbeque and I saw that Eileen and Jenny had vanished; girl's talk?

When they came back, both were crying. Eileen came to me. "James, I want to apologize. I don't know what came into me, but it'll never happen again."

Jenny whispered that Eileen had taken her inside and forced her to tell her the whole story: how she had forgotten to mention me in her speech (that was obviously the one item that had infuriated Jenny), how she had danced only with Allan and how she accused me of all kind of things. She hoped that things were in the open now and would heal.

Eileen was clinging to me and was asking whether I could forgive her; it was strange to see this proud woman being so helpless. I dedicated my attention to her, and Maureen was able to get everything done, so that I could stay with her mother in my arms.

Slowly she relaxed. "My love, you know that you're the reason that we have been so successful the last year; even more important, you're the reason I started to live again. Obviously, I´d like to have you for myself, but being part of you, even as a loved partner, is so much better than being alone. I understand Maureen and why she has given Jenny to you, and why you love her, too. But you accepted me, and I'll never forget this!"