A Fantasy about Love Pt. 15

She nodded. "James, this time it is different. It is not a game of dominance. I want to be cared for and not at a long distance; I want to have my man around me, to get a kiss (and often much more) when we go to sleep and to wake up with him. This will not be easy: we're both decisive persons and there will be arguments, but I promise that I'll do my best to make him joyful again."

It seemed that she had decided already to move on and only wanted our approval. I was sad on one side and happy on the other. The situation between us was getting uncomfortable and as always, she had taken the initiative to resolve it. Allan would be a lucky man, but I would still watch them.

"So what do you want to do?"

She let go of me and turned around to look at all of us. "Allan and I discussed this, and we decided to go on that trip to the Hunter Valley I mentioned. There'll be two bedrooms, but perhaps we'll not need them at the end. Then we'll decide our future."

I agreed. "This makes sense, but what will happen afterwards? Do we still have our mornings at the pool?"

She laughed. "Perhaps, but that depends on him now, of course! But no more sunscreen on my body, James. That would be Allan's responsibility. And girls, the bikinis would have to be decent again?"

The mood had become lighter and Maureen laughed. "Mom, we don't have decent bikinis. And in any case, they don't last long on our bodies!"

Jenny joined the fun. "How does 'Lady Moise' sound? Would you rub this into your friends´ faces?"

Finally, Eileen laughed. "Oh Yes! But James, Allan is a KBE; can we get him promoted to anything higher?"

This was typical Eileen: she did not have the man in her clutches and she already tried to manipulate him. I decided to tease her.

"Eileen, Lady Moise sounds quite nice. How about trying to make you a Dame Eileen, KBE?"

Her eyes opened wide. "James, can this be done?"

I nodded. "Yes, my dear. It will take about twenty years. You will have to become eminent in your area: tick; well known: tick; and then crawl up the ladder from an MBE to an OBE to a CBE and then a KBE. It would help if you work a lot with the reigning government, but do not forget the opposition since they might become the government one day! Spend a lot on charity, give splendid parties to the government, etc., etc. This might reduce the time to ten years."

She thought about for a moment. "I believe Lady Moise is enough for me."

Eileen had never wasted time to get what she wanted. I believe that she would prefer to have me for her own (male egos need a treat once in a while), but Allan was a good second choice. He was intelligent, athletic and he just might wear her out after all this time with Ellen being ill. He was quite handsome as a senior executive, well-off, but this didn´t mean anything, as she was rich enough for both. He had a wonderful social network and she would benefit from it. A good choice. But best of all, she would feel that she would be cared for by a man who loved her, be there for her all the time, and who she could care for and eventually love.

She turned to Maureen. "Are you OK with this?"

Maureen nodded. "Yes, Mom. It is not what we thought when we started our relationship, but if it's right for you, I'm all for it."

Eileen even looked at Jenny, and she nodded also.

"Well, this is decided then. James, it means that we cannot make love again -- I will not cheat on Allan."

I smiled. "Eileen, you are counting your eggs before they are laid. You know me: I will continue to love you, but if you and Allan get together, I'll step away. I'll be sorry, as making love with you was always exciting and thrilling, but I'm certain that I have two women at my side who will help me overcome that loss." I grinned. "Perhaps you'll learn new tricks and can teach them to us?"

She blushed, took a deep breath and came over to kiss me. Not a peck on the cheek, not an affectionate little caress, but the full force of a sexy woman who wanted to make a statement. When we parted, there was applause from the others and my knees were weak.

"This, James, was to remind you what you'll be losing, and to print on your memory how much I love you."

She stepped away. "Kids, Allan will come over for lunch. James, you'll do the barbeque, Jenny, you'll come with me to select the wines, and Maureen will handle the kitchen. OK?"

Our response was obvious. "Ma'am, YES, Ma'am!" and we laughed. It was strange and somehow sad for me, how a relationship that was planned to last forever, was dissolved with a laugh...

When Allan arrived, bringing flowers for Maureen and Jenny and a big bunch of roses for Eileen, everything was ready and all he had to do sit down, have a drink and tell me how he wanted his beef done (rare, by the way. Good start!). He had changed to a gentleman's Saturday afternoon outfit: blazer, open light blue shirt with a foulard around his neck, and what seemed like comfortable loafers.

We had a drink and suddenly, Eileen pulled out a big envelope. We stared at her, wondering what she would do now. Trying magic? The envelope was filled with newspaper and magazine articles and photos. Eileen licked her lips.

"The Red Beauty from down under? The Red Countess? Look what my friends sent me about our Ball!"

She took the photos out and placed them on the table. "Here I am with Prince Fugger; here I'm dancing with the Prince zu Thurn and Taxi; look at this: I am dancing the Minuett! I showed these to my friends, and they died!"

She continued to show the photos where she was shown and I saw Jenny take a breath but shook my head; if she wanted to play it this way, it was her decision. Maureen seemed not to care but was satisfied when Allan looked more closely at a series of photographs where Maureen was shown standing in a crowd, dancing with me, smiling happily at various Princes and Counts -- and at the Waiter who had served us.

"The Red Countess? You were stunning, my daughter!" Eileen's eyes flared up for a moment, but she swallowed her comment and the gossiping started.

He looked at me when we were alone for a moment. "James, I know that this is going very fast; too fast, but I've learned that in my age getting an opportunity to receive a wonderful gift, one should not let it pass. I loved Ellen and I will always love her, but Eileen is wonderful, too, and perhaps we can make this work."

I sat beside him. "Allan, I promised Ellen that I will watch over you; perhaps this sounds crazy, but you know that she did not trust Eileen: she saw the competitor: beautiful, young, extrovert ... everything she was not anymore. Perhaps one day I'll have to take you aside and tell you my opinion, but remember, I promised Ellen. Remember when she called me in the hospital; she said that you could have her if YOU wanted her, but for me to ensure that it was not the other way around. I hope that everything will work out. Eileen can be a wonderful woman and you could not have a better partner at your side. She'll give you life and you'll give her stability. But watch out: she wants to dominate!"

He laughed. "I well remember, James, but I can be quite obstinate myself!"

To my surprise the ladies were decently dressed: Maureen and Jenny in a little top and white tennis shorts, Eileen in slacks and a blouse knotted below her breasts. The barbeque went well, the wines were excellent, and Allan could even participate in the discussion on relative qualities of grapes and vineyards! I was quiet, I just drank what I was told to drink and enjoyed it.

Eileen cared for Allan, sat at his side, handed him the wine, and smiled at him. He seemed to melt slowly, and his almost stiff upper lip behavior turned into a casual friendliness to us; he reserved for Eileen an occasional caress, a touch on her arm, and a tender smile. Maureen suggested a game of scrabble and he agreed, but when he was informed that local rules allowed all women present to play together and that the men had to play separately, he protested.

"Eileen, this is not fair!" Her only response was, "Life is not fair! Do you want to play?" In the end, he nodded, and Maureen added: "Allan, we always lost against James, the fiend. We want to humiliate at least one man in this game!"

The game was disputed, and I held back to see how Allan would fare. He was good: not exceptional, but good and held his own. The end was tight, and I saw a chance to help him and placed my letter in a way that he could use up all of his.

He won and Eileen was upset. "This is not fair!" and Allan responded: "Life is not fair, dear!"

Allan and I were told to have a drink and they would decide on dresses for the night. There was a lot of giggling and Allan looked at me; I shrugged. "This is what you get when you join this family."

Later he left to change but would come back to pick up Eileen. I asked what had happened and why there was so much laughing, but was told to go back to the living room and finish my book. Lord and Master! Ha!

He appeared promptly at 7:30 and Eileen was ready: a very pretty blue summer dress accentuating her curves, a deep décolleté (without the opal pendant, I must say) and open sandals: a very pretty woman indeed. We had decided to let them go on their own and amused ourselves with another hour of Scrabble (which I won), a light supper, a bottle of champagne and lots of making love.

In the morning Maureen looked at Jenny. "Did you hear Mom coming back? " She shook her head and after the usual waking up ceremonies we were ready to have breakfast, when Eileen walked in, dressed as she had left.

She glanced at us, her face showing an expression like the cat that had eaten the fish, but saw the bowl broken on the floor.

She sat down, looked down and then regarded us. "We didn't want to wait another day. It was a wonderful dinner, we danced, he asked me to join him for a drink in his apartment and things just happened."

Now we stared at her and Jenny asked: "Eileen, are you happy? Are you satisfied?"

She started to cry. "I don't know. It was exciting to make love, he knows how to satisfy me, he led me and let me lead him, and we fitted together as if we had done this before. It was nice to be held in his arms before going to sleep and to wake up still in his arms, and he wanting to love me again. It was almost perfect, but there was one thing missing: the deep feeling of love, of affection. Physically I am exhausted, but emotionally I am confused."

Maureen went over and hugged her. "What could you expect, Mom? I believe just looking at you, that he used your body very thoroughly, and you certainly enjoyed it. But you're accustomed to a different level of love, much deeper and consuming, and now you have to find out how you fit together on an emotional level. You'll have to find a way to reciprocate, to see how much you can give, so that you receive back more."

She sniffled. "You are right, daughter. It's the beginning and both have to adjust." and a little smile appeared.

"You are right, he used me quite thoroughly. I did not expect him to be so athletic; his tennis and golfing paid off. He seemed to try to make up for all the months he was caring for Ellen and at the end, I had to beg for mercy. When I woke up, he was looking at me and started all over again. Sitting down is a bit uncomfortable at this moment..."

I decided that this was more information than I wanted and retired to the living room, but not before passing her chair and giving her a kiss; a small one, but an affectionate one. She looked up "I still love you, James."

I nodded and left. The conversation was loud and apparently happy and all I could hear was the occasional "Oh no!" or "What did he do?" or "Did you really?"

In the end, I was informed that we would meet Allan for lunch in that river restaurant. I took out the Mercedes and drove the few miles to meet Allan. All three had dressed up: Eileen in blue, Maureen in green, and Jenny in red. Allan was waiting already and had reserved a table in a corner, overlooking the garden.

He was again the perfect gentleman: blazer, open white shirt, foulard, there were flowers on the table and a bottle of champagne was already open. He did not look for us -- he only admired Eileen and a wonderful warm smile appeared on his face. When she came close, he did not hesitate, hugged her and kissed her deeply. Then he turned to us.

"We're not children anymore and you know probably what happened." He did not know that at least Maureen and Jenny knew much more than he thought. "We've decided that we want to try to be happy together, and we want your support. It'll not always be serenity; I have my own habits and I've found out that Eileen can be quite difficult, but we decided not to pass the chance to be happy. We'll try not to be mad at each other, not to walk away in anger, but to accept compromises and to search for a future together. And I ask you: if you see any problems with this, tell us and we will listen. Right, Eileen?"

She nodded and I was slowly seeing that they had a chance; Eileen needed someone who cared for her, but also told her occasionally what to do. She had a very good chance to be happy, and he ... probably even more so.

The lunch was lively and the conversation animated. We started to tease each other -- all in good taste, naturally -- and Allan felt free to show his affection, touching her, caressing her, and laughing with her. We went home and Eileen decided to leave for the Hunter Valley in the afternoon. I assumed that she wanted to sleep with him; having him at home during the night was too early, so she called the hotel and moved her arrival to tonight; she also canceled the second room. She packed her luggage and before they drove away, they turned to us. "I shall keep good care of him, James..." she whispered to me and Allan practically repeated her words. "Don't worry, James -- I'll make her happy."

When we back in the house we looked at each other; this was a situation we had not expected, but we would live with it and if necessary, help them to overcome any problem.

In real life was stressful: Maureen had to get the Sydney Branch working efficiently and smoothly, Jenny had to keep Mr. Simpson (and the dragon) happy, and I had to think about the future.

The big emotional crisis had been resolved, but what to do with the company? I had to think long-term, where to go from here, how to expand without getting lost, and principally to find good managers. I knew I could ask Peter or Jim, but this would be unethical. So join business associations, go to conferences and seminars, and get more data to crunch. Were there some badly managed logistics companies in other States, eventually think about NZ?

My life was full, but now was the time to go out and conquer Australia, and then the world.

TO BE CONTINUED