As for our personal relationship, it was still governed by monotony. We were an old couple tied together by habit. But I didn’t complain: habit can become very comfortable.
More than a year went by during which I couldn’t bring myself to travel to London. The reports from Cooper and Evelyn were more than satisfactory. We had a small client portfolio that allowed us to pay our expenses and make a bit of a profit. Enough for Esther to be content.
Every day either Esther or I would speak on the phone to Maggie, who would update us on any administrative issues, and then either Cooper or Evelyn would inform us about work in progress.
No matter how much Esther insisted I travel to London, I didn’t go. I was enjoying my life in New York. I had Esther, and I had fun with Olivia and Constance. I was too lazy to cross the Atlantic to go to a city where I didn’t really have anyone.
I was also more involved with Ralph Morgan’s campaign than Esther would have liked. Officially, Nicholas Carter was campaign manager. He was the one who had the authority, and he directed Morgan, but he often sought my advice, listened to me, and little by little it became the norm for us to meet at least once a week to discuss the campaign’s next steps.
Olivia used to say that Carter was grateful to me for sleeping with Constance. I was sure that Carter didn’t know anything, but Olivia insisted that he did, considering that Constance had started working on the campaign without protest, and that whenever I appeared, she would run to my side, not caring what others might think.
Perhaps Olivia was right. In any case, even Ralph Morgan thanked me one day “for how well you handle Constance.”
I seem to remember it was three or four weeks before the congressional elections when Roy Parker called us.
“You must come to London. I have a surprise for you,” he said, laughing loudly.
There was no way to get him to say what it was about. Later Esther had to convince Maggie to tell us what Roy’s surprise was.
“You asked Evelyn to find him a wife, and that’s what she did,” said Maggie, without further explanation. Evelyn didn’t want to reveal the name of the woman Roy was going to marry either. All she said was that she hoped we liked the lucky lady.
It’s true that for some time I had enjoyed Roy’s company, but at that particular moment I refused to go to London. I couldn’t miss the election, I didn’t want to. There were only a few days left before we would find out whether Ralph Morgan had persuaded New Yorkers to vote for him. Furthermore, it would have been unprofessional for Esther and me to go away the night before the vote, even if Paul could be left in charge of the agency.
Roy protested, but in the end he admitted that we couldn’t leave our candidate by himself when he was about to cross the Rubicon.
“All right, help your man win the election like you helped me. But the day after you must come straight here. I want you to be my best man. You can’t refuse.”
I couldn’t refuse nor could Esther not accompany me.
On the day of the election, I persuaded Esther that we should join Ralph’s electoral committee to wait for the results. Carter was even more nervous than the candidate. As for Constance, she seemed indifferent about what might happen. She made me anxious with her insistence on not leaving my side. She followed me with her gaze wherever I moved, and from time to time, in an intense exercise in brashness, she would even hold my hand in front of Esther, her husband, Carter, and the rest of the team, and ask me in a mellifluous voice, “Do you really think Ralph is going to win?”
He won. Ralph was elected to Congress by a narrow margin. Carter burst into tears, and shamelessly threw his arms around Ralph. I noticed Constance’s disdainful gaze as her husband gave his campaign manager a few little pats on the back, in an attempt to extricate himself from the embrace.
When Carter stopped crying we went to the room where the journalists and everyone who had worked on Ralph’s campaign were waiting for him to address the voters.
I had told Constance to stand next to her husband, offering her best smile.
Ralph went in first, holding hands with his daughter, little Ellen, followed by Constance and Carter.
Esther pulled me over to a spot where we wouldn’t be noticed.
“America is the land where dreams come true, and tonight dreams will begin to come true for all those who voted for me because they want change. I will do the impossible so as not to let you down. I’m grateful for the trust of all the citizens who voted for me. But I want to say that I will not only be your congressman—I will also pay attention to the problems and questions of those who didn’t vote for me. It is my desire to become a worthy representative of the state of New York and to bring all its citizens’ concerns to Washington.
“I want to thank my dear wife, Constance, for her support and late nights helping me get to where I am, and for being the best mother a man could want for his children. My daughter, Ellen, has been my inspiration, because I want to contribute to a better future for her and for everyone.
“I can assure you I will not let you down. Thank you all.”
After those words Morgan kissed Constance, who received the kiss without moving a muscle, while little Ellen clapped her hands enthusiastically. Hundreds of balloons with Morgan’s face on them started to float up to the ceiling as the applause thundered around the room.
Ralph whispered something into Constance’s ear and she lifted her hand, waving to those present. The television cameras were trained on them.
Morgan’s and Constance’s parents also came out onto the stage, as Carter had arranged. Everyone was delighted to be in the supporting cast of Ralph’s success.
I saw Olivia sitting in the third row. She was smiling. I had asked her to come to the event so I could talk to her about the act we were putting on.
Ralph invited us to his family’s house for a late dinner. He was euphoric and needed to talk about what had happened. On Carter’s initiative, Constance had arranged for a cold dinner. At first she had refused, but I convinced her to accept Carter’s request. I even threatened to stop seeing her if she didn’t play the role of the perfect wife.
“I like to watch you pretend, knowing that you hate your husband and that you’d rather be fucking me. It makes me want you more,” I said. And it was true.
They had invited more than fifty people. We could barely fit in the living room, but because everyone was happy nobody seemed to mind not having a place to sit. The waiters came and went, passing around food and drinks from their trays.
It was nearly midnight when Esther asked me if we could go home.
“Almost everyone is drunk. We’ve fulfilled our obligation by coming to the party. But tomorrow morning I have a meeting at eight with the oil consortium people. I need to be awake. I don’t want that campaign to pass us by.”
I nodded. We’d leave, yes, but I asked for a few more minutes. I told her I needed to speak to somebody on the electoral team.
I went upstairs to the second floor. I had noticed Constance go up. She was in the bathroom; I knocked on the door and she opened it. I pushed her against the wall and I took her right there. The scene excited me. I wasn’t kind to her. Afterward I went downstairs without looking at her, without saying a word.
I waited three days before I spoke with her again. I wouldn’t answer her calls. Suddenly I was enjoying making her suffer. When at last I spoke to her I was cold, indifferent. I noticed the fear in her voice. Fear of losing me. I listened as she begged me to see her.
I asked her to meet me at a bar in Chinatown. She asked me to come to her house instead. She would be alone. Ralph had a meeting and Ellen was going to a classmate’s birthday party. We’d have two or three hours.
I refused. The more her voice thinned into a plea, the more amused I was. I took pleasure in her suffering, just as I had enjoyed Yoko’s suffering.
When we met at the bar in Chinatown she tried to hug me but I didn’t let her. I rudely pushed her away and she sat down, defeated, not un
derstanding.
“What do you want?” I asked, looking at my watch to make it clear I didn’t have time for this.
“I don’t understand, Thomas…What’s the matter? You suddenly don’t take my calls and…well, you ask me to come here.”
“That’s it, Constance.”
“What? I don’t know what you mean…”
“It’s over. We had a nice time but that’s it. Devote yourself to your husband and daughter. The congressman is going to need you to play the role of loving wife. Of course, you’ll need to try harder. Stop looking so disgusted when your husband comes near you.”
“But…what are you saying? You can’t…you can’t leave me…What have I done? Tell me what I’ve done!”
Constance had raised her voice so much that some of the bar’s customers started to stare. I savored that moment. A beautiful woman pleading with an ordinary-looking man like me.
I wasn’t really planning to leave her. I just wanted to make her suffer to increase her dependency on me. It greatly amused me to know that we were deceiving her husband, the flawless, newly elected congressman.
She started to cry, softly at first and then with no shyness at all. I despised her. Yes. I despised her dependency on me, knowing she was like a rag doll who would let me do whatever I pleased with her as long as she could keep me by her side. That was my power. I felt powerful with her and that was something that didn’t happen with Esther or with Olivia.
Esther was my wife, but I wasn’t sure how long she would remain by my side. I was indifferent about Olivia. I didn’t own either of them. But Constance was wholly mine.
It took her a long time to get a hold of herself and stop crying. I looked at her, bored.
“I’m going to London with Esther,” I said, knowing this would increase her desperation.
“You’re leaving? Why? When will you be back?” she asked. Her anxiety was plain in her voice, in her gaze, in her clenched fists.
“Business. You know we have a branch office of Global Communication in London. There are clients we need to look after.”
“Why are you going with your wife?” Her jealousy showed in her shrill tone of voice.
“Because she is my wife and my partner, but I don’t need to give you explanations. You have no right to ask me anything, least of all about Esther.”
“Your wife…I thought there was barely anything between the two of you.”
“Wrong conclusion. I adore her. There is no other woman in the world like her. We will enjoy our stay in London.”
“Pig!” she hissed.
“From what I can tell, you like pigs, so I will take that as a compliment.”
She burst into tears again. I could feel her desperation. She was willing to do anything.
“If you leave me I’ll tell everyone about us. I’ll tell Ralph, and your wife; I’ll call a press conference,” she threatened.
I shrugged. I was sure she wasn’t capable of such a stupid thing.
“Your husband will look like a cuckold, you will look like a slut, and my wife will forgive me. I’ll explain to her that you seduced me, that you put your hand down my pants. We’ll be able to deal with the scandal. I’ll be okay, but Ralph and you won’t.”
—
It wasn’t easy to forget about Constance during our stay in London. She sent me text messages continually, some supplicating, others full of threats. I didn’t reply to any of them. I was determined to enjoy the trip.
Esther didn’t really want to come with me, but she dutifully agreed to. Roy Parker was still our best client, and if he was getting married and had invited us to the wedding, we couldn’t slight him.
Our London apartment seemed less inviting than when I had lived there before. We had become used to having enough space for the both of us and, although neither of us said so, it was actually irritating to have to share the bathroom and not each have our own work space. We didn’t feel comfortable in the bedroom even though in New York we shared a bed.
“It’s so small!” Esther whispered as she unpacked suitcases.
We went to the office. Maggie was as caustic as ever. She raised an eyebrow when she saw us walk in and didn’t even bother to get up to welcome us.
“Did you have a nice flight?” she asked, without enthusiasm.
We nodded, and Esther asked her to summon Evelyn and Cooper to my office.
“Cooper is having breakfast with a client and Evelyn hasn’t arrived yet. She’s with Roy Parker,” Maggie informed us.
Esther was not willing to sit around doing nothing, so she asked Maggie to show her the accounts and all the paperwork that had to do with the company’s administration.
Maggie swore under her breath at Cooper and Evelyn’s absence.
I sat patiently for some time listening to Maggie repeat explanations about income and expenditure, which we already knew, but which Esther seemed determined to go over again.
Cooper finally arrived at ten. He came in whistling, oblivious to our presence. When he saw us, he seemed happy. He shook my hand, gave Esther a couple of kisses, and joined Maggie’s presentation about the accounts.
As soon as I could, I diverted the conversation toward more practical issues: what they were working on, and what the new clients were like.
At eleven, Evelyn appeared. She looked as if she’d just stepped out of the shower. Her skin was radiant, her hair pulled back on her nape with a few hairpins, and she wore a red suit that hugged her figure like a glove and a pair of heels at least four inches high. Quite attractive.
She seemed happy to see us, but Evelyn wasn’t one to waste any time and she joined the meeting to discuss general issues.
At one, Maggie showed signs of impatience. She was hungry. Every day at that time she had a sandwich and a cup of tea.
She refused an invitation to lunch with Cooper and Evelyn at a pub near the agency.
We made small talk, but it seemed that Cooper and Evelyn were hiding something from us. Esther also noticed it and, being Esther, asked them directly.
“I have the feeling that you have something to tell us and you don’t know how.” In her tone of voice there was a slight admonishment.
“Well, there is news…But we’ll tell you later,” Evelyn responded.
“I don’t like surprises. Whatever you have to say, I want to hear it right now” was Esther’s curt reply.
“Not now…No, it’s not possible. Later. Roy wants to invite you both out to supper. How about seven? Cooper, you’re invited as well,” said Evelyn.
“Very well, we’ll have dinner with Roy, but I want to know now what’s going on,” Esther insisted.
“It’s a surprise,” Cooper interrupted.
“I’ve told you already I don’t like surprises.”
“This surprise, I hope, won’t disappoint you. Please, Esther, wait until the evening!” Evelyn begged her. I made a gesture to Esther asking her not to insist. What difference did it make? I didn’t believe that what they had to tell us could really affect us. The agency was doing well: we didn’t have huge earnings, but we did make enough for it to not be a burden. The only bad news they could give us was that Evelyn and Cooper might be thinking about leaving Global Communication to start their own business, and that wouldn’t be so dramatic either. London was full of young talent eager to be discovered.
After lunch we went to the apartment to rest. I wasn’t tired, but if we had to have dinner with Roy, the evening would be a long one. He wasn’t the kind to go to bed straight after the meal. He would insist on having a few drinks. Perhaps Esther would be allowed to go home early, but under no circumstances would I.
At five thirty Esther whispered in my ear that it was time to get up.
“I’ll get in the shower, but start getting up.”
She took twenty minutes to come out of the bathroom. She was already wearing makeup and was ready to face the evening.
“What kind of restaurant is it? Do I need to dress up?”
“Le
Gavroche is a place that’s a little special. It’s in Mayfair and people go there to see and be seen…I think it has a Michelin star.”
“I like barbecued ribs. Why do all rich people have to be such idiots?”
“For eating at Michelin-starred restaurants?”
“Do you think all these modern executives actually like food that doesn’t look like food? If they go it’s because those places are fashionable, even though they would rather have a good steak. All right, what shall I wear?”
“You know, the usual in these cases: a black dress, high heels, and modern jewelry that looks sophisticated but not too formal.”
“What a load of nonsense!”
She followed my advice. The heels were considerably high.
“I can’t wait to meet Roy’s future wife,” I said on the way to the restaurant.
“Maybe we know her already,” Esther suggested.
Roy was waiting for us impatiently. Cooper was wearing a tie and Evelyn a dark blue silk dress and a pair of heels that were even higher than the ones she’d worn in the morning. I started to see how beautiful she’d become.
“Will I always have to get married to get you to come to London?” Roy said as he gave Esther a hug.
“We really wanted to come and see you sooner…But we’ve had to work so hard to keep the agency running as it should in New York,” I said, just for the sake of saying something when it was my turn to receive Roy’s hug.
It was obvious that Roy was happy. Even rejuvenated. The suit he was wearing was from Savile Row and the shoes were Italian. Yes, he had eschewed his disheveled style in favor of clothes that were more appropriate for a member of Parliament in Her Majesty’s government. Because Roy had made it. Or, more accurately, Schmidt and the lawyers had done the impossible and had enabled him to occupy a seat at Westminster. Of course, we had done our part too. I could only imagine what poor Evelyn must have had to put up with.
Roy ordered cocktails for everyone, despite Esther insisting that she preferred a glass of white wine.