Page 36 of More than a Memory
“Hey Darcy,” he said.
“Hey.”
“Let’s sit in the sunroom where it is more comfortable,” Gina suggested.
Darcy had been in some opulent houses, but this was by far the most extravagant. She tried to keep her mouth from hanging open as she followed Gina and Mitch through the house. From the marble foyer and spiral staircase, to the ornate chandeliers, Greek columns, and high ceilings, everything was lavishly appointed. She simply couldn’t imagine a lifestyle this decadent. The house was filled with large urns full of fresh flowers. On one wall was a large formal painting, in oil, of Gina and a man she assumed to be Conrad, posed together on a settee. A bit pretentious, in Darcy’s opinion, but what the heck.
They finally arrived at the sunroom and sat down. A moment later, a full-bodied woman in uniform stepped into the room to ask if anyone wanted a beverage or anything to nibble on. Everyone declined and Gina dismissed her rather impatiently, then looked sheepish as she explained to Darcy that she felt suffocated by all the pampering.
“I honestly feel like Conrad keeps the help on just to spy and annoy me. I have asked that he only keep the staff on when he is here, but it’s like talking to the wall.” Looking at Mitch, she said, “Present company excluded, of course.” She continued gloomily, “Sometimes I do have the weekends to myself when he is away.”
Darcy felt compassion for Gina. Even with the dark circles under her eyes and the red nose, she was stunningly beautiful in a fragile way. Her skin was fair and flawless, and her large, cornflower blue eyes were surrounded by thick black lashes. She wore her blond hair in a ponytail on top of her head. She was almost too thin; her long pale arms looked like matchsticks and her slender fingers reminded Darcy of an artist’s hands. She couldn’t be more than twenty-five or twenty-six years old. She seemed so small and young in this massive fancy house. From the painting she had just seen, Conrad looked to be in his late forties, she thought. A good-looking guy, if you liked that type, the stiff and unyielding kind, at least that’s how he appeared to Darcy’s eye.
“Do you feel you have enough privacy to speak freely here? Or should we go outside? I see you have a garden seating area out there,” Darcy suggested, her paranoia just a by-product of her job experiences.
“I suppose we could. I guess I never feel like I have any privacy here. I’m always being watched. I’m kind of used to it now. They say you can get used to anything. Even prison,” She continued in a flat. almost trance-like monologue. “You know the story about the flies, if you put them in a jar and close the lid, after a while, when you remove the lid they don’t fly out. Then there is my favorite, if you put frogs in a pot of room temperature water then slowly bring it to boil, they don’t jump out, they just boil. They get so comfortable they just stay in the pot and die.”
“Well then,” Darcy cleared her throat, “I guess you relate to the frogs?” she asked.
“Yes, actually I do,” Gina responded quietly, looking to Mitch for reassurance.
“Why don’t you tell Darcy a little about yourself, Gina, and the events leading up to last week,” Mitch said encouragingly, like he was talking to a skittish child.
Suddenly Gina jumped up and said, “Yes, let’s go outside. I guess I’d feel safer outside after all.”
They followed her outside.
Without prompting, Gina began speaking almost as soon as they got settled. Leaning forward, cradling her belly, she continuously kept the rocking chair in motion, as her story of her relationship with Liam, and her life with Conrad poured out.
“Liam and I met at Conrad’s company Christmas party last year. As always, it was held at a swanky hotel, and I had escaped to the bar. Not long after I sat down, this handsome guy sat next to me and we struck up a conversation. As it turned out, he worked for my husband and, like me, bored with the superficial conversations at the party, had ducked out for a break.”
Gina continued, “There was an immediate attraction and the conversation flowed. I found out he had just started with the company in the fall after serving two tours of duty with the United States Army. We ended up sitting there for quite some time, until my husband finally noticed I was MIA and sent his assistant to find me. Impulsively, I wrote my number on a napkin and surreptitiously slipped it to him as I was leaving. I quietly told him I could use a friend and if that was of any interest to him to give me a call.”
“It wasn’t until mid-January that he finally called. I had all but given up hope that it would ever happen. He made quite the impression on me; I hadn’t been able to forget about him. We met for coffee at a mom-and-pop diner and this became our routine over the next several months. I felt like an orchid in the desert, I was so parched for conversation. And just to be seen and heard. I didn’t realize how lonely I had been until I met Liam. There was an instant bond. We both felt it. Two halves of a whole. We fell in love,” she said as she choked back a sob.
Pausing to collect herself, she looked toward Mitch for support, and he nodded his head slightly, encouraging her to continue.
“After meeting for several months, we began having an affair. We met at motels, occasionally his place, and when Conrad was out of town and I could get rid of the help, we met here. Recently, he had been pressuring me to leave my marriage so we could begin a life together. We both wanted children, which was never on the table with Conrad. Everything was what Conrad wanted. He is a “my way or the highway” type of guy. I promise you, my husband didn’t start out that way when he was in pursuit of me,”
“Tell me a bit about Conrad. How did you meet? You seem like total opposites, and there appears to be quite an age difference, I hope you don’t mind me saying,” Darcy said apologetically.
“I don’t mind at all. I was on staff at Cohen Technology. I worked in the front office at the main headquarters. I was the meet-and-greet person, answered phone calls, showed visitors to their meeting destinations, made coffee,” she said, rolling her eyes, “took minutes at meetings, I did a little of everything.”
“I was twenty-one years old when I started working there and, not long after, I became the target of my boss’s obsession. He was handsome, sophisticated, brilliant, rich, and persuasive! He began by giving me more and more responsibilities at work, then promoted me to be his assistant. It was a whirlwind of a romance.”
“It started innocently enough, business lunches, working into the evening, then he took it to the next level. Wining and dining, flowers, extravagant dates. Honestly, the age difference didn’t matter. He was charming and funny. On one business trip to New York City, he took me on a shopping extravaganza. He made the selections and I tried them on, modeling the clothing in our own private room with a sales associate at his beck and call. He devoured me with his eyes. He was hungry for me, and it was heady to say the least. His seduction was calculated and successful. On that first trip to New York, we hit Valentino, Armani, Saint Laurent, ending up at Cartier, where he purchased a diamond encrusted wristwatch. It probably cost more than six months of my salary!”
“Anyhow, we were married six months after he began his seduction. Strangely enough, he was insistent that we wait until marriage to consummate our love. My virginity was something he said he cherished, and he wanted a virgin bride. That should have been my first clue!”
“Our wedding day began like it was straight out of a fairy tale. After getting married at city hall in a no-nonsense ceremony, we flew in his private jet to Bonaire, where we checked into a luxurious villa overlooking the ocean. We dined in, enjoying a meal prepared by an accomplished chef he had employed for the entire week of our stay.”
“I was excited and nervous about consummating our marriage, but I was also ready. I’d been anticipating that moment for so long that I felt the sexual tension was ready to explode from inside of me. When the time came to bed together, he had laid out the lingerie he wanted me to wear, an exquisite white silk baby doll nightgown. I felt shy and self-conscious as I approached him. His eyes had raked hungrily over my exposed body.”
She shuddered, then continued. “He pulled me roughly onto the bed and, with no tenderness or foreplay, took me. My initiation into the mysteries of sexual intercourse were ruined. Instead, my first experience was one of pain, shock, and humiliation. I was devastated. When he was finished, he rolled off and commanded me to go wash up. When I returned, he had his back turned toward me and was soon fast asleep.”
“I am so sorry!” Darcy said, so angry that, if Conrad were there at that moment, she would have kicked him in the balls.
Mitch looked down at the ground as if trying to control his emotional response to her story.