Broken Serenade (40 page)

    “I’
ve got my share of love, Vivien,” Lili replied, defensively. “And speaking from experience, I can tell you that you can live without him. Actually, you can do great without him. Pain, tears, and suffering breed geniuses.” 

    Vivien shook her head adamantly.

   “No, Mademoiselle Lili. You’re wrong again. I’m not a genius, and I’ve never desired to become one. Unlike you, I don’t entertain megalomania dreams. I’m very happy the way I am. And I wouldn’t leave Tee for anything in the entire world. I would die with him. I would give my life for him. Do you know why? Because I know that he loves me, every bit as much as I love him.” 

    “He loves you?” Lili laughed sarcastically.
“Men are animals, Vivien, creatures of basic instincts. Their love doesn’t come from their hearts, but rather from their penises. A man doesn’t love his woman. He lusts for her. When lust is gone, there is usually nothing left but disgust. And the devouring desire to discard the old and find another woman, a younger and more beautiful one.” She threw her head back and laughed maniacally. “Oh, my dear girl, you are going to be a real Amazon, just the way I am. Do you have any idea what that implies? You’ve seen my body, haven’t you? You’ve seen my holly scar – the scar of the real Amazon woman. You will be the same. In conclusion, Vivien, when I’ll be done with you, I doubt that your darling Tee will still want you in his bed.” She chuckled sarcastically, and her eyes clung to Vivien’s breasts.  

    “You’re out of your mind
,” Vivien uttered in shock and horror. “How do you imagine that I’m going to let you mutilate me?” she added, taking a few quick steps back.  

    “Not so fast, missy,” s
he heard LaFontain barking in her ear.

   
The woman got hold of Vivien’s arms and crossed them painfully behind her back.

    Vivien struggled to escape
, yelling as loud as she possibly could.

  
“Leave me alone, you crazy women! Let me go! Help! Help!”

    Lili took the small bottle and a handkerchief from the vanity drawer.

    “Calm down, Vivien! It’
s not as if I’m going to kill you. I will make you a princess. Isn’t that any girl’s dream? Easy now, in just a few seconds, you’ll feel nothing at all.”  

    “
Hurry, my Queen! Please, hurry,” LaFontain pleaded, panicky, straining under Vivien’s desperate attack. “She’s getting stronger. I don’t know if I can hold her any longer. Hurry, please!” 

    The st
rong voice of a man cut the air with authoritative force over the entire uproar.

    “Take your hands off my wife, LaFontain!”

    “Tee!” Vivien called him through tears.

    LaFontain freed her immediately and moved her hand swiftly to the pocket of her manly cut coat. Timothy had anticipated her intention. With the back of his hand, he instantly sent her a powerful and very effici
ent blow over her sour face. His former secretary hit the doorframe and slid slowly on the floor, in a sitting position, propped up by the wall like a lifeless rag doll. She blacked out. The gun fell from her hand right beside her. Timothy kicked it hard with the tip of his shoe. He watched that pistol slide on the parquet floor until it reached the furthest corner of the room.

    He turned his attention to Lili. The Queen had dropped the bottle and handkerchief. Maddened, she was rummaging through the
drawer. She took the bistoury and aimed it at him.

    “Are you kidding me?” Timothy scorned. “Now you want to fight with me, Lili?
Hand to hand combat? Come on, give it a try! I dare you!”

    “You’re a gentleman, dear Tim. A gentleman doesn’t hit a woman.”

    “Oops! I just did it with LaFontain,” Timothy reminded Lili, advancing aggressively toward her. “And I can’t wait to repeat that with you, Lili. I’m burning with anticipation.”  

   
In the blink of an eye, Lili evaluated the situation. She understood that the odds were against her. She threw the bistoury on the floor.

    “You’ll pay dearly for all of this, Tim
othy,” she threatened and hurried to the front door.

    To her bitter surprise, she
collided with detective Leonard.

    “
Quo vadis
, Miss Lauren?” His question was well-seasoned with sarcasm. “I’ve booked the best cell for you,” he told her. “You’ll love the arrangements. Alberman, handcuff her!”

    La
Fontain was just regaining consciousness. She mumbled obscenities, still unable to move. Another police officer walked up to her with his gun at the ready.

    “
You’re with LaFontain, your most trusted servant. What a wonderful surprise, Your Majesty,” the detective mocked her. “One undreamed-of bundle package,” he concluded contently.

    “You have nothing concrete against me! It
’s just their word against mine,” Lili fought back.

    Art Leonard glanced inside the closet.

    “And a few little things worth studying,”
he continued, disregarding her belligerent acting.

    He put on a pair of plastic gloves and approached the drawer.

    “It looks like… we have enough evidence to put you behind bars for the rest of your life,” he announced with a grin.

*                                           *                                          *

    Timothy
and Vivien stepped outside. Lili was just being escorted to the police car.

    “She’s not your wife yet,” she yelled
insanely.  

  
“She is in my heart,” Timothy answered.

    “You know,” Lili continued,
suddenly calm. “I actually admire you two. I can’t help it. I’m an expert in couples. I’m sure that you’ll have beautiful children. I can’t wait to see my granddaughter,” she told them, as she finally stepped inside the police car laughing dementedly.

    Timothy turned his back on her.
She was out of their life forever. The nightmare was over. Now, he had more important issues to solve. Urgently!  

    He immobil
ized Vivien between the outside wall and his body. He didn’t touch her, even though he looked consumed with passion. He just stood there with his hands on the wall and his arms on one side and the other of Vivien’s head. His deep brown eyes seemed to want to devour her.

    “Vivien, you have to stop this practice once
and for all,” he said in a dangerously serious tone of voice. “You can’t enter strangers’ houses without gambling on your life, woman! Don’t you get it?”

    “I was invite
d,” she defended her action.

    “Vivien,” he
breathed angrily. “Don’t even try that with me. I know your bad habits.”

    She felt like a child caught red-handed, and she hated it.
I’m not going to stay
here and let him twist my tail
, she thought.

    “I just wanted to see Mr. Logan’s statues.
That’s all. I’m sorry,” she brazened it out.

    Edgy, he imitated her tone
, as he could hardly control his effusion.

    “
I’m sorry
is not going to save you. What would’ve happened if that obsessed kid who follows your every move like a faithful dog had not told me where you went?”

    “B
rad. Now you’re jealous on Brad! He’s a child.”

    “His chi
ldhood years are long gone. He looks at you with man’s eyes. I know that look too damn well. I’ve been there!”

   
“Not every adolescent is as precocious as you were.”

    He exhaled deeply.

    “Some strange epidemic in Woodside, I guess. Because not every child is as precocious as you were.”

    Vivien smiled.

    “
Tee, I’m really sorry,” she said tranquilly, and she meant it this time. She finally realized what he must’ve been through when he had not found her at her place.”I will never do it again. I promise you. Now, please darling, calm down,” she asked him quietly, gingerly touching his cheek. “Errare humanum est. So please, forgive me.”

    His features started to change gradually. He became less and less agitated. His eyes bathed her with unrestrained passion.

    “Where should you be right now, baby?” he asked softly.

    “Home,
” Vivien whispered.

    “More precisely,” he pressed.

    “In bed…”

    “Wearing?”

    “Something
small, very small…”

    “Only my ring,” he stated in a husky voice and his passionate look descended on her lips.

   
He is not going to kiss me. He wouldn’t dare. Not here, with so many people looking at us
, she thought, feeling a sudden void in the pit of her stomach. Involuntarily, she bit her lower lip. Timothy heaved a silent groan. The next instant, his lips were eagerly crashing hers.
Oh God, he’s actually doing it
, Vivien thought, terrified.

   
They already had a few good hours of kissing time, and yet, this kiss seemed like the first one ever. She was beginning to feel her body melting and slowly flowing into his, when Timothy broke the kiss.   

    He was still using her full
first name, as he always did when he was mad at her.

    “I have to punish you, Vivien,” he said brusquely
and gravely. “Now, you have to understand that I need to feel that you belong to me in a way or another,” he went on, rather degage, as if the earlier kiss never even existed.

    “We are not
in the middle ages,” Vivien replied, hurt by his demand and especially by his quick recovery. She was not having the slightest idea about what it would follow, what he would ask from her. “I’m not your slave,” she rose in revolt.

    “Come on, Ve
e! I saved your cute little ass so many times, that it practically belongs to me,” he laughed, relaxed. 

    “Is there something I don
’t know yet?” she inquired. “Has Clark actually succeeded in co-opting you into his misogynic organization?”  

    Timothy denied shaking his head. He just watched her intently for a few seconds. She fell silent under his
hypnotizing gaze.

 
  “Marry me, Vee,” he asked unexpectedly.

    Vivien produced a floral smile loaded with tranquility.

    “My sweet darling, I promised I would marry you, and I’m keeping my word.”

    “No
, Vee, you didn’t understand me. Marry me
now
!”

    “Now? But I’m in yoga pants and…”

    “And I’m wearing a pair of jeans and an old sweater.”

    “We have no witnesses,” Vivien exclaimed. “Who do we find on such short notice?”

    “I apologize for interfering,” Art Leonard paused beside them. “I involuntarily overheard your discussion,” he stammered.
“My girlfriend and I would love to be your witnesses. We don’t have a wedding gift, as we were… not expecting such an event, but I’m sure that she could find a few perfume samples to offer you symbolically. You two discuss the matter, and tell me if you need anything,” the detective said, and then he retreated to his work.

    “You see? The witnesses issue is also solved,” Timothy encouraged her.

    Vivien couldn’t stop laughing. He put his fingers under her velvety chin and gently lifted her face toward him. His eyes bored deep into hers, as if he were searching for her soul. His gaze revealed so much love.

    “I’m serious, Vee! I want your answer. Now.”

    “Because you’ve saved my life so many times,” she started. “Because I love you so much that it hurts sometimes. And when you look at me, the way you look at me now… How could I say no? It’s yes, anytime, anywhere.”

    He gathered her in his arms and held her tight.

    “God! I love you, Vee.”

    “I love you too, Tee.”

    He kissed the top of her head.

    “Does this mean that you forgave me?”
Vivien asked with her lips on his chest.

    “Of course
I did. Just don’t do it again, baby. I’m running out of ideas for punishing you.”

EPILOGUE

     
 
I
t was way past midnight in snow dressed-up Paris, but in a small, coquette villa on a quiet street in Montmartre Quartier there was light in the windows. Vivien was adding the last touches to the beautiful Christmas tree they had bought that afternoon in a neighboring marketplace.

    Timothy had sprung a formidable surprise on her. Without her knowing anything about it, he had rented that villa for an entire month
, so they could spend the winter holidays in Paris.