Promise Me Eternity (21 page)

“I’ll never be able to clean that pan. You’re
going to have to buy a new one tomorrow. Damn it, Simon, why don’t
you set the timer if you’re so forgetful. It could have caught fire
…”

Simon didn’t care. After a long time he was
actually glad to see Helen, even if it meant listening to her
shrill voice echoing between the walls. He nodded in a conciliatory
manner.

“It would be better if you ordered a pizza or
something. At least that way you wouldn’t …”

He wasn’t listening, just staring at her. She
was still a beauty. He noticed she’d had her hair done.

After a while he said, “Helen, you have no
idea how happy I am to see you.”

She looked at him with surprise. Not knowing
what to reply, she started putting the clean dishes into the
cabinets.

“I don’t know how to tell you this. I’ve just
realized that I’ve been neglecting you badly the past five years. I
don’t know if you’ll ever be able to forgive me.”

For a moment she stopped what she was doing.
“And what brought you to this discovery?”

He looked down sadly. He thought of Dorothy,
who was probably going to die sometime soon. “I’m not as close with
my research as I thought I was. Actually, I’m nowhere near my
goal.”

She stood there with her eyes shut, listening
to him. Even though she had spent the last three weeks thinking
about leaving him, something in her heart prevented her from doing
so.

“I’ve wasted so many hours of our life. I’ve
also wasted a lot of money. All in vain. I realized only today how
wrong I was.” He looked at her standing there, utterly still, with
her back to him. He waited for her to say something, but since she
didn’t answer, he continued: “Maybe it’s already too late, maybe
you’ve had to endure too much of my nonsense. … I just want you to
know that I still love you very much and if you truly want to
divorce me, I’m the one to blame. I’m so sorry for everything.”

She was trying with all her might to stay
indifferent. She squeezed her hands into fists and shut her eyes
tight, stopping herself from crying. She was angry with him and she
felt like turning and hitting him with both hands.

Then with a trembling voice she said,
“Everything you say is true, Simon. That laboratory totally
obsessed you.” She wiped a tear with her finger.

“I’m sorry, my darling.”

“But it doesn’t matter. What matters is that
you’ve finally realized your mistake.” She took a few deep breaths
before continuing. “We have grown apart from each other. We haven’t
been a real husband and wife for quite some time.” Turning, she
faced him. She remembered the unpleasant encounter with Robert
Miner. “But it’s not all your fault. I’m also to blame.”

Surprised, he asked himself what she was
trying to tell him.

“I’ve become totally obsessed with money and
material things. I’ve thought a lot about your accusations. You
were right, I kept on thinking about what other people have got and
we haven’t. As if that was the only thing that mattered. What about
us, Simon? Don’t we matter?”

Standing up he cautiously took hold of her
hand. “Oh, Helen.”

“Instead of us going for trips and walks, I
was obsessed with the car and house. Isn’t that stupid? Like I was
married to things, not a person. I’ve been foolish as well, Simon,
but I’ll try to change.”

He kissed her softly. First on the forehead,
then her cheeks, ending with her lips. He pulled her to him and she
held on to him tightly. They stayed like that for minutes, drowning
in the warmth of their embrace. They had finally smashed through
the wall they had unintentionally built between them. They had
missed one another, but lately hadn’t been capable of telling each
other. They had become strangers, as if it was better and easier
living that way.

After a while they let each other go. Helen
was shaking and crying. Simon was wiping the tears from her face
with soft kisses. Then, arm in arm, they made their way upstairs.
It was so long since they had last made love.

Chapter 37

_______________________

He closed his eyes and let himself drift far
away. He was exhausted. Her lips were kissing his neck and the
touch of her breasts gave him a warm feeling. It was indescribably
beautiful; he hadn’t experienced anything so good for a long time.
Her beauty was an irresistible magnet.

Suddenly, Carlo Vucci appeared before him.
The anger in his dark eyes told Simon that this wasn’t going to end
well. Simon immediately let go of Christine and raised his hands,
as if to reassure him that he hadn’t touched her.

Carlo gave a hollow laugh and took hold of
Christine’s hair, jerking her up and ordering her to get
dressed.

Simon was shivering, wanting to get dressed
himself. Vucci grabbed his shoulder, telling him to stay put. He
had to stand in front of him, naked and humiliated.

“What do you want? Please, leave me
alone!”

Carlo Vucci waited for his wife to put on her
clothes. While she did so, she was sobbing and begging him not to
harm Simon. Carlo kept laughing.

“Now you’ll see what’ll happen to your
lover.”

“Listen, your wife came to me because of her
headaches. I had to do some tests.” He leaned forward to pick up
his underwear and a fist hit him in the ribs.

“Stand still and not a word!”

Simon could barely stand straight because of
the pain. “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

When Christine was finally dressed, a
butcher’s knife suddenly appeared in Carlo Vucci’s right hand. Both
Simon and Christine were speechless. Carlo was laughing out
loud.

“Wh-what a-are y-you … going to do?” Simon
asked.

“Honey, see what’s going to happen. Let it be
a lesson for the next time you think of someone else.”

His hand moved toward Simon. It was too quick
for Simon to jump out of the way. He felt a searing pain in his
groin and with horror watched his genitals fall to the floor. He
wanted to scream but couldn’t draw breath, as if the air was as
dense as water. He waved his hand, pointing to what was once his
but now lay on the floor in a mass of blood.

Christine was screaming with all her might,
then she was down, passed out. There was nothing in the room but
Simon’s stifled sobbing and Carlo Vucci’s awful roar of laughter.
But there was something else. Somewhere in the distance, Simon
could hear a familiar tune.

He opened his eyes and looked around the
room. He realized he was at home and there was no sign of Carlo
Vucci. Putting his hands to his groin he sighed with relief. But
something made him wonder if it really was just a dream. That sound
in the air, that melody … he could still hear it.

From her side of the bed, Helen said, “Simon,
answer your damn phone, please. It’s been ringing for nearly a
minute!”

“Sorry, darling.” Confused, he picked up his
phone and checked the time: half past ten.
Who could be calling
at this hour?
Not wanting to bother Helen, he left the
bedroom.

“Hello, who is this?” he asked angrily.

“It’s me. Sorry for calling so late …”

At first he didn’t know who it could be, but
then he recognized it was Christine. Judging by her voice,
something was wrong. Covering the earpiece, he went downstairs to
the kitchen.

In a whisper he asked, “Christine? What’s
happened?”

“I’m having one of my attacks. I don’t know
how to explain it, but I have the feeling I’m going to go mad.”

“What attacks? What are you talking
about?”

“The pain in my head, you know, I was telling
you. It hurts so much. It feels like my head is going to
explode.”

Angry that she was calling him so late
because of a headache, he then remembered he had never given her
his cell phone number. He shook his head. “Did you take any
pills?”

She answered hysterically, “Of course I did.
I took three painkillers.”

“You’ve taken three painkillers and your head
is still hurting?”

She started crying. “That’s what I was trying
to tell you last time. When it starts, it’s so bad I don’t even
know where I am. I wanted to ask you if you could come and get me
and take me home.”

“Me, come and get you? What about your
husband?”

“Oh Simon, of course I thought of Carlo
first. But he keeps changing his phone number and I’ve lost the
latest one. I can’t call him. Please, Simon, help me!”

Confused, he moved around the kitchen,
thinking. For a moment he saw the flash of the shining blade that
Carlo had used against him. “OK, Christine, I’ll come and pick you
up. Tell me the address.”

Twenty minutes later he was racing toward the
place she had described. He had told Helen that he had to go to the
hospital immediately because a patient’s condition had suddenly
gotten worse. He felt bad about having to lie to her, especially as
they’d had such a wonderful evening together.

As he neared the street she had mentioned,
his heart started beating faster.
What if Carlo suspects
something?
He would have to take her home.
How can I explain
her calling me?
The more he thought about it, the more he
realized how foolish he was.

He noticed her standing in front of the hotel
entrance. She was wearing a dark-green suit with an elegant round
hat. He parked in the hotel lot.

“I came as quickly as I could.”

Her face was as white as a sheet. Her voice
shook when she spoke and she pronounced her words with difficulty.
“Thank you, Simon. I’m so grateful that you came.”

“Listen, Christine! I was thinking on the way
here. It would be better if you called an ambulance or a taxi. Your
husband is sure to get suspicious.”

She looked at him with difficulty. “I don’t
understand. What could he become suspicious about?”

“You know. About what happened between us.
That should never have happened. I have a wife and you—”

“Ah, that.” She had to pause to gain
strength. “Simon, only we know about that, no one else. Of course
it won’t happen again—oh, my head.”

He took hold of her forearm, afraid she might
fall. He glanced around, obsessed with the anxiety that someone
might see them.

Simon had an idea. “Listen, Christine, let’s
go into the hotel so you can rest a bit. Then, when you’re better,
you can call a taxi to take you home. What do you say?”

She painfully turned her head toward the
hotel. “I don’t know. I never thought of that.” She turned to him,
then again to the hotel. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe that is the
best option.”

He was much relieved. The longer he stood in
the street with her, the greater chance of someone seeing them. “I
know you feel bad. Headaches can be very unpleasant. Luckily, they
go away sooner or later.”

She walked beside him with her head bowed,
while he still held her forearm. “Thank you, Simon, I’m really
grateful to you. I don’t know what I’d do alone.”

A friendly, young, red-haired receptionist
greeted them as they entered and gave them a room key. Simon told
her he was a doctor and that he was only there because Mrs. Vucci
was having trouble with her head. He did that just in case. You
never know.

When the elevator came to a stop on the third
floor and shook slightly, Christine nearly fell to the floor. He
caught her at the last moment.

“Sorry, Simon. When my head is throbbing so
much, I become as weak as a kitten. It will get better. It has
always gone away before.”

On their way to the room he said, “You say
you’ve taken three pain pills, but your head is still hurting?”

“Of course, I took so many I feel quite
bloated.”

“I hope you drank enough water. Painkillers
can be harmful.”

The hotel room was small, with two beds next
to each other. The furniture was shabby, a combination of blue and
gray. At the entrance to the room was a tiny bathroom.

“Yes, I drank enough water.” She stopped for
a moment, letting go of his hand. Her eyes were assessing the
premises. “Oh, Simon, this place is a disaster. I won’t be able to
lie down here. It smells.” She leaned on him again.

She was so close it made him nervous.
“Listen, Christine,” he said, “there’s nothing wrong with the
hotel. It may not be five-star, but it seems fine to me. And I
can’t smell anything.” He was not going back into the street with
her on his arm.
After all, it’s not her that her husband will
hurt, but me.

She was still holding on to him and looking
around. Her face looked like that of a little girl whose mother was
forcing her to eat her greens. “Oh, my head. Maybe it would be best
if I lie down. Simon, help me, please.”

Simon had the feeling she was going to
collapse. “Hold on to me. Of course I’ll help you.”

The last steps were the hardest. Near the bed
she was almost dragging her feet.

“Take that hat off. It’s getting in the
way.”

She did.

He had to hold her in his arms to help her
lie down on the bed. He held her close and she sighed loudly. “Oh,
Simon. I’m so grateful.”

Her sigh made him realize how close she was.
His body pressed against her breasts and she was so close that he
could easily kiss her. She looked at him while he laid her on the
bed. Her lips were only a few inches away.

He knew how dangerous this situation was. If
he didn’t let her go this minute, it would be too late. Passion
mixed with fear gripped his heart.

When he’d finally laid her down, he closed
his eyes and wanted to push her away. He was determined not to get
caught up in her web this time.

She wrapped her arms around his neck,
preventing him. “Simon, stay with me for a bit. My head is hurting
so much. We won’t do anything. Last time was a mistake. It won’t
happen again.”