No Greater Love (30 page)

“Where’s Helen?” she asked George as they stood in the garden at Pickfair, drinking and watching the others
dance. He hadn’t mentioned her this time, which for George was very rare. He seemed to go everywhere with her, everywhere that mattered to him, although they still saw other people, but it was Helen who made him smile, Helen he cared about when she had the smallest problem or the merest cold, Helen who had his heart. But he seemed in no particular rush to get married, and Edwina had always hesitated to ask him about it.

“Helen’s in Palm Springs with her father,” he said quietly, and then he glanced at Edwina. “Sam thinks we shouldn’t see each other anymore.” It explained the sudden invitation to the premiere, and her absence now. Edwina had been thinking for several hours that this was a party he should have gone to with Helen.

“Why not?” Edwina was touched by the look in his eyes. Beneath the jovial exterior, he looked crushed, which was unlike him.

“He thinks that after four years of seeing each other, we should either be married or forget it.” He sighed and accepted a refill of champagne from a passing butler. He had drunk a little too much champagne, but ever since the onset of Prohibition three years before, everyone had. It was a favorite sport going to speakeasies and hidden bars, and at private parties, the bootleg liquor flowed like water. The Volstead Act had seemed to have turned a lot of innocent people into alcoholics. But fortunately, George didn’t have that problem, it was just that tonight he was so damn lonely for Helen, and Edwina could see that he looked unhappy.

“Why don’t you marry her, then?” She dared to say something she never had to him before, she had never wanted to press him, but maybe now was the time, and she had had a bit of champagne as well. “You love her, don’t you?”

He nodded, and smiled down at her sadly. “Yes. But I can’t marry her.”

Edwina looked startled. “Why not?”

“Think of what everyone would say. That I married her to get in tighter with Sam … to tie things up with her father. That I married her for the money … for a job.” He looked unhappily at his sister then. “The truth is that Sam offered me a partnership six months ago, but as I see it, it’s the girl or the job. If I marry her, I almost have to leave Hollywood, so people don’t think I married her for the wrong reasons. We could go back to San Francisco, I guess.” He looked at Edwina miserably. “But what would I do there? I left four years ago, and I don’t know anything about any other kind of business. Except for what I do here, I don’t think I could get a job. And I spent the money from Aunt Liz, so how would I support her?” He had a good income there, probably even a great one, but away from Hollywood he had nothing. And he had spent the money he’d inherited from their aunt on a beautiful estate, fast cars, and a stable full of expensive horses. “So if I marry her, we starve. And if I take the partnership with Sam, no Helen … I can’t marry her, and become partners with Sam, it just looks too awful. It looks like nepotism of the worst kind.” He set down his glass again, and this time when the butler came by again, he covered the glass with his hand. He didn’t even want to get drunk tonight. He just wanted to cry on his sister’s shoulder, and he was sorry for not showing her a better time after inviting her down for the premiere.

“That’s ridiculous,” she insisted, looking at the anguish in his eyes. “You know the score with Sam. You know why he wants you to be his partner. Look at the compliment that is, at your age, that’s unbelievable. You’d be one of the biggest success stories in Hollywood.”

“And the loneliest.” He laughed. “Edwina, I just can’t
do it. And what if she thought I married her to get ahead? That would be even worse. I just can’t do it.”

“Haven’t you talked to her about any of this?”

“No. I only talked to Sam. And he said he’d understand whatever I decided, but he thinks the romance has gone on long enough. She’s twenty-two years old, and if she doesn’t marry me, he thinks she ought to marry someone else.” And he was not yet twenty-four and he had almost everything he wanted, except a partnership with the most powerful man in Hollywood, and the woman whom he loved as his wife. He could have had both, but somehow he kept insisting that he couldn’t, and Edwina understood his fears about it, but she thought it could be worked out, and she spent most of the evening trying to change his mind. But George was adamant as he drove her back to the hotel finally in his Lincoln Phaeton. “I can’t do it, Win. Helen is not a bonus I get along with the business.”

“Well, dammit.” Edwina was getting exasperated with him. “Do you love her?”

“Yes.”

“Then marry her. Don’t waste your life going out with other girls you don’t care about. Marry her while you can. You never know what’s going to happen in life. When you have the chance for what you want, grab it.” There were tears in her eyes when she spoke to him, and they both knew she was still thinking of Charles. He was the only man she had ever loved, the only man she had ever thought of, and he was long gone, and with him, he had taken an important part of her life. “Do you want the job?” she went on, determined to solve the problem that night, in spite of his reservations. “Do you want the partnership with Sam?” she asked again, and he hesitated this time, but only for an instant.

“Yes.”

“Then take it, George.” Her voice softened and she
put her hand on his arm. “Life only gives you so many chances. And it’s given you everything you ever dreamed of and more. Take it, love it, hold it, keep it, be grateful for everything you have.
Do
what you
want to
do … don’t waste your life giving things up for ridiculous reasons. Sam is offering you a fabulous opportunity, and Helen is the woman you love. If you ask me, I think you’d be crazy to give either of them up. You know that you’re not marrying her to get closer to Sam. You don’t have to. He’s already asked you to be his partner. What more do you want? Go after it, and to hell with what people think. You know what, even if someone does think something about it, or even dares to say it, by next week they’ll have forgotten. But you never will, if you give it up. You don’t belong in San Francisco, you belong here, in this crazy business you’re so good at, and one day Sam’s studio will be yours, or you’ll have your own. You’re twenty-three years old, kid, and you’ll be at the top of all this one day. You already are. And now you’ve got a girl that you love too…. Hell,” she said, smiling at him as the tears spilled from her eyes, “grab the gold ring, George … you’ve got it, it’s yours … you deserve it.” He did, and she loved him. She wanted him to have everything that she had never had. She had no regrets about her life, but she had given up her own life, in a sense, for these children, and now she wanted each of them to have everything, all their dreams, and everything life had to offer.

“Do you really mean it, Sis?”

“What do you think? I think you deserve it
all
. I love you, you silly boy.” She rumpled the carefully slicked-down hair, and he returned the favor. He liked her hair in a bob, and she looked so pretty. It was a shame that she had never married, that there had been no one since Charles. And then, because of the champagne and the
closeness of the moment, he dared to ask her something he’d wondered about for a long time.

“Are you sorry you never had more than this, Win? Do you hate your life now?” But he thought he knew the answer anyway, it was in her eyes.

“Hate it?” She laughed, and she looked surprisingly content for a girl who had spent eleven years bringing up her mother’s children. “How could I hate it when I love you all so much? I never thought about it years ago, it was just what I had to do, but the funny thing is you’ve all made me so happy. I would have loved to be married to Charles, of course, but this hasn’t been a bad life.” She talked about it now as though it were almost over. And in some ways, for her, it was. In five more years, Teddy would go to Harvard. Fannie and Alexis would probably be married by then, or on their way. And George’s life was certainly on the right track, except for torturing himself just then, but five years from then it would be long solved. And she would be alone then, the children she had raised would be grown. It was a time she didn’t like to think about now. “I have no regrets,” she said to George as she leaned over and kissed his cheek. “But I’d hate to see you miss out on spending the rest of your life with someone you love. Go to Palm Springs and get Helen, and tell Sam you’ll be his partner, and forget about what people will think. I think it’s great, and you can tell Helen I said so.”

“You’re amazing, Win.” And later when he walked her into the hotel, he thought of what a great girl she was, and how lucky any man would have been to have married her. And there were times when he still felt guilty about her not getting married. He still felt that he and the children had taken so much from her. He was about to say something about it, when they both saw the same thing at the same time, and stopped. Alexis was walking across the lobby in a gray satin evening gown
that was Edwina’s, her hair piled high on her head, held back by a spangled headband with a white feather that she had concocted from somewhere, and she was on the arm of a tall handsome man whom George recognized, and Edwina didn’t. They were obviously coming home from somewhere, and Alexis had not yet spotted George and Edwina.

“My God,” Edwina whispered, thunderstruck, she had thought that Alexis was at home in bed, while they were at the party. “Who is that?” He looked to be about fifty years old, and he was undeniably good-looking, but he was three times her sister’s age, and he looked more than a little drunk, and very taken with Alexis.

George’s face was set as he advanced across the lobby, speaking in an undertone to Edwina. “His name is Malcolm Stone, and he’s the biggest son of a bitch I know. He goes after young girls all the time, and I’ll tell you one thing, I’ll kill the bastard before he gets Alexis.” It was unlike him to use language like that or lose his temper around his sister, and Edwina was momentarily stunned. George looked as though he was going to murder him. “He’s a big new star down here, or at least that’s what he thinks. He’s only been in a couple of pictures so far, but he has big ideas. And when he’s not working, he keeps busy with the ladies, mostly other people’s wives or daughters. Very young ones seem to be his specialty.” And the way he was looking at Alexis said that George wasn’t wrong. He had also had an eye on Helen, which had seriously irritated George several weeks before, and he wanted her for all the reasons George didn’t. Because she was beautiful and rich, and because he wanted a conduit to Sam, her father.

“Stone!” George’s voice boomed out across the lobby, and the pair stopped and Alexis turned, with a look of terror as she saw George. She had wanted to get home before they did, but she had had such a good
time
dancing at the Hollywood Hotel that they’d forgotten the time. She had met Malcolm several times in the lobby, and when they’d introduced themselves eventually, the third time they met, he had recognized her name. He had asked her if she was related to George Winfield of Horowitz Pictures, and when she said she was, he had taken her to lunch at the hotel. Edwina had been at the La Brea tar pits with the children that day, but Alexis had stayed at the pool to enjoy the sunshine.

“Just exactly what are you doing with my sister?” George spat the words at him as he strode across the room and stood in front of Malcolm Stone.

“Absolutely nothing, dear boy, except having a lovely time. It has all been very aboveboard, hasn’t it, my dear?” He had a phony English accent and Edwina could see from where she stood that Alexis was smitten by him. For a shy child, she had a strange affinity for older men. “Your sister and I have been dancing at the Hollywood Hotel, haven’t we, my dear?” Malcolm smiled down at her, but only Alexis didn’t see that the look in his eyes was anything but benign.

“Are you aware that she is not quite seventeen years old?” George was absolutely steaming, and Edwina was equally upset. It was very wicked of Alexis to have snuck out while they were gone.

“Aha.” Stone smiled down at the girl. “I believe there’s been a little misunderstanding.” He gently took her hand from his arm, and offered it to George. “I believe we said that we were about to have our twenty-first birthday.” Alexis flushed beet red with embarrassment, but in truth Malcolm Stone didn’t look as though he cared. It was only embarrassing to have her age pointed out to him by her older brother. He had been aware all night long that she was far younger than she had claimed to him, but she was a beautiful child, a pretty girl, and being seen with her couldn’t do any
harm. “Sorry, George.” He looked far more amused than penitent. “Don’t be too hard on her, she’s a very charming young girl.”

George didn’t mince words with him as they stood there. “Stay away from her.”

“Of course, as you say.” He bowed low to the three of them, and walked quickly away.

George stood staring at her then, and grabbed her arm as they hurried toward Edwina’s cottage, and Alexis had begun to cry as her older sister frowned. “What ever possessed you to go out with him, for heaven’s sake?” George was furious with her, which was rare for him. He was always his younger siblings’ benefactor, intervening for them when he thought Edwina was being too severe. But not this time. This time he would have liked to give Alexis a good spanking, except that she was far too old for that, and, of course, Edwina wouldn’t have let him. But he wanted to strangle her for falling prey to a man like Malcolm Stone. “Do you know what he is? He’s a phony and a four-flusher! He’s crawling his way around Hollywood to get ahead, and he’ll use anyone he can!” George was well acquainted with the world he lived in, and men like Malcolm Stone were all over town, a dime a dozen.

But Alexis was sobbing openly by then as she wrenched away her arm. “He is
not
what you say he is! He’s sweet and kind, and he thinks I should be in movies with him. You’ve never said that to me, George!” she said accusingly as the tears poured down her face, and in his estimation Malcolm Stone was anything but “sweet and kind.” He was a snake of the very worst species.