No Greater Love (36 page)

“I’m alright,” she said faintly, but even over the long-distance wires, she wasn’t convincing. “I’m with Malcolm.”

“I figured out that much,” Edwina said, tears of relief choking her. “But why? Why on earth would you do something like this, Alexis?” It made Edwina want to ask herself where she had gone wrong. “Why did you lie to me?”

“I didn’t. Not really. I hardly talked to him at the
wedding. I just danced with him once and agreed to meet him for lunch.”

“So where are you?” It had certainly been the longest lunch in her life, and by now Edwina had no illusions about what had happened. After five days, even Edwina knew what must have transpired.

“I’m in New York,” Alexis answered nervously, as Edwina gasped, and then shook her head, wondering if she could contact George, but she hated to bother him now on his honeymoon, and there was very little that could be done. More than anything, Edwina wanted to hush it up. She was planning to tell Sam that she had found her, and maybe even swear the other children to secrecy, and never tell George at all. The fewer people who knew about this, the better it would be for Alexis, and that was all she could think of now.

“Where are you in New York? What hotel?” Her mind was racing.

“At the Illinois Hotel,” Alexis answered, and she gave Edwina an address far up on the West Side. This was certainly not the Plaza or the Ritz-Carlton, but Malcolm Stone was not that kind of man. “And Edwina …” Her voice broke, she knew it would break Edwina’s heart, but she wanted to tell her. “I’m married.”

“What?”
Edwina almost leapt into the phone. “You are?”

“Yes, we got married before we got on the train.” She didn’t tell her that she had been drunk and had no recollection of it, it seemed enough just to say she was.

“Are you coming back now?” Edwina had every intention of getting it annulled, and seeing to it that Alexis came to her senses, but first she had to get her home before she could do that.

“I don’t know …” She sounded tearful. “Malcolm says he wants to try out for a play in New York.”

“Oh, for God’s sake. Look …” She closed her eyes
for a moment and made some rapid calculations. “Stay where you are, I’m coming to get you.”

“Are you going to tell George?” At least she had the grace to sound embarrassed, Edwina was relieved to hear.

“No, I’m not. I’m not going to tell anyone, and neither are you, and neither is Malcolm. The fewer people who
ever
know about this, the better. I’m bringing you home with me, and that will be the end of this nonsense. We’ll have the marriage annulled, and that will be the end of it.” And she just prayed that, as George had put it several months earlier, there would be no “brat” as a gift from Malcolm. “I’ll be in New York in five days to get you.”

But suddenly, after they’d hung up, Alexis was sorry she had called her. Malcolm was suddenly nice to her again, and this time when he made love to her, she liked it, and she didn’t want to go back to California, she wanted to stay in New York, with him. The hotel where they were staying was dark and dingy, and there were things about being with him that she didn’t like. And she didn’t like the way he’d tricked her into leaving California, but now that she was here with him, there were moments when she thought she was in love. And he was very good-looking, of course, although he drank too much and when he did, his hands were rough, but he was sweet to her too, and he treated her like a baby, and it made her feel very grown up when he introduced her as his wife. By the next day, she was absolutely sure of it, she was sorry she had told Edwina to come, or even where she was. But when she called and tried to tell her not to come, Fannie told her that Edwina had already left for New York.

“Why did you do it, Lexie?” Fannie wailed into the phone, as Alexis felt Malcolm’s hand slide up her thigh and she trembled.

“We’re going to be in movies together,” Alexis explained, as though that changed everything. “And I wanted to be Malcolm’s wife.” Fannie gasped with horror. Edwina hadn’t told her that Alexis had married Malcolm. All she knew was that Lexie was in New York.

“What? You got married?” Fannie almost jumped through the phone as Teddy listened with interest. Edwina hadn’t told them that, and then suddenly Alexis remembered that she wasn’t supposed to tell.

“Well, sort of.” But if she did tell, then Edwina couldn’t annul it, or could she? It was all very confusing now, and Alexis was sorry she had called at all. And when she hung up, she told Malcolm that she was sorry she had called Edwina, and he was in a bad mood anyway, because there seemed to be no work for him in New York at any of the theaters.

“I have an idea,” he announced, pulling her down on the bed next to him, and slipping her blouse off. He had bought her some cheap clothes outside the station in Chicago, but to Alexis it was all exciting now. It was like playing a part in a picture.

They made love again, and afterward he left her at the hotel for a long time, and that night he came back with two tickets. And he was very drunk. Alexis had been frantic without him, but he promised her that the next day everything would be alright. They were going to London, he explained, and he was going to act in a play there, on the stage, and then after that, they would go back to California. And by then, it would be too late for her sister to do anything. With luck, as he saw it, by then Alexis might be pregnant. And even if she wasn’t, the scandal would have gone on long enough that they wouldn’t dare do anything, and he would spend the rest of his life in style, living off George Winfield.

BEFORE EDWINA LEFT CALIFORNIA, SHE HAD CALLED AND
reassured Sam that everything was fine. It had all been a big misunderstanding, she said, and Alexis had been upset about something Edwina had said, and she had gone back to San Francisco on the train alone. Supposedly, according to Edwina, they had found her there, penitent about all the trouble she’d caused, and perfectly fine. It was all a lot of excitement about nothing.

“And Malcolm Stone?” he asked suspiciously. He wasn’t sure he believed her.

“Nowhere in sight,” Edwina said convincingly, and thanked him for all his kindness. And then she had made arrangements to leave Fannie and Teddy with the housekeeper while she was gone, and the next morning she had left for New York to bring back Alexis.

She had sworn everyone to secrecy, in case George should call, and she told them she would be back as soon as she could. But whatever they did, under no circumstances
were they to say anything to George if he called them.

She took the train to New York, filled with dread and painful memories. The last time she had traveled in that direction had been more than eleven years before, with her parents and brothers and sisters and Charles on the way to board the
Mauretania
in New York. She had too much time to think as they traveled east, and by the time she reached the Illinois Hotel, she was overwrought. She had gone straight there from the station, expecting to find a distraught Alexis, and she was going to threaten Malcolm Stone with the law. Instead, she found a letter from them, in Alexis’s childish hand, explaining that Malcolm wanted to be on the London stage, and Alexis had gone with him as a dutiful wife. She read between the lines to see that Alexis was completely besotted, so much so that she was willing to get on a ship with him, which Edwina knew was no small task. She wondered if he had any idea what he had gotten himself into. And if Alexis had said anything about having been on the ill-fated
Titanic
eleven years before.

When Edwina left the Illinois she was in tears, wondering what to do next, whether to pursue them to London to bring her back, or if there was any point pursuing her at all. Maybe she really did want to be married to him, and maybe it was much too late now. What if they really were married, as Alexis said, or if she had gotten pregnant? Then what could Edwina do? She couldn’t very well have the marriage annulled if Alexis was carrying his baby.

She was crying softly in the backseat of the cab when they reached the Ritz-Carlton, and she checked in and walked into a room that reminded her too much of the ones where she stayed the last time they were in New York. And she wished suddenly that there was someone to help her. But there was no one … her parents and
Phillip were gone,… George was married … she scarcely knew Sam … she didn’t want to tell Ben how she’d failed … there was no one to turn to, and she knew, as she lay in bed that night, that she had to make the decision herself. There was no choice really. She knew she couldn’t get on a ship again, not after what had happened on the
Titanic
, yet she couldn’t let Alexis go on with him, without at least trying to bring her back. Alexis had called, after all, and she had told Edwina where she was. It had to mean that she wanted Edwina to save her.

Edwina thought about it all night and again all morning. She knew what ship they were on. And she could have wired, but in Alexis’s besotted state, that wouldn’t have brought her back. Edwina knew she had to do something, and soon, if anything was to be done at all And then, as though it was the only answer, she could see her mother’s face in front of her, and knew what she would have done. She would have gone after Alexis. And that afternoon, Edwina booked her passage on the
Paris.
Alexis had left three days earlier on the
Bremen.

WHEN ALEXIS BOARDED THE
BREMEN
IN SECOND CLASS SHE
was quiet and pale, and Malcolm tried to bolster her spirits. He told her how much fun they would have, and assumed she had never been on a ship before. He ordered champagne, and kissed her frequently, and all he could think of was the life that they would lead one day, on more luxurious ships, traveling in first class. “Just think of it,” he teased her, slipping a hand into her dress, but this time Alexis wasn’t smiling.

She didn’t say a word to him as they sailed, and when they went to their cabin and he stood close to her, he could feel her tremble.

“You don’t get seasick, do you?” he asked, in high spirits with her. He could think of worse fates than having a young wife who was the sister of a major studio head, even if he had just spent the last of his money on their passage. It was a dreary ship, but the Germans liked to laugh and drink, and if nothing else he could
gamble a little bit, play cards with the men, and show off his “wife.” But she was clinging to their bed as they slipped into the harbor, and by dinnertime that night she couldn’t catch her breath. She lay there gasping and wild-eyed, and he ran for the steward in terror, and asked him to call a doctor at once. Alexis looked as though she were dying.

“Mein Herr?”
the steward inquired, glancing into the room behind him. He had noticed the American’s pretty bride. They were a handsome pair, but the husband looked old enough to be her father.

“My wife … she isn’t well … we need a doctor, and fast!”

“Certainly,” The steward smiled. “But may I bring her a cup of bouillon and some biscuits? It is the perfect answer for seasick, sir. She has never sailed before?” But as he spoke, she let out a terrible groan, as though of pain, and when Malcolm turned to look at her, he saw that she had fainted.

“The doctor, man, quick!” She looked as though she had died, and suddenly Malcolm was terrified. What if she did die? George Winfield would kill him, and he could forget Hollywood and Duesenbergs and anything else he’d had in mind with sweet little Alexis beside him.

The doctor came at once, and bluntly asked Malcolm if she was pregnant, and if there were signs of a miscarriage. He hadn’t even thought of that and it seemed too soon, as she had been a virgin when they left California. He said he didn’t know, before the doctor asked him to step outside, and he paced the halls, smoking, and wondering what had happened to make her faint, and look so ill before that.

It was a long time before the doctor came out, and frowned at him. He beckoned him to walk down the corridor, as Malcolm followed hesitantly. “Is she alright?”

“Yes. She will sleep for a long time. I have given her an injection.” He ushered him to a small sitting area and sat down and looked at Malcolm. “It was important that you go to Europe?” The doctor seemed to be almost angry at him, and he didn’t understand why.

“Yes, I … I’m an actor … I’m going to perform on the London stage.” And like everything else in his life, it was a lie. He had no idea if he would find work there. But the handsome, fading blond lit another cigarette and smiled nervously at the German doctor.

“She has not told you, has she?” He stared at him, wondering suddenly if they were truly married. She was too young, too frightened, and she had been wearing expensive shoes. Somehow she didn’t seem to belong with him, and he wondered if she was a runaway. But if so, the trip was much more than she had bargained for, and he was sorry for her, as he stared at Malcolm.

“Hasn’t told me what?” Malcolm looked confused, and with good reason, “About the last time she went to Europe?” In sobbing tones, she had told the doctor, and confessed that she couldn’t stay on the ship now. It was too terrible, and what if they sank? She was half crazed as she clung to him, and he had already decided to keep her sedated. And if the American agreed, he was going to put her in the ship’s infirmary and keep her there under the vigil of his nurse until they reached England.

“I don’t know anything about it.” Malcolm looked annoyed.

“You don’t know that she sailed on the
Titanic!”
If they were married, she certainly had shared very little with her husband, but now he looked impressed.

“She couldn’t have been more than a tiny child then.” Malcolm looked doubtful.

“She was six, and she lost her parents, and her sister’s fiancé went down with them.” Malcolm nodded to himself,
thinking that that explained a lot about Edwina. He had never wondered either why there were no parents watching over her, but only George and the ever vigilant older sister. He had simply thought they were around somewhere. In truth, he had never really thought about it, and didn’t care, and Alexis had never volunteered her story. And now the doctor went on, “She was separated from them that night, and she was taken off the ship against her will in the last lifeboat. She didn’t find her family again until they were on the ship that rescued them. I believe it was the
Carpathian.
” He frowned as he recalled. He had been the ship’s surgeon on the
Frankfurt
then, and they had taken some of the
Titanic
’s last distress calls. “May I suggest,” he said pointedly, “that we keep your wife sedated for the remainder of the trip. I’m afraid she will not be able to tolerate it otherwise, and she appears, well … very fragile …” Malcolm sighed as he sat back and listened to him. This was all he needed, a hysterical girl on a ship whose family had gone down on the
Titanic
… and how the hell would he get her back to the States when they were ready to go back? Maybe it would have to be George’s problem by then, or Edwina’s, if she showed up, but now he knew that they wouldn’t. He was safe from all of them, until he was ready to deal with them on his own terms. And by then, Alexis would be totally his, and they would have to deal with him. Forever.