The Good Life (54 page)

“We? We who?”

“Billy and I.”

“Daddy? What did he have to do with it?”

“I'm trying to tell you. It was really Billy who thought it was easier to call it that. You see, he intended to make a settlement on me to equal your trust as soon as he inherited.”

“You mean when Granny died?”

“Yes. He had a paper drawn up. You can see it if you want.”

“Okay. Go on.”

“As you know, with his predeceasing your grandmother, he didn't have anything to give me.”

“Give you for what?”

“Nothing in particular. As a friend. You know, he just wanted to do something for me.”

“But why should he want to do something for you? Something like
that?
That's a lot—”

Perry's heart stopped as she stared at him with growing understanding. Hadn't she had any idea of what her father was really like?

“It was just something he wanted to do.”

“That means you must've been… I mean, men don't turn over sums of money like that to young male friends except for obvious reasons.”

Perry tried to keep his face impassive. She was finally working it all out. What had taken her so long? “Obvious reasons?” he asked.

“You were his lover,” she said in a stricken voice and jumped up and turned from him, lifting her fingertips to her forehead in an instinctive gesture of revulsion. Her hands were trembling.

“For God's sake, don't get in a state,” he said brusquely. He couldn't lose control over her. “You must've guessed something. I've given you plenty of hints.”

She was clutching her stomach and leaning over as though she were being sick.

“Your father got crushes on pretty boys. He told me that he felt more for me than he had for anybody in years.” He tried to look at her, but her hair covered her face, and she took another step away from him. He softened his voice. “He did a lot for me. I loved him. You know that.”

Bet's shoulders heaved, but she made no sound.

“I loved him more than anybody but you,” Perry said, his voice breaking. “I miss him enormously.” How could he possibly make her understand if she was so shocked that she wouldn't listen or look at him? He went to her and turned her gently around to face him. “I suppose you can say we were lovers, but it wasn't the way most people would think. There's no need to go into all that. The point is, he wanted to provide for me, and he picked the same amount you have. He didn't think it would be proper for it to be more.”

“Proper!” She shrugged his hands off her shoulders and backed away. “No matter how you put it, you can't make it sound very pretty. Mummy was right to warn me about you. You were just a kept boy.” She spat the words out with distaste.

“Be careful, Bet,” he said in a voice of command. He had to get back in charge. “I'll let it pass once, but don't say anything like that again. Ever. You'll regret it.”

“Why not say the truth? You married me under false pretenses. I thought you had at least enough income to get by on. You have nothing.” With eyes blazing she moved toward him. “You expect me to live on your bridge winnings? You were Daddy's kept boy, and now you expect to be mine.”

It took just one short step to get him close enough to be able to grab her by the wrist with one hand, and then with the other he struck her hard across the face. Her eyes widened with surprise, and she let out a sharp, astonished cry and crumpled. Before she fell, Perry caught her and guided her by the wrist into a chair.

“You always said you liked the rough stuff. You'll get more of it if you say things like that again. You're not a schoolgirl anymore. You're my wife. Act like it.” He sat down opposite her and smiled. He knew how to keep her in line.

“It's just a shock to discover that you have nothing.” Her head was turned from him, and she was crying softly.

“I bring in a reasonable amount. If you'd just be reasonable about spending—”

“Ooh,” she cried out impatiently and jumped to her feet, tossing her hair back defiantly. “I'm not going to change any more than you are. You are who you are, and I'm me.” She stomped toward the bar as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Her hands were trembling as she filled her glass. “If you're going to live by playing cards, why don't you go about it seriously? Why waste time on that silly fifty-dollar-a-week job?”

“Bet, you know that that's more than a job. I'm trying to make some sort of career out of it.”

She dismissed that with a wave of her hand. “You should play more. You could make twice as much. Money seems to be our big problem, so why don't you make more where you can? You should go in for high-stake games like poker.”

“Become a real cardsharp? Poker's for gamblers. I'm no good at it. I like to have some control of what I'm doing. Anyway, I have no time for more cards.”

“You're just wasting your time at the studio. You not only have me to think about, you have Billy now too.”

“Billy is the last person in the world I have to worry about. Billy can start worrying about me.”

Now that the awful truth was out, Perry felt he could breathe easily. There were no more secrets.

After the initial shock, Bet didn't mention it again. They went on about their lives as before with the exception that he did start playing a bit more bridge. Bet had been right about that. His luck held, and he had more invitations than he wanted.

He began to be a bit uneasy about why Bet wanted him to play more. When he played, she had empty evenings in which she could play. Was that why she'd encouraged him? Whatever the reason, there was no doubt that having more money was useful. It seemed the more they had, the more ways Bet found of spending it.

“We need a bigger place,” she declared at breakfast one morning. “Billy's getting bigger, and he'll need his own room, and we have to have a decent room for Mademoiselle Suzanne. Being stuck in the maid's room can't be very comfortable, and we can't afford to lose her. I'd be lost without her.”

“I know. She's a gem, but don't start talking higher rent. This place is the absolute maximum.”

“I've heard of a house over near the river, Beekman Place or around there, but if you're going to worry about the rent before I even look at it, I wonder why I bother.”

“It's you who wants to move.”

“Okay. Then you find something.”

“With pleasure.”

“Oh, you. You won't look. I'll end up doing it. I know what we need. The baby has requirements that you don't understand.”

“The baby needs a roof over his head. He has one.”

“He's going to need space to move around in. He's already starting to crawl. He'll be underfoot all the time in this tiny place. He'll need a garden to play in.”

“Now that you're no longer nursing him, I haven't noticed your maternal instincts working overtime.”

“If you mean that I don't sit around all day dandling him on my knee, you're dead right. I don't intend to become a drudge at barely twenty-one.”

“Bully for you,” he said, kissing her on top of the head and leaving for the studio.

Out on the street he thought about Bet's latest maneuver to spend money. He wondered sometimes if she did it just to annoy him or just to be spiteful.

Ever since the scene about his “inheritance” and the truth about his relationship with Billy, Bet had acted somewhat removed, almost wary. He had found her staring at him in a strange way, as though she were trying to figure him out. To have perpetuated the myth about his inheritance for so long had been an error on his part and had provoked her into investigating his finances. She found, of course, that he had none. As she succinctly put it, he had nothing.

He had been a kept boy, but he could hardly accept her calling him one. The sharp slap had momentarily brought her to her senses, but he could feel her digging in behind her outrage and indignation — or whatever it was — looking for more evidence against him. He had to somehow coax her over this difficult time she was going through.

He'd overestimated her ability to adapt to even her own relaxed attitudes about life. For example, they'd spent many happy weekends with Timmy, and her enthusiasm for the sexual games they indulged in had gone undiminished. Until recently.

“Don't forget that Timmy's coming tomorrow,” he said one evening, thinking he was choosing a subject that wouldn't stir up friction. “He's got to leave after his basic training, and we'll get to see him in his lieutenant's uniform. I'll bet he's something.” He chuckled. “He's a bit of all right out of uniform.”

“You will be glad to see him,” Bet said noncommittally.

“You will too, won't you?”

“Oh, I suppose so. I may not be able to see much of him. Jed Whipple wants me to do something tomorrow night.”

“Does it have to be tomorrow? We might not have a chance to see Timmy again for some time. Jed's not going anywhere.”
Unfortunately
, he added to himself.

“We'll see how it works out. Timmy really wants to be with you anyway.”

When Timmy arrived, Bet greeted him with her usual warmth and admired him extravagantly in his new clothes. The three of them had a drink together before Bet dashed off to join her date.

“How can you leave this superb specimen of American manhood for that tiresome old businessman?” Perry teased, but he meant it. He found several of Bet's new friends unworthy of her. Jed particularly. He was a smooth dresser with something cheap about him.

“I don't care how glamorous Timmy looks,” Bet laughed. “I'd rather see him without any clothes on.” She kissed them both on the cheek and left.

“What's the matter with Bet?” Timmy asked with a slight frown.

Perry wished he knew. “She's been a bit moody lately. Can't still be postpartum depression — Billy's walking all over the place now.”

“When does he get to see his Uncle Tim?”

“Tomorrow morning. Early. You'll hear him roaring around.”

He and Timmy left for a happy evening with Madge Constant and Johnny Jardine.

When the foursome broke up, Timmy and Perry returned home for a nightcap, hoping to find Bet waiting for them. They were disappointed. They sat up till 3 o'clock, then went to bed.

Perry awoke some time after daylight to hear Bet going to bed in the other room. She was still asleep later that morning when Timmy and Perry had breakfast with Billy in the kitchen, shushing each other because Mommy was sleeping. Timmy left early to visit his family, stopping to look at the door of the room in which Bet was ensconced and shrugging his shoulders. It was not the farewell Perry would have chosen for a dear friend going off to war.

Perry didn't question Bet about where she'd spent the night, nor did she offer an explanation. They were both on dangerous ground, but Perry didn't want to be the one to set off the fireworks. He knew she was gathering ammunition to use against him, and he wondered when and where the attack would be. In the meantime, he decided, it would probably be a good idea if he started taking special note of her indiscretions.

Little Billy was able to keep Perry's mind off Bet, and Perry spent all his spare time with him, being fascinated and enthralled. If he just let Bet have her head for a time, she'd get over whatever was bothering her.

If not smooth, life looked calm and normal on the surface. Bet's twenty-first birthday was something to look forward to, and they planned to celebrate in style. Perry had spent a lot of time with Fulco di Verdura on the design of a matching ring and bracelet studded with emeralds. It was ridiculously expensive, but Fulco again made him a price. Perry couldn't help wondering what the price would have been for a regular customer. In a characteristic move to economize, he decided to stretch out the present by giving her the ring for her birthday and the bracelet for Christmas. He congratulated himself on his cleverness.

Arlene continued to refuse to see him. Not even the arrival of Little Billy melted her steel reserve never to speak to him again. He'd betrayed her, lied to her, and turned out to be just what she suspected: a fortune hunter. Sucking the cocks of fortune hunters was on the top of her list of things never to do again.

Perry and Bet devoted her birthday to trying to recapture the high-spirited pleasure in each other that had marked their relationship from the beginning. They almost succeeded. The drink Bet promised to have with Arlene before dinner broke the momentum somewhat, but after a gala dinner at El Morocco, they were unable to keep their hands off each other.

Once home, after they'd had the obligatory nightcap, they started ripping each other's clothes off and had a rapturous lovemaking session, which began on the living room floor, progressed with wild acrobatics down the hall, and ended in bed. Perry's hangover the next morning was a satisfactory one. He chuckled to himself about their antics and decided that three years hadn't taken too much shine off their passion.

Mrs. Hahn decreed that this first Christmas after Billy's death would be all but ignored: no big family midday meal and no all-afternoon gift exchanging. That left them free for the day, and Bet turned it into another crowded day in their lively holiday schedule.

Their physical interest in each other had continued unabated since the rekindling of their passion on her birthday, and Perry convinced himself that she was happy in spite of the restlessness she seemed to be feeling. Everything she did had a frantic quality about it, particularly her lovemaking, making him feel on-guard and uneasy.

What bothered him especially was her total lack of interest in motherhood. He couldn't understand why that enchanting creature hadn't captured her imagination as he had Perry's. He had to steal time to be with Billy, but she found reasons to ignore him. He rushed home from work every day to be with him when he had his dinner and always read to him before going out to play bridge or to attend parties with Bet. He knew the child didn't really understand, but he thought the funny sounds he was making were the beginning of speech and interpreted them as words and was thrilled.