Twelve Nights (24 page)

“It was blunt and yet romantic,” Aggie mused. “I can’t
remember the exact wording, but he talked about commitment and caring.”

Jimmy smiled in appreciation. She was skewering him to the
wall and he loved it. he laid his arm along the back of the sofa behind her and
gave her shoulder a squeeze.

“He put in a quote from Shakespeare,

What is love? ‘tis not hereafter;

Present mirth hath present laughter.

What’s to come is still unsure:

In delay there lies no plenty;

Then come and kiss me, sweet and twenty,

Youth’s a stuff will not endure.”

“Sounds like a long ad,” Gordon commented. His prosaic
remark tickled both Jimmy and Aggie and they went into a duel fit of chuckles
while the rest of the company stared.

“I think it’s a pretty poem,” Angela asserted.

“Me too,” Mary agreed.

Andrew was silent. Jimmy imagined he was lost in an intense
fantasy of exotic chip design.

“Why did Angela come too?” Gordon asked, persisting in his
efforts to penetrate the mystery. “And why all the secrecy? Why didn’t you just
tell us?”

Jimmy waited gleefully as Aggie squirmed. Her twin came to
the rescue.

“Aggie was embarrassed that she’d answered an ad,” Angela
explained. “She wanted to get to know Jimmy better before she introduced him to
you. I came along for a holiday.”

“But when we met you on the beach,” Gordon turned to Jimmy.

“Hush,” Mary interrupted. “No need for an inquisition. I’m
just glad we’re all together here tonight.”

Jimmy smiled. Gordon had found himself a good woman. He was
about to suggest coffee when the elevator buzzer rang yet again. He excused
himself to the company and went again to the lobby. This time it must be
Richard. When the elevator opened, he got his first real shock of the night.

“Hi Jimmy,” his brother greeted him.

“Danny.” Jimmy’s eyes were riveted to his brother’s
companion. Monica?

“We got married,” Danny explained in his simple style.

“Married?” Jimmy echoed. To Monica?

“He’s my jazz musician,” Monica added.

Jimmy sat in the nearest chair.

“I like to play the trumpet.”

Jimmy remember the lessons his parents had mentioned in letters.
Ten years older, he hadn’t been around much during his brother’s teen years.
Jimmy wondered how long Danny had been playing professionally, how long he had
been living a life totally outside Jimmy’s knowledge.

“I love Monica and Jen,” Danny interrupted Jimmy’s thoughts.

That was enough explanation for Danny, Jimmy knew. For
himself, he wanted a little more detail. Aggie wandered out of the library and
joined them.

“Hi Danny,” she greeted his brother.

Jimmy’s usually aloof sibling put his arms around Aggie and
squeezed.

“I knew you were the one.”

“About your marriage,” Jimmy interrupted.

“Danny didn’t tell me his last name. I wouldn’t have…,”
Monica paused awkwardly. Jimmy waved away the words and she continued. “He
asked me to marry him yesterday.”

“I love Monica and Jen,” Danny repeated. “I’m adopting Jen.”

Monica knelt beside Jimmy’s chair and took his hand in both
hers.

“I love Danny,” she said earnestly. “I’ll take good care of
him. We’ll take care of each other.”

“I believe you will,” Jimmy agreed. He kissed her on the
forehead. “Let’s go into the library.”

Danny surprised Jimmy yet again when he walked up to Aggie’s
twin.

“You are Angela,” he stated as he shook hands. How did he
know her name?

He walked up to the twins’ father.

“You are Gordon Trout.” He again shook hands.

“This is my brother Danny,” Jimmy interjected.

“And Mary Trout,” Danny continued.

Jimmy hoped his mouth wasn’t gaping and his eyes bugging.
The things Danny knew never ceased to amaze him.

“And you are Aggie’s rejected boyfriend.” Danny walked over
to Andrew. How could he possibly…? “This is my wife, Monica.”

The introductions complete, Danny sat in a chair beside his
wife and took her hand in his. Jimmy hoped there was at least one thing Danny
didn’t know, that his brother was one of his wife’s former clients. More likely
Danny knew and acknowledged the fact with his usual calm acceptance.

Only one person remained to complete the evening. Richard.
Jimmy knew his employee was in a turmoil over Angela. Richard was a lawyer.
Angela was a former hooker. Jimmy hoped Richard would have resolved his
feelings one way or the other and confronted Aggie’s sister tonight, but he
feared his friend wasn’t coming.

All that remained was coffee and desultory conversation.
Slowly the evening ran down. Danny and Monica left first, eager to get home to
their daughter Jen and to each other. Gordon and Mary left next, dragging a
reluctant Andrew with them. Now Jimmy needed a few minutes with Angela but he
wasn’t sure how to separate the twins. Angela solved the problem for him.

“Aggie,” she explained. “I want to talk to Jimmy privately.
Can you go into the living room for a few minutes?”

Aggie lifted her eyebrows and looked at first her sister and
then Jimmy. When he nodded, she shrugged and left the room, closing the door
behind her.

“Thanks,” Jimmy offered. “I wasn’t sure how to handle her.”

“Straight up is usually best with Aggie,” Angela explained.
“She’s not devious like me.”

“I don’t think…” Jimmy began.

“I
am
devious,”
Angela interrupted him. “Most of the time I can be sneaky in helpful ways, but
tonight was wrong, bad, criminal, use whatever words you want.”

“Tell me what you need.”

“You know that I’m a prostitute in New York,” Angela
challenged him. He nodded and she added, “a former prostitute. I need enough
money to get out of the life.”

“You haven’t saved up any money?”

“I’m not a saver,” she admitted. “Look, I have lots of bad
qualities. I also like to spend money.”

“Are you involved with drugs?”

“No way,” Angela shook her head. Then she smiled. “I said I
was devious, not stupid.”

“No drugs?” Jimmy probed.

“I’ve never even lit up a joint,” Angela asserted. “Can you
say the same?”

Jimmy laughed and admitted that he couldn’t.

“What would you like to see happen now?” he asked.

“In my wildest dreams?”

Jimmy wondered if she would admit her attraction to Richard.

“Enough money to start over.” She must think the lawyer was
beyond reach, either that or she wasn’t as smitten as his friend.

“I think I might go back to school,” she continued. “Become
a lawyer. Put my devious streak to good use.”

Jimmy laughed.

“I can see you as a lawyer,” he admitted. “Let’s get Aggie
in here.”

“You’re not going to tell her about the Gioacometti?”

“Temporary insanity. I plead you not guilty and the charges
are dropped.”

“Thank you,” Angela smiled. Her body sagged back into the
chair.

“Aggie,” Jimmy went to the door and called. She looked up
from the living room sofa but didn’t move. “Will you come join us?”

She turned her back and sat still. Jimmy walked into the
living room.

“My relationship with your sister is separate from my
relationship with you,” he explained from the seat beside her. “Just like my
relationship with your father.”

“Do we have a relationship?” she asked.

Jimmy smiled and kissed her forehead.

“Come into the library.”

She stood and walked back through the lobby ahead of him.

“Here’s my offer.” Jimmy stood before the two seated twins.
“Aggie will finished out the last three nights of the contract with me. I will
give you the hundred-twenty thousand dollars to split however you want between
you.”

“It’s that simple?” Angela asked.

“That’s it?” Aggie added.

Jimmy nodded to them both.

“Three more nights.”

“Tomorrow is Christmas,” Aggie reminded him.

“We’ll celebrate.”

“Excuse me,” Angela interrupted. She looked down at the
floor, then she lifted her chin and continued. “Was that one hundred-twenty
thousand in American or Canadian money?”

Jimmy chuckled.

“The ad was in a U.S. newspaper,” she reminded him.

“You’ll make a good attorney,” he complimented her. “The
money will be in U.S. currency.”

“Well, I’m leaving,” she smiled and stood.

“I’m coming too,” Aggie announced.

“What about…” Angela began.

“It’s okay,” Jimmy interrupted. “I understand. It’s been a
long evening.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow night,” Aggie promised.

Jimmy led the twins back to the lobby and helped them into
their coats, pulling his on as well.

“No need to pretend with a cab anymore,” he commented.

He escorted them down to the lobby and out the door. The
three walked the short blocks along the waterfront back to the Sylvia, where
Angela said goodnight and slipped inside. Ignoring the passersby, Jimmy pulled
Aggie into his arms and squeezed.

“It’s midnight,” he told her with a hard kiss onto closed
lips.

“Merry Christmas.”

“Be ready to celebrate,” he whispered in her ear. Then he
tipped up her chin and gave her a preview. It would be a merry Christmas
indeed.

Aggie spent Christmas morning with her family and Andrew.
She and Angela had bought each other identical presents, a red silk nightgown
and robe. They laughed when they opened them, and explained to Andrew and Mary
that it had happened before. That evening the older Trouts took Andrew and
Angela out for Christmas dinner while Aggie went to Jimmy’s. Her father and
Mary obviously thought the personal ad romance was sailing smoothly. But they
didn’t know about the money.

Aggie thought about little else. One hundred-twenty thousand
dollars. Jimmy was paying her ten thousand dollars a night to have sex with
him. He knew, he must know, that she would be happier if the money hadn’t been
offered, hadn’t been taken. But it had. And Angela needed the money. Aggie
thrust aside the ugly image that arose in her mind. Her alternatives seemed to
be Jimmy and money, or no Jimmy and no money. She wanted Jimmy.

She had gone out the day before looking for a Christmas gift
for him. What could she get a man who could blow off, literally, a hundred
thousand dollars? The search was hopeless. Finally she made a phone call to a
friend in Cincinnati. With luck, the gift would arrive at Jimmy’s by special
messenger tonight.

She dressed in festive red and green, red pants and a green
and red striped tunic blouse. She felt foolish but hoped the clothes would
brighten her mood. Jimmy had promised they would celebrate and she didn’t
intend to disappoint him. She twirled in front of the mirror and smiled. She
looked like an elf, a very tall elf.

Aggie decided to walk the short blocks to Jimmy’s apartment.
Her cheeks and nose were freezing by the time she entered the lobby of the
building and Jimmy’s arms. He hugged her tight and then hurried her upstairs to
the warmth of the apartment. When she took off her coat, he laughed and hugged
her again, calling her his little elf. Aggie’s spirits rose as the minutes
passed in Jimmy’s presence. By the time they finished a sumptuous turkey dinner
complete with flaming Christmas pudding, Aggie had forgotten about the money.
She was with the man she loved and that was all that mattered.

The buzzer rang while Jimmy was in the kitchen getting them
coffee, so Aggie pushed the release button for the elevator. She hoped her
package for Jimmy had arrived. It had. She thanked and tipped the messenger and
carried the parcel into the living room. Jimmy met her with their coffees.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Merry Christmas,” she smiled as she handed him the package.

“What’s this?’

“Open it,” she prodded, then added, “I couldn’t think what
to get you.”

Aggie watched as Jimmy carefully peeled off the tape and folded
back the cardboard. The item inside was wrapped in tissue.

“I made it when I was in grade ten,” she explained. “I hope
you like it.”

“I love it,” Jimmy answered as he held up an elongated clay
figure.

“I thought it looked a little like that statue you have in
the library.”

“The Giacometti?”

“I guess. Is that really a Giacometti?”

Jimmy nodded. “And now I have a Trout.”

Aggie laughed. “It’s kind of a cross between Gumby and a
self-portrait.”

“I recognized you instantly,” Jimmy said with a straight
face. “I love it.”

“Merry Christmas,” Aggie smiled.

Jimmy kissed first the statue and then her. Then he set the
figure carefully on the coffee table and left the room.

“I got you something too,” he explained as he returned
holding a large box.

Aggie grinned and took the box onto her lap.

“I love presents,” she told him. “This is heavy.”

“Open it.”

Aggie untie the bows and slid her finger under the tape,
carefully preserving each piece. Jimmy waited patiently through the several
minute procedure.

“I like the anticipation,” Aggie explained. “Once the
present is open, it’s done. Oh!”

She lifted the lid off the inner box.

“It’s a Samuel Johnson!” She recognized the ornate lettering
on the cover of the book immediately. She wrapped her arms around Jimmy’s
throat. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“I guess you like it.” He cleared his throat as she lifted
the top volume out of the box.

“There’s another one,” she commented.

“It’s a three volume set. The closest I could get to the
original print date.”

“It’s wonderful!” Aggie exclaimed again. She had never
gotten such a valuable gift or such a carefully appropriate one. “You’re
wonderful!”

Jimmy lifted the box off her lap and put it beside the
statue on the table. Then he stood and picked Aggie up in his arms. Aggie
snuggled in without comment as they made their way to the bedroom. In mutual
though unexpressed deference to the religious holiday, Aggie and Jimmy made
love in the missionary position. Vigorously, with gusto, but still missionary.
They both eventually fell into an exhauseted slumber for several hours. The sun
was just coming up when Aggie awoke. She kissed Jimmy on the lips.