Love Conquers All

by Galia Albin

  Chapter 56

  “Talia, I never imagined that you were so naive! You believed that Micah would forget how you forced him to fulfill his obligation and pay for the ads, or the humiliation he suffered at the hands of Attorney Messner? He is the most vindictive man in the world. You should have told me!”

  “And you should have told me!” Talia and Ditty were lying on chaises longues on the patio of Talia’s house. The weather was glorious; it was a spring-like Saturday in the middle of winter; the sun was caressing, the lush vegetation was in full bloom, and the children were frolicking around them. Ditty, the darker of the two, bared her face and her shapely little body to the rays of the sun. But Talia knew that Ditty hadn’t come there for the suntan.

  A few months had elapsed since Messner had informed her that all of Micah’s debts had been paid off and, naturally, Talia assumed that that put an end to any dealings between them. She had no idea just how vindictive he was. If it had not been for Ditty who, after a long hesitation, decided to approach her and reveal the things that were said behind her back, she would have been like a jilted wife—the last to know.

  It was not as though she did not detect the strange atmosphere that surrounded her wherever she went. True, men had always been attracted to her, though most, of course, were married, and not all the attention was welcome to her, but lately Talia was perturbed by the excessive male attention she received. It looked as though she was considered an easy target, cheap merchandise. At every business lunch she attended, at every meeting involving men, she noticed leering eyes sizing her up, openly lusting after her body. There was nothing complimentary about it. The question, “Are you seeing anybody these days?” would come up too soon, too blatantly, immediately followed by an attempt to pick her up; sometimes it sounded innocent, sometimes obscene, but always unpleasant, devoid of feeling, like the propositioning a prostitute.

  “He says your nickname is ‘helicopter,’ that you sleep your way to financial success. And now everybody shuns you. You must watch out for him, Talia. He vowed to finish you off, to bury you. I know Micah. You must have somehow really hurt his inflated ego. This can’t just be a business rivalry! What have you done, Talia? You must tell me.”

  Talia was filled with blinding fury. She had several girlfriends who shared their flirtations with her, their romantic vagaries and amorous complications. But since her return from Los Angeles, Talia had lived in a wasteland as far as romance was concerned. Ditty knew this. Had Micah prevailed on her to change her attitude? “I won’t tell you anything until you tell me! A story for a story! What is happening with the two of you? You don’t’ go out together anymore. Look at you! You look so awful lately! And what is this big shiner under your eye? and the cut on your hand? Don’t give me the story about the stairs and the cat. I’ve heard those before. Anyway you’ve been so distant lately. Even my mother’s been asking, where is Ditty? Where has she disappeared?”

  Ditty remained quiet. Her eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses. She re-crossed her legs, then got up, ostensibly to go look for her five year old daughter, Eden.

  “Ditty, you’re not leaving this house without telling me what’s going on. I have time,” Talia threatened her facetiously, “I’m staying here, and the front door is locked.” As a matter of fact, she meant what she said. Her arms were folded resolutely on her chest.

  Eden approached. She was a lovely, delicate girl, looking like a miniature replica of her mother, but to Talia she seemed scared and insecure. This is how her own children used to look in Los Angeles. But this girl has both father and mother, Talia reflected ruefully, and Ditty had often asserted that “Micah was crazy about the girl;” but this father evidently cause more harm than good to the child. Eden looked fearful and timid, you could see it in her gestures, hear it in her voice. “Mommy, it’s so much fun here. Can’t we stay longer?” she asked her voice sounding like a bell.

  “Sure, sweetheart, we’ll stay until the afternoon, as I told you.”

  “No, later, until tomorrow, forever! I don’t want to go home to daddy... ’ she sounded on the verge of crying.

  “Go and play, honey. Don’t’ worry, I’ll talk to your mom,” Talia patted the girl’s skinny arm. Eden gave her an ingratiating smile and disappeared behind the bushes.

  “Now you have no choice, Ditty. Please tell me the whole story. Don’t hold back anything.”

  It had started years ago, Ditty told her, a little after Eden was born. Micah would disappear for entire nights, never telling her where he had been. When she demanded explanations, he’d blow up, sometimes even hit her. Last year, things got worse. He hardly came home at all. A neighbor told her a few days earlier that she had seen him at a cafe on the Carmel mountain, embracing another woman. When he came home, she confronted him. he threw a fit, smashed things, beat her, yanked off the phone so she couldn’t call for help, took all the keys, locked her and the girl in the house and left. Eden was shaking with terror. Luckily for them he did not notice the back door leading from the laundry room to the yard was unlocked, and so they escaped.

  “he battered you and you kept quiet about it? I would have killed him! And I’m sure this is not the first time. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “It was too hard for me. You remember, you were against our getting married. Jonathan, too, wasn’t thrilled about it. But I was in love. And at first we were happy together. I can’t say exactly when things changed. But when I realized it, it was too late, and I didn’t want to tell you, for fear you’d say ‘I told you so.’”

  “Ditty, I’m your friend'.”

  Ditty shrugged faintly, and Talia asked herself where her witty, fun- loving friend go, the opinionated university lecturer? “I wanted to patch things up, I thought it was possible. When Eden was born, there was harmony between us. He cared about me and I was happy; even when things weren’t hunky-dory, I still thought that the girl needed a father. You know, the typical pet-bourgeois way of thinking. When he started disappearing, I was in denial; I would not admit the truth, not even to myself.” Her voice was soft, choking with tears. Then this ugly secret began to harden inside of me, and when I wanted to unburden it, I was unable to. It was as if a big ball was lodged in my throat. But now I’ve made up my mind to put an end to it. Even if it weren’t for Eden, I’d have told you.’

  Talia was overwhelmed by her friend’s distress. Ditty had been her best friend form their early childhood, but despite their long-standing devotion to each other, something impenetrable seemed to stand between them. They never discussed the things that really touched them deep in their hearts, the things that hurt and terrified them. True, they gossiped a lot, exchanged information, defended each other form bad-mouthing and slander—mostly, Ditty defended Talia. They saw each other quite often and spoke on the phone almost every day; they knew each other’s family and friends, and yet, Talia asked herself, what kind of friends are we, if we don’t shield each other and provide a safe haven against life’s assaults, if we make a point of hiding from each other what we hide from the world, and allow our masks to become our faces? Talia addressed these complaints to herself, because at this point, Ditty seemed too weak, whereas she herself had so far weathered all of her own, personal storms and come out stronger and tougher.