Iris Rainbow

by Ilona Fridl

  The next day, Tim got the information on the retrospective and set up the date with Sara. He was in a reflective mood on his way to her apartment. They were going out to dinner, then to the music center. Do I like Sara for herself or because she reminds me of Teri? Sara’s sweetness, humor, and looks are so much like hers. Maybe this is a way to put Teri behind me and fall in love with someone else. Everyone got on me because Teri was six years younger, and now Sara is fourteen years my junior. Oh, well, who says this can’t work?

  All through dinner and at the music center, he studied her. He listened to what she said and watched what she did. While the music was playing at the center, he asked her to dance and she fairly jumped to the dance floor that was set up. He found himself falling in love with Sara for herself. I’m going to go slow with her.

  After the date, Tim drove Sara back to her apartment. He parked the car on the street.

  Sara took a breath. “I really had fun tonight, Tim. Thank you for asking me along.”

  Tim put his hand on her cheek. “I had fun too. For the first time in a long time.”

  “Luke told me you went through hell with your ex-wife. I’m sorry, because you seem like a nice guy.”

  Tim took her hand and kissed it. “Thank you for that.”

  Sara kissed him. “Goodnight, Tim. Call me again.” She smiled and got out of the car. As Sara got to the door, she turned and waved. Tim started the car and pulled away, whistling to himself all the way home.

  A few months went by, and Tim and Sara saw each other steadily. Tim knew gossip columnists’ tongues were wagging about the thirty-six-year-old former band member and the twenty-two-year-old actress. Luke gloated, saying he knew Tim’s type of woman when he saw it.

  Tim decided to ask Sara to marry him. He took the ring out of the chest of drawers again and looked at it. No, he still couldn’t give Teri’s ring to someone else, so back it went. He prepared this date very carefully. Tim made reservations at an exclusive restaurant next to the beach in Malibu. He rented out a private balcony overlooking the ocean.

  The dinner was excellent, and then Tim took the wine out of the ice bucket and poured them both a glass. “Here’s to us,” he said, as they clinked glasses and took a sip. Then Tim stood up and skirted the table. Standing in front of Sara, he took her hand while going down on one knee, and she gasped as he pulled a small box out of his dinner jacket pocket. “Sara, I love you. Will you marry me?”

  Tears puddled in her eyes. “Oh, Tim, it’s beautiful!” she said as he opened the box. “Oh, yes, yes! I love you too!” Her hands on his face, she kissed him thoroughly before he put the ring on her finger.

  “Thank you, Sara,” he whispered.

  The following weekend was his visitation with Charlie. He decided to introduce his son to Sara. Tim discussed this with his mother, and she thought he ought to call and prepare Charlie for this, instead of springing it on him.

  Tim sat, staring at the phone, wanting to call Dana about as much as he’d like to swallow a poisonous puffer fish alive. Finally, he got up the nerve and heard her say hello.

  “Dana, this is Tim. Is Charlie there?”

  “No, he’s not. What do you want?”

  “Could you have Charlie call me when he gets home? I need to talk to him about this weekend.”

  “Why?”

  “Just have him call me.” Tim hung up.

  Charlie was on the line a couple of hours later. Tim told him how he was getting married to Sara and he wanted Charlie to meet her. Fifteen minutes later, Dana called.

  “You’re getting married again? Why? Did you knock her up too?” she said with acid in her voice.

  Tim gritted his teeth. “No. Not that it’s any of your business.”

  “What little backstreet whore did you find this time?”

  “Damn it, Dana, Sara is not a backstreet whore. She’s a sweet girl whom I love very much.”

  “Love? You’re incapable of love. You must be in lust and she’s the only one that will accommodate you. I know what kind of tramps you attract.”

  “Yeah, after all, you were my first wife, weren’t you?”

  She screamed and slammed the phone down. Tim toyed with the thought of ripping her head off. He wondered what Dana would say to Charlie, if anything. It would be just like her to work against him, again.

  Saturday, as Tim and Sara walked into Tim’s parents’ house, Sara was warmly greeted by his mother. They went into the living room, and Charlie was sitting on the arm of the chair next to Tim’s dad.

  “Charlie, come over here,” Tim said. The boy came over and stood in front of Tim. “This is Sara James. She is going to be my wife. I want you to get to know her. Sara, this is my son, Charlie.”

  Sara put out her hand. “Hello, Charlie. I’m pleased to meet you.”

  Charlie didn’t respond. He looked down at the toe of his shoe.

  Tim tried again. “Charlie, say hello to Sara.”

  Charlie put his hands behind his back and glared at Tim.

  “Charlie! That is rude. I want you to apologize to her.”

  Charlie looked at Tim’s dad. “Grandpa, can I go up to my room?”

  Tim’s dad also looked upset. “Your father is right. You are being very rude to Sara and she deserves an apology.”

  “Mom said I don’t have to be nice to trash.”

  Before anyone else could move, Tim’s dad came up next to Charlie, put a firm hand on his shoulder, and said, close to his face, “You apologize to Miss James right now.”

  Charlie looked scared. “I’m sorry I was rude.” He was subdued but polite for the rest of the visit.

  Tim agonized about what poison Dana had told Charlie. How could she do that to a child? He poured out his fears about Charlie to Sara. She was at a loss as to what he should do. “Maybe when he grows up he’ll see what his mother did to drive a wedge between you. I hope he seeks you out then.”

  Tim sighed. “I hope someday he’ll understand how much I love him.”

  They got married in March of 1980, at John and Sandy’s house in Malibu. All of their friends and relatives were there, except for Charlie, who refused to attend, to Tim’s sorrow. Sara was originally from Omaha, Nebraska, and her parents, three brothers, and one sister all came for the wedding.

  It was a couple of months later when Sara found herself pregnant. She was just finishing a movie and asked her agent to put her on hiatus until the baby was born.

  Tim, of course, was excited. He and Sara spent many hours fixing up the nursery. He was able to do all the preparations he’d missed with Charlie. Tim waited on Sara hand and foot, and then, a couple of weeks before Christmas, her mother flew out to be with Sara when Tim was at work.

  A week before Christmas, Tim went to sleep with his hand on Sara’s stomach. He loved to feel the movements of their child in her womb. He woke during the night and felt her stomach go rock hard just as she woke with a groan.

  “Oh, god, that hurts,” she moaned.

  Tim sat straight up. “Was that a contraction?”

  “I think so. Will you call the doctor?”

  “Keep track of the time,” he said as he jumped out of bed.

  The twenty-four-hour emergency number was by the phone. Tim turned on the light and squinted at it, trying to get his eyes to adjust. In a few minutes he got the doctor on the line and told him about the contraction just as Sara moaned again.

  “I think she’s having another one.”

  “How long between contractions?” the doctor asked.

  “How long between?” Tim asked Sara.

  “That was about eight minutes,” she said, rubbing her stomach.

  Tim relayed the time to the doctor.

  “I’ll call the hospital and meet you down there,” the doctor told him.

  Tim took charge. “I’ll get your mother, and she can help you get ready while I get the car.” He started out the door.

  “Tim!” Sara called, laughing. “You’d better get dressed first. Unles
s you want Mother to see more of you than she wants to.”

  Tim looked down at his naked body and snickered. “Nerves.”

  They got Sara to the hospital, and while her mother started calling relatives, Tim stayed and coached Sara’s breathing. Finally, in a few hours, the orderly wheeled her into the delivery room, where Tim watched their daughter’s birth. The nurse handed him the bundle after the baby was cleaned up, and with tears in his eyes, he went to his wife and gave her their daughter.

  “I love you both so much,” he said, his voice hoarse. He pushed back from her forehead the paper cap that had protected Sara’s hair, and kissed her.

  She smiled tiredly as he stood up again. “I love you, too. Merry Christmas,” she said as she hugged the little girl.

  Chapter 14

  One morning in September of 1984, Teri made an announcement to her family at the breakfast table. “Since Marcy started kindergarten this year, I’m going to get a job in real estate.”

  David stared at her curiously. “Teri, we don’t need the extra money. You don’t have to work.”

  “David, I want to. I’ve done the stay-at-home-mom bit, and now I want to try something different. Besides, Bobbie has been running her printing business for over a year now, and Don doesn’t seem to complain.”

  “Sounds like women’s lib talking. I guess I’d be a pig if I said no.”

  Dave Junior, better known as DJ, looked up hopefully. “Does that mean you won’t be home after school?”

  Teri gave him her best mother face. “No, mister, that’s the beauty of being a realtor. I can work when I want to and be home when I want, also.”

  Thirteen-year-old Katie didn’t seem to be listening to any of this. Teri reached over and rapped her on the forehead. “Katie, how many times have I asked you not to wear the Walkman to the table?”

  “Oh, Mom, please! I wasn’t hurting anything.”

  David said firmly, “Take that thing off!”

  “Okay! I was just listening to an oldie station. They had a rad song on there called ‘Taking On’ by a group called Virgin Ram.”

  Teri sucked in a breath.

  “Mom, what’s wrong?”

  Teri glanced at David, who had an unreadable expression. She managed a little chuckle. “I used to know the members of that group.”

  DJ seemed impressed. “Dad, did you know them too?”

  Staring steadily at Teri, David shook his head. “No, not really.”

  Katie asked, “How well did you know them?”

  David raised an eyebrow at Teri.

  Thinking fast, she turned to her daughter. “I was very good friends with them at one time, but when they got famous, I lost touch.” She couldn’t tell her teenage daughter she’d lost her virginity to one of them.

  Katie and DJ reacted with new respect and said, “Wow.”

  Changing the subject, much to Teri’s relief, Katie continued, “By the way, Mom, when are we going to see the Barneses again?”

  “We’re planning a trip next weekend to California.”

  “Oh, cool, I can see Kevin again. He’s so hunky.”

  DJ made a face and said, “Gross me out!” while Teri and David laughed.

  ****

  The next few years went well for Tim, Sara, and their daughter, Melissa. At first, Sara’s television work kept her in Los Angeles, so she could take care of Melissa. After a couple of years, her movie work started again and took her out of California. Then Tim would take over. With help from his mother, sister, and sister-in-law, Melissa got quality parent care. Whenever he could, he took Melissa with him when he traveled, and they became inseparable pals.

  Sara burned up phone lines to stay in Tim’s and Melissa’s lives. She was sometimes gone for months at a time, but she always showered Tim with “I love you” and “I miss you greatly.” Coming back to joyful homecomings, Tim and Sara would have sex to make up for lost time. The little family couldn’t be happier.

  One evening in 1985, Sara answered an insistent ring of the telephone. After she hung up, she came into the den, where Tim was busy with a score he was writing. She sat on the piano bench next to him. “That was my agent. He has a fantastic movie deal that would have me starring with the popular Karl Graham in New York.” She sighed. “The only problem is that it would take me away from you both for eight months.”

  “You can’t pass this one up, darling. If you do, you’ll regret it. Melissa and I will be fine and looking forward to your calls.” Tim kissed her.

  “Could you come with me?” She squeezed his hand.

  Tim shook his head. “I’ve got too much work right now.” So when the time came to go, she kissed her loving husband and four-year-old daughter goodbye.

  Sara started communicating almost immediately, but gradually her calls became fewer. Melissa crawled onto Tim’s lap after dinner during this time. “Daddy, when is Mommy going to call? I haven’t talked to her in ages.”

  Tim stroked her hair and kissed her on the forehead. “Mommy is probably real busy with the film. She’ll call when she can.” He felt his stomach tighten, but he didn’t want to worry the child.

  Tim took Melissa with him to the supermarket. They were standing in the checkout line when she tugged his hand. “Isn’t that Mommy?” She pointed at a National Enquirer. On the front page was a picture of Sara and Karl, his arm around her, walking down a street in New York. The caption read “Sara James and Karl Graham seem to be getting very close on and off the film set.” Tim felt like someone had clubbed him in the chest. He was grateful Melissa couldn’t read yet.

  Tim looked at his daughter. “Yes, that’s a picture of Mommy and her co-star.”

  “Can we buy it?”

  “No, Lissa, we have some better pictures of Mommy in our Newsweek. We don’t need this one.” The last sentence came out with an edge to it, but it seemed to satisfy the child. Tim went home with a rock in his stomach.

  That evening, Tim tried to call Sara at her hotel in New York. The special operator answered. “Can you ring Sara James’ room? This is her husband.”

  “I’m sorry, Sara James asked not to be disturbed tonight. Is this an emergency?”

  The rock turned into a boulder and rose to choke him. “No, I’ll call another time.”

  A couple of days later, Tim and Melissa were invited to a weekend in Palm Springs with Roy and Linda and their three girls. On Saturday night, after the children were in bed, Tim, Roy, and Linda were having a beer by the pool on a cool desert night.

  “Have you heard from Sara lately?” Linda asked.

  Tim was quiet for a moment and stared at his glass. “I heard from her a couple of weeks ago.”

  “Is something wrong?”

  Tim looked at Linda and sighed. “I’ve been bothered for a few days. I saw a National Enquirer with a picture of her and Karl on it.”

  Linda looked down. “Oh, yeah, I saw that one too. Tim, you know their reporting isn’t always the truth.”

  “I know that, but I tried to call Sara that night, and the hotel operator told me she’d asked not to be disturbed.” A strange look appeared on Linda’s face. “Linda, do you know something?”

  “It’s not about that—” She sat back and looked off toward the horizon.

  “What is it?” he pressed.

  “It sounds like what happened to Teri. You may as well know. After she got out of the hospital, David asked her to marry him, but she wanted to talk to you first, so she called me up and asked me to bring the hotel list over. She called the hotel in Scotland while I was there, and she got the same statement from the operator as you did.”

  “You never told me Teri tried to call.”

  “I’d forgotten about it by the time you got home. I guess she assumed you didn’t want to talk to her.”

  “Well, that’s all water under the bridge now.” Underneath, he was churning. Maybe it wasn’t just Dana that chased her off. I must have lost her because of my carelessness. Damn. And I was on a year’s fling. Is Sara
on a fling, too?

  Sunday evening, Tim tried to call again. This time he got through to Sara’s room.

  “Hello?” she answered.

  “Hi, darling, I thought I’d call since I was gone over the weekend.”

  “Oh, Tim, hi. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you.”

  Was it his imagination or did she sound distracted? “Lissa and I went over to the Gardners’ for the weekend, and I thought I’d let you know, in case you’d tried to call.”

  “No, not much has been happening around here. I’ve been busy working on the movie. Where is Melissa? I’d like to talk to her.”

  “Just a minute.” Tim called his daughter to the phone, and she talked to her mother for ten minutes.

  “Would you like to talk to Daddy again?…Okay, bye, Mommy, love you too.” Melissa hung up the phone. She crawled onto Tim’s lap. “I really miss her.”

  “I do too, pumpkin,” he said as he kissed her on the head. He didn’t want Melissa to know how much Sara not wanting to talk to him caused hurt and anger. Are my suspicions correct? Oh, Sara, what have you done to us?

  Toward the end of the eight months, Sara had trouble talking to Tim and talked to Melissa most of the time. Then the last call came.

  “Tim?” Sara said when he answered. “We have to talk when I get home.” She started sobbing. “I never meant for this to happen.”

  Tim felt like his heart dropped to the floor. “Sara, what is it?”

  “I’d rather talk to you face to face. See you tomorrow.”

  The next day as the limo came through the security gates, Melissa was looking out the window and she ran out of the house, yelling, “Mommy’s home!”

  Tim watched from the foyer window and saw Sara talk to the driver, then hug Melissa. Mother and daughter came into the house hand in hand. Sara kissed her and said, “Why don’t you go to your room and watch TV for a while and let me talk to Daddy.”

  Tim went into the living room ahead of Sara and stood next to the fireplace. He had a lump in his throat, but managed to say around it, “What happened, Sara?”

  She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Tim, I fell in love with Karl when we were making the movie.” She opened them and looked at Tim, who remained silent. “I’m going to take some of my things and move in with him today. I’ll come back for the rest later.” She took another breath. “And I’m going to take Melissa with me.”