Chapter 11

Denise rented a cheap apartment and took the first job she could as cashier at a supermarket. She hired a lawyer with the promise of payment from the divorce settlement although there would be precious little to divide. She thought of calling Aaron several times. She owed him an explanation but somehow could not face him, even on the phone. She thought of the contract and the fact that Aaron could probably make her comply or at least make life miserable for her for breach of contract, but she hoped he would forget her and allow her to make a fresh start. Kevin called several times but it quickly became evident each time that the contract and the money were uppermost on his mind. She became even more convinced that she had been right in splitting with him. Mineena was still young enough that although she missed Kevin, it would be possible for her to learn to live only with her mother.

Two weeks went by and her first paycheck convinced her she would need to take a second job. She began job hunting immediately but days later she had found nothing. Mineena continued her dialysis but Denise was making nowhere near enough to afford the treatments and the bills were piling up.

"Thirty-two fifty-seven," she announced after ringing up the amount of groceries for an elderly woman. The woman seemed to take forever to produce her billfold and then struggled to get the cash from its compartment.

"Thank you," said Denise as she made change while a young high schooler bagged the groceries, loaded them into a cart and helped the woman to her car.

Without looking up, she turned on the conveyer belt and rang up the vased roses from the flower department.

"Twenty-nine sixteen," she announced taking the credit card which was proffered.

Her eyes grew large and snapped up to meet those of someone familiar.

"You're a hard lady to find," said Aaron smiling.

"I... I... I don't know what to say -- except I'm sorry. I know i should have called and explained but..."

"Maybe you could explain tonight -- over dinner."

"Aaron, you've been so nice to me, but I have to break from the past -- start over."

"Couldn't we at least have dinner together?"

"I... yes, of course, I certainly owe you that."

He looked back to see several impatient customers waiting in line behind him.

"Then I'll pick you up about eight," he said as he signed the receipt and started to walk away.

"Wait, your roses!" she called.

"For a very lovely lady with whom I am lucky enough to be having dinner tonight," he said smiling and left.

The two sat in a corner table. Light music wafted as they finished some after dinner wine. Denise had gotten Mrs. Gurney, a nice older lady from down the hall to baby sit Mineena and she and Aaron had enjoyed a delicious meal. He looked to her expectantly.

"I... don't know where to start," she said. "It was all just too much."

"Start wherever you like," he suggested.

She began with the proposition of Rafael LeTone, the degradation she felt and how she had almost succumbed to the lure of a large donation to the foundation, then the realization that LeTone was right, that despite the elegant party, beautiful dress and refined conversation, she was still prostituting herself. Then the epiphany that see could -- must say no to LeTone, to the contract and to Aaron. Then came the trip home and the discovery of Kevin with the blonde and despite it all, his insistence that she fulfill the contract -- that she prostitute herself for the money.

"I should have called you. I just wasn't sure how to say no to someone who has done nothing but treat me with dignity and respect. But you were the problem, or at least the contract was. I know the problems with Kevin and I began before you came along. I'm so ashamed of posing for those photos and for that movie. Then you entered the picture with such a dazzling offer. For a while I thought I was doing the right thing, especially for Mineena. I know now that's not the case. The only thing I know to do is break cleanly and start my life over."

"Was it so bad with me?" he asked.

"Of course not. I enjoyed the travel and most of all your company. But at the back of my mind was always the awareness that I would have to fulfill the obligations of the contract."

"And was that prospect so bad?"

"... No," she replied softly. "If I'm honest with myself I have to admit that I even looked forward to it. But to have sold myself..."

"All right. Let's go to plan B. As of this moment that part of the contract is null and void. You have no sexual obligation to me whatsoever. I will continue to pay for Mineena's medical costs, her scholarship will remain intact and the million will be deposited at the end of a year. All I'm asking in return is that you live with me. Share my home, be my companion."

"But you wanted..."

"I still do, but not by crassly maneuvering you into bed with a lucrative contract offer. You said you made some mistakes. Well so have I. Knowing you were married, the contract was the only way I knew to get what I wanted. It was wrong -- then and now. So now, I'm asking. Please, Denise, share your life with me for one year. Then..."

"Aaron, I confess, I'm about this far from falling in love with you," she said holding up her thumb and first finger very close together. "I don't know if I could stand to lose you..."

"Now I have a confession to make. When we first met you and your husband got the impression that at the end of a year I was going to die. That's not true, at least not in the sense you meant. I let you continue to think that way because it created sympathy and worked to my advantage. I can't let it continue however if we are to have any chance of an honest relationship."

"You mean you're not going to die?"

"Not -- exactly. You see I have a rare genetic disorder in which I am slowly becoming impotent. I've had every specialist you could name examine me and render an opinion but they all agree. I am slowly growing impotent and there is nothing they can do. Oh, the blue pill will help for a while, but within a year even that will no longer help. So you see, I may not be dying in one sense, but in another, my manhood, shall indeed be dead within a year."

"But... ?"

"I told you before, Denise. I wanted it all. Yes, I wanted to experience you sexually, but I'm not that dumb. You have so much more to offer. That's why I didn't just offer you money to provide a one night stand. I wanted to experience a true and complete relationship for as long as i could because after that year I'll never be able to..."

His voice dropped off.

"And you think that's all I would care about?"

"Not all, but enough. Sex is important to any relationship, Denise."

"Yes, it is, but as I've said, I've fallen in love with you without it. Do you think I couldn't sustain that love without sex?"

"You shouldn't have to."

"Suppose you let me be the judge of that."

The next few weeks were wonderful for both Mineena and Denise. The youngster adapted wonderfully to living in the mansion and enjoyed the attention she received from Aaron as well as her mother. They took her on several trips and included her in many of their plans. There was time for the two of them as well and Denise found herself falling in love.

The divorce was finalized and with a little extra "grease," Kevin was persuaded into giving up full custody to Denise. Two months later, at his own initiative, he signed over full parental rights in exchange for another sizable check. Denise picked up with her work with the foundation and she and Aaron and Mineena began to feel the normalcy of family life. Mineena's treatments continued but the doctors had encouraging news that within a year she would probably be old enough for a trnsplant.