Chapter 5

December 8, 2011

Clare Boothe Luce said, "No good deed goes unpunished?"

I'd spent over twelve-thousand Euros furnishing, repairing and refurbishing Mary's Cottage and what did I have to show for it? On the plus side I now had a home that suited me, filled with comforts like new appliances and furniture, Wi-Fi and upgraded wiring. The roof no longer leaked and the chimney no longer belched smoke into the front room.

And of course there was the scorching kiss from Moira Dugan. Moira was an interesting intelligent and quite attractive woman who was also a fantastic decorator and someone who had a great deal of fun with my money. She reminded me in many ways of Keri – they would probably be great friends. As much fun as that kiss was my internal alarms were clanging furiously by the time it ended. Right now I didn't want any woman, especially another Keri.

Well that wasn't entirely true. And that was my dilemma. Teresa Flaherty bothered me – in a good way. I was actually looking forward to getting to know her and her daughter over the coming months. Did I want to spend the rest of my life with her? Of course not! Well maybe. My emotional state was so out of whack that I hardly knew who I was much less trying to fathom the inner workings of a beautiful young woman, several years my junior who just happened to be my landlord.

So to the minus side of the equation – I had seen the expression on Teresa's face when she walked in on me kissing Moira. Well actually Moira initiated the kiss and I admit I was enjoying the heck out of it. Moira said she wanted to give me a thank you kiss for making her Christmas by allowing her pretty much free rein to transform the cottage. Of course I also knew that the hefty pile of Euros I left at her office helped "make her Christmas". I did not get a kiss from the ladies of the cleaning service, Eithne the chimney sweep, nor Desmond Collins the roofer, nor Tom the painter even though I was sure I made their Christmases too. No, just from Moira. Although I had to admit that one from Eithne, a sylph covered in soot who had the most amazing blue eyes, might have been welcome.

So now I paced my newly redecorated living room, trying to convince myself that it would be smarter to wait until tomorrow to talk to Teresa. Of course I knew that now would be the time to resolve the problem, but I was procrastinating. I needed to clear the air about all the changes I made to the cottage without consulting her – especially if she thought she was going to have to find the money to pay for repairs to the roof, actually replacement was more like it - and the wiring in the place which was a fire hazard, as was the chimney. I needed to reassure her that I had already paid and that she owed me nothing.

The tougher part of the dilemma was the Moira kiss. I knew I owed Teresa no explanation, but I really did. From the look she gave us, we were lucky not to have been turned to stone on the spot. So what could I say? I was obviously enjoying the kiss too much to argue that Moira forced herself on me. Well they do say "the truth will set you free." I hoped so because I had no plan B if that blew up in my face. The thought of facing a fiery redhead made me a spineless dolt.

So I just turned and headed out the door. The cold winter's evening bit into me as I crossed the yard coatless. In moments I was at her front door reassured by the light coming from the windows in the front of the little house. I knocked and waited, heart thumping. I told myself this whole situation was ridiculous. Here I was a grown man with adult daughters, a successful attorney, a not so successful husband, and I was standing coatless on the front porch of a woman I had known for only a couple of days, waiting to apologize for offending her. I really didn't need this, but I felt compelled to explain. I didn't want Teresa to think less of me. Even if she didn't speak to me the rest of the six months at least I would have explained.

Brrrrrr! What was taking her so long to answer? Just as I was getting ready to knock again the door opened and there was Teresa. Her face showed a mixture of surprise and sadness, and perhaps a little anger.

Before I could say a word she spat,

"I thought you'd be busy tonight!"

I looked at her for a few moments. Taking in her beauty and trying very hard not to take out my anger and frustrations with Keri on her. Finally I simply said,

"Not tonight ... Nor any night in the foreseeable future."

Teresa looked at me as her anger seemed to ebb.

"Well since you're not busy, I guess you should come in then. We have some things to talk about."

With that she looked past me at the cottage. Then she opened the door wider and allowed me to enter the warmth of her living room. I rubbed my arms as I stepped into a very nicely furnished room, mostly filled with antiques, and she had a very nice fire at one end of the room – obviously no chimney sweep needed here, I thought. Mollie came over and greeted me, tail furiously wagging. She'd been quite a help with the supervision of the cottage makeover. At least dogs still liked me I mused.

I watched Teresa as she turned to face me. No offer to make myself comfortable was made. She looked absolutely gorgeous, hair pulled back in a ponytail, a nice dark blue wool sweater that accentuated her breasts, jeans that hugged her perfect legs and ballet flats on her feet. She crossed her arms in front of her. Her face was flushed. Still angry? Hard to tell.

"Teresa, I came to apologize and to explain about the cottage..."

"Yes?" She challenged. Yes, still angry I thought.

"When I saw you this morning I had intended to merely buy furniture for the cottage. I didn't intend to deceive you ... well I just didn't tell you everything."

Her green eyes flashed.

An important rule to remember is when you're in a hole, stop digging, but I felt compelled to keep explaining. I needed her to know I hadn't taken advantage of her. I pressed on; despite the look she gave me.

"Last night I tried to build a fire. The room filled with smoke and the fireplace wouldn't draw. I damn near froze from having the windows open half the night. And then the rain started. I like the sound of rain on a roof but around midnight the rain woke me – not the sound but the actual rain which was dripping, no that's not right – it felt like a torrent and it was pouring on my face as I lay in bed!"

I watched her face lose its anger and her expression turn to shock.

"So when I saw you this morning I didn't figure it was any big deal to have the chimney sweep come out and I also got Mr. Collins to come have a look at the roof."

I didn't mention I got his number from Moira. The less said about her the better.

"I figured he would maybe just need to patch it, and I wouldn't even mention it to you. I should have known better. When he inspected the roof he said the whole thing needed to be replaced and he could have his crew out before noon. I'm sorry I didn't consult you before I gave him the go-ahead, I thought I'd probably see you sometime in the day to let you know. But I did pay him..."

Teresa couldn't quite hide her relief when I said that.

"And while the roofers were working the painters came. I thought the interior could use a bit of a spruce up." Again not telling her it was Moira's idea. "And then they delivered the new kitchen appliances which promptly overloaded the circuits. Mr. Collins recommended an electrician, and of course you know how that went."

Teresa's face softened. I detected a trace of a smile on her beautiful face and she uncrossed her arms. I tried to keep my eyes away from her chest.

"Oh David, I'm so sorry! I had no idea!"

Then she frowned as she continued, "I'll make arrangements to reimburse you the full amount."

I moved to her and took her warm hands.

"Teresa that won't be necessary..."

She pulled her hands away.

"I'll not take charity!" Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

I smiled at her.

"May I continue?"

She nodded.

"May I make you a loan for six months? And then if I decide to stay we can work out an arrangement where part of each month's rent will be deducted from the loan?" Before she could answer I added, "Of course I know the rent will be higher in summer so maybe you could leave the rent as is and the difference would go to paying the loan?"

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and said, "Thank you David, I agree."

We stood there just looking at each other for a few moments and then Teresa said, "Have you eaten?"

"No, in all the excitement I quite forgot."

"I'll make you something ... Come into the kitchen."

She started to turn away, but I stopped her taking her hands again.

"Teresa, despite what you saw, there is nothing between me and Moira ... nor will there ever be."

She looked at me for a long moment and simply nodded. Then we moved to the kitchen and she still held my hand.

So that's how it started. There were no passionate kisses or falling into bed. That night I received a chaste kiss on the cheek as I departed. But it was enough to confirm I was interested, but that interest was tempered by ghosts of Christmas past. Or I should say Christmas present – in the haunting of my soul by infidelity and treachery. But somehow, every time I looked into Teresa's eyes the life I'd fled in Chicago seemed many years and many miles away.

But when I returned to Mary's Cottage that night, that old life reasserted itself. As I sat in my new leather recliner in my newly painted and furnished living room with a cheerful fire sipping brandy, I powered up my computer. It effortlessly found my new wireless network. There were fewer emails than yesterday. I deleted many and moved the others to folders to look at later. There were some questions from my associates concerning some details on the cases I'd transferred but nothing onerous. I knew I could answer with impunity because there was no way they could track me if anyone cared – well John Wiley might care if he ever put two and two together.

Again there were still no emails from Keri or my daughters, Megan and Jessica. But there were a couple of text messages from my daughters on my phone; they were excited to be coming home for Christmas and they let me know their arrival flight into O'Hare. Keri still had not told them we were divorcing!

I sent a message to Dmitri and arranged for him to meet them at the airport. Then I sat and tried to figure out what to do. I had taken the coward's way out thinking that the girls would hear it from their mother when she called them in tears telling them how she had screwed up and I was divorcing her. So much for the best laid plans. When had Keri intended to tell them? I had a mental picture of how that would play out as the girls arrived home.

"Hi mom, Merry Christmas. By the way where's dad? Oh he's left and he's divorcing me."