Title: The Other
Fandom: Pan Am
Author: Alidiabin
Words: 1,601.
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Warnings/Spoilers/Rating: one swearword || 1x01 || Teen
Parings/Character: Colette Valois and Evelyn Stanton.
Summary: Evelyn knows her anger is directed at the wrong person.
The Other
Colette Valois was not the first woman who had been caught in John's web, nor would she be the last.
The first had been years ago, during those years between their wonderful white wedding and Tommy being born, when John was working so hard for them, and Evelyn setting up the house. The other woman's name was Edith; she was a typist at his office in the city. John had referred to her as E on his to-do lists in his dog-eared pocket-sized diary. Her home address was also scrawled messily on the back pages of the little black diary, taunting Evelyn as she looked for clues for a birthday gift for her husband. Evelyn had been naïve enough to believe that 'E' was her new nickname, when she saw entries like 'buy something pretty for E', and that her home address was scrawled for something completely innocent. Evelyn had imagined that Edith had been worldly, independent and tiny-waisted. Edith had been everything; Evelyn John's homely college sweetheart was not.
John had never explicitly told her about Edith or about Colette all those years later, he did not have to Evelyn known. Evelyn had put two and two together, adding the late nights and missing money into the equation. Evelyn knew that the surprise flowers and permission to do expensive decorating were not given to apologize for the missed dinners. As much as she tried to pretend it was not happening, as much as she wanted her marriage to be perfect it was not.
When John had carelessly let Edith's red lips stain his shirt collar. Evelyn had all the evidence she needed. She could have left, taking half his money with her, and maybe finish that college degree, art history was a useful subject, right? Of course, Evelyn knew it would never happen. She had seen 'friends' leave their husbands and end up destitute. Without a man, a woman was nothing; Evelyn knew this fact about the world. She had to forgive, forget and just smile through it. This was a marriage; she took the good with the bad.
She threw the ruined shirt in the trash and never spoke of it again. When John came home for dinner, she suggested they start trying for a baby. A baby would make everything better. Having a child to come home to would make John stay faithful. He would feel responsibility to both of them.
For a while after Tommy was born, it did indeed seem like her plan had worked. Nights spent working late, were few and far between, and when John came home he did not smell like cigarettes and women's perfume. John adored his family. Evelyn made more of an effort to keep him interested, to keep him coming to her looking for milk and honey. She ignored her own needs and desires for the sake of his. For a short but wonderful while, their marriage got as close to perfect as it was ever going to get.
Something was off when John returned from Rome. John brought her and Tommy extra special gifts, even though they were supposed to be saving for the holiday to London in a few months. For Tommy it was a toy aeroplane which was broken within a week, and for Evelyn it was a golden bracelet made from real gold. She happily wore it around her wrist, showing it off to her friends but in the back of her mind was this nagging feeling in the back of her mind. A suspicion was planted, Evelyn tried not water it but every time she stared at the bracelet the suspicion started to grow. The suspicion was only fuelled by the fact that Evelyn knew that the cracks they had plastered over before had opened up again.
She tried not to look for signs of John's infidelity, but they kept popping out at her. John could not give her a straight answer about what he did in Rome during the afternoon when he was not at the meeting. He said things about friends but Evelyn knew he had no friends in Rome. One day, as she prepared to go to the drycleaners, she checked the suit John had taken to Rome, as John was always leaving things in which the dry cleaner would have to fish out much to his disdain. The suit was as she meticulously checked the suit for a misplaced receipt or scrap piece of paper, she found an earring. Evelyn admired the little piece of silver, trying to pretend it was hers. It wasn't, it was too young for her, too flashy. She slipped the earring into the dresser draw she seldom opened, and forgot about it. Banishing it from her mind.
Evelyn was excited to go to London. She told all her friends about, how they were travelling on the new Clipper Majestic, and how John's well-paying job meant that they were flying first class. She did not mention that this well-paying job meant he was away so often, none of them mentioned the downsides of their seemingly perfect lives.
"John," Evelyn heard a heavily accented voice call. She followed the voice and watched the gaggle of stewardesses rushed toward the virgin plane. Bile rose in her throat as she watched John turn to the sound of his name. Evelyn began to wonder which one of them owned that sparkly earring that was sitting in her dresser draw.
John rushed toward the plane, only adding fuel to the fire in her the back of her mind. She put on a brave face for Tommy. She smiled as he asked why Daddy was running so fast, and told him Daddy was just excited. She saw him talking to the prettiest and most exotic stewardess on the plane. A fine creature that Evelyn could never compete with, even if they had been the same age.
She settled into the plane journey. She tended to Tommy's every concerned and tried to ignore the lingering looks that John kept sending down the aisle. John said he was going to ask a stewardess about Tommy seeing the cockpit, but when he ignored the red head one that was walking up and down and went straight to the French girl, Evelyn felt her gut churn. She watched their tense conversation at the bar, and knew she did not need any more conformation.
Evelyn spent the rest of the flight wondering what to do. She wanted to hurt John and the little French tart. So she asked the woman her name as she tended to another passenger. Colette rolled around on Evelyn's tongue, tasting so very bitter. John's eyes stare at her, burring the back of her neck. She knew that inside he was squirming as the scene unfolded before him like the climax in the play. She watched as Colette agreed to sit in an effort to pretend everything is normal. Evelyn made pointless small talk, which fooled the pair into believing she were none the wiser. When she told Colette she was jealous, it was not just of Colette's eyelashes but also the fact that John chose her. He fucked her. It has been so long that John had truly made love to Evelyn. Colette turned the tides of the tense conversation in an effort not to break character of the smiling stewardess. John sent her scampering off. Evelyn watched as the relief washes over Colette as she rushed off, her brown bow bouncing. Contempt for the French woman grew in Evelyn.
The purse is forgotten on purpose, technically. First, Evelyn put all the important things in her pockets, so that she had the choice whether or not to retrieve the purse. She changed her mind with each step, and played out both scenarios in her head. It was as John's shoulders relaxed once they stepped off the plane, once he was out of danger that made her decide to go back.
The French woman handed her the drawing with a weary smile. Before Colette can even refuse the offer of keeping the drawing, the angry words that have been brewing for six long hours, fly from Evelyn's mouth. She issues Colette a warning. A part of Evelyn knew it was not Colette's fault, she was probably unaware that he was married, but Evelyn cannot fight with John. She cannot risk John walking out of her. So the French woman gets the brunt of Evelyn's anger. The French woman's face dropped and the Pan Am smile faded. She did not respond, did not engage Evelyn's anger. Instead she nodded and directed Evelyn to the exit of the aircraft.
Evelyn placed her hand in John's as they meet in the terminal. Tommy did not stir from his sleep. The hand holding is a sign on territory not love. At that moment, Evelyn is no longer sure if she loves John. Maybe she just loved the security of a husband, the nice house and the normalcy of a family.
John spent their first evening in rainy London running in and out of the bathroom. Flying did not agree with him he joked as he held his sore stomach. Evelyn played nursemaid, and brought him water. It is as she brings him the cool glass, that she realised what the stewardess and her little friends must have done. She cannot help but smirk at the other woman's sweet revenge.
Next time she will give him a dose of laxatives, she thinks, because she is not naive enough to believe Colette is the last woman caught in John's web.