Three
"May I interest you in an aperitif, madame?"
"Don't be coy with me, Jacques. You know I want a vodka."
"Mother!" Hilde felt her cheeks heating as she looked helplessly at the waiter whose brows were raised. This was even too early for her mother to be drinking in public.
"Bring my daughter the same," Ingrid Schbeiker said with a challenging look that she directed at both her daughter and the waiter.
"Oui, madame." The young man bowed and left to fill her order, and Hilde noticed that her mother watched him until he was out of sight. When he had disappeared into another part of the restaurant, she sighed and turned back to see the disgust that Hilde couldn't hide.
"Is there something wrong, my dear?"
Hilde picked up the menu without answering, but her head was throbbing painfully, and she couldn't make out the words, so she lowered it to find her mother waiting for an answer. "There is nothing wrong."
She wished that would be the end of the discussion, but her mother remarked, "Your father might be dead and consigned to ashes, but I'm very much alive."
"I'm not disputing your right to see other men," Hilde began, but her mother cut her off.
"You're disputing which sort of men I might see."
Her mother did more than see the young men she invited to her home, some spending weeks enjoying all the hospitality that her father's wealth could provide. Hilde was glad she had her own apartment in the commercial district, an apartment that had been up to her mother's exacting standards in case she deigned to visit her. She would rather not watch Ingrid entertaining men half her age.
"Why did you call me to lunch?" demanded Hilde with annoyance.
Before her mother could answer, a woman dressed in black approached the table. "Madame Schbeiker! How delighted I am to see you in my restaurant."
"Good afternoon, Madame Chantal," Hilde said politely although her mother looked at the owner of the finest restaurant on the colony, if not on all the colonies, as if she were lower than the dirt under her heels, that is if any dirt dared stick to Ingrid Schbeiker's heels.
The other woman nodded to her. "Mademoiselle Schbeiker, I hear that congratulations are in order."
Hilde didn't show her surprise although her mother snapped her head to look at her. Madame Chantal seemed to know everything before it happened, and since the ink had barely dried on the paper contracts her client had signed, Hilde suspected that the other woman had contacts in the government filing offices.
"What is she talking about?" demanded Ingrid.
Before Hilde could answer, Madame Chantal said, "Your daughter managed to persuade the owner of the last few properties in Sector 13 to sell his holdings to the Phoenix Group."
"Sector 13?" Ingrid's nose wrinkled in distaste. "Isn't that the awful mess on the far side of the city?"
"It used to be a delightful place to live," said Madame Chantal. Hilde hadn't known much about that part of the colony except that a ferocious mobile suit battle had occurred in the sector in the early years of the war. Since beginning her work for the Phoenix Group, she had discovered that many successful young families with diverse ethnic backgrounds had built a thriving community there. In less than twenty-four hours their lives had been destroyed in a horrific battle.
"How did you manage to escape?" asked her mother with a sneer.
"I wasn't there when the fighting started."
"Had a premonition and fled like a rat?"
"Mother!" Hilde was appalled.
The other woman laughed, the sound brittle and humorless. "Your mother and I are old friends."
"Old enough to remember when you didn't have that atrocious accent, when you were just poor Fiona Malone. Your Irish affectation is hardly any better than your French even though you were born in raised among them." She looked past Madame Chantal. "Jacques, stop standing around waiting for an invitation. I want that drink."
The waiter moved around his employer and delivered one delicate glass of clear liquid garnished with a couple of olives skewered with toothpicks. About to go around the table to set the other glass before Hilde who had decided she was glad her mother had ordered the drink for her because she could use it, Ingrid put a hand on his arm to stop him.
"That will be wasted on my daughter. Leave it with me and get her a glass of freshly squeezed lemon juice. That way she'll have an excuse other than her prudish sensibilities to purse her lips."
Jacques set the glass before Hilde's mother, but he looked at Madame Chantal, probably wondering if he should do as the customer asked when it was a clear insult.
"Bring Mademoiselle Schbeiker a glass of champagne. She has a reason to celebrate." The elegant woman looked at the empty chair. "Do you mind if I join you for a moment or two?"
Ingrid took a long sip from her glass, nearly draining it before she said, "I can't stop you since you own the place."
Another waiter hurried to pull out the chair for Madame Chantal, then left to get her a refreshment. After a brief glance at Ingrid, she turned her full attention to Hilde. "Will the Phoenix Group make alternate living arrangements for the people living in the buildings on their new properties?"
Hilde knew that there were almost a hundred families living where ever they could find stable lodgings scattered over the property, most in a tower that had been reinforced before the owner ran out of funding. The owner assured her before signing the contracts that the government had already agreed to find them public housing.
"They will be taken care of." Hilde wished now that she had been more adamant in demanding an affidavit regarding people who might suddenly find themselves without a home. But her client had pushed to close the deal, so she let the matter drop.
"How, exactly?" pressed the other woman.
"What is your interest in the wreck?" asked Ingrid, already halfway through the second glass of vodka. Hilde hoped they could get through lunch before her mother became too inebriated to stand.
Madame Chantal glanced briefly at Ingrid before looking at Hilde. "Several of my employees live there and I am concerned that they will no longer have a place to live when the Phoenix Group knocks down the only place they can call home."
"Why don't you pay them enough to afford a better place?" asked Ingrid snidely.
"Mother! Madame Chantal already pays the highest employment rate on the colony, but the government taxes both her and her employees until there is barely anything left. The Restoration Tax levied in this sector is outrageously high."
Ingrid sniffed. "They can't expect the rest of us to pay for the repairs to their communities." Hilde hated that her mother had no empathy for people less fortunate than herself.
"There is little extra housing," pointed out Madame Chantal. "I, myself, sleep in a set of small rooms above the restaurant. What housing is constructed is geared towards attracting wealthy residents from Earth or other colonies. If the government doesn't do something soon, workers will not be able to live on the colony, and where will that leave us?"
"There will always be workers," snorted Ingrid derisively. "They are like roaches, living in filth and creeping out of the dark to find sustenance. They'll live on the street if they have to because they can't afford to leave the colony."
Hilde was so shocked by her mother's comment that she lowered her head in shame rather than try to moderate her words or behavior. She didn't know exactly when her mother became this crass human being, but her downward spiral had begun before her father's death and Hilde's subsequent depression. She had never been particularly close to her mother, but she no longer recognized the woman she had become.
"I see that your guests have arrived." Madame Chantal rose from the chair and Hilde watched her move away to greet a group of men and one woman. Hilde looked at her mother to see that she had finished her second drink and was signaling for Jacques to return. He quickly stepped forward and had her empty glasses whisked away before their luncheon guests arrived.
Many of the patrons were looking in their direction because it wasn't every day that Judge Werner Richter, the leading candidate to be chosen to replace the retiring colony governor, dined in public with his lovely wife, Lina, sole heir to the Jaeger aerospace fortune. Accompanying him were his protege, Andreas Becker along with his campaign manager, Karl Vogel. The men greeted the women by kissing their hands while the women gave each other polite hugs. Hilde had known the powerful Richter family her whole life since her father had been a partner in Werner Richter's law firm. Hilde had spent a lot of time in the Richter mansion when her father was working cases with him, so she got to know his wife as well. Looking back, Hilde felt more affection from Lina Jaeger than she ever did her own mother, but then Lina had a lot of affection to transfer since she had never been able to have children of her own. After all that had happened to her after returning from the war, Lina was the only person Hilde could turn to for comfort.
She now hugged Hilde warmly, but leaned in to whisper, "Forbearance, child."
Werner sat between Ingrid and Lina while Andreas and Kurt flanked Hilde. As the elders made small talk, Hilde turned to look at Andreas who was watching her with a smile that made the heat rise to her cheeks. "I haven't seen you in a few days," she remarked.
He clasped her hand under the table. "A situation I intend to rectify tonight. I know you have something to celebrate, so I'd like to take you out."
As she was deciding if she had time to spare, she noticed everyone watching her expectantly and became flustered. Were they in on something?
"You need a break," said Werner, swirling a glass of amber liquid in his hand. "You have been busy negotiating for the Phoenix Group, and now that you have succeeded on their behalf, you should take some time to enjoy yourself."
Hilde didn't want to point out that she had a couple of pro bono cases to work on because nobody at the table approved of her charitable work. In their eyes she was a corporate lawyer on the fast track to a political career. Kurt had even remarked that with her military background, she could be elected without trying. Hilde didn't feel up to having her past brought into the limelight by the press when there were still some issues she had yet to come to terms with.
Sitting next to Andreas, Hilde didn't want to have any thoughts of Duo Maxwell, but every day something reminded her of him and of what they could have had if he hadn't thrown it all away. To distract herself now, she looked at Andreas whose blond head was bent to listen to something Lina was telling him. He had recently returned from a business trip to Earth where he spent several days in the tropics and picked up an enviable tan. Although it was fading, Hilde could still see it and it made him more attractive than he already was. Even now she noticed women watching him when their lunch dates were not paying attention to them, and whole groups of women openly ogled him. At his campaign speeches the audiences were probably more than two-thirds women, but men were just as enthralled with him because he was the man they wanted to be. Intelligent, athletic, attractive, he was even blessed with a friendly nature that drew people towards him.
There was little doubt he would win the election against his opponent, a middle-aged man who railed against the government's policies in the outer sectors. Andreas ran on a platform that called for cleaning out the crime that had infested the colony since the end of the war. He already had an impressive record of prosecutions that took many dangerous criminals off the street. If the colony police were overzealous, it was worth it to put an end to the high murder rate and the rampant drug use that spawned robbery and prostitution. Andreas' opponent, Hannibal Grey, accused the Teutonic community of carrying out ethnic cleansing by driving entire neighborhoods either off the colony or into prisons. If he hadn't started spouting conspiracy theories that Teuton leaders had caused the destruction of Sector 13 where the non-Teuton society had flourished before the war, Hilde might have taken him seriously. After his announcement in which he claimed to have evidence, Hilde thought he was a raving lunatic, especially after his witnesses never surfaced. He was just a man who had lost everything and needed someone to blame.
Under the table, Andreas squeezed her hand because Hilde must have drifted off in thought. When she smiled at him, she caught the approving look that Werner and Lina exchanged while her mother smirked before signaling for Jacques to return to the table. Werner ordered a round of champagne, and once everyone at the table had a delicate crystal glass filled with the bubbly, amber liquid, he stood and raised his own to Hilde.
"Otto and I were friends all the way through law school, and I know that he would be proud of you this day, Hilde. I think of you as the daughter I never had, and I know that I am very proud of you. Because of your efforts, we, the settlers of this colony, will be able to put an ugly past behind us with the help of the Phoenix Group."
Hilde was embarrassed by the attention, especially when diners nearby clapped, but she nodded in thanks, drank her champagne quickly and excused herself to the powder room. Once she reached the elegantly decorated compartment, she fumbled in her purse for an anti-anxiety pill, placed it on her tongue and with a shaky hand she poured water into a glass and swallowed it, nearly choking on the pill. When she was finished, she clutched the edges of the vanity and stared into the mirror of the low-lighted room. The woman that stared back didn't look anything like the young woman who had bravely gone to fight for what she believed in. During the war, even those beliefs had been turned around so that she didn't know what was right and what was wrong.
Her parents had been against her enlistment, but she refused to listen to them. Like many others on the colony, she wanted revenge for the war that had come to their doorstep, and like many others she had been drawn to OZ because she had naively believed that they would help the colonies in the fight for independence from Earth. And like everyone else, she came to realize that they were all dupes of the Romefeller Foundation. She learned before everyone else with the help of a smooth-talking mobile suit pilot that she couldn't get out of her thoughts.
Panting, Hilde flopped onto her back and turned her head to the side to find that Duo was looking at her, his smile making her shiver even after what they had just done.
"Are you sure we have to have dinner with your parents?"
She turned on her side and reached out to put her hand on his cheek. "We've waited long enough. You didn't want to meet them until you were on your feet, and now your business is thriving, so you have no excuse to put it off."
Duo turned to face her, and slipping his arm around her waist, he dragged her against his naked body. They were both hot and sweaty now after a touch and a look when they had been working had them scrambling for the bed in the middle of the afternoon. She didn't even remember who had the wherewithal to activate the sign on the salvage business indicating that they were out. The sex had been explosive and satisfying, and when he ran his hand down her back now with a gentle caress, she knew they weren't done.
Lowering his head, he looked into her eyes. "Call them and tell them that I got a big order and won't be available until the job is done."
Hilde smiled as she put her arms around his neck and pressed the length of her body against his. "I'm not going to do that, Duo. They're expecting us this evening and if we don't show up, there is no way my parents will forgive us."
"I'm fine with that."
He tried to kiss her, but she moved her head and he ended up kissing her neck. "I'm not fine with that." He was making a trail of kisses down to her breasts, but she grabbed a handful of his thick braid to stop him and he raised his eyes to look at her. "We are going, Duo, and that is final."
"We don't have to get ready yet, do we?"
Hilde couldn't resist the smoldering look in his deep blue eyes, so she released his braid. "Maybe we have a little time."
Duo pushed her onto her back. "Whatever you want, princess."
They ended up using a lot of time and arriving at her parents' home over an hour after the time they agreed upon for dinner. Duo looked with wide-eyed awe at the Schbeiker mansion set a few blocks back from the main thoroughfare of the city and surrounded by a security gate to which Hilde knew the code. The cobbled drive to the enormous house was an extravagance that even few Teuton families could afford, but her father was a successful attorney whose legal services were sought all over the colonies and Earth, so her mother spared no expense in creating a showcase home.
Before they came to the enormous front door, Duo rubbed his palms on his black pants nervously. "I think I'm underdressed."
She swept a glance over the black shirt tucked in his pants, boots that he had polished for the occasion and the black tie that she now reached up to straighten. "You look fine."
He enclosed her fingers with his own warm, strong hands. "I don't want to embarrass you, Hilde. You know how I feel."
"Do I?" she teased. Hilde sensed that he loved her, but he had never said as much.
He put a hand on her cheek and she caught her breath at the intensity in his eyes. "Hilde, I ..."
The door suddenly opened, startling them apart to face the family butler. "Welcome home, Miss Hilde."
Hilde was sure her cheeks were flaming, and she could see that Duo was flustered by the interruption. "Helmut! It is good to see you. Please don't tell me that my parents waited for us to eat."
The older man leaned down to whisper, "Your mother insisted that they wait although your father declared that if you couldn't make it to the table on time, you could go without food."
She noticed that Duo looked startled and even more intimidated than he had before. "Are they in the drawing room?"
"I will announce you."
As they followed the butler, Duo leaned down to ask, "What's a drawing room?"
"A fancy big room with an enormous fireplace and uncomfortable furniture where Helmut takes guests to meet the family," she told him, and she heard Helmut chuckle at her description.
Before she had a chance to reassure Duo, Helmut swung open the doors to the drawing room and announced their arrival. Her father was standing near the fireplace, a tall glass of amber liquid half-filled, and he had been contemplating the fire, but he raised his head to look at them.
She expected him to greet them, but instead he said gruffly, "Let's eat." He marched past them without even looking at either her or Duo. Nor had he offered his arm to her mother who was sitting on a satin-covered settee facing the fire. Helmut moved forward to take a glass from her hand and he offered his arm and her mother did not refuse, but she tapped his arm to stop when they had drawn even with Hilde and Duo. Her green eyes took in Duo from top to bottom before she looked at Hilde.
"I have heard that a turn in the military improves punctuality, but in you it seems to have had the opposite effect."
"Mother, I'm sorry..."
But she turned her perfectly made up face and tapped Helmut's arm. "Take me to the dining hall and order the chef to serve the meal."
Duo started to follow, but Hilde stopped him, knowing that her mother disliked having anyone less than four paces behind her. She counted, one pace, two paces, three paces, four paces, and then she hooked her arm around Duo's and led him forward.
Although it would ruin her make-up, Hilde turned on the water again and carefully splashed her face so that she did not get her silk business suit wet, and when she felt the familiar euphoria that signaled her medication taking effect, she used a towel lying near the sink to dry herself. After powdering her face, she reapplied her lipstick and left the powder room.
Hilde made the turn to head back to the table, but something caught her attention in the opposite direction and she watched as a man wearing a rubber apron and gloves carried a tray full of dishes pushed through a swinging door, a long braid hanging down the length of his back.
Unable to believe her eyes, Hilde blinked rapidly, and before she could stop herself, she walked in the direction that the man had disappeared. She had almost made it to the door, but Madame Chantal suddenly came from within and she almost ran into her.
"Mademoiselle Schbeiker!" Her hand flew to her chest in startled surprise. "What are you doing back here?"
Hilde tried to look past her through the round window in the door, but it was steamed up and prevented her from seeing anything. "What is that way?"
"The workroom where the dishes are cleaned." Madame Chantal put her arm around Hilde's and gently turned her in the opposite direction. "It is a hot, steamy, and very smelly place. You do not want to go there."
"I ... I thought I saw someone I knew go back there." She met Madame Chantal's eyes. "Does ... does Duo Maxwell work here?"
"Duo Maxwell?" Madame Chantal furrowed her brows.
"You know who he is! He was a gundam pilot." Hilde thought the other woman was being deliberately obtuse but didn't understand why.
"Ah oui! I remember now. He was put in prison." Madame Chantal laughed softly. "Do you think I would employ convicts in my establishment? Non, non!"
She hadn't realized that the other woman had steered her back to the table until Andreas stood and came to slip an arm around her waist to guide her back to her chair.
"You look dreadful," remarked her mother.
Lina Richter frowned at Ingrid before leaning across Andreas to speak to her. "You have had a busy day. Perhaps Andreas should take you back to your apartment so that you can get some rest."
"That sounds like a good idea," said Andreas as he stood again and took Hilde's arm to draw her up with him. "Kurt, can you clear my afternoon?"
His campaign manager nodded. "You have a meeting that I can reschedule." He gave Hilde a concerned look. "You have been overworking yourself lately on behalf of the Phoenix Group. I think you need some rest."
"You may be right." Hilde did feel worn out after the stress of the last few months, and that was probably why she imagined seeing Duo. She didn't know what had become of him, but he wouldn't be washing dishes at Le Beau Papillon.
After making their good-byes, Andreas escorted Hilde through the restaurant, pausing occasionally to say a few words to his supporters, and she was relieved when they finally stepped onto the street where a limousine was waiting. The chauffeur opened the door for them and Andreas helped her in. After giving the driver directions, he joined her.
As soon as the car was on its way, Andreas slipped his arm around her and pulled her to him. "I didn't think we would ever get away from there. That was a devious maneuver, Hilde Schbeiker."
Hilde tried to push him away, but there was no stopping Andreas when he had his mind set on what he wanted. His lips were hard on hers, and his tongue in her mouth was an intrusion she thought would make her sick.
For once sensing her disinterest, he raised his head to look down at her. "You really don't feel well?"
She tried to smile. "I've been under a lot of stress. Maybe I should just go back to my apartment to rest."
He put his hand on her bare knee and slid it up under her skirt. "I know just what you need."
Hilde reached for his wrist, but he refused to relent, so she tried to relax as his fingers skimmed over her thighs parting them as they moved higher. She didn't want this, but if she didn't cooperate, Andreas might become frustrated and he made her nervous when he lost his temper. So she squeezed her eyes shut and grasped for anything that would make her enjoy what he was doing to her. She thought of the man she had seen in the restaurant, and that led to memories of Duo that made this experience easier to bear.
"I knew you would enjoy this." Andreas' hot breath in her ear brought her crashing back to reality to find her skirt bunched around her hips with Andreas settling between her thighs.
What happened next was all for his benefit, and Hilde pretended to enjoy it while wishing he hadn't disturbed her fantasy before its conclusion. His deep groan in her ear made relief flood through her that the ordeal was over, and she didn't look at him when he rolled back to sit beside her. As he pulled up his pants and fastened them, Hilde put her own clothing to rights, and when he draped his arm over her shoulder, she shuddered. They had been seeing each other for three years, and she kept hoping the sex would improve, but she couldn't feel anything with him unless she imagined she were elsewhere with another man.
He smiled, assuming she was still feeling pleasure from what they had done. "I think we'll enjoy the afternoon," he remarked as he sifted his fingers through her shoulder-length dark hair. She hadn't wanted long hair, but her mother insisted after Andreas had remarked that she would be much prettier with long hair.
Hilde thought about taking another pill, but since they had been prescribed after her father's death, she had been very careful to use them sparingly so that she wouldn't become like the men and women whose lives were broken by prescription drugs. "Do you think we could squeeze in a little rest, too?"
Andreas leaned forward to look in her eyes. "Whatever you want, princess."