Chapter Six
February 15, 2012 20 weeks pregnant
EJ couldn't stop staring at his phone for the entire ride home from the office...or at least that's where he had told Nicole he was for the day. Some way, somehow, she must have found out not only where he really was but, more importantly, who he was with. It was the only explanation he could think of for her not returning his calls or texts, especially considering they'd barely seen each other for the last two days. Between prepping for the next mayoral debate and putting in overtime to secure a new client with DiMera enterprises, he'd come home both previous nights to find Nicole already in bed.
Her schedule had been just as hectic with the spring/summer Beauty Convention taking place this coming weekend. Kate insisted putting off the photo shoots until the last minute, determined to capture Nicole as fully blooming as possible. The timing couldn't have been better. Almost out of nowhere her baby bump seemed to double in size overnight, forcing them to take an emergency shopping trip to Chicago for maternity clothes just this past weekend. Come Monday it was back to business for both of them and he was beginning to wonder if he would get to see her at all again before Friday, their next scheduled appointment with the baby doctor. That was, of course, providing that Nicole hadn't found out something she shouldn't have. He liked to believe they'd overcome all of their trust issues but a piece of him still feared she wouldn't understand even if he was completely honest with her. He supposed it was never a good thing for a woman to find her husband having lunch with another woman but particularly so for one who is a sworn enemy.
He stared up at their towering home as the car pulled in the drive, searching for early signs of life. The upper floors all appreared dark, as did the majority of the first floor as well aside from the entrance lights which were almost always left on even into the wee hours of the morning.
The phone began to buzz in his hand. He peered into the screen to find a text message from Kate, answering his inquiry into Nicole's whereabouts. "She left around 6:30. Can't you find her," was what it read. It was now just past 8 pm and something was not sitting right. Even if she had found out, Nicole wouldn't just run off and not speak to him. Not this time, not now that she was pregnant. Could it be that the very person he was going out of his way to protect her from had already gotten to her? No...impossible. His secret lunch date would have warned him.
Perhaps he was just being paranoid. She very well may have come straight home and hopped into bed and was resting soundly upstairs. Maybe Chloe popped into town and surprised her and the two of them decided to take in a movie. There were dozens of plausible explanations but his brain instinctively began to ponder the worst case scenarios first, and with good reason. For his entire DiMera life there was always someone lurking in the shadows, hell-bent on getting their revenge on him or the family and, being an expert on the topic himself, he knew very well there was no better way to stick it to someone than to separate them from the ones they love.
He ran into their home in a near panic; his fear only intensified once he stepped into the kitchen through the servants' entrance. It was completely empty. Not Mary, Harold, or a single member of the home's staff was in sight although the mouth-watering aroma of a recently cooked meal still wafted heavily through the air.
He wasted no time ascending to the second floor, using the smaller servant's staircase to find his way up. At the second floor landing, he peered down the pitch-black hall. He dared not flip on the lights in the event there was an intruder in the home. He began to make his way toward their bedroom, carefully placing each step to avoid the creaky floorboards which might give away his position. When he was just a couple feet from their bedroom door, he froze. There was someone inside. He slid his hand beneath his jacket and retrieved an item that he carried everyday but hadn't put to use in a long time, his gun.
He carefully peeked around the doorframe and into their bedroom. Straight ahead he could see that the doors leading out to their private rooftop balcony were wide open. The rush of cool air finally made it's way toward him. The doors couldn't have been open for too long. Although it had been an unseasonably warm 58 degrees this day for February, if the doors had been open for any length of time he would have felt the chilliness in the air sooner considering the interior temperature of the home was always kept at a cozy 72 degrees. The sound he heard must have been the intruder making his escape through the balcony door.
His heart pounded as he quietly but swiftly stepped through the bedroom. There was a good chance that he could catch the intruder as he or she or they, attempted to scale down the roof to make their escape. His eyes quickly darted around the room to see if anything had been disturbed. Nicole's jewelry armoire doors were wide open and one of the drawers had been pulled out. Apparently burglary had been the intent here. What he saw next however made every hair on his body stand at attention. Nicole's purse was laying on the bed, all of it's contents spilled into a pile. He threw his gun out at arms length, ready to aim and fire as he stormed out onto the balcony where he unexpectedly came nearly face to face with the intruder. She screamed, clearly startled herself by his sudden appearance...and the gun pointing directly in her face.
"Jesus christ, honey! Will you put that thing away?"
"Sweetheart?" He immediately drew the gun away, carefully placing it on a table off to his side as to not accidentally trigger it. He then grabbed Nicole by the back of the neck and drew her close to him. He sighed with relief as he hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry, darling. I thought you were an intruder."
"An intruder? What the hell gave you that idea?"
"Why didn't you answer any of my calls? I've been trying to get a hold of you for almost two hours. Then I come home to find the house completely dark, not a soul in sight, then I..." His voice trailed off as something suddenly began to occur to him. Nicole's eyes were twinkling with amusement as he regaled her with his tale; her smile echoed the sentiment. Her face was all aglow with freshly applied makeup. Her hair looked beautiful, parted to the side and crafted into a perfectly shaped wave reminiscent of 1940's Hollywood glamour. The long, powder-blue, satin evening gown she wore, with matching elbow-high gloves, completed the look. Behind her, the small cafe sized table and chairs they purchased with intentions of using for outdoor dining was all set and ready for it's first use.
"I gave the staff the night off," she finally spoke, in a tone much harsher than her normal speaking voice or, should he say, harsher than Nicole's speaking voice. The woman he was dealing with now may be Nicole DiMera by blood but spiritually, she was Greer Garland, film star; his favorite of all her alter egos used in their role-playing adventures.
"What about your husband, Ms. Garland," EJ replied, immediately slipping into his preferred role of Dick Peters, private eye. Gone was his refined English accent as he did his best to invoke the stereotypical male detective voice of the entire film noir genre.
"He's on location in Africa. Filming some new flick with that hussy, Jean Harlowe. But I'm sure you already knew that."
"Well, if it's anything to ya Ms. Garland, you're much prettier than that dame."
"Thank you, Dick," she said grabbing a decanter and proceeding to fill up two tumbler glasses with ice with a clear liquid. She handed him one then proceeded to drink the entire content of hers with one big swig. He sipped his own glass of ice water or, "vodka" slowly, waiting for her to set up the whole story to be played out for the evening. "You know that, and I know that but Gregory has an insatiable thirst for those low-class little harlots."
"So what then? Same as last time?"
She shook her head. "No. Those pictures did no good. All he could do was claim that they were practicing for their role since you bungled the whole operation and failed to get any pictures of them in bed."
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe the reason why I got no pictures of them in bed was because he in fact never slept with her?"
"No, that fact never occured to me because you men are all alike. I guarantee right now you're thinking up a hundred different ways to seduce me."
"Boy, you dames are all so full of yourselves. I'm a married man."
"So is Gregory. That doesn't stop him."
"You have no proof he cheated on you and if I was a betting man, I'd say he didn't."
"Oh, I see how it is," she said throwing her head back in a maniacal laugh. "You men are all alike. You even support each other's dirty deeds."
"Look, Ms.-"
"Greer," she interrupted. "Call me by my first name."
"I know I may not be as handsome and refined as some of them fellas on screen, Ms. Garland, but I am a gentleman. I would support no such behavior in my fellow man."
"Then why are you sticking up for that bottom-feeding piece of trash?"
"Because it's hard to imagine how someone could be so foolish as to jeopardize his marriage to someone as wonderful as you."
"Is that really the way you feel about me," she replied as she grabbed him by the tie and began to reel him toward her. "You think I'm wonderful?"
"Yes," he said, although looking quite uncomfortable as she began to press her body up against his. "You are more than wonderful, Ms. Garland, you are fabulous."
"Then I suppose there isn't a thing you wouldn't do for me, right," she purred as she began running a hand up his leg.
"You know I would do whatever I can to help you."
"Wonderful. Join me for dinner."
"I-I really can't stay, Ms.-"
"Greer," she reminded him, squeezing his inner thigh for effect.
"That is a lovely name, Ms. Garland but with all-do respect, let's keep this professional."
"I admire your chivalry, Dick, but, I predict by the end of this evening, you won't be merely saying my name," she put her lips to his ear as she finished her sentence in a seductive whisper, "you'll be screaming it."
"I have to go. If you desire my professional services Ms. Garland, you can reach me in my office tomorrow."
"I desire your services tonight, Dick," she said, using his tie to keep him from wandering away. I'm well aware of your rights to refuse an assignment, but it would be a shame if it cost you your family."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You see that house across the way? Look carefully into the third window from the left. See that dark figure looming in the shadows? He's photographing us as we speak. Turns out you're not the only private Dick in this town, Dick."
"Who do you think hired him? Your husband?"
"Initially, yes. Until I made him a better offer. He follows my direction now."
"And what direction is that?"
"That's really up to you. If you go against my wishes, I'll have him sell the photos to the press and let them go wild imagining up my secret love affair or, you can cooperate and I will use them for the sole purpose of making my husband jealous enough that he will abandon his two-timing ways once and for all."
"You think you're one clever dame, don't ya? You think you got this all figured out. Did you ever think what'll happen when the whole thing backfires on you and your husband ends up leaving you high and dry?"
"That would be the best scenario of them all , really," she said in her most melancholy tone. EJ took a moment to mentally snap out of character and really appreciate what he was seeing. Although what they were doing was for sheer pleasure, he couldn't help but admire how good she was at it. In his mind he could easily see her starting a film career and becoming a genuine Hollywood starlet. "My husband won't divorce me, Dick. I've begged him to let me go for years but he won't. He thinks a divorce would shatter his perfect image so all this time I've been left to play my most challenging role of all, the good wife. I've done it too. For years I've put on the smile, pretending to be happy for all the world. You can identify with that, can't you?"
"I don't know what you mean, Ms._"
"Don't play dumb with me, Dick. I know the only reason you married that poor girl was because you took pity on her. Our society isn't exactly very accepting of bastard children. I know you just wanted to spare her and that child the shame and humiliation they would surely face. Problem is you don't love the girl and never have and now, you're stuck and the reason you're stuck is because you are one of a dying breed, Mr. Peters. You are a true, honest to goodness gentleman. The kind of man every woman dreams of obtaining. Even eccentric Hollywood actresses, like myself."
"Ms. Garland-"
"Nicole," she interrupted. "My real name is Nicole. Walker. I'm from a small town outside of Chicago. I ran away to Hollywood when I was seventeen, in search of fame and fortune. It was my agent who suggested I change my name to Greer, partly because it's fascinatingly unique, but more so to disassociate me from my colorful background and former run-ins with the law."
"Why are you telling me this, Ms.-
"Nicole. Like I've said, I know you're a decent man who plays fair and now that I've told you the truth, I can expect the same from you in return."
"What is it you want to know?"
"Have you fallen in love with me as hard as I've fallen for you?"
For the first time that night, he reached out to touch her on his own accord, using the tips of his fingers to tip her chin up and peer into her somber eyes. Instead of wasting precious time searching for ultimately meaningless words, he pulled her to him and kissed her passionately. Together, thier lips formed such a tight seal from which no air could escape that not even him picking her up and carrying her into the bedroom disturbed the integrity of the embrace. Their clothes come off so fast he couldn't really recall who undressed first or who defrocked who. One thing he remembered was her prediction from earlier in the evening was right on the money. By the end of the evening, he'd screamed out her name on several occasions.
Once they were both too exhausted to go another round, she found her favorite nuzzling spot, right under his arm with her head resting on his chest. She took a moment to savor the sounds of their synchronized heavy breathing, and all the soft, pleasurable moans intermixed between breaths before speaking. "So, did you enjoy your evening with Greer?"
"Greer? I thought it was Nicole," he said chuckling softly before planting a kiss to the top of her head, his finger incessantly twirled a lock of her long, golden hair around his finger.
"Ha! She totally played you! She figured out your weakness and then used it to her advantage. FYI, her real name is in fact Greer Garland."
"Why that dumb broad," EJ said, once again invoking his private dick voice with mock disgust."
"Broad, that's a good one. You haven't used that much."
"Yes, I'll have to remember to throw that one in on occasion."
"Sorry we didn't make it to dinner. I had it all ready for us but uh-"
"...but I found something more appetizing that wasn't on the menu," he finished for her, causing her to giggle at his response. "However, and don't take this the wrong way, I'm still starving, as you must be too. Don't forget you're eating for two now. If I hurry I can probably run out and pick us up some Chinese before they close.
"Um, yeah, that sounds great," she replied enthusiastically, relieved that he made the assumption that she hadn't had dinner yet. For the time being, it let her off the hook explaining that she had in fact already had dinner and the entire evening was at least partially planned to distract him from questioning her about being MIA for a few hours out of the day. There was no way he could find out about her handsome secret dinner date. At least not until it was too late for him to do anything about it.