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Adam and Nicoletta
Chapter 4: "Birthday Suit"
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Adam was still relatively new at his place of employment. Because of that and being unmarried, he was "encouraged" to volunteer to be the one person in the company to work on Saturdays. His duty was to visit all the construction sites (not just his own projects) so that the others could take the day off of work to be with their families.
He didn't mind working on Saturday mornings; in fact, he enjoyed it more than his weekday tasks. On those check-ins, he came from the office and, therefore, he wore a suit. Whereas on Saturdays, he was able to wear his Levi's, western boots, and black Stetson. Dressing similarly to when he was back on the Ponderosa gave Adam a comforting sense of nostalgia. It also allowed Adam the opportunity to get his hands dirty, which he preferred much more than being behind a desk.
Adam lived in a newly constructed house that, to most people, would be considered large. But it was actually quite modest for being in the third-most expensive neighborhood in Chicago. He bought it outright for $80,000, and it was located a few blocks from a sandy beach on Lake Michigan.
He would have preferred not to have spent that much money. But, after living in Boston for almost three years, he had become used to indoor plumbing, and his new home was the least expensive one available to meet that criteria. He was very frugal, except when it came to his favorite creature comforts (which included being entertained in brothels).
The house would normally have cost a lot more, but the interior was not quite finished. It was still under construction when the Great Fire happened. Once Chicago started to rebuild, work on his house came to a halt due to labor shortages.
Adam usually spends a few hours on Saturdays and Sundays completing the interior construction. Adam didn't mind doing the work. It saved him money to do it himself. Plus, keeping busy distracted him from thinking about his problems, especially the persistent intrusive thoughts regarding his time during the war.
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Saturday, May 18, 1872
Today's check-ins went smoothly. So Adam got home a bit early, around 11:00 a.m., just as his housekeeper was starting to prepare his lunch before she left for the day. He liked his privacy, so Mrs. Byrd rarely worked there while he was at home. Plus, Adam could only take so much of her difficult personality (he hired her partly because she reminded him of Hop Sing).
After he finished his lunch, Adam started to work on the crown molding in his dining room. About an hour later, he realized that the task was going to be a lot more work than he expected, so he quit for the day.
He then went upstairs, took off his clothes, and put them in the hamper. It was his birthday, so Adam then did his annual ritual of looking at himself naked in a full-length mirror. He examined his physique every year to track his slide into old age.
"Ok, Adam, you are now 42 years old today. Let's see what we have."
"You've put on weight ... and your hair is going gray ... It looks like my deterioration is proceeding apace." *
"Hmm ... I need to exercise more ... and cut back on the liquor, starting today."
"But all-in-all, you are still looking good!"
He bathed and then put on his second-best suit. After that, Adam went to Painswick's brothel, as per his usual routine. He planned to do what he always did on Saturdays: alternate his time between being with Ethel upstairs and being downstairs in the lounge, networking, gambling, and smoking cigars.
Earlier in the week, Adam told Samantha Painswick that he did not want any of the brothel staff to acknowledge his birthday, and she agreed to not inform anyone, especially since she approved of his reasons. He also planned to not tell any of the other club members because he didn't want them to buy him drinks. Not only did Adam not like a fuss, he didn't want to get too drunk today. Earlier that morning, he even forgo his daily routine of picking up a 2-quart pail of freshly brewed beer on his way home from work.
Adam had a habit of overindulging in alcohol every time he visited brothels, especially on Saturdays. But tomorrow was the charity auction picnic, and he wanted to be clear-headed when he spent time with Nicoletta Ambrosetti. If he could make a good enough impression to start courting her, then that would be the best birthday present he could have ever hoped to get.
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The remainder of this chapter is RATED M.
You may skip it as there is no plot (just some character development).
Once Adam got to Painswick's, the poker games weren't quite active yet. So, he went upstairs and visited with Ethel for the first of two times that day.
Ethel always encouraged Adam to be rough with her. Adam was a bit unsure if that was because she actually enjoyed it or if it was because her madam had instructed Ethel to do so.
Adam, on occasion, enjoyed being aggressive when he was thrusting his manhood inside his partner. It gave him a sense of power and virility. However, he would only do so when they encouraged it. He could rarely predict beforehand who would ask for it. It didn't matter the person's looks, behavior, personality, or social status. Sometimes their temperament could be an indicator, but that wasn't always a guarantee.
Adam had not even started to court Widow Ambrosetti yet, let alone bed her. So he had no idea what to expect. He had no idea if she liked rough sex, or if she would allow him to enter her in more than one of her three holes, or (and Adam shuddered at this thought) if she would only allow the missionary position. If he eventually fell in love, then married the widow, and she was conventional in the bedroom, then he may never have the chance after this to have wild sex again.
Therefore, despite his doubts about Ethel's feelings, during most of their encounters, he would do things with her that most women, especially ladies, would never allow. Adam could tell afterwards that he sometimes made Ethel so sore that she would probably ache for a day or two.
For that reason, before he left the room, Adam always ran a nice hot bath for Ethel and helped her into the tub. At checkout, he would then make sure to write a large tip for her on his bill. Plus, he added a kitchen order to be brought to Ethel. It consisted of a pot of chamomile tea with honey, eucalyptus, and lemon to soothe her throat.
Adam occasionally felt bad about hurting Ethel. But he told himself, "Well, she did ask for it, repeatedly, and at least I haven't taken her up to the fourth floor." During Adam's application interviews with the brothel, he had been shown those rooms on his tour. They looked like fancy, luxurious medieval torture chambers. Members of the club joked that's how "Painswick's" got it's name.
Adam wasn't vanilla. He enjoyed giving and getting a light-to-moderate spanking. Sometimes he would give his partner a "pearl necklace" if they were amenable. But degradation (including real pain and true humiliation) was always way over the line for him, especially after his experience at Andersonville.
That day, he left the brothel very early for him, at 8:45 p.m. And, in a very rare fashion, Adam was only buzzed and not drunk.
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CHAPTER NOTES:
1) In the early 1870s: 1 dollar would equate to around 25 dollars today. Adam paid the equivalent of $2 million for his house.
2) This story takes place at the very start of the Gilded Age. The middle class was just starting to emerge. Most people in Chicago (along with other boomtowns) were still either extremely wealthy or extremely poor.
Chicago started to put in a sewage system during the 1850s. In 1872, houses with full indoor plumbing were still only available to the very wealthiest of people.
Luxury hotels would have had, at most, only one bathroom per floor. Therefore, the fact that Painswick's has private bathrooms for each bedroom indicates one of the reasons why it was extremely expensive to be a member.
3) * Quotes from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Season 6, Episode 7, You Are Cordially Invited. No plagiarism or copyright infringement intended.
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