Iris of the Rainbow Read online

Iris of the Rainbow

  By Anne Spackman

  Copyright 2014

  By Anne Spackman

  Iris, Greek messenger goddess of the rainbow, was said to connect Mt. Olympus with the Earth, and the realm of the gods to that of the human race…

  Well, it was raining again. Drizzling sheets of never-ending rain.

  “You are so civilized,” remarked her boyfriend when she came in.

  “What?” asked Nadine.

  He laughed. “You heard me.” Said Alain. “You fold your anorak.” He grabbed her before she was finished and started to kiss her.

  “Alain, a moment!” she started to laugh.

  The two of them lived in Paris, and had a tiny apartment. They were in their early thirties, and happy. She had met Alain ten years ago at the Sorbonne. They had lived together for eight years, but were still not married.

  “I have a dinner meeting tomorrow, but you are invited. We have a newcomer from New York City coming, a real hot shot, I hear.”

  “All right, I am not busy,” agreed Alain. “I’ll go.”

  * * * * *

  The next night, Nadine was dressed in a lovely black elegant dress. She was lovely as well, with her long, brown hair done up in a French twist. Alain had dressed a bit, but he had never really been into fashion or dressing well. Nadine had to get him a nice suit for the occasion.

  There was a lovely rainbow in the sky as they drove to the hotel.

  They arrived at the hotel early, to meet and greet the rest of the party. They were all executives from a financial company, and awaiting the arrival of the guest from the states.

  Nadine kissed one guest on the cheek, on both sides, and looked up as a stunningly handsome young man with dark hair walked in, his eyes flashing with energy as he looked around the company, and then he locked eyes on hers. He stared at her unrelentingly as he descended the steps into the room.

  Nadine’s boss, Jacques, ushered the young man inside. “Welcome, Mr. Bleecker. A pleasure to meet you.” And he began to introduce the company to Mr. Bleecker.

  Meanwhile, Nadine’s stomach had twisted in knots. For a moment, she felt stuck in the place where she was standing. But the moment passed, and she regained her composure. She shook her own head slightly, and regained her confidence as well.

  Finally, Mr. Bleecker came before Nadine, and he reached down, took her hand, and kissed it. And he looked at her as though the entire time he had been waiting just to see her.

  “This is Nadine Fremont, one of our Financial Executives.”

  “Pleased to meet you,” said Mr. Bleecker, letting go of her hand.

  Over the course of the evening, Nadine, who sat near Mr. Bleecker, was stunned by how quickly he spoke in French as well in as English, and with the help of a translator, for he didn’t know enough advanced French, how much he knew in general, and not just about finance. They were present at the business meeting for four hours, lingering over the meal and discussing life in general by the end of it.

  The spring night came to an end.

  “Mr. Bleecker seemed to like you best,” remarked Alain with no reserve, as they headed to the taxi that would take them to their apartment. “He kept looking at you.”

  “Oh?” was all Nadine said.

  * * * * *

 

  At work the next day, Nadine was working hard on a report in her cubicle, when her boss Jacques brought Mr. Bleecker by for a moment.

  “A moment, I must ask Phillipe for some information,” Jacques said, excusing himself for a minute or two.

  “I have to see you, here is my card.” Mr. Bleecker said quietly, pulling out a business card and handing it to Nadine.

  “I can’t. I have a boyfriend. His name is Alain,” she managed in English.

  “But you like me. You speak English?”

  “Yes, some.”

  “Then you can be my translator.” And suddenly Jacques returned. Bleecker asked for a private moment, and when the two returned to talk to Nadine, it had been decided.

  “You will show Mr. Bleecker around and translate for him,” said Jacques. “Sophie will finish your report.”

  Nadine got up, adjusted her skirt, and got her purse. “Very well, Mr. Bleecker, I am all yours for the day.”

  He smiled at that.

  * * * * *

  It happened at the end of the day. They were walking in a long corridor to the exit, and passed by another opening, when Mr. Bleecker suddenly pulled Nadine aside into the dark corridor and started to kiss her. She stopped him after a second, and he said,

  “Come on, don’t you want to kiss me?”

  “I have a boyfriend,” she said. “Whom I love very much.”

  “But you like me.” Insisted Mr. Bleecker.

  She said nothing. “I won’t tell anyone about this if you say good-bye now.”

  Mr. Bleecker was suddenly angry. “If that is what you want,” he said, and stormed off.

  Nadine didn’t tell anyone, mostly because she was free and safe again, and because she didn’t want to make a disturbance at the office, but she was upset when she reached her own apartment and came in, running to Alain for a hug.

  And Alain knew what had happened.

  “What did he do?” he asked.

  “He just tried to kiss me, nothing much.”

  “Are you going to let it go, or what shall we do?”

  “I am not saying a thing, because I can’t think about it again, or it will upset me. Make me forget Mr. Bleecker. No more of him.”

  * * * * *

  But, the next day, Mr. Bleecker came by and apologized.

  “I am sorry, for trying to kiss you last night,” he said, his head down. “You are quite attractive. I was wrong to just assume you would want me to kiss you.”

  “Yes. Thank you, forgotten. If you had done more, then I would have had to call someone and report the incident, but I will overlook it this time. Thank you for coming by.”

  Nadine was kind of upset, though, in her heart, at herself. She had done nothing to incite what had happened, but she had to admit to herself that she was attracted to Mr. Bleecker as well, though she loved Alain with all of her heart. How could she blame Mr. Bleecker for wanting to kiss her? If she had been without Alain, she may have liked him more.

  Mr. Bleecker was heading back to the States in less than a week. She decided that it was best for her to forget what had happened, and be glad he was leaving.

  “Well, good-night,” said Nadine. “I shall be going.”

  “Good-night,” said Mr. Bleecker.

  * * * * *

  Nadine passed by a flower stall on the way home, and bought a bouquet of blue irises for the apartment. She came in with them, and immediately put them into water. Alain had made a romantic dinner for her, and she was impressed; there were even candles on the table.

  “To you, Nadine, the love of my life,” and he raised his wine glass to clink with hers.

  “Alain, I didn’t know you could do this,” said Nadine. She was surprised.

  “Neither did I,” he admitted. They sat down and had a quiet night.

 

  * * * * *

  A year later, Nadine was on business with her company, when she met Mr. Bleecker again in a meeting in New York City.

  He saw her, and smiled slightly, but as though he was tired, and not interested in her much.

  “A pleasure to see you again, Ms. Fremont,” said Mr. Bleecker. And then they went into the meeting. But, at the end of the meeting, Mr. Bleecker stopped her by the arm and said,

  “How are you? How is Alain?”

  “He’s fine. We are both the same as always. He works a lot, and then he has his motorcycle c
ollection that keeps him busy, buying new ones and fixing them up.”

  “I see,” said Mr. Bleecker. “Would you care to go to lunch together? I know you are alone here, essentially. I know a nice sushi restaurant near here.”

  “All right, then,” said Nadine.

  * * * * *

  “You are still quite beautiful, as I remember you.” Said Mr. Bleecker, over lunch. “I am sorry for my actions last year. Had fancied a French romance on my trip. You fit the role.”

  “I forgot about it.”

  “I would never have done anything you didn’t want to do.” He reassured her.

  “I can imagine few women ever decline an offer you make.” She said, because he was handsome and charismatic.

  He shrugged. “My life is work. I am trying to build my father’s company back up.”

  “It’s your father’s company?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh,” said Nadine, taking a drink of her wine.

  “Anyway, I am glad you could be here so that I could treat you to a recompense.”

  “A recompense? I don’t understand that word.”

  “Just a nice thing for me to do for you, that’s all.”

  * * * * *

  She returned home to her hotel room, and the bellboy had a bouquet to deliver to her. She opened the box—a dozen blue irises.

  Nadine took a deep breath in. She was surprised by this.

  “To lovely Nadine, I want you to have a good stay in New York. –Jason.” Jason was Mr. Bleecker’s first name.

  And she had a very nice time the rest of the week.

  * * * * *

  The next summer, during August, Nadine and Alain went to Greece on holiday. They were having a good time, and had visited the islands, and had seen the Parthenon already. Nadine liked a statue of Iris in a museum, and had taken a picture to make into a sculpture at home when she ever found the time to do so. It had been years since she was able to sculpt anything on week-ends.

  Then, as the two of them were walking in Athens, they ran into Mr. Bleecker.

  “Nadine, Alain! Meeting you here of all places. What are the odds?”

  “Yes, how are you?” asked Alain.

  “I’m fine. I’m staying at my mother’s Greek villa near Athens. Just came into the city for today. Say, would you both like to come out for a visit for a day? Are you busy tomorrow?”

  “We did have a hotel, and we’re leaving in three days from Athens.”

  “We could come,” said Alain to Nadine. “You said we had done all you wanted to do already.”

  “All right, then.” Said Nadine. “We will take you up on your offer.”

  “I’ll send a car for you tomorrow morning if you give me the address of the hotel.”

  “All right, here it is,” said Alain, passing over the information.

  “Good, well then, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  * * * * *

  A gorgeous black car arrived at the hotel, with a chauffeur, who got out and asked the bellboy to look out for Ms. Fremont and her boyfriend, but they were in the lobby and had already seen the car; they came down, with their bags, and the chauffeur helped them to put the bags in the trunk of the car.

  It was quite some drive south to Mr. Bleecker’s family’s Greek villa. However, the villa was gorgeous, set overlooking the Aegean Sea. The arrived and had a drink brought in by a servant to refresh them, and Mr. Bleecker appeared a moment later.

  “Good, you’re here. I trust you had a comfortable journey. I shall have Nicola show you to your room. And then a tour, I think, and a nice afternoon siesta before dinner. We’re having mussels, xifia, or swordfish, and a baklava tonight.”

  “Sounds good,” said Alain agreeably.

  “Very good.” Said Mr. Bleecker. “Call me Jason, if you would.”

  “Thank you, Jason.” Said Nadine.

  In the end, Nadine and Alain spent two days at the villa, and had an excellent time. They even all went swimming together, and out on Jason’s small yacht, something which Nadine and Alain didn’t think they would get the opportunity to do when they arrived.

  Jason was an ambitious man, but on this holiday showed his sense of hospitality. He was cordial, and witty, and yet, he seemed as though he had been seeking something when he ran into them in Athens, but what that was, they could not say.

  When they left, Jason took Nadine’s hand and kissed it.

  “Thank you for coming,” he said to them.

  “We had an extraordinary time,” said Alain.

  “We did,” agreed Nadine.

  A few minutes later, as the car sped away from the villa, Nadine looked back at Jason. Then they headed back towards Athens.

  It was always strange, saying good-bye.