Weirdly enough, she found herself willing the deal to go through.
And she honestly didn’t know if this was because she wanted her parents to feel secure for the rest of their lives, or because she actually did want an affair with Ethan, regardless of its being a primrose path that would inevitably dwindle out. He was, without a doubt, the sexiest man she had ever met. If she could just let herself enjoy having him for the rest of this year or until he lost interest in her…surely she could manage that if she kept her head on straight about it ending sooner or later.
Her nerves were totally strung out by the time she arrived home and her mental ambivalence was finally settled by her father’s announcement that he had placed his financial affairs in Ethan’s hands and was convinced there would soon be an upturn in their fortunes. He wouldn’t go into detail about the decisions made. Ethan had insisted on absolute confidentiality regarding the advice given. However, her father’s happy demeanour clearly demonstrated he believed in it and trusted it.
The die was cast.
Now came the waiting to see if the advice proved good.
It was a strange kind of hiatus, being at Ethan’s house each workday, watching it evolve into his personal home, yet not ever seeing him. He was gone before she arrived and she was gone before he returned. The only connection they had were notes they left for each other—all of them relating to the renovations.
Time rolled on. The games room with its bar was completed and the shelves were filled with an incredible array of board games, which Ethan must have had in storage somewhere. One morning she found a selection of carpet samples in various shades of green laid out in front of the staircase with a note attached—‘Which one would you choose to live with?’
Why would he want her opinion?
It wasn’t as if he’d invited her to live with him.
She was to be set up in an apartment, completely separate from his residence.
At first Daisy was inclined to dismiss the question, leaving a reply that read, ‘It’s up to you to choose.’
However, as the day wore on, she kept looking at the carpet samples, imagining how each one would look on the staircase. The moss green seemed more right than the others. Possibly she was drawn to it because it was the colour of Ethan’s eyes. In the end she left a note pinned to it, saying, ‘This one,’ even though it was irrelevant to her what went down in his home.
At the end of the week, the carpet-layers came in, took up the red carpet and replaced it with the moss green. It was absurd how much pleasure it gave her. Most probably her choice had coincided with his, simply reinforcing it, but she still wore a smile all day, happy that he liked what she liked. Which was true about a lot of things. And in her heart of hearts, Daisy couldn’t help wishing that Ethan might come to appreciate how compatible they were and not ever lose interest in her.
Which was dangerous thinking, she sternly told herself.
Sex with her whenever he liked was Ethan’s aim. It had been from the day they’d met. In one sense it was flattering that he should go to such extraordinary lengths to acquire her acquiescence to it. On the other hand, Daisy suspected it was in the nature of the man—a ruthless drive to manipulate circumstances so he would get what he wanted.
She shouldn’t forget that.
The friendly little notes, the carpet question, the laying off of any physical pressure could all be a softening-up process so she would be a more amenable mistress, not a grudging one who had been pushed into the position.
The whole house gradually turned into what Ethan had envisaged. Furniture arrived—the billiard table, wonderfully comfortable sofas in moss-green velvet for the home theatre section, bedroom suites for the guest rooms. Different lighting fixtures were put in to suit the new decor, plus all the electrical apparatus for the sound system and the massive television screen.
Daisy had little left to supervise. Once the renovation of the old carriage house was done she wouldn’t be needed here and still she hadn’t been able to land a job elsewhere. She began to feel anxious about everything—her lack of work to justify the salary Ethan paid her, the whole money problem, whether his side of the deal would, indeed, pay off, and how soon.
Each night her father was glued to the financial report on television news programmes. Almost six weeks went by before the item he was waiting for hit the headlines. The government had approved a Chinese corporation’s bid to invest in the Redback Mining Company, which was rich in iron ore deposits but too deeply in debt to exploit their holdings. The share price, which had bottomed out at five cents months ago, had already exploded up to a dollar.
Her father whooped with glee, leapt up from his armchair, pulled her mother out of hers and danced her around the lounge room in a joyful polka, yelling out, ‘He did it! He did it!’ in a wild version of a song from My Fair Lady.
He eventually calmed down enough to confide that, on Ethan’s advice, he had plunged everything on the Redback Mining Company. He would sell the bulk of his shares tomorrow and make a massive profit, pay off the bank, help the family out with whatever they needed, live sweetly for ever after.
So this was it, Daisy thought, dizzied by the spectacular nature of her parents’ sudden rise in fortune. Ethan had delivered. And watching her father brimming over with ebullience, her mother beside herself with happy relief and excitement, she felt a fierce gladness in the outcome of the deal, regardless of any cost to herself down the track.
Ethan was not slow in claiming his reward. The next morning a note from him spelled it out—‘Make some excuse to your parents for being away this weekend and spend it here with me. I want you waiting for me when I come home after work on Friday.’
It was a straight-out demand. The first of many, Daisy realised, feeling a jolt of stark truth. Her mind had instinctively softened the situation, shaping the relationship she would have with Ethan into an affair, colouring it with hopes and wishes and desires. It struck home now that an affair was a two-way street and Ethan’s mind was set on having their connection only one way—his way. That was the deal she had accepted.
The idea of being so very deeply in his power shot a shiver of fear down her spine. She was used to being her own person, making her own choices. What if Ethan’s demands became intolerable? She couldn’t let him completely dominate her. The line had to be drawn somewhere.
Daisy fought a sense of panic for the rest of the day, telling herself Ethan was a reasonable man. He had shown anger at what he’d considered Lynda Twiggley’s tyranny. He’d treated all the tradesmen with respect. He was not about to use her badly. It wasn’t in his character.
Besides, pride wouldn’t allow her to show him any fear.
In fact, pride insisted she accept his demand gracefully.
In the end, she wrote him a simple little note in reply—‘Thank you. I’ll be here.’
Her parents were in such a euphoric state with future plans of their own, they didn’t question her announcement that she would be away for the weekend, having been invited to spend it with a friend. They were eager for her to have a good time, delighted that she was free to do it and not be tight about money any more.
Daisy packed everything she thought she might need—her tennis gear, bikini, a couple of sets of casual clothes, two dressy outfits, and the gorgeous silk kimono she had bought at a second-hand designer shop, having fallen in love with the wild floral pattern that swirled with red and yellow and orange, chartreuse and olive-green.
Her mouth curled with irony as she folded this garment into her bag. It was a very apt casual robe for this weekend, since she was about to become Ethan’s geisha girl. Certainly there wasn’t any point in taking her pyjamas. She was careful, however, to include the contraceptive pills she’d been taking amongst the toiletries she was packing.
No way was falling pregnant part of the deal. She had her own life to live after these nine months with Ethan, establishing a new career, possibly meeting a man who would want marriage and children with her. She would only be twenty-eight when this was over.
She left home early enough on Friday morning to make a quick shopping foray at the local supermarket before continuing on to Hunters Hill. In keeping with accepting her fate gracefully and also showing gratitude for what he’d done for her parents, she’d decided to welcome Ethan home with the tastiest meal she could cook, as well as wearing her prettiest dress and looking her absolute best. Pretending it was a dinner date would surely help her feel less nervous, and hopefully stop Ethan from jumping on her bones the minute he was through the door.
It had been well over a month—almost two—since their deal had been struck, with no physical contact since then, and he wouldn’t be feeling any need to carry through any seductive routine. The prize was his to take whenever he wanted. She just hoped he’d let her feel…not like a sexual commodity to be used at his convenience.
The renovations to the house had been completed so she had it to herself to do what she wanted without raising any curiosity in the tradesmen who were still fixing up the garage and the storeroom at the back of it. In between dutifully checking their progress, she cooked a lamb ragout, made the sweet corn and sour cream dip her family always devoured first at parties, wrapped slices of prosciutto ham around melon balls, opened a packet of Brie cheese and laid pitted dates beside it, prepared the snow peas and florets of broccoli for last minute microwaving.