CHAPTER XXVI : OMAR & ANNIE.
I was shocked and alarmed. Was Omar going to complicate an already difficult situation? Do you want to hear? he asked. Yes, I said. A few days after I arrived I worked up my courage and went to your house in town and rang the bell. A servant told me the family was in Alexandria, at Sidi Bishr and the khawaga was at work. Annie had once told me that you owned a small villa at a place called Cité Plakotaris. At first I couldn’t remember the name of the place but it finally came to me. I told my father I would be going for a few days to Alex to see some friends and two days later took off with one of his cars. I booked a room at the Palestine in Montazah and off I went to this collection of small, unpretentious villas in the so-called Cité Plakotaris. I parked the car and began walking in the unpaved roads of the neighborhood wondering where the hell to ask for the Ioannides family when I saw at the edge of the road your green Chevrolet parked. It was late afternoon and I went straight up to the house, entered the garden, went up the steps and rang the bell.
Annie opened the door and was dumbstruck. She stared and stared, turned pale and then beetroot red. Omar, she whispered, what are you doing here? Who is it Annie? your mother called from inside. Omar, George’s friend, she answered. Well, ask him to come in. I kissed Annie who was too flustered to kiss me back and entered the small glass walled veranda. Mrs. Ioannides came in smiling and shook my hand. She looked tanned and fit and for her age extremely attractive. That’s what Annie will look like in a few years, I thought. Hello, Omar, she said. How nice to see you. What brings you here? I said I was in Cairo for a short holiday to see my new brother and came to Alex to see some friends. George asked me to come and see you and tell you that he is well and happy with his new family and baby daughter. That’s very nice of you to take the trouble to come and see us, Mrs. Ioannides said. Annie was silent and could not take her eyes off me. My God, George, it was so obvious she was not happy with her marriage. You have been corresponding more or less regularly with her, had you no suspicion that she was not happy? No, Omar, she always told me her husband was gentle and considerate. That’s one thing and being happy is quite another. Anyway, I stayed for half an hour, was offered a glass of delicious mango juice, and talking of generalities I found out that they swam at Mandara where they had a group of friends. I told your mother that I met my friends in the evening and would she mind if I joined them for a swim at Mandara? Of course not, Omar, she said, I am sure Annie would be happy to have some company as most of the people there are either too old or younger than her. Annie’s face flushed again and I thought she would have a fit.
Next day at about eleven I left the car at the Palestine and walked to Mandara. It’s a short distance and took me about twenty minutes to reach them. I quite enjoyed the walk, the fresh but humid breeze and Alexandria’s huge waves. I found quite a crowd of ladies and children and Annie sitting under a parasol slightly apart in her bathing costume. She looked quite gorgeous and sexy. I was introduced, shook hands with the ladies and sat next to Annie after shaking hands with her as well and receiving a knowing smile. She congratulated me on passing my exams and said laughing that she did not expect it. I have George to thank for that, I told her, he was after me like a bulldog. We talked about many things and she described her walks in Istanbul which she had explored thoroughly having plenty of free time on her hands. I asked her if she was happy and she said she had no complaints. I told her that did not answer my question and she said that was the only answer she was disposed to make. I said I never stopped loving her and would she come with me to the Palestine. She said, don’t be silly Omar. I’m a married woman and even if I wanted to come I could not get away from my mother’s surveillance.
We splashed in the sea for a swim and as we were going up and down like yoyos on the huge waves, she told me that the main problem in her marriage was that she could not get pregnant. Her mother-in-law was bitching and complaining as if it was her fault and Tasos refused to have his sperm examined just in case the problem was his. The fuss irritated her so much that she stopped enjoying sex with him. She was always tense when he approached her in bed. Leave him, I said. And then what? she asked. I’ll marry you, I said. Don’t be silly, Omar, how will we live? I told her that during my last year we would share my tiny room and she could search for a job as an interior designer with an architectural firm. The hardship would last for less than a year and then with my degree in hand I would have no problem finding a job as a structural engineer. I love you Annie and I feel it in my bones that you love me. Yes, I do, she admitted but there is this stumbling block to take into account. What stumbling block? I asked. Your womanizing, she said. Would you give up you womanizing? Yes, my darling Annie, yes, I shall. It is a solemn promise.
We talked a lot about our situation and our future on the following two days on the beach going up and down in the tepid swelling sea. I tried to kiss her and caress her but it was not easy and anyway she pushed me away. Finally, she told me, for Tasos’ sake she felt she ought to stick it out another year. It would look bad for him and his career if she left him so soon. If things continued in the present mode, and she was sure they would, she would ask for a divorce. What the hell do you care about his career? Why do you want to go through another year of boredom and discontent? I said exasperated. Is his career more important than our love? No, Omar, it isn’t, she replied, but Tasos has been very good to me and I believe he still loves me deeply. I cannot repay him with ingratitude by suddenly leaving him. Our separation must be fair and civilized. I had nothing to say to that and no option but to accept her decision. I left Alexandria sad but not without a measure of optimism. I knew where things stood and was disposed to be patient for a year because I was finally certain I wanted Annie for a wife and I knew she loved me. After a year’s separation her love for me was obvious from the first moment of our meeting. By the way, George, I learnt that your ex-intended Lina was married to a wealthy doctor, is pregnant, and apparently quite happy. You see, some arranged marriages are successful and some are not. Happily, Annie’s is not. Yet some of us have to go through the tribulations of life before we find happiness. Yes, Omar, I thought and the reason is that Annie is fair and sensible and, of course, unreservedly compassionate. As for your tribulations of life, I cannot pity you too much.
Beginning of October both Omar and I began attending our colleges. It was to be our final year and I sensed a new determination in Omar’s attitude towards his studies. Presumably he was thinking of the eventuality that Annie might break off her marriage and join him. He kept asking me if I had news of her. Annie had refused to correspond with him. She did not want letters arriving for her which she had no intention of answering. Despite her feelings she had kept their understanding a loose arrangement of last resort. After her summer holiday in Egypt we continued our once a month letter contact and things seemed to be very much in the previous mode. I kept Omar informed though the news was much the same. The question that burned him was, did Annie fall pregnant. Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately depending on the recipient of the information she had not. She informed me that Tasos was to be transferred to the Foreign Ministry in Athens at the end of his second year in Istanbul which would be sometime in summer. Thus a new and persistent impasse arose for the couple. Tasos wanted to move in with his parents who had a large house in Athens and Annie was dead against such an arrangement. Tasos did not see why they should rent another flat when plenty of space was available in his family home where he grew up. The move was still a few months in the future but arguments did flare up about it. He told Annie that she was such a calm and sensible person that he did not foresee any difficulties in cohabiting with his parents. He did not understand her obstinacy in refusing. He told her his parents would take it very badly if they took another flat and she replied that he had to choose between them and his wife. You are exaggerating, he told her and she answered that the relationship between a wife and a mother-in-law has been known to be poisonous throughout human history especially if the son is an only child. And I pray you take my reservations very seriously.
After a peaceful and pleasant summer in Hove I began residing once again at 95 Queensgate and rejoining Diana, Alice and Mrs. Fremantle on weekends. Alice was growing rapidly. She was a beautiful child who resembled Diana and, thankfully, not in the least her father, whose face in any case I could no longer clearly remember. She was in her eighth month and was a happy child who smiled, recognized us and babbled all sorts of sounds including mama and dada. She could now sit unsupported. She loved going for rides in the new perambulator I bought and this was one of the main and nicest pastimes we enjoyed with Diana. But the weather was already starting to get capricious, nice sunny days alternating with grey skies and rain and Alice’s joyrides were curtailed despite Diana’s adventurous tendencies to ignore all but the most threatening weather. For Christmas I spent the week up to the New Year in Hove and Mr. Fremantle joined us on Christmas Eve and returned to London on Boxing Day. He may have wanted to stay a day or two longer as London is depressing during Christmastime but Mrs. Fremantle said she too needed to sleep at night. She had a household to run. He was restless at home and went for a drink to a nearby pub in the evenings and when he returned home with a few drinks in his belly he was liable to make witty comments which were not always taken in good grace by his wife. And he didn’t mince his words, he looked at little Alice who was ten months old by then and told me, old man, she’s Diana’s daughter, no doubt about that, but not a whit of resemblance to you. Mrs. Fremantle was annoyed and told him if he had any further agreeable comments to make he’d better spit them out now.
Omar phoned us on Christmas Eve to wish us Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. He said London was empty and sad and he felt lonely without me at 95 Queensgate. I was sure a lot of au paire girls were lonely as well and he was sure to pick up one or two to assuage both his and the girls’ loneliness. The truth is, I knew very little about his amorous affairs since he returned from Egypt. He was discretion personified and kept his mouth sealed. I could only surmise that he was afraid I might report his affairs to Annie and Annie might have second thoughts about leaving her husband for an inveterate playboy. One thing I can vouch for was the effort he put in his studies.
He came to Hove for Alice’s first birthday party in February. The weather was freezing and I appreciated the trouble he took to be with us. He bought a few nice clothes for Alice and a bottle of champagne and was very affectionate with her. He was indeed very thoughtful and generous. Alice by that time could stand holding furniture, would take a few precarious steps before collapsing with a bump on her behind and smiling at us and especially at Omar, who seemed to have worked his magic even with a one-year-old female. He did not seem to perceive the least resemblance to Mickey Rooney and this reassured me. Mrs. Fremantle baked a cake and in the afternoon we lit a single candle on the cake and sang Happy Birthday to Alice. We urged her to blow the candle showing her how to do it but instead she struck the flame with her hand burning herself slightly and shedding a few tears. We opened the champagne and spent a joyful couple of hours before calling a taxi for his return to London.
The next couple of months until Easter were spent in serious study. I even had to forego a few of my weekend visits to Hove because of college work. Each time a disappointed Diana made a mock-angry face and threatened to find herself a lover. In humdrum Hove? I asked laughing. Sure, why not, she answered. Do you think Hovians have forsaken sex? Will you stop being silly, my dear, Mrs. Fremantle would scold her annoyed. I really don’t know from whom you inherited your appalling sense of humor. Probably your father. Oh mummy, she would complain, are all my defects due to my father? Well, most of them are, was her unsmiling answer. Clearly there was not much love lost between the senior Fremantles. As for us, perhaps it was still too early for ennui to infect our marriage but, in any case, I could not imagine it. Our compatibility was total, as was our love, as were our uninhibited carnal practices and enjoyment. My beautiful Diana was at the forefront of the innovations that made this simple reproductive act a constantly renewed and fascinating experience. Easter is not as important as Christmas in England and the college holidays are shorter and consequently so was my stay in Hove. Exams were not far off and we, Omar and I, put our hearts into it, each one encouraging the other. I did, however, take a couple of hours off for an Easter visit to Aunt Agatha who anxiously inquired whether Annie was pregnant to which, of course, I replied that she was not. I did not stay long in her depressing little flat but went back to my work.
Our finals took place in early June and to all indications both Omar and I wrote well enough to be confident of a degree. During that last school year we made a conscientious effort which paid off. I left for Hove after that minor two-week ordeal and, I suppose, Omar went back to his customary amusements though in his novel top-secret mode not a word was confided to me. The only thing he told me when I returned to London for my weekly visits was that he missed me. When I wrote home that I believed I had done quite well in my exams, my father sent me tickets for Diana, Alice and myself for a month’s holiday in Egypt. He and mother had not managed to come to London as intended and they wanted to meet Diana and Alice. My father had begun having health problems and had to be under his doctor’s supervision especially since he was not a totally compliant patient who tended to ignore his doctor’s dietary restrictions. After a pleasant July in Hove with my English family where the weather, initially cold and rainy, in June began softening, we prepared for the big trip. A passport for Alice and very light summer clothes, and a few dresses and a full-bodied bathing costume for Diana for the Egyptian beaches.