The Facade

Chapter 40

"Paul. Be quiet." Marlon growled as he placed his glass on the table. "We won't hear anymore from your imagination."

"Come on. We are your clothes friends, Bud. You always talk about my marriage. About how I have Joanne on the side? At least my marriage was real in the first place. It may not be so real now but I didn't need a contract to get married." Paul attempted to drink from his beer bottle but it was empty.

I sat there silently. The happy tears in my eyes slowly began to fade away into tears of sadness.

"Well, this couldn't be true." Shelley shook her head. "Marlon, it's just not true."

"It is." James's eyes were sunken with disappointment. He looked at his idol, his muse. For once, he truly saw Marlon's humanity. "I've seen Marlon act many times on screen. This is an emotion I've never seen on his face. You see, it's easy for an actor of his stature to fabricate emotion. But this is truly Marlon."

"Maybe we should end this night early." Eartha spoke. "Give the couple some time alone."

"They bought all of this food, someone should eat it!" Elia suggested frantically. High tensions were running throughout the table.

"Please, let us eat. It's okay you don't have to leave." I finally spoke, trying to conceal my embarrassment. All I wanted was for that night to be perfect. To be the perfect Hollywood hostess. Instead, I was in a New York apartment infested with secondhand embarrassment.

"We aren't hungry... we can get food elsewhere!" Eartha purred with risen eyebrows.

"Maybe we should pack the food into dishes and take it home..." Joanne suggested. "Do you own those swanky new Tupperware dishes?"

"I do." I said quietly as I wiped away tears. "It should be enough for all of you."

"Good. I'll go and pack the food." Joanne got up out of her seat. "Shouldn't go to waste. Are you the help? I can help you out... here let me help."

I didn't want to make eye contact with anyone. However my eyes still looked to Eartha. She of all people looked guilty as if it was somehow her fault. "I am so sorry. I didn't know."

"You know, I thank you for the offer of taking home a dish... but I think I should get going." James began to stand up.

"No one move." Marlon said in a stern voice. He gripped onto he chair at the head of the table. The one he was meant to sit in while we ate our lovely Thanksgiving meal. However there he stood with a stiffness in his shoulders. His mind pondered. "Yes, this marriage was arranged. By the studio."

"My gosh." Joanne gasped from the kitchen.

"Will you cut it out? Calm down." Eartha snapped at her. Shelley tried to hold in her laughs, but when her mind ran on the situation she once again showed a look of devastation.

"But all I said about cherishing Rose... I meant it all. And I want her to know in front of all of you, I'm sorry that I did this to her. I'm sorry I embarrassed her this way." Marlon went on. "And I want her to know when I lost her... that was the hardest thing I could've ever lived through. And that's when I realized I needed her more than anything."

Marlon walked around the table to my seat. With a pout, he kneeled on one knee beside my chair. Then he took my hand, brushing my bare finger with his thumb. "I never even got her a ring because I never thought I'd want to stay in this marriage forever. But Rose..."

He got a ring out his pocket. It was a gold ring with a smile diamond in the center of it. "I was planning on giving you this tonight. I wanted you to have it. It belonged to my mother and I always said if I ever found a woman worthy enough to wear it, I'd give it to her. And so... I guess what I'm asking... will you accept this ring?"

The whole room stared at me. I was totally numb. A tightness was in my stomach. My cheeks were dry, I'd cried out all of my tears. Then finally, I answered. "No."

Marlon's face dropped. His cheeks looked gaunt. He stood up and backed away slowly. I couldn't handle all that happened that night. I stood up from my seat and ran off into the bedroom, slamming the French doors behind me.

Outside I could hear Marlon screaming at our guests. "Get out of my damn house! Out now!"

I jumped at the sound of something crashing. Slowly I sunk to the floor. All I wanted was for Marlon to see me as a true wife. That was finally coming true. But I could not accept that he told Paul about our arrangement.

"Paul, get the fuck out!" I could hear Marlon shout.

"Don't touch him!" Joanne pleaded. At that, I placed my hands over my face. The whole night was ruined and couldn't be fixed. There was no way to recover from the wounds that were reopened.

I crouched on the floor, my cheek pressing to my knees. It got quiet, not much was happening outside at that point. Then suddenly the door opened beside me. Marlon stood tall above me as I sat on the floor.

Alcohol was on his breath. His tuxedo which was tailored for him was now torn and tattered. It must've tore when he was throwing whatever he threw. His tie was undone. I looked down his leg to his shoe.

"Rose." Marlon spoke. "I'm so sorry."