Encounters Ch 04

Encounter in Genoa

The next few days were agony for me. My novel lay neglected as I wrestled with my emotions and my conscience. I was in love with two beautiful women, and they were sisters! What on earth was I going to do?

I knew that it was inevitable that Juliette would find out that Madeline and I had made love. How would she react? While I knew that it was unlikely that I would ever see her again, I didn't want her to be hurt, or to think that I had betrayed her. Or worse still, I didn't want to cause a rift between her and Madeline.

A few days later, the thing that I had been dreading most, happened - a letter arrived from Madeline. When I opened it, my worst fears were realised - it was from Juliette.

Taking my courage in both hands I started to read the letter. What I read was a great surprise, to say the least! Juliette wrote that Madeline had told her what had happened, and she was happy for both of us. She said that she knew that she and I could not be together. She said that loved her little sister very much, and she couldn't think of a better man for her to be with than me. She wished us much happiness together.

I was greatly relieved to learn how Juliette felt about all of this. But I still had concerns. If Madeline and I were to marry, this would mean that Juliette and I would have to see each other from time to time. How would we handle this situation? And what would happen the first time that we were alone together?

Then I noticed that there was another letter in the envelope. I opened it, and it was from Madeline. She had invited me to visit her in Paris. I thought about this for a while, and decided that I needed time to sort things out in my mind. So I wrote back saying that my commitments wouldn't allow me to visit her right now, but that I would do so soon.

I forced myself to return to my writing and tried not to think about Juliette and Madeline. Then a couple of weeks later, another letter arrived from Madeline. She wrote that she was going to visit Juliette, and invited me to accompany her.

Of course my thoughts immediately were of Juliette. I knew that the situation between the three of us was complicated, but I simply could not pass up an opportunity to see Juliette again. So I sent a telegram to Madeline saying that I would go.

I travelled to Paris and spent the night with Madeline. We made love, of course, but somehow things were not the same as they had been in London. I was distracted by the thoughts in the back of my mind that I would be seeing Juliette again in a couple of days.

Madeline and I travelled to Genoa on the Orient Express. When we made love to the motion of the train, all I could think about was the last time that I had made that trip, and in my mind I was making love to Juliette. I knew then that I was in trouble!

When we reached the Lombardi villa, Juliette greeted me with a proper kiss on the cheek. I was introduced to her husband, Stefano, and I took an instant dislike to him. He didn't seem to like me much either, but he spoke little English, and I spoke no Italian, so we didn't attempt to communicate very much with each other.

Late that afternoon Juliette asked Madeline and myself if we would like to go for a walk before dinner and inspect the vineyards. As we left the house we saw the vineyard workers leaving to go home. We walked through the vineyards until we were out of sight of the villa. Then Madeline stopped and turned to me.

"James," she said, "You are a wonderful man, and I could easily fall in love with you, but I know that I could never make you forget about Juliette." She smiled at us both. Then she continued, "Now I'm just going for a little walk by myself." And she walked off amongst the vines out of sight.

Juliette threw herself into my arms. There were tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she whimpered, "I really thought that I could be happy for you and Madeline. But I love you so much that it's hard to forget about you."

We kissed. It was a long, tender kiss. A kiss like no other that I had ever had. A kiss that I will always remember.

We held each other for what seemed like an eternity, until a polite cough announced that Madeline had returned. Then the three of us walked in silence back to the villa.

Conversation at dinner was fairly subdued, with each of us trying to make an effort to be pleasant. After dinner, Stefano announced that he was going to bed. Apparently he retired early every night. Of course he and Juliette had separate bedrooms. Madeline said that she was tired from our journey, and asked if I would mind if we went to bed also. Juliette said that she would turn in early as well.

As I lay in bed waiting for Madeline to join me, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would she be angry? Would she want me to make love to her? All I could do was wait and see what she did. When she came out of the bathroom wearing her nightdress, she said that she had to go and talk to Juliette for a few minutes, and she left the room.

I lay on the bed, closed my eyes, and tried to make some sense of the jumble of thoughts in my mind. Then I heard the bedroom door open and close again. As I lay there with my eyes closed, I felt a kiss to my cheek. At the same instant I smelled perfume, the same perfume that Juliette had worn, that night on the Orient Express.

I opened my eyes and looked at Juliette's smiling face. I reached up and grabbed her, pulling her down until her lips met mine. We kissed with the same intensity as we had done in the vineyard. And at that moment all of the confusion disappeared from my mind, and I knew exactly what choice I had made.

"Madeline and I have changed places," Juliette whispered. "She is wearing one of my wigs and sleeping in my bed. Don't worry, we'll change back before morning."

Juliette and I made love with a passion that I had never before experienced. Finally we collapsed from exhaustion and slept in each other's arms. Then as the first light of dawn was peeking in the windows, we were awakened by Madeline. "Time to go back to your own bed, my dear sister," said Madeline.

Juliette went back to her room and Madeline snuggled into bed with me. Suddenly I felt a pang of sadness for Madeline, a feeling that I had betrayed her. She sensed what I was thinking. "Don't worry about me, James," she said. "I know that we all made the right decision." And I knew that she was right.