I dedicate this story to the men I have dated in the past who in conversation asked, "I would love a daughter. But what if when she grows up I'm sexually attracted to her?"
I didn't have an answer for you then. I do now.
Do you know Madeleine?
Madeleine Montgomery was named after her wealthy aunt Madeleine (Maddy) Weber, little sister to Madeleine's father, Jamison. Aunt Maddy married a wealthy older man when she was just eighteen. Rumor had it he ceremoniously purchased her virginity when she was 18 and unintentionally fell in love with her. Now widowed in her forties, having never remarried and with no children of her own, Maddy started throwing her money and affection at her young niece and namesake, Madeleine.
Maddy bought Madeleine a BMW on her 16th birthday. "Madeleine doesn't even have a driver's license yet!" Her mother objected. "She will if she wants to drive her BMW." Her father replied jokingly. As per usual Madeleine's mother was not amused.
On her 18th birthday Aunt Maddy bought Madeleine a house as a graduation gift. "And who's going to pay the bills? The maintenance? The property tax?" Her mother objected. "Oh let me guess, perfect little aunt Maddy."
"Why does mom hate aunt Maddy so much?" Madeleine asked her father.
"Because she's beautiful and wealthy. Because she spoils you. Because you love her and I adore her." Her father replied.
"But she's your sister. My aunt. We're family. Mom's just crazy." Madeleine rolled her eyes.
"Mom is crazy." Her father quietly echoed.
Madeleine Kissed her father on the head the same way she's kissed him since she was little. She grabbed his head with both hands and kissed his forehead, two quick pecks and one lingering kiss.
Her mother's horrible attitude towards Maddy was all it took for Madeleine to spend more time with her generous aunt and less time with her mother.
Why couldn't her mother just be nice, Madaliene wondered.
Aunt Maddy took Madeleine to expensive restaurants, shopping sprees at high end clothing stores, furniture stores, and trips halfway around the world. It wasn't about the money, for Madeleine. Her aunt was well read, well traveled. She was sophisticated, funny, and never lost her temper in a mean hateful way, unlike her mother. Madeleine felt like she had much to learn from her aunt. Her mother wasn't a role model. All Madeleine learned from her was what not to become when she grew up. Why have a wonderful handsome husband, a beautiful house, money in the bank, if you're just going to be miserable and boring?
"Aunt Maddy? How did you really meet uncle Karl?" Madeleine asked her aunt over tea.
"You know, sweetheart. We met at a luncheon."
"Yes but what kind of luncheon?" Madeleine pressed fidgeting with her napkin.
"You mean, did we meet in a secret back room where we ate sushi off the bare breasts of naked tattooed women?" aunt Maddy teased.
"No! I mean. It's just. Mom says... " Madeleine wasn't sure how to approach the subject.
"What does mom say?" Aunt Maddy pressed knowing perfectly well what her sister-in-law thought of her.
"Mom says you met uncle Karl... working as an escort." Madeleine whispered the word "escort". She didn't want the other ladies in the tea room to hear.
Aunt Maddy laughed and shook her head. "No my darling, it was a Rolls Royce auto club luncheon. My girlfriend's parents belonged to it. They invited me along one day. Karl collected those silly cars, you know."
"Well... Why does my mom think that you..." Her words trailed off.
"Your mother just hates me, that's all, my love. Hatred and jealousy breeds childish games and gossip."
"So uncle Karl didn't pay for you?" Madeleine whispered.
"Oh no, he did. He paid me a lot of money. That part your mother got right at least. A disgusting amount of money. Your father knows all about it. He called me a brilliant businesswoman."
"Wow! So... how? I mean. How did it even come up? The money? And how much money are we talking about here?"
Who knows why, maybe because aunt Maddy knew her sister-in-law hated her so much, or maybe because she decided Madeleine was old enough, sophisticated enough to understand, whatever the reason, aunt Maddy told her niece the story of how she and Karl met at that luncheon and made their first paidvsexual arrangement.
"Karl was almost 70 when we met. He made his money helping to create a sort of 3M for Germany. A widower. His son was grown with his own family. Karl wanted to retire but he was alone. All he had now was work. What would he do once he retired?"
"He would be very lonely." Madeleine sympathized.
"Most men who lose their wives, especially at that age, don't just seek companionship. They need companionship to live. People are so judgmental, like your mom. Just wait until they get old and god forbid end up alone. No offense but Karl wasn't about to end up a lonely old cat lady. If something were to ever, god forbid, happen to your mother would you want your father to be alone?"
"No, of course not."
"And what if he met an eighteen year old woman? What if he fell madly in love and married her?"
Madaliene thought seriously on the question. Moments later Madaliene replied, "I would want my dad to be happy. As long as he was happy and safe, that's all I want for him."
Maddy looked respectfully at her niece. "You're a very kind young woman. I'm proud to be your aunt."
Madeline blushed. She truly loved her aunt.
"Karl's son was not so kind." Aunt Maddy continued to say. "He and that miserable wife of his called me all sorts of names. Gold digger. Whore. Karl was not the old man they thought him to be. Karl was fit, full of energy. He was an adventurous man. Zero problems in the bedroom. And I mean zero. He showed me worlds I never could have imagined. Isn't it funny how children call women gold diggers when it was the father who propositioned her to begin with? But they never have a derogatory name to call the father. Oh no."
"Because fathers have all the money. And the children want their inheritance."
"No, the children think they're entitled to it. I never prevented Karl from being generous with his son's family. I never said a single word about his relationship with him. But do you know how many times his son invited Karl, just Karl, over for dinner during the twenty years I was with him? Not once. Karl always had to be the one to extend an invitation to his son's family. Karl never received a single invitation from his son. Not one. And it broke Karl's heart."
"Did you love him?" Madeleine asked.
"Not at first. But love grew. So we did things a little backwards. So what? We had a healthy sexual relationship first and then fell in love. Maybe that's the way it ought to be?"
"But he... Uncle Karl... paid you." Madeleine whispered.
Maddy leaned in close to her niece. She wanted her niece to fully absorb what she was about to say. "Let me tell you something. Before your dad met your mom, he was spending a lot of time and money on young women who I judged to be unsuitable wife material. I know! I know. Who am I to judge? But that's my brother, see. We hash people who go against the grain of propriety when another person's relationship might affect us. Because we're selfish. We're hypocrites. We're hypocrites and we're selfish. We want the world to be proper and perfect but only when it suits us. There are many different types of relationships. And who cares if all are consenting adults."
Maddy affectionately brushed the end of her niece's nose with her index finger. What a beautiful girl, she thought.
"He liked that I was young." Aunt Maddy continued to say. "Old men like young women. She's his fountain of youth, see. Karl could have had any one of those women at the luncheon, married women, divorced, widowed, but he wanted young, to feel young. And I was curious."
"And so he said what? Or did you make the first move?"
 
                             
                         
                         
                         
                         
                         
                                 
                                 
                                