The Mediterranean
Spring 1963
Maria loved playing hostess on the Christina. She discussed menus with the chefs, chose flower arrangements, and, if guests were staying overnight, ensured their suites were prepared with every comfort. She had entertained all of Ari’s closest friends: Prince Rainier and Princess Grace; Costa Gratsos and his wife, Anastasia; business associate Panaghis Vergottis; Baron van Zuylen and his wife, Maggie, a witty, warm woman of Syrian descent; Artemis and Theodore; and Stas Radziwill, a Polish prince in exile, with whom Ari enjoyed long boozy lunches at Claridge’s hotel whenever he found himself in London.
Stas had married Jackie Kennedy’s sister, Lee, and sometimes Maria and Ari had dinner with the Radziwills, but Maria found Lee difficult to talk to. She held her cards close to her chest and never volunteered information, meaning that conversations were hard work. Maria assumed she had to be discreet because of her famous sister and brother-in-law.
When Ari announced that he had invited the couple for a cruise in May, she made careful preparations, hoping she and Lee could at last become friends. It would make things much smoother, because their menfolk got along so well.
The Radziwills arrived at the Christina on a blazing hot afternoon, with porters dragging six huge leather suitcases behind them. Maria was surprised because she had thought they were staying only a few days.
Lee was wearing a chic cotton dress with a hem several inches above the knee, and her legs were slender as a foal’s. Maria knew that short dresses were in vogue but would not adopt the style herself, because even after the weight loss her legs had remained sturdy and definitely not her best feature.
“Welcome aboard!” she cried, with her broadest smile.
Lee air-kissed her with a lip smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Stas was more fulsome in his greeting, saying, “Thank you for arranging such glorious weather.”
“Glorious? I’m roasting alive,” Lee complained. “I simply must have a dip in the pool to cool off. Which is our cabin?”
“Let me show you,” Maria said. “Have you been on the Christina before?”
“I came for drinks with Ja-ackie and Ja-ack a few years ago. When the Churchills were here.” She had a strange mid-Atlantic accent, placing an emphasis on ah sounds.
“By coincidence, I received a letter from your sister yesterday,” Maria told her as they walked down the main stairs to the cabins. “She wants me to sing at a White House reception for Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, but sadly I am in the recording studio on that date so won’t be able to make it.”
“Jackie throws the most wonderful pa-arties,” Lee drawled. “She’s a ma-arvelous hostess.”
Maria felt as if a gauntlet had been thrown down: would her hostessing skills match up? She opened the door of the cabin and Lee swept in, surveying the room as if looking for flaws.
“Do let me know if there’s anything you need,” Maria urged.
“I just need a swim to cool down, then I’ll be human again,” Lee said. “My dress is positively stuck to me.”
“I’ll see you by the pool, in that case,” Maria replied, closing the door.
When Lee emerged, she was wearing the tiniest bikini Maria had ever seen, in burnt orange with a white-and-green swirling pattern. The top was like a low-cut brassiere and the bottoms had suggestive little ties at the sides. She was even thinner than Maria had imagined, with a figure that was lithe and toned, like a teenage boy’s.
Maria had never stopped feeling insecure about her appearance, despite all the compliments that Ari lavished on her. She still hated her big nose, her chunky legs, and the dark hair that sprouted in the wrong places and required strict taming. Vanity meant that she seldom wore her glasses, even though anything more than ten feet away was a blur. And she wasn’t sure about the new, shorter hairstyle Ari had talked her into earlier that year; it felt less feminine than her longer tresses.
As she watched Lee execute a perfect dive into the pool, Maria tucked her sarong around her ankles, feeling elephantine. It was exactly the way she used to feel alongside Jacinthy when they were children. Strange how the ghosts of childhood insecurities lingered in adult life.
AFTER LEE EMERGED from the pool, hair sleek as an otter’s, she spread her towel on a sunbed and lay on her back, sunglasses masking her face.
A steward approached to ask, “Would you like a drink, ma’am?” and she glowered at him.
“I am a princess and expect to be addressed as such.”
“My apologies, Your Highness.” He bowed.
“I’ll have a vodka and lime.”
The steward left to get the drink and Maria came to sit by Lee, meaning to start a conversation.
“What ages are your children now?” she began, reasoning that all mothers liked to talk about their children.
Lee paused before replying, as if trying to remember. “Anthony is three and Tina two.”
“I love toddlers! They’re so cute,” Maria said. “You should have brought them with you.” She wondered how Lee could leave them. If she had children, she would never have gone anywhere without them.
As if sensing criticism, Lee replied, “Everyone needs a break from their kids. They drive you insane otherwise.”
Maria gave a little laugh, assuming she was joking, but Lee’s expression behind the glasses was stony. “You’ve lived in London for a while, I believe,” Maria persevered. “Do you like the city? Is it a good place to raise children?”
“Of course it is. Otherwise we would move.” Lee turned to lie facedown, reaching behind her to unfasten her bikini top. Maria caught a glimpse of the side of her left breast.
She decided to give up. Striving to make conversation was clearly fruitless. Instead she lay back and closed her eyes. Lee did not attempt any further communication, so after a while Maria rose to see what the men were doing.
“Do you find Lee rude, or is it just me?” she asked Ari in their suite later.
“She’s reserved,” he said. “It takes her awhile to relax with new people.”
“She’s never asked a single question about me. I think she reckons I’m not grand enough to merit her acquaintance.”
Ari chuckled. “I’m the son of a tobacco importer. That’s hardly grand, yet she’s perfectly friendly to me.”
“I’m afraid it’s nothing to do with class in your case, darling. You can bet your bottom dollar she wouldn’t give you the time of day if it weren’t for the size of your bank balance.”
“I’m well aware of that, my love. Of all my friends, only you and Costa would stand by me if I was broke.”
Over cocktails that evening, Maria tried once more to befriend Lee but her questions were met with monosyllabic answers that verged on rudeness. Her efforts weren’t helped by the fact that Lee and Stas were big drinkers and Ari matched them, glass for glass, while Maria couldn’t keep up. She had a low tolerance for alcohol at the best of times, and it made her nauseated if she drank more than a couple of glasses of wine while taking the fertility drugs. It meant she felt excluded when they laughed themselves silly at jokes that were not remotely funny, or played card games in which the loser had to down a shot of vodka, but that soon became the evening routine.
After the Radziwills had been on board for a week, Maria had to fly to Germany to sing three concerts, followed by one in London and another in Paris. While packing, she couldn’t find her sleeping pills and opened one of Ari’s drawers to see if they had been put there by accident. Inside she saw a scarlet-and-gold Cartier jewelry box and couldn’t resist opening it. There was a pretty diamond bangle nestling on red velvet inside, and a note in Ari’s handwriting that read, “To my dearest, my sweetest love.”
Maria smiled. He must be planning to give it to her for her name day in August. She would have to pretend to be surprised.
WHEN MARIA ARRIVED back at the Christina in early June, Ari was on the telephone, ensconced in a complex financial discussion with some unknown colleague. She kissed him on the cheek and he held up a finger to indicate that he had to finish the call.
She wandered down to her cabin to change, joyful to be there again with a whole summer of relaxation stretching in front of her, apart from a Copenhagen concert in early July, which she needn’t think about yet. She took off her traveling clothes and tied a sarong over her favorite swimsuit, then wandered along the corridors to Ari’s suite. The door was open and she went inside and lay on his bed. An idea came to her: it always aroused him if she reclined naked, adorned in jewelry that he had bought her. Perhaps she would surprise him by donning some jewels and waiting for him to come and find her.
She sat up, planning to go to the safe to retrieve a necklace and some bracelets—perhaps the emerald-and-diamond ones—and it was then she saw the merest scrap of fabric wedged in a tight space between the edge of the bed and the wall, barely visible. She broke a fingernail prizing it out. The fabric was orange, with a green-and-white pattern. Maria instantly recognized a tie from Lee’s bikini bottoms.
Cold fingers gripped her heart, followed by a wave of acid rage. “Ari-sto!” she screamed, so loudly that she strained her throat.
She was trembling as she charged up to the boat deck, clutching the piece of fabric. He was still on the phone and looked puzzled at her approach. A beer sat on a nearby table and she picked it up and hurled it at his head, glass and all.
“Holy Christo!” he exclaimed, swerving to avoid it. “I’ll call you back,” he said into the receiver, just as Maria launched herself at him, punching him in the chest. “What is it? Stop, damn you!” He held up his arms to shield his face.
“You bastard! I trusted you!” Maria kicked his shin with her bare foot, hurting her toe, then swung at his head with her fist.
“What on earth are you talking about?” he demanded, grabbing her wrists and restraining her.
Maria sank her teeth into his forearm, causing him to yelp and leap backward. “This!” She flung the fabric tie at him.
He looked bemused. “What is it?”
“Part of Lee’s bikini. It was in your bedroom. Down the side of your bed. The bed where you and I make love. I hate you for this, Ari. I will never forgive you.” Tears were coming but she refused to give in to them. She needed him to feel the force of her rage.
“Stop, Maria. There must be some mistake. I have no idea how it got there. None.” He held out his hands, all wounded innocence.
She paused, scrutinizing him. “You’re lying.”
“I swear it’s true. I wouldn’t lie to you.” He took off his sunglasses so she could see into his eyes.
“How could the tie of Lee’s bikini get down the side of your bed? There’s no other explanation.”
He shrugged, seeming mystified. “Maybe one of the maids dropped it. Perhaps it got caught up in the sheets at the laundry. Please, darling. I hate to see this jealous side. It’s not worthy of you.”
Am I going mad? Maria wondered. But she could feel the truth in her heart. That’s why Lee wouldn’t be friends with her—because she had decided to seduce Ari. Maybe they had already slept together before the cruise. Ari had invited Stas to become a director of Olympic Airways some months earlier. Was that a quid pro quo for sleeping with his wife?
“How long has it been going on?” she demanded. “Weeks? Months?”
“Nothing is going on,” he insisted. Reassured that her rage had subsided a little, he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. “Please don’t be jealous. You’ve got the wrong end of the stick. These past three weeks, I have been lonely in my bed and pining for you. Here.” He guided her hand to a swelling in his shorts. “All this passion has made me want you, badly. Let’s go to bed.”
Maria allowed him to lead her down to his cabin. She was still trembling with fury, but lust took over and the sex was wild and violent. She scratched his back, leaving long bloody trails, and bit him till he yelled for her to stop; he pushed inside her hard, forcing her legs over her shoulders so he could dominate entirely.
Afterward, as she lay with her head on his chest, both of them slick with sweat because they had not stopped to switch on the air conditioner, reality engulfed her once more.
“I thought you loved me as much as I loved you,” she said, in a voice that was small and sad. “But you don’t. It would never occur to me to be unfaithful to you. If any man tried to seduce me I would tell him not to be so ridiculous. But I left you here with a rude, haughty woman who happens to have a famous sister, and you couldn’t resist. I’m disappointed in you. Disappointed and deeply hurt.”
Ari was quiet at that; then he spoke softly. “You have to believe me that it meant nothing.”
“It means everything to me.”
“The last thing I wanted was to hurt you.” He stroked her hair.
“I’m sure that’s true. You hoped I would never find out.” Her heart ached, as if it had been punched. “How many times did it happen?”
“Once. Only once,” he said quickly. “She appeared at my door in that bikini and threw herself at me. I was weak, and I’m sorry. Believe me, it will never happen again.”
Maria nodded, then peeled herself away from him and rose. “I need a drink,” she said. “And some time on my own. I’ll see you at dinner.”
She called for a glass of champagne, then went to her cabin and closed the door, sitting down in an armchair and taking a sip. When she thought of the effort she had put into entertaining Lee and Stas on the Christina, she was infuriated by Lee’s betrayal. Did she hope to lure him away? What did Stas think of it all? But most of all, how could Ari do that? She couldn’t bear to think of him touching that bony body, so tiny and birdlike compared to hers.
And then she realized that she had betrayed Tina in the same way. Even though Ari’s first marriage had grown cold, she should never have slept with him while they were both married to other people. It had been wrong of her.
He was in the wrong too—of course he was—but she had no choice but to forgive him. He was her entire life. She couldn’t imagine being without him. So she would forgive—but she would never forget. And she would never leave him alone with Lee again. Not ever.