Chapter 4

London, July 15, 2005

Jonathan Langhorne was a favorite at the Promenade Concerts, although the Royal Albert Hall felt a lot like a barn to him and had never been on the short list of concert halls that made him comfortable. He liked the fact that people in his home city would stand in line for hours to get tickets to his concerts. And he was always happy to be onstage with his father.

This evening would change his life, and their relationship, forever. It had been another spectacular performance, and Jonathan had played on the first half of the program. Then the interval, followed by the second half, and finally he and his father would greet their adoring fans backstage.

Jonathan had played the fiery Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto before intermission, and the second half of the program was Tchaikovsky’s famed Fifth Symphony. He wished that he could have ended the program. The ‘Tchaik 5,’ as musicians affectionately called it, could hardly be played on the first half, but would it have killed his father to put something else on the first half and let Jonathan have the glory? he wondered. He knew it was an irrational thought. Sir Gregory had a conductor’s ego. It bothered Jonathan, but he promised himself he would try to let it go.

Jonathan went backstage into the dressing room that adjoined his father’s. The rooms in the old hall were outdated and shabby, and he could see the dust flying out of the velvet couches if he sat down too quickly. The door between the two rooms was open, and the second half of the program was about to begin. Jonathan would listen to it broadcast through the speakers in the dressing rooms. The sound quality was barely acceptable to his keen ears, but he wasn’t ready to make his way back into the hall to sit in one of the boxes, where people would stare at him instead of listening to the music.

He had just settled into an old leather chair and heard the orchestra tuning when he realized someone was in the next dressing room. He called out, a soft hello, and a young woman walked through the door. Jonathan immediately recognized Alina Harrison, and was struck by how much more beautiful she was in person than on film. He got up from his chair and moved closer toward her. Their eyes met for a moment, just long enough for Jonathan realize he was staring. He felt drawn to her, and there was a long silence before Alina spoke.

“Hello, Jonathan. Your performance was magnificent,” she said.

“Thank you, Alina... I was hoping to meet you,” Jonathan replied. He had not expected to find her backstage before the end of the concert.

He thought a handshake was too formal and an embrace too forward, and he was relieved when Alina made the decision by giving him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

“Your father has told me so much about you,” she said. Jonathan didn’t speak. Her kiss had made his heart skip a beat, and he looked into her eyes once more. This time neither looked away.

Suddenly, Jonathan felt awkward. He didn’t really know how to talk to his father’s lover, a woman closer to his own age, whom he admired and found attractive, and whose film career he had followed closely for years. He was a fan of Alina Harrison, but he hadn’t expected that meeting her for the first time would be such a powerful experience.

Jonathan noticed that Alina was smaller and more delicate than she seemed in her films. Her eyes were large, deep brown, and passionate. There was a vulnerable quality about her that made him feel close, almost protective towards her, even though he didn’t know her at all.

His father had been involved with the celebrated film star for months, yet their paths had not crossed until now. Gregory had phoned Jonathan recently to tell him about their affair - just before a major story was about to break in the Daily Mail. He hadn’t mentioned a word about it until then, and Jonathan thought it inappropriate to let Alina know that she had been his father’s well-kept secret.

Now, after the scandalous stories had broken, everyone knew that Harrison was in the middle of a divorce, triggered by her affair with Gregory. Her prior troubles with her husband had already been fodder for the tabloids during the year before Gregory and Alina had met. There had been big public fights on her film sets, shouting at their home, and at least two separations followed by optimistic reconciliations. But her affair with Gregory had begun while she and her husband were still together.

Gregory had told Jonathan the entire story the night before the rest of the world learned it. Alina Harrison was not a star just in the United Kingdom and Europe. Her films had circled the globe.

Alina’s husband, Jeffrey Harrison, had come home early after a week away, when his suspicions were confirmed by a private investigator he had hired. He made his way to Gregory’s Hampstead home, parked in front, and phoned his wife on her cell phone. She had spoken with her husband a few hours earlier and told him she was exhausted and going to sleep early. While she would turn off the house phone, he knew she never turned off her cell phone.

“Darling,” her sleepy voice answered. “What’s the matter? Why are you calling me at 4 a.m.?”

“I’m here to see you?”

“What do you mean? You’re in Rumania, aren’t you?” Alina asked.

“Not any more,” Jeffrey replied. “I’m in front of Gregory Langhorne’s house, where I know you’re spending the night. So we can do this now, or wait until the morning.

I want a divorce.”

“I’m coming outside,” Alina said.

Jeffrey heard Gregory’s voice asking what was happening. “It’s Jeffrey. He’s here.” Alina said.

“Come outside by yourself,” Jeffrey said. I don’t want to see him. I just want to talk to you for five minutes - to ask you why.”

In a scene the tabloids claimed could have been right out of one of her films, she had thrown on a robe and run barefoot into the street. Jeffrey was out of the car, looking stern. Alina wasn’t worried that he could be violent. He had always been moody, but had never acted out in anger. Their fights were words only, sometimes harsh, but Jeffrey loved her deeply. He had been her manager since launching her career a dozen years earlier when she was eighteen, almost a child to him.

“Why?” he asked. “Just tell me why.”

“I don’t know. It just happened. I couldn’t help myself. We were so drawn to each other. I’ll leave him - just give me one more chance.” She didn’t really know what she wanted. Certainly not to have her marriage end in the street in front of Gregory’s home. But Alina was tired of Jeffrey’s moods and his control over her life and her career. She felt so free with Gregory, and happy in a way she had never known. She didn’t know if she could leave Gregory, but Jeffrey had always been her foundation.

“I know you’ve been seeing him for half a year,” Jeffrey said. “I’m not proud of it, but I’ve had you followed.” He couldn’t give her a chance to say it had just started. He didn’t want to hear a lie on top of her betrayal.

Gregory was watching through a side window. He couldn’t hear what they were saying but wanted to make sure she wasn’t in danger. He was fearful that she would return back home with her husband and he would never see her again.

“Jeffrey, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say. I never meant to hurt you. I...I promise it won’t happen again.”

“No, it won’t happen again!” he said firmly, “because we’re finished. My lawyer will send you the papers. I don’t have what it takes to be hurt this way, after giving you my life, my loyalty.” He was shaken and got into his car, turning on the engine. The car window was open. Slowly, he began to drive.

“Please don’t leave me... I love you!” Alina said, sobbing.

“You’ve made your choice. You can have your lover now. I won’t stand in your way. You’re lucky I’m not a violent man,” were the last words Jeffrey shouted to her as he drove off. He shook his fist at her as he drove away, shouting “Stay away from me. We’re finished.”

Neither of them had noticed the small crowd gathered in the street, but the neighbors had been quick to call the papers, and the tabloids received an account and ran front page stories a day later. The problem for Jeffrey Harrison was not his understandable anger, but the fact that he was completely misquoted. One ‘witness’ falsely reported that Jeffrey had threatened to kill Alina. Two of the London papers, the Daily Mail and The Express, ran large headlines, with an angry photo of Jeffrey taken by an anonymous cameraman during a previous fight on a film set. Above the picture was a large headline: Jeffrey Threatens Alina in Front of Illicit Love Nest.

After the incident, Alina had run back into Gregory’s house, and into Gregory’s arms. She was torn between her love of Gregory and her long marriage to Jeffrey, and tried for days to speak with Jeffrey, who refused all her calls. Alina became alarmed when a week passed and she could not reach Jeffrey. She learned that he had announced the end of their marriage to his closest friends and gone on an extended trip “to try to forget her,” he had said.

Gregory placed no demands on her, letting her take the time she needed.

“I would be heartbroken to lose you,” Gregory said. “But you should fight for your marriage if you can make it work.”

“I know Jeffrey. Once he makes up his mind, there’s no turning back. My marriage is over.”

She knew it would take her some time, but she loved Gregory and was ready to begin her life with him. She managed to pick up some of her belongings from her home when Jeffrey was away, and she moved into Gregory’s home.