All the characters in this story except Todd Whitman belong to Rupert Holmes, Howard Melter productions, a certain nameless channel and to the wonderful cast and crew. This is just a fanfiction and no infringement is intended.
*Thank you to Rebecca who helped me with the title
March 1942
"Why can’t you marry me, Hilary?" Jeff asked her, with Eugenia, Maple, Mr. Foley and CJ watching the couple in the studio, while their listeners listened from home.
"Because I'm married to someone else," Hilary replied calmly while Jeff’s face, body and psyche went into a state of semi-permanent shock. It had been 4 months since Hilary had made this statement. The initial shock had worn off, but it had been replaced with sadness and anger.
His initial reaction was to yell at her and make her tell him who the man was so he could teach him a lesson. Then his conscious kicked in. He remembered all of the times he flirted with other women. He also remembered quite clearly that he had divorced her to marry Pavla. He was forced to marry her literally with a gun pointed at his head, but it was still a legal marriage, and Hilary knew that. To have the legal marriage with Pavla, he had to divorce Hilary, which had been the most hurtful part of the whole ordeal. The divorce papers had finally come right after New Year's. When he told Hilary about the papers and showed them to her, she brushed them off casually. He knew in his heart that he deserved whatever she sent his way.
Hilary Booth was proud, all right. He knew that from the first time he met her. She was a beautiful woman then, and she still was. He also knew that beyond that cold, diva exterior, beat the heart of a woman who needed and craved both acceptance and love.
She told him about her family when they were dating. Her mother, Penelope Hammond-Booth, was a starlet who gave up the stage to be a mother. Her father was famed theater director Harrison Booth. She was given the finest things money could buy, but all she wanted was love. The only person who gave her real love was her paternal grandfather William Booth, who died when she was 12.
Hilary gave him the most exciting and turbulent years of his life and he wanted them back. Most of all he wanted her back in his life. Not just as a colleague and a fellow performer, but as a lover, friend, wife, and partner. "Isabella Street!" the conductor shouted, as Jeffrey lost his train of thought. He sighed sadly and walked down the street back from eating lunch at a nearby diner, but his stomach still grumbled.
When he entered WENN, he saw a strange and expensive looking jacket in the mix that normally hung on the rack. Gertie, who usually sat at her desk, was nowhere to be found. He popped his head into studio A, where Maple, Eugenia, Mr. Foley, Hilary and Mr. Eldridge were performing "This Girl’s Kinfolk." There was no one in the manager’s office when he poked his head in, but he saw Betty, Scott, and Gertie talking to a man in a fashionable suit that he had never met before in the green room. His hunger was replaced with a nervous feeling in his body. That must be the jacket’s owner, he told himself as he stepped into the green room.
"Jeff, glad your back. This is Todd Whitman, WENN’s newest sponsor. Mr. Whitman, our leading actor, Jeffrey Singer," Scott said as he ushered Jeff in.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Whitman," Jeff said as the men shook hands.
"So you're Jeffrey Singer. Hilary told me all about you," Todd said, with a knowing grin.
"Are you her boyfriend?" Jeff asked as his jealousy became apparent very quickly to all those who were in the room.
"No, her husband," Todd replied calmly.
Jeff’s first reaction was to put his hands on the man’s neck and squeeze very hard. But, he didn’t was because the door was opening. Hilary walked and stood next to her husband.
"Hello, sweetheart. Ready to go to lunch?" Todd asked Hilary as he placed his hand possessively around her waist. She kissed him on the cheek.
Jeff was ready to pounce on the man, but Scott’s steady hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Yes. See you all later," Hilary said as the couple walked out of the room.
Jeff calmed down slightly after they left. He sat down on the couch with his face in his hands, and seemed like he was going to cry. Betty sensed that Jeff needed to talk to Scott alone, so she and Gertie walked out so the men could talk alone.
"How could she do that to me, and with him, of all men?" Jeff asked angrily as he got up and paced.
"I don’t know what she sees in him, or what any woman will see in any man. All I know is that women can be mysterious sometimes," Scott replied, as Jeff sat down on the couch.
"I have tried to do everything to get back in her good graces since I got back, but she kept pushing me away. I thought that she had forgiven me," Jeff said solemnly as the image of that Todd Whitman holding Hilary like he did popped into his mind and made him more upset.
"Maybe Hilary needs some time away from you, and Todd is part of that separation," Scott told him, hoping the reasoning would cool him down, and rational thinking would kick in.
"What did you do when Victor was around?" Jeff asked, hoping that Scott’s answer would help him get through some of his feelings, and maybe help him to get Hilary back.
"I tried my best to show Betty how I felt about her, and that I was the right man. But, it was Betty’s decision in the end, and it was wrong of Victor and myself to put her in that situation," Scott explained.
"So, I should show Hilary how I feel about her, and let her choose between me and that man that she married? That doesn’t make sense!" Jeff said as his anger and jealousy began to explode again.
Just then, Betty poked her head in. "Scott, are you ready go to lunch?" she asked.
"It does, Jeff. Trust me," he said as he called to Betty "Coming!"
Jeff stepped out of the green room to see Scott and Betty laughing and teasing each other. After Scott helped Betty put her jacket on, he placed his hand comfortably on her shoulder, and she leaned against him slightly as they walked out together. "I guess it does work," he said to himself as he stepped into studio A to perform Rance Shiloh and his emotions began to level off and his energy level returned to normal.
Over the next few days, Jeff was cordial around Hilary, never revealing the emotional pain he was going through. To make it worse, her husband, Tom or Todd, whatever his name was, was hanging around the station. Jeff even caught the couple in an embrace a few times. But, his mind kept returning to Scott’s advice. Between shows, one day when Todd was not in the station, Jeff worked up the nerve to talk to Hilary.
He didn’t understand at first why he had trouble talking to her. After all, he had been married to the woman. But he came to a realization. The reason that he was like a schoolboy working up the nerve to talk to a crush was because he was uncomfortable about her current marital status and her husband.
He stepped into the green room. His heart was beating so loud that he was sure that she could hear it. She had just poured herself a cup of tea and sat down to read a fashion magazine. "Hello, Hilary," he said nervously.
"Hello, Jeffrey," she replied, but didn’t lift her eyes from the magazine.
"Hilary, I wanted to apologize if I was rude to your husband the other day," he told her.
"You weren’t being rude, just yourself," she replied coolly. She lifted here eyes from the magazine.
"You know, Hilary, I thought I knew you, but it seems I don’t," he exclaimed, and walked out angrily. For the first time, Hilary realized how much pain Jeffrey was in. She almost walked out to try talk to him, but she stopped.
Several days later, there was a knock at his door. "Jeffrey Singer?" the delivery boy asked.
"Yeah?" he replied as the boy handed him an envelope and he signed for it.
"Wait a minute," Jeff said to the boy as he grabbed a nickel out of his pocket and handed it to the boy.
"Thanks, mister!" the boy said as he walked away.
Jeffrey closed the door and opened the envelope. Inside was a letter with Hilary’s handwriting.
Dear Jeffrey,
I honestly didn’t know what to say to you after you left the green room the other day. I thought back to all those times that you flirted with other women while we were married. I realized that those feelings I felt then, you have right now. I had no intention of hurting you. It's just that Todd and I fell in love. He is a great guy, and I want you to know that.
When I told you that I was married to someone else, that was a lie. I said it because, well, because I didn’t know what else to say. I was so hurt when you married Pavla, that I didn’t want to take a chance on us getting back together again. I honestly felt that I couldn’t trust you, and I didn’t want to take the chance that either of us would be hurt again by the other’s romantic relationship.
I have known Todd for a long time. We're old acquaintances. To be honest, he was my fiancé before I met you. He was the son of one of the producers of the Rivals. I broke it off when I found him kissing a chorus girl. I honestly forgot about him, until I saw him right before Thanksgiving. He was in town, looking at a theater for a new production of Hamlet. He took over as producer when his father died about 8 years ago. We just started spending time together in the beginning, just for old time’s sake. After we had dinner a week before Christmas, he proposed to me, and I said yes.
The reason I didn’t wear a ring or tell anybody initially was because I didn’t want anybody to know. The only reason I told Scott and Betty later was because Todd was thinking of sponsoring a show, but I also told them not to tell you because I wouldn’t know how you would react. I honestly apologize if you were hurt by the marriage in any way.
I sincerely hope that my marriage does not affect us working together, and I hope that we can still be friends. I do think that we work well together. I look forward to seeing you at work and working with you as a friend and co-worker.
Yours Truly,
Hilary Booth
After he finished reading the letter, for some reason, he wasn’t jealous, or even upset. He felt rather good about himself. Maybe it was because Hilary truly deserved to have a happy marriage. If Todd could give her that, he was the right man for her.
a thought popped into his mind. He was truly single for the first time in years, and he would enjoy it. He would always love Hilary, and remember his time with her, but he was single.
"Look out, ladies, here comes Jeffrey Singer!" he said to himself as he loosened his tie and walked to his bedroom with a smile on face. He smiled because he knew that tomorrow, he was a new man, ready to take on the world and the women in it.
The End
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