THE MAN OF PROPERTY

Fiction by Imzadi

Email: jabell@msn.com

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Nobody belongs to me, unfortunately.

Setting: Between Redefinition & Reprise. Lindsey is caring for Darla as she recovers from her burns.

Note: I am watching the excellent miniseries The Forsyte Saga (the original, not the newer one) and was struck by the similarities between the Soames/Irene and Lindsey/Darla relationships. I hope someone has either read Galsworth’s outstanding novels or seen one or the other of the miniseries so she’ll appreciate this. But I just had to write it.

Darla sat enthroned on Lindsey’s sofa, soft cushions around her, a comforter over her lap. On the small table at her side were a crystal wineglass of gently warmed blood and a dish of caviar, Beluga, of course. Only the best for Darla.

“Would you like to listen to music or to watch television?” Lindsey leaned over to tuck the comforter a little closer around her. He still couldn’t seem to get it through his head that cold didn’t bother her. But she allowed him to fuss over her. Why should she not?

“Perhaps a little television,” she answered in her weak little voice. She was better, but why let him know? It was nice having him for her minion. Maybe, just maybe, one day she would turn him so he could serve her forever. But one look into his eyes, which Dru had called his “big, black cow eyes,” and she knew he’d be a damned nuisance.

He clicked on the remote to the channel which gave the program listings. As they scrolled through, Darla suddenly sat up just a little straighter. “Look, Lindsey, channel 86 is showing the Forsyte Saga. I saw this back in England when it was originally shown. And of course I knew John Galsworthy. In fact, he modeled his description of Irene after me.”

Lindsey nodded. “Mama had loved this. She saw it when she was a teenager. That’s why she named my younger sister Winifred Fleur. Winifred Forsyte Dartie was her favorite character. She said she was the backbone of the family.”

Darla frowned just a little. She herself had found Winifred tiresome and not very attractive. Fleur, however, was someone she could relate to. “Shall we watch it?” She coughed gently. Lindsey, who had forgotten that, as she didn’t breathe, she couldn’t really cough, jumped up and brought her one of the monogrammed linen handkerchiefs he had bought for her. Was there anything he wouldn’t do for her, she wondered.

He clicked on channel 86 and soon the opening credits rolled. Lindsey had not seen this before and was soon enthralled. But he became annoyed. “I can’t believe that Jo is supposed to be the hero. He’s despicable!”

“Why? Because he’s leaving the wife he hates to be with the woman he loves?”

“I can’t fault him for disliking Frances. But he has a daughter. To go off and leave June like that is unforgivable.”

“June has her mother, her grandparents, all her aunts and uncles.”

“When she was conceived, he took on a responsibility. Being a parent is the greatest responsibility of all. He has no right to discard it this way, to break his daughter’s heart. I’m sure it will have repercussions later in her life. It’s not right.”

“It’s more important to forget your own happiness because of your child?” As Lindsey nodded, a grave look on his face, Darla realized how little they had in common. She herself would have left the brat in a second! If she hadn’t drained her first, that is!

“And I don’t understand why he looks down on the rest of the family. They seem pretty decent to me!”

Decent, boring, tiresome. . .those were the words Darla would have used to describe the Forsytes and all the middle class people of the Victorian era. They cared so much about appearances, about what others thought of them. Darla cared about appearances, but only her own. She was very proud of her beauty. But there was not a beauty among these Forsytes.

As she had expected, Lindsey took an instant liking to Soames. He was, after all, a lawyer like Lindsey.

“Of course, Darla, Soames is what they called a solicitor. He did paperwork, wills, that sort of thing. I would have been called a barrister because I’m a trial attorney.”

I know that, Lindsey. What do you think I am, stupid? I was there. And you’d look really stupid with one of those little wigs on your head. And when did you last try a case, by the way? Wasn’t it that blind woman, Vanessa Whatever? Darla focused on the screen. Irene was about to make her appearance.

Indeed Irene, played by the very beautiful Nyree Dawn Porter, did appear. There was a resemblance between her and Darla, although her face was rounder than Darla’s heart-shaped one. Soames fell in love with her at first sight. Just as Lindsey had fallen in love with her!

But as the hours of the series rolled on, Lindsey began to be agitated. “What a bitch! What’s wrong with her? He treats her like a queen and she has nothing but contempt for him!”

“She doesn’t love him. She never did love him.” Lindsey didn’t even notice the sarcasm in her voice. She appreciated the irony of the situation.

“She didn’t try. Look how he took her to concerts to make her happy.” Just like I played Chopin for you, Darla. “Before he married her, she said they were friends. But she couldn’t bring herself to look for his good qualities, to try to let something grow between them. She just sucked on the lemons life gave her instead of adding sugar & making lemonade. She could have been happy, or at least content, if she’d let herself. She’s a true bitch!” As he said that, Soames was handing Irene another beautiful brooch that he had just bought for her. He asked to be allowed to pin it on her, and she just turned away. Lindsey was torn between anger at Irene and sadness for poor Soames.

Things grew worse. June, Jo’s abandoned daughter, had grown up. At seventeen she had fallen in love with an architect, Philip Bosinney. But, although he was engaged to June, Bosinney had fallen in love with Irene. And she reciprocated his feelings. As the house he had designed and was building for Irene and Soames grew, so Bosinney’s involvement with Irene grew.

“My God! How can she do that? I thought she liked June. I thought they were friends! What kind of woman is she?”

“They love each other, Lindsey.”

“Not only is she betraying her husband and her friend, she’s betraying his fiancee. This is so wrong!”

“Should they also sacrifice their happiness for duty and obligation? They’re mortal. They don’t have hundreds of years. They must take love where they find it!”

“You just don’t understand, Darla. What about the vows that Irene took with Soames?” He swallowed. “Remember the scene between Jo and his father? His father took the wrong tactic. He told him that marriage was a contract. He looked at it from the point of view of property. But what about the sacred vows taken in church? Don’t they matter?”

Darla shook her head. You can take the boy out of the church, but somehow all those years of Catholic school stuck with him. You think you’re the Big Bad, Lindsey, but down deep inside is the good little boy screaming to get out. Irene wouldn’t have cared for you any more than she did for Soames, even though you’re much better looking.

As Jo and his father began to move back toward each other, Lindsey became more tolerant of his character, even though he didn’t fault June for not wanting to have anything to do with the father who deserted her.

June’s relationship with Bosinney had virtually disappeared, even though they were still engaged. And all the Forsytes except Soames knew about Irene’s affair with Bosinney. They also knew through the servants’ grapevine that she had begun locking her bedroom door to keep Soames out. Disaster loomed on the horizon, especially as Soames had sued Bosinney for the amount that he had gone over the budget Soames had allotted, and kept increasing at Bosinney’s insistence.

Then one day Irene returned from a tryst with Bosinney to find Soames at home. She taunted him with her happiness with Bosinney and her contempt for him. Finally his frustration at being unable to touch the heart of his wife got the better of him. Following her up to her room, he asserted his marital rights on her. Darla was indignant. “He raped her, Lindsey! He couldn’t stand to see her happy and he raped her!”

Lindsey wisely kept his mouth shut. I pity any man, except maybe Angel, who’d try to rape you, Darla. You’d break him in two! And even Angel would be hard pressed to force himself on you, unless, of course, you wanted him to! The thought made him both angry and sad. After all he’d done for her, just as Soames had done everything for Irene. Love, real love, wasn’t appreciated, it seems.

Lindsey rose to his feet. “I can’t stay up any longer, Darla. I’ll have to go in to the office for a while tomorrow, even though it’s Sunday.” He picked up the remote control for his TiVo and set it to record the remaining episodes. I’ll watch the rest of it later. You should rest now, too. You’re still so weak. Let me sleep out here. You take the bed.”

Darla shook her head. If she took the bed, she’d be unable to leave. And she had to get out for a little while. “No, Lindsey, you’ve been too good to me. Get your sleep. I want to watch a little longer.”

Lindsey picked up the now-empty dish and goblet. He looked at Darla sadly. Poor tragic Soames. “Does Soames ever find any happiness, Darla?”

“Not that he deserves it, but he does remarry. The marriage isn’t happy, but he does have a daughter, Fleur, whom he loves with all his heart. And she loves him very much, too.”

Maybe there’s hope for me, Lindsey thought. Rejecting the impulse to kiss Darla goodnight, he headed for the kitchen to drop off the dishes and then to his lonely bed. Maybe one day I’ll have a child to love. I can only hope.