Helena of the Upper East Side

To everyone looking in from the outside Helena has the perfect life. She has a beautiful daughter Harmony, who is growing more and more beautiful like her mother with each day, and an attractive, successful husband, Michael, who is the owner of a cryptocurrency exchange. Helena has always lived the lifestyle that a NYC socialite can afford. Her father was a business magnate, heralded as a "God of New York" whose absence was felt while Helena was growing up, and her mother was the great great granddaughter of a Texas oil tycoon. Her mother migrated to New York City to run an auction house. That's where her parents met. Her father put on quite the show, winning a 16th-century black pearl, gifting it to her mother, and then winning her heart.

Helena was born a beautiful child, as beautiful and delicate as the treasure that brought her parents together. As she grew Helena had no shortage of admirers and was the belle of every ball. Her chime rang through Michael's soul, and the souls of all of her suitors. They moved to the sound of her graceful tone and vowed to support whoever Helena chose to spend her life with.

Michael stirred Helena within her womb and breast. She gazed at him for the answer to the question in her soul that he inspired. Helena's closest friends remain unsure if she married Michael for love or out of curiosity. When asked why she had chosen Michael her answer was always the same, "Michael touches my heart in ways I've never felt before. I want to explore and cherish this feeling for the rest of my days. I know that life with Michael will be the epic journey of my lifetime."

Now they lay in bed together after an evening of decadent food and cocktails. Despite their twelve-year-old daughter's protests their private chef stayed behind to make sure she had a robust meal and finished her homework before brushing her teeth and going to bed. As Helena lay on her back her stomach had the familiar feeling of partially digested food, and her senses swirled from downed champagne. Michael snoozed on his side and she woke him with a brush of her hand.

"Honey, I think we could use a trip to the shore."

"It's too cold," Michael said without turning over or opening his eyes.

"Not in South America." Helen rolled towards him, her silhouette against him usually got the result that she desired.

"Business is too volatile right now Helena. With this state of affairs, we need all hands on deck."

"But, you're the boss you can take a long weekend if you want."

"I'm the most important hands on deck."

"You're the most important hands on my decks."

Michael finally turns over to her, "I wish we could love, how about we wait until Harmony's on spring break and we'll go to the Galapagos Islands?"

"That's two months away."

"Or, take a girl's trip for the weekend if that will ease your yearning."

"A girl's trip isn't the same as you and me on an island with the waves lapping our toes, and has absolutely nothing to do with my yearning." She reaches under the blankets to urge him to her point of view.

"Not tonight my love, I have a busy morning scheduled and I need my sleep."

And with that Michael turns back on his side, leaving Helena wondering behind him. She thought their journey would be full of passion and discoveries. But, now it seems as if there is nothing left to discover, and passion is a one-way street.

"Okay, spring break then," Helena says but vows to keep trying.

A month went by and Helena's goal was thwarted time and time again until it was annihilated altogether.

"I'm leaving for Dubai next month for at least three weeks..." Michael started.

"Dubai! What about the Galapagos?"

"Summer will be in full swing by the time we arrive and we both know it's a far better climate for the waves at our ankles." He says with a naughty grin.

But, Helena is not assuaged, as the cashmere bedding around their ankles are warm enough night after night to no avail.

"I told Christina I would go with her and her family to Greece for spring break next month," Harmony says nibbling on her breakfast.

"What?" Helena is bewildered.

"Yeah, I asked Dad last week."

"You didn't mention it to me."

"I knew there might be some damage control to handle in Dubai, but I was waiting to be sure to tell you, and I didn't say that Harmony could go."

"But, I can now that dad's going to Dubai right?"

"Sure, I suppose there are some things I need to get done around the house."

"Yes, in two weeks you'll have the entire dining room remodeled, and Harmony and I won't have to tolerate the fumes."

After another month goes by Helena finds herself at home alone in her half-painted dining room as Harmony explored Greece and her husband put out fires in Dubai. Her contractor left an hour before and she admires the rich green she chose for the walls. Her red oak China cabinets against them would elicit a feeling of an enchanted forest with shards of light reflecting from the crystal chandelier. An oasis for family and friends to gather and celebrate.

Helena switches off the the chandelier and heads to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of pinot. She runs her hand across the marble countertop and loses herself in their pattern before pouring a crisp glass of white wine and peruses to the living room like an art enthusiast and summarizes the busy street below through the windows of her living room on the top floor.

The life she imagined, though more than adequately adorned, was not like this. Nights of endless passion were a distant memory, replaced with the mundanity she had imagined life would be with one of her other suitors.

"There must be a way to recapture the feeling," she thinks just as the buzzer sounds. She goes to the door to answer.

"Yes, Vinny?" She greets the doorman.

"You have a visitor, Patrick," he answers.

"Patrick who?"

After a few muffled seconds of the two conversing he answers, "he's a construction inspector, your husband asked him to drop by."

"Send him up."

***

"Hello, I'm Patrick, your husband Michael asked me to check up on the construction in your dining room."

"Vinny relayed the message, the question is why?"

"My company worked on Howard's penthouse..."

"Howard, my husband's business partner?"

"Yes, he knows we know our business, and your husband felt it's better to be safe than sorry."

"We have a contractor."

"Consider this a second opinion."

Helena lets out an exhausted sigh, "this way to the dining room."

She leads him to the dining room and stops at the entrance as he goes in to inspect it. She watches as he inspects the outlets, and thinks his button-down shirt is taught against his arms and chest. The fabric has caved in around the curves of his muscles.

"You did hire an electrician didn't you?" He asks.

"Only for the chandelier."

"Do you have a ladder?"

"Use the chair."

Patrick steps up on a dining chair and Helena equally admires his figure in his trousers.

"Shouldn't you have on a hard hat or something?"

"Why, when you're so casual."

Patrick looks down the plunging neckline of her silk lounge gown.

"I wasn't expecting company."

"Sorry, I thought you knew. Howard asked me to do him the favor since he and your husband aren't here to make sure things are done right" He steps down from the chair, "I'm not usually the person on site, I have a staff for that, but I was in the city and it's a personal favor.

"I understand."

"It looks like a pretty simple job, I'll assure Howard there's nothing to worry about."

Helena felt a stir in her abdomen, she almost didn't know what it was, until she remembered the first time she looked into Michael's eyes.

"Can I offer you a drink before you head back too..."

"Ridgewood New Jersey, and I would like to wait out the rush hour traffic."

"And I have a fully stocked bar, what will you have?"

"Got any scotch?"

"How does a Glenfiddich 50-year-old rare sound?"

"Sounds great."

Helena retreats to the kitchen to pour Patrick a hearty drink, "Why should I feel this way now?" She thinks to herself, "Is this how neglected I am? Is this how emotionally starved I am? No, no, no, my husband is a good man. This summer we are going to rekindle the spark, I have to get Patrick out of here before I do something I'll regret."

Helena storms back into the living room and shoves the drink she poured in Patrick's face.

"Drink it and go."

"I'd love to, after you pour half of it out, I lay steel, I'm not made of it."

"I'm sorry, take your time." Helena sits on the chaise lounge away from Patrick on the sofa.

"You have a nice view of the Chrysler Buiding from here." Patrick admires the NYC skyline.

"The view is what sold us on this place."

"The view in here isn't so bad either if you don't mind my saying. I've always thought your husband and Howard were lucky businessmen, but now I see he's luckier than I thought."

"You should tell him that, after 15 years I think he's forgotten."

"He should flatter you every day."

"I don't need flattery, but I thought our marriage would be more of an exploration. Now it seems there's nothing new to explore."

"From the looks of it there's nothing to tire of, and I can't deny I've seen you in the society pages. Your husband is a lucky man indeed." Patrick's words fade off as he turns his attention to the view outside.

The familiar stirring reached an all-time high when Helena decided the chaise lounge was big enough for the both of them and embark on a new journey without her husband. What started off in living room ended up in Helena's marital bed as she explored what Patrick's clothing thinly veiled. His tawny skin was smooth to her touch and his dark hair through her fingers left her intoxicated. He proved that he could never tire of her that night and the next two weeks as he explored her peaks and valleys again and again.

When it was time for Harmony to return from Greece neither of them wanted their days together to end. So, Helena called her chef, who she canceled her regular appointments with while she was climbing the highest mountain with Patrick, to watch over Harmony, packed a bag, and headed through the Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey. Though Harmony was distraught by her mother's absence they talked every day, and a furious Michael returned early from his business in Dubai.

"I've made up my mind Michael, it seems as if our journey together has ended."

"What about our daughter?"

"She will always have her mother."

"If you think I'm giving you a divorce you're crazy! We'll see how you feel after I've run that bridge and tunnel piece of scum to the ground."

And, over the next 10 years, Michael tried in every way he could to destroy Patrick, in business, socially, and in any possible cruel way he could. After the first couple of years, he stopped begging Helena to come back and focused only on launching his attack on Patrick. And, Patrick was a willing adversary. It got to the point that it was no longer about Helena and only their pure hatred of one another, and once again Helena began to feel neglected. By the fifth year of the war, Helena found a way to engage her creativity by offering design services to Patrick's clients. By year ten, she had a successful design firm, that Patrick hardly noticed, as he and Michael threw ammunition at one another.

"Hi Helena," Ingrid, one of Helena's best customers greeted her on the phone, "can you tell me what you know about holograms?"

"I don't know anything about them, why?"

"I was thinking I want a hologram to greet my guest in the foyer, can you look into it for me?"

"Absolutely."

And look into it she did and into her heart. She couldn't believe she was in the same place she was ten years ago when she left Micahel, and she couldn't believe her strong desire to up and leave Patrick.

"If only he were as passionate with me as he is with Michael." Helena thought it was about time for another change and raised the issue with Patrick over dinner.

"Patrick, I'm ready to move back to New York..."

"What are you crazy! So that egomaniac husband of yours wins! No way Helena, he's going to give you a divorce!"

"Not to go back to Michael, it's just I'm getting that feeling again, and I think having a place in New York could be the answer."

"So, he and his crew, half of which are your exes, can shove it in my face? I don't think so Helena, you're staying right here.

Once again Helena felt the burden of dismay, but this time something was different. This time instead of yearning for an exploration with her partner, she had explored herself. She found her creativity and created a successful business, and the only committed partnership she was interested in continuing to explore was with herself.

As Helena was browsing holographic projectors for Ingrid she came up with an idea.

"Excuse me..." she stopped a sales representative, "can this project a recording of myself?"

"Certainly."

After she took the projector home it took Patrick two days to realize she was no longer working overtime in their home office, and that she kept repeating the same words- "I'm really busy babe, I'll be there as soon as I can," and he found the projector.

It also only took two days for Helena to have Harmony over to her new apartment in Hell's Kitchen for a mother-to-daughter heart-to-heart. But, when Harmony arrived she wasn't alone. Michael intended to read Helena for filth and finally give her a divorce now that she had left that minor league New Jersey Jackal. But once he entered the door and laid eyes on Helena his feelings changed.

"Would you like to explore my new abode..." And the saga continues.