Seven Gigolos

I promised I’d help the villagers at Sanders’ Hamlet as a way to repay their kindness to Kieran. Kieran was still liaising with the local town council about building a road for the village. ‘Congratulations,’ Zea said in a low voice. ‘I hope you two have a happy life together.’ ‘Thank you.’ ‘Will you come back to visit?’ ‘When we have the time, sure.’ I passed the phone back to Kieran. They chatted for a while more before hanging up. Kieran and I looked at each other, thinking about the village. ‘It was raining,’ he said. ‘The night you came to look for me in the mountains.’ ‘Uh-huh.’ ‘We hid in a cave. Then you took off your clothes and seduced me.’ ‘I did not! I took off my clothes because they were wet.’ Kieran continued as if he didn’t hear me, ‘Then you gave me a come-hither look. I was bewitched. You put a spell on me.’ ‘You are full of it, mister.’ ‘You seduced me, then you rode me like a horse.’ ‘Shut up!’ I tossed the pillow at him. ‘I have to return the favour.’ He pinned me to the bed and kneed my legs apart. ‘Horndog.’ That was the last thing I said before we were both lost in a session of passionate bedroom rodeo. Kieran emptied himself into me, then lay on top of me, panting. I thought he was finally ready to sleep, but he seemed to be in a talkative mood. ‘Honey, tell me the truth.’ ‘It’s the best sex I ever had. You totally rocked my world.’ He chuckled. ‘Thanks, but that’s not what I was going to ask.’ ‘Okay.’ ‘Were you ever jealous of Zea?’ ‘Jealous of her? What for?’ He propped himself up on both arms and looked at me. ‘I didn’t understand it back then, but looking back, I think she likes me.’ I rolled my eyes. ‘Took you that long to figure it out, huh?’ ‘I had the mind of a three-year-old, remember?’ ‘Didn’t stop you from humping my brains out that night in the cave.’ ‘Hey, it’s my mind that’s a three-year-old’s, not my libido.’ ‘You and your famous libido.’ I shook my head. ‘Typical male.’ ‘Come on, don’t change the subject.’ ‘What were we talking about?’ I yawned. ‘Must we have a heart-to-heart in the middle of the night?’ ‘Were you jealous when Zea wanted to keep me in the village?’ ‘No.’ ‘Are you sure?’ I tweaked his earlobe. ‘It sounds like you want me to be jealous.’ ‘No. I’m just curious, that’s all.’ ‘Curiosity killed the cat.’ ‘I’m not a cat.’ I sighed. ‘Since it looks like I’m not going to get any sleep until your darned curiosity is satisfied, then here’s the truth. No, I’m not jealous. She likes you. So what? I’m your legally wedded wife. I have bigger boobs, longer legs, fairer skin. The only advantage she has over me is her age. But if you choose her over me, then you are not the man I fell in love with.’ I flicked his chin with my finger. ‘If you decided to stay in the village with her, I would have left you, come back here, and used your money to hire myself seven gigolos.’ Kieran’s chest vibrated with laughter. ‘Seven?’ ‘One for each day of the week.’ ‘You can’t even handle me in the bedroom, let alone seven.’ ‘There are medications that can help.’ He stopped laughing. ‘You’ve been giving this some serious thought, haven’t you?’ I shrugged, nonchalant. ‘You asked.’ ‘Now I’m regretting it.’ I cupped his face with both hands. ‘Come on, honey, you never have to worry about me not having enough feelings for you.’ Kieran lowered his eyes. ‘That’s not why I asked.’ But his expression told a different story. I knew what drove him to ask that ridiculous-sounding question. He came on to me first. He fell for me first. He confessed his love first. He proposed to me. In our relationship, he was always the one who took the initiative. It made him feel insecure and uncertain. What if I didn’t love him as much as he loved me? That thought must be constantly niggling at his mind. It was why he insisted on proposing to me in public and holding a wedding ceremony. I didn’t know what I could do to ease his concern, except to be there for him and to commit the rest of my life to him. Then an idea came to me. ‘I am jealous, in fact.’ Kieran looked at me. ‘You are?’ ‘Not of Zea,’ I said. ‘Of Sarah. Not because you still love her.’ ‘Honey, I don’t—’ ‘I know you don’t have feelings for her anymore. But she’s the first woman you ever loved. She must have a special place in your heart, right?’ Kieran loved me too much to lie. He nodded. ‘I’m jealous because she got to meet you first. She grew up with you. She knows things about you no one else does. I wish it were me.’ Kieran kissed my cheek gently. ‘You are the love of my life, honey. For now and for eternity.’ ‘I believe you. And I’d like to meet her. You have her address, right?’ Kieran was quiet for a long time. ‘I’ve been meaning to go look for her. But one thing happened after another.’ ‘I can go with you. Maybe before Christmas? You could use a break.’ I remembered Mia said Sarah was not doing very well. ‘Okay.’ We fell asleep in each other’s arms. It took Kieran a week to rearrange his work schedule, and another to finally find some free time. We boarded a plane bound for the city Sarah lived in. It wasn’t far from Dochester, where Cara once stayed, but the two places were worlds apart. The address Mia provided led us past the downtown area to a shanty town. The first thing I noticed was the smell. The stink of days-old sewage mixed with rotten vegetables and decaying animal carcasses. I was forced to breathe through my mouth. Picking my way carefully around the puddles, I would have paid thousands of dollars for a mask, or a hazmat suit.