still pursued her, and she made these affairs delicious little romances that ended as gently as they began. In addition to these lovers, she succored her aging husband until his death at eighty-seven in 1990.
D URING HER FIVE YEARS of marriage with Eddy, Vera played three womanly roles: mother, wife, and daughter. She was always subtly correcting him the way a mother does her child. When he talked too loud or too long, she alerted him with a gesture. As his wife, she was his companion and lover. She played a daughterly role too, dutifully listening to him and following his advice as he watched out for the areas of their life of which she was ignorant.
Vera and Eddy had what even her sons admitted was a successful marriage. They often had loud arguments, but they appeared to be little more than lovers’ quarrels. Yet within her family, there was an underlying fear that when Vera was no longer capable of managing her affairs, Eddy might try to pillage the estate.
Even though Vera’s sons deplored luxury, they did not choose to facilitate Eddy’s acquisition of personal wealth. The brothers felt that he performed a professional service admirably, but they didn’t believe that he deserved to be remunerated with a healthy tranche of the family fortune.
When Vera and Eddy had been married about three years, he set out to organize the commercial real estate that was the family fortune so that it would bring a higher return, and he then found a buyer willing to pay sixty million dollars for the New York apartment buildings. The family turned down the offer, but Eddy believed that he was still owed a commission. Vera sided with her family and in a paroxysm of rage, Eddy vowed to divorce her.
Vera realized that nowhere would she find another man like Eddy. To divorce him was to divorce life itself—and that was without accounting for his daughter, Desirée, to whom Vera was like a European grandmother. So she invited Eddy back into the fold of marriage, and he willingly returned.
V ERA VEERED LEFT ONTO South County Road, the central north-south road on the island. Giant ficus shrubs fronted most of the houses. The road was like a tunnel through the endless foliage, spilling into the commercial center of Palm Beach.
When Vera and Eddy got back together, her son James was convinced that he must now protect not only his mother’s fortune, but the family’s. In October, after the death of Vera’s brother, who had managed the family money, the family, including Eddy, got together to discuss the fortune. When the couple married, Vera had signed over to Eddy half ownership of the house that she and her late husband had purchased in 1985 for $2,200,000, and she had deeded him the other half in her will. Vera wanted Eddy to be taken care of, and she insisted that she receive a two-million-dollar distribution from the irrevocable trust, so that after her death, Eddy would have the money to maintain the house.
In January of 1997, Vera received the two-million-dollar check. A few weeks afterward, Eddy, Jim, and Jeff signed an agreement to forestall any legal disagreements after Vera’s death. The Fadimans considered this a generous settlement to a man who was seeing their mother through the last years of her life. As part of the document, Eddy waived any rights he might have to overthrow the agreement.
Eddy signed the document largely out of pride, but the more he thought about it, the more upset he became. As he saw it, he had not married Vera for her money, but that did not mean that he would accept being treated wrongly. He believed he deserved as large a slice of the fortune as her sons. “It isn’t fair,” he said to Vera. “You don’t need it,” she said, throwing his words back at him.
Usually, when Eddy got angry, he exploded in a terrifying spasm of rage, and then just as suddenly as it began, his fury ebbed. But now a frigid fury enveloped him.
Eddy did not care how Vera tried to placate him; he
D URING HER FIVE YEARS of marriage with Eddy, Vera played three womanly roles: mother, wife, and daughter. She was always subtly correcting him the way a mother does her child. When he talked too loud or too long, she alerted him with a gesture. As his wife, she was his companion and lover. She played a daughterly role too, dutifully listening to him and following his advice as he watched out for the areas of their life of which she was ignorant.
Vera and Eddy had what even her sons admitted was a successful marriage. They often had loud arguments, but they appeared to be little more than lovers’ quarrels. Yet within her family, there was an underlying fear that when Vera was no longer capable of managing her affairs, Eddy might try to pillage the estate.
Even though Vera’s sons deplored luxury, they did not choose to facilitate Eddy’s acquisition of personal wealth. The brothers felt that he performed a professional service admirably, but they didn’t believe that he deserved to be remunerated with a healthy tranche of the family fortune.
When Vera and Eddy had been married about three years, he set out to organize the commercial real estate that was the family fortune so that it would bring a higher return, and he then found a buyer willing to pay sixty million dollars for the New York apartment buildings. The family turned down the offer, but Eddy believed that he was still owed a commission. Vera sided with her family and in a paroxysm of rage, Eddy vowed to divorce her.
Vera realized that nowhere would she find another man like Eddy. To divorce him was to divorce life itself—and that was without accounting for his daughter, Desirée, to whom Vera was like a European grandmother. So she invited Eddy back into the fold of marriage, and he willingly returned.
V ERA VEERED LEFT ONTO South County Road, the central north-south road on the island. Giant ficus shrubs fronted most of the houses. The road was like a tunnel through the endless foliage, spilling into the commercial center of Palm Beach.
When Vera and Eddy got back together, her son James was convinced that he must now protect not only his mother’s fortune, but the family’s. In October, after the death of Vera’s brother, who had managed the family money, the family, including Eddy, got together to discuss the fortune. When the couple married, Vera had signed over to Eddy half ownership of the house that she and her late husband had purchased in 1985 for $2,200,000, and she had deeded him the other half in her will. Vera wanted Eddy to be taken care of, and she insisted that she receive a two-million-dollar distribution from the irrevocable trust, so that after her death, Eddy would have the money to maintain the house.
In January of 1997, Vera received the two-million-dollar check. A few weeks afterward, Eddy, Jim, and Jeff signed an agreement to forestall any legal disagreements after Vera’s death. The Fadimans considered this a generous settlement to a man who was seeing their mother through the last years of her life. As part of the document, Eddy waived any rights he might have to overthrow the agreement.
Eddy signed the document largely out of pride, but the more he thought about it, the more upset he became. As he saw it, he had not married Vera for her money, but that did not mean that he would accept being treated wrongly. He believed he deserved as large a slice of the fortune as her sons. “It isn’t fair,” he said to Vera. “You don’t need it,” she said, throwing his words back at him.
Usually, when Eddy got angry, he exploded in a terrifying spasm of rage, and then just as suddenly as it began, his fury ebbed. But now a frigid fury enveloped him.
Eddy did not care how Vera tried to placate him; he
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