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George didn’t know when he became fascinated by Maureen. It was probably one of those things that happens gradually without you realizing, like a tan mark that wasn't there before, after a day in the sun.
Maureen had entered their lives the same way Ringo did. Suddenly she was there, another character in the Beatles world, without them expecting but soon enough captivating all of them. Just like Ringo, it was just easy to like her.
If George had to trace back, it was probably some detail that caught his attention for the first time; like the way Maureen danced with Ringo when they listened to some recording of them in the studio; and just like that one day he realized it was already something that took a part of his mind, and noticing that stuff was already something of second nature.
Like when he and Pattie went to Ringo and Maureen’s home. Ringo always sat with them, smiley and relaxed, blue eyes gleaming in the sun. In those moments Maureen almost never stopped to be with them on the table, she was always moving, bringing or taking something from the kitchen, always asking if Ringo or anyone needed something else. But she was always letting a laughter escape at hearing the jokes or anything funny that Ringo said. George noticed all of that.
George thought a lot about Maureen. And quite frequently he thought about her with Ringo. She seemed to be a good wife. Well, many of the women he knew in his life could fit in the description of a good wife. But maybe what made George think that about Maureen was the fact that she seemed to really like Ringo. Love; George couldn’t say much about that, he didn’t even know if that existed in the way people said it did.
When he married Pattie they were in love, that he knew. She was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen and immediately felt attracted towards her. People could say George was the quiet beatle, but he had no problems in speaking to women; and normally women liked when he did.
So George didn’t have any problem in approaching Pattie, who was already a popular model with an established career in England. To his pleasant surprise Pattie wasn’t one of those silly girls whose idea of conversation was to giggle as an answer to anything said to them. He liked to talk to her and they had common interests. So at some point George simply knew that he would marry her. At that point half of the Beatles were married already, and it was his turn to find his match.
He was happy to marry Pattie. She was beautiful, kind, interesting and he loved her. And that wasn’t a lie. But after a while George found out that he could still love other women besides her. And he did. He still had moments of romance and intimacy with other women, in bed and out of bed. It wasn’t something weird, after all everyone else did it too, John, Paul and Ringo, they all did it.
The first time Pattie found out it was a shock to her. She cried deeply, making George feel a pang of guilt in his heart for being the reason for her crying like that. He remembered when Jane left without looking back and to her engagement with Paul when she found out about his infidelities.
But Pattie didn’t leave. George apologized, that wouldn’t happen again. They hugged and George ran his hand through her hair until she felt comforted enough to move away briefly to plant a kiss on his face.
The second time Pattie found out she didn’t cry. George could see the disappointment and hurt in her eyes and when he apologized he saw her chin lift in resignation. She accepted it anyway. But their marriage changed in some way since then.
They were still together, and George still got involved with other women now and then, but there weren't any more discoveries or apologies. Pattie now just knew that that was something that happened occasionally with George. So now, when Pattie was aware or suspicious that there was another woman in the picture, sometimes there were fights, some days of accusatory glances and more efficiently Pattie learned to respond by taking some attitudes that she knew would annoy George, as revenge.
Their relationship was like a pendulum, sometimes it was on the good side where everything seemed to be going right and nothing could ruin it or come between them. But occasionally the pendulum could go to the middle or even to the bad side. Sometimes it could be quite stressful, so George would just wait for the pendulum to go back to the middle.
When Pattie encouraged them to meet Maharishi, George felt that the pendulum was in a good place. They went to one of the Indian's lectures, and they liked him and what he said, even the other Beatles. So not long after they found themselves all together going on a trip to India. George had never felt so much at home. He woke up everyday to a weather that allowed him to wear light and comfortable clothes, he meditated every morning and in the afternoons he spent it with his guitar on his hands trying to compose. Pattie looked to be enjoying it also, and so did the other Beatles and their wives.
Well maybe Ringo and Maureen not as much. As it was already George’s habit to observe, the two didn’t look as happy as the others were enjoying the place or the walks with Maharishi. He heard them talking about the amount of spiders and other insects and about the food. Ringo had taken a suitcase full with cans of beans, which made George laugh.
“Oh, come and see the trees,” he said one morning after doing his daily meditation and enjoying a cup of tea.
“Yeah, ok.” Ringo answered after shrugging. He was the only one at the table with George that day.
George’s life had changed after he discovered trees, he said once. Well he always knew about trees, but know know them, as these live beings with energy, that he just found out recently.
It kinda became a habit.
“Oh, come and see the trees”.
“Yeah, ok”.
Until the day when Ringo answered “I’ve seen your bloody trees!” instead.
It didn’t offend him because it was said lightly in a funny way, the way Ringo always said things, which allowed him to say basically anything to anyone. George felt jealous of that, he often hurt people when he’d say what he wanted to say.
Maureen started to join George in his daily meditations. She would enter the room he used and sit on the floor alongside him, legs crossed, hands resting on knees. They would just talk between moments of falling into silence and meditation and sometimes they would simply stare longly at each other making Maureen laugh, which amused him.
Ringo and Maureen left on the tenth day of their vacation, before anyone else. Apparently Ringo was tired of eating beans. Pattie didn’t say anything, but George knew she was happy.
When he took her one afternoon in India’s warm weather, their room’s window open letting the wind touch their hot skins, George wished the golden locks of hair spread on the pillow were brown.
Eventually they all went back to England. It was summer but still much much colder than India, even under the sun; George pulled Pattie closer to his body as they took one of their walks. The band was working and maturing the ideas that flourished on the vacation, soon they would get back to the studio. Their routine was back to normal, morning teas with Pattie, lyrics writing and occasional visits to the other Beatles homes.
Maureen didn’t look that surprised when he told her he thought he was falling in love with her. A gentle confused expression formed on her face, a soft “Oh,” coming out of her lips. The kitchen of the Starkey residence was engulfed in soft shadows and silence. “Ritchie can’t make tea,” she said as if they were having an usual conversation, pointing to the pot of tea she had been making to take back to the living room before George took her hand. George looked down at the pot for a moment and then let out a laugh. Yes, he remembered that from Ringo when they shared their flat. She didn't remove her hand from his hold.
Pattie knew there was another woman after a few weeks. George never could say what it was in his behavior or routine that gave it away, but Pattie always knew sooner or later, even without seeing any concrete evidence. And the response always came, as it came a couple of days later when a new photoshoot came out of her posing with a male model who held her close by the waist in all the pictures. The kind of thing to make sure George wasn’t 100% comfortable either.
They didn’t always meet frequently, but when they did it was long and joyful. Maureen wasn’t a gorgeous woman or a model, but she was pretty in her own way and her simplicity attracted George. Being with her felt like watching his trees.
That day he didn’t know what came onto him, but as he was peeling Maureen’s clothes off her body, the question bubbled up his mouth. “How does Ritchie take you?”
That was a real shock to her. “Come again?”
He repeated the question.
“Oh, I don’t know…” she laughed softly, unsure. “It’s- just normal, I guess.”
He stayed quiet, continuing to gently undress her. Maureen shot him multiple glances, discreetly looking at his face. Probably trying to decide if he was really serious with the question.
“He likes to be the one laying down sometimes…” she shared.
George didn’t reenact it, for Maureen’s likely relief. But he made her laid down right after, covering her with his body. It wasn’t unusual for them so she eventually relaxed again, forgetting about the question.
They were stuck on a song. The Beatles were in the studio working on one of Paul’s. It got tiresome; they would often stop, disagreeing on how an instrument or the other should go and Paul simply wasn’t satisfied. They started taking turns to get up and go to the bathroom, or for a smoke. It was going to be a long day.
George looked up from his guitar, in a moment both John and Paul had gone do whatever, leaving just him and Ringo. The drummer was the constant presence, the one who least left their recording room or his place by the drums. Whenever there was one of them there holding a guitar or a bass, their drummer would be there ready to follow, not really participating in the discussions regarding the song, but trying to deliver the best what it had to be done by him.
He observed Ringo’s face. He seemed distracted, lost in a trance, his eyes fixed on a point in specific or nothing at all. Better than peaceful, he looked bored. Boredom was overlooked, it meant there were no problems to worry about and George thought it was better that way. Of course he didn’t want him to find out, but George would be lying if he said he had never fantasized about it, for some reason it had crossed his mind a couple of times, picturing himself telling Ringo he was sleeping with his wife.
Suddenly blue eyes were looking right back at him, startling George. Absorbed as he was in his thoughts he had forgotten he had been eyeing Ringo for quite a while and ended up getting caught. But if Ringo thought it weird, he didn’t show it. He got up from his seat, unfazed, while getting his cigarettes from his pocket.
“Well I’m going for a smoke.” he let George know.
For some reason the only answer George was able to give in that moment was to nod his head, as Ringo left for the rooftop.
Pattie knew there was another woman, she just didn’t know who it was. But she eventually found out. It was a day he was recording demos of some of his songs in his own studio in their house. Maureen was going almost everyday to see him play. They had fun and he would take time between songs to give her his attention.
Ironically when Pattie got home she didn’t catch them doing anything improper. They were sharing an innocent moment, enough to put anyone's mind at ease. But George witnessed as she put the pieces of the puzzle together and comprehension formed in her eyes. So even when Pattie didn’t have a big reaction, George knew she knew. She just asked quietly for Maureen to go home, that she wanted to be with her husband.
The conversation they had was only through looks. He saw the disappointment in her eyes. the betrayal, the sadness and a touch of anger. He didn’t know what Pattie was seeing in return, but eventually she turned her back to him. Faintly he heard Pattie speaking on the phone. After that she left, having George call her once, but she didn’t come back.
He sat on his sofa with his guitar, alone. The silence only being distubed by the random notes he played across the strings. Not playing any song, he just didn’t want to face the silence right away. He stayed like that until the sun started to go down and the shadows started to play over the floor and walls.
The doorbell rang. George stilled his fingers. Maybe Pattie felt ready to come back home and have a proper conversation. He quickly got up to his feet and went to the door with large strides, opening the door wide. But it wasn’t Pattie. Before him stood Ringo, looking antsy. He then found out who Pattie was probably talking on the phone with before leaving. He freezed; of course he knew Pattie wasn’t the kind of woman to let it slide without poking him back.
Ringo entered not waiting for George to invite him in. The guitarist finally took a good look at his bandmate. Ringo still hadn’t really looked at George, turning his back at him, giving some steps back and forth and passing his hands through his own hair.
George hesitated. Ringo must have gone to talk to Maureen as soon as he heard what Pattie told him through the phone. They must have fought, Ringo probably yelled at her and Maureen certainly cried. Then Ringo's next step must have been to immediately go to George’s house.
Considering the scenario and the drummer’s body language he was certainly furious and acting on impulse. That’s what put George in caution, in that state Ringo surely wasn’t there to have a talk, he probably wouldn’t want to listen to anything he had to say. What would he do if Ringo acted aggressive? Should he call the others? Maybe call John or Paul to come and talk to the drummer. Or maybe he should just let Ringo punch him. That actually could be the most effective choice in resolving this situation.
But then Ringo finally looked at him and George stopped in his tracks, because there wasn’t anger in those eyes. No, Ringo looked at him in complete anguish. He looked hurt and looked at George, for George, in an almost pleading way, asking for an answer. George took a step forward without even realizing.
He could see the blue eyes brimming with tears, making them even more bright. George felt his stomach drop, because that was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. He never thought he would ever receive such an intense look from Ringo. George’s hand raised and came to his face, resting on his jaw. A soft gasp escaped Ringo's mouth. George watched, noticed everything, amazed.
“Let me fix it, Ringo.”