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LOVE IS EXCEPTION MAKING 223
Besides Frank’s decline, Rand was further disconcerted by the deterioration
of her connection to Nathan. Aside from a few brief episodes
just after Atlas Shrugged appeared, their relationship had been platonic
for years. Rand had halted the affair during the depths of her depression.
After recovering her spirits she became eager to rekindle their romance.
Nathan, however, was reluctant and uninterested. He offered one excuse
after another. It was the strain of betraying Barbara; the stress of cuckolding
Frank; the pressure of lecturing at NBI, deceiving his students
and public audience. What Nathan kept from Rand was the most obvious
explanation of all: he had fallen in love with one of his NBI students,
a twenty-three-year-old model named Patrecia Gullison.
Nathan fi rst noticed Patrecia when she enrolled in his Principles
class. Strikingly beautiful in the manner of Dominique Francon or
Dagny Taggart, Patrecia was far more lighthearted than any Rand heroine.
Carefree and gay, she teased Nathan about his serious bearing,
even as she made her dedication to Objectivism clear. She struck up
a romance with another Objectivist and invited both the O’Connors
and the Brandens to the wedding, where Nathan brooded at the sight
of her with another man. Soon the two began meeting privately under
the aegis of her interest in Objectivism. Their conversations in his offi ce
grew longer. Nathan’s feelings for Patrecia, which developed into an
intense sexual affair, lit the fuse that would blow Objectivism sky high.
Unaware of Nathan’s new dalliance but anxious to maintain Objecti vist
rationality, Barbara petitioned her husband for permission to renew
relations with an old boyfriend who was now working at NBI. First Nathan
forbade it, then he relented. Barbara’s new sanctioned liaison forced the
Brandens to admit that their marriage had been a hollow shell for years.
Mismatched from the beginning, the pair had no natural chemistry and
little in common besides mutual admiration for Rand. In 1965 they decided
to separate. Just months later Patrecia and her husband split up.
All this was more than enough to make Rand uneasy and illtempered.
She had counseled Barbara and Nathan through each step
of their relationship and endorsed their marriage. The separation was a
sign that she had failed. Even more signifi cantly, the Brandens’ marriage,
however troubled, meant Nathan was taken by a woman Rand liked and
even controlled; their secret was safe with Barbara. Now Nathan could
once again become a single man. And he had lost the one believable
excuse that could explain his reluctance to begin relations with Rand
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