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“Where are you going?”
“To my apartment in New York. We’ve continued to pay the rent on it, if you recall, and it’s empty. You suggested it as a refuge once before. It’s as good a place as any for me to be.”
“Wait...” he said, grabbing her arm.
A
“No, I won’t wait. I love you, Heath. I have always loved only you and apparently that is my misfortune. It may interest you to know that during the eleven years we were apart I never made love with another man. I was faithful to you, not only during this marriage, but all the time before when the mere memory of you made the presence of any other man pale by comparison. You have been my one and only lover, but I know that nothing I can say will convince you of that. You seem determined to drive me away on one stupid pretext or another, and this time you have finally succeeded.” A
“Get out of my way,” she said through gritted teeth, her body rigid.
“Listen.”
“I have listened. I have listened to more nonsense from you than I have ever heard from another human being, including my late and unlamented father. I have had enough. Now, are you going to move, or are you pla
He stepped aside and she breezed past him. She paused in the doorway and looked back at him. “You know, I was worried about telling you I was pregnant because of your less than enthusiastic reception to the topic last Christmas Eve. I didn’t know the reason for your negative response, of course, but it never occurred to me that you would accuse me of having another man’s child. Your opinion of me must be even lower than I ever imagined. Goodbye, Heath.”
Heath stood staring after her, the finality of her last words ringing in his ears.
* * * *
A
She sat in the car, her arms propped on the steering wheel and her head bait, until a police car cruised past and slowed, its occupant regarding her curiously. A
A
She pressed it again. When there was still no response she turned to go and was halfway down the walk when the porch light snapped on. Joan Jensen, belting a cotton bathrobe around her, yanked open the door.
“Hi, Joan,” A
“A
“Yes.”
“What on earth are you doing here at one o’clock in the morning?” Joe asked, towering behind his wife. “Are you all right?”
“Uh, not exactly. I’ve left Heath.”
Husband and wife stared at her with identical expressions of astonishment, which under other circumstances would certainly have been fu
Joe recovered first, pushing his way past his wife and extending his hand to A
“You poor lamb, come right inside and sit down. You look like the only survivor of a plane crash,” he said, leading A
“What happened?” Joan asked.
“I can’t believe this,” Joe added. “You were just here tonight and everything was fine.” He sat across from A
“Everything was not fine,” his wife corrected him. “I knew A
“You’re right, I did,” A
There was a stu
“Why, I should whip that boy within an inch of his life,” Joe said first, rising from his chair.
“Settle down, Joe,” his wife said warningly. “Let’s hear the rest of this.”
“There isn’t much more to tell. He said that he’d had a vasectomy right after he got out of the navy and so he couldn’t possibly be the father.”
“Well, that does sort of change the picture, doesn’t it?” Joe said, his brow furrowed.
“Don’t be silly, Joe. If A
“I told him he should go back to the doctor who did the procedure. But regardless of what he hears I can’t live with a man who would think that of me. He didn’t consider for a moment that the pregnancy might be accidental. He immediately assumed I had been unfaithful. I’m tired of walking on eggshells, wondering when he’s going to find fault with me again.”
“What you need, young lady, is a good shot of brandy,” Joe said, going to get it.
“She’s pregnant, Joe, remember? There’s some herbal tea in the kitchen, would you put the kettle on to boil?” Joe left the room and as he did Joan turned to Aim and said, “What are you going to do?”
“I was pla
“We’re glad you did, honey. You certainly shouldn’t be wandering around at this late hour in your present state of mind,” Joan said.
A
“He should have told you about the vasectomy,” Joan said. “He must have known you wanted children.”
“Well, we got married under rather unusual circumstances, ” A
“I thought it was kind of sudden,” Joan said cautiously.
A
Joan waited.
“Heath blackmailed me into marrying him,” A
“Why did he want that?”
“Revenge.”
“Revenge?” Joan said.
“We had pla
“But that wasn’t it?”
“No. My father found out about our plans and said he would have Heath arrested for statutory rape unless I left town and never saw him again.”
Joan gasped. “Did you tell Heath this?”
“Yes. But he didn’t believe me until the story was confirmed by a retired cop who was on the force at the time. The cop knew that my father had investigated bringing charges against Heath.”