Laura learned the reason for Jack's strange reversal early the next morning, and the solution came from an entirely unexpected source.
Laura overslept and Jack kissed her good-bye as she came out of the shower. It was only seven-thirty, and Laura wasn't due to pick up children this morning until ten, but all of their married life she had prepared Jack's breakfast and it was particularly irritating that she had slept so long today when Jack was in such a strange mood.
The front doorbell rang just as Laura was pouring her coffee. She wondered who in the world would be ringing their bell before eight in the morning.
Her forehead creased when she opened the door and found Candy Delany standing there.
"Missus Norton," Candy began nervously, "I'm sorry it's so early, but I just have to talk to you."
"Jack has already left for the office," Laura said in a very cool voice. The nerve of the girl coming here!
"It's you I have to talk to, Missus Norton, not Jack. May I come in?"
Laura was tempted to slam the door in the seventeen-year-old girl's face, but something held her back. The girl was obviously distraught and highly nervous. Her eyes were red, as if she had been crying.
"Can't it wait until later?" Laura asked, still reluctant to face this girl alone.
"It can't wait!" Candy cried. "Please, Mrs. Norton! It's… it's important!"
"All right," Laura sighed.
Laura stood back and let the girl into the living room. The girl's usually erect frame was stooped and Laura could tell that her distress was very real.
"How about a cup of coffee?" Laura offered. "I was just pouring mine when you rang the bell."
"Yes, please," Candy said.
Laura poured an extra cup and brought it into the girl. Candy sat on the couch and Laura sat across from her in the large overstuffed chair.
"I… I don't know where to begin," Candy said hesitantly.
"Until I know what's on your mind, Candy," Laura laughed, "I'm afraid I can't help you."
"Missus Norton, I'd… well, I'd rather walk through fire than come to you like this!"
"Come now, Candy," Laura smiled, "it can't be that serious."
"Oh, but it is!" Candy said quickly. "You see… well, Jack and I have… well, we're…"
"Having an affair?" Laura offered. "I know, Candy. I know all about it."
"You do?" Candy asked in amazement. "How? I mean, did Jack tell you?"
"Never mind that for now, Candy. I want to hear what you have to tell me. Does Jack know you're here?"
"No! Heavens, no!" Candy sighed. "I sat in my car down the street and waited until he left."
Laura studied the girl carefully and believed her. Candy was so distraught Laura almost felt sorry for the young girl. But she deserves it, Laura reminded herself.
"So?" Laura prompted.
"The… the worst thing of all has happened, Missus Norton!" Candy blurted out.
"What?" Laura asked softly, almost enjoying this.
"I'm… I'm pregnant!" Candy cried. Laura jolted forward. This was something she hadn't expected.
"You're sure?" Laura demanded.
"Positive."
"When? I mean, how long?"
"I missed my period by three weeks," Candy said.
"That doesn't necessarily mean…"
"And I went to a doctor and took the test. It was positive."
"Oh, I see," Laura said. "Does Jack know?"
"I told him last week," Candy replied. "That's why he took me to Seattle."
"And?" Laura prompted.
"He was very mad," Candy said. "You see, I lied to him and told him I was taking the Pill."
"Why did you do that?" Laura asked.
"Because I didn't want him to think I was a silly girl who was too young to even get a prescription for the Pill. Now he wants me to get an abortion!"
"It sounds like the sensible solution to me," Laura sighed. What a mess!
"But… but I'm Catholic!" Candy cried. "Abortion is… is murder!"
"That's a conflict you'll have to resolve for yourself, Candy," Laura said, none too kindly. "Being an unwed mother today is murder itself."
"You don't understand," Candy said plaintively. "I want to have Jack's baby."
"Then go ahead and have it!" Laura snapped. "I'm sure your parents will throw quite a christening party."
"Please, Missus Norton."
"Candy, I don't understand why you've come to me with all of this," Laura said. "What do you expect me to do? Are you here to ask me to be the child's Godmother?"
"Missus Norton, you have to help me!" Candy pleaded.
"Let's get one thing straight right now, Candy. I don't have to help you at all. Even if I would, I don't see how I could."
"You've got to convince Jack that he has to marry me," Candy cried.
"Marry you?" Laura snapped. "You seem to forget Jack is already married. I'm his wife! Remember?"
"You could give him a divorce," Candy said.
"A divorce!" Laura had a strong urge to throw this little redhead out of her house bodily, but she fought it back. "Did Jack put you up to this, Candy?"
"No! He doesn't know I'm here at all," Candy replied frantically.
"Have you discussed this with Jack?" Laura demanded. "What does he think about getting a divorce to marry you?"
"He… he won't do it!" Candy said with tears welling in her eyes. "He… he says he likes me, but he doesn't love me that way. He says we would be miserable, that people would always make jokes about the difference in our ages. I told him I didn't care about what people said, but he just won't listen."
Relief flooded Laura's system and she felt her muscles relax. So Jack wasn't in love with the pretty young girl! He'd been confronted with the crisis and wanted to return to his marriage!
"Jack's right, Candy," Laura said quietly. "You would be miserable."
"He's just saying that because of you!" Candy insisted. "I know it! You've been married so long and he doesn't want to hurt you. If he knew that you didn't care, that you'd give him a divorce, he'd marry me. I know it!"
"Do you think that you're in love with Jack, Candy?" Laura asked softly.
"Oh, yes!" Candy cried.
"You may think you are, Candy," Laura said, deciding to see if she couldn't bring the girl to her senses, "but you're not. You're in love with his hard prick, that's all. You were a starry-eyed little virgin when he pulled your pants down and shoved his hard cock up your cunt, Candy, and you can't get over the joy of sex. It's sex you're in love with, not Jack."
"You bitch!" Candy shrieked.
"Oh, I know that you can't accept that now," Laura smiled. "But if you'll think about it, you'll realize that there's a lot in what I'm saying. You're a pretty girl and you have a very sexy body, Candy. Any man would want to take you to bed. And Jack's only human. You swished that cute tail of yours in front of him until he couldn't stand it. So Jack took you out and laid you. He taught you all about sex, how to suck cock, how much fun it was to hive your cunt licked, and the two of you had a ball together this summer. Now you're pregnant and you want him to divorce me and marry you. So when the fun is over and things get serious, Jack levels with you and tells you that he doesn't love you and doesn't want to get a divorce to marry you. It's time for you to grow up, Candy!"
"Oh my God!" Candy cried, tears flowing freely from her eyes now. "You're… you're awful!"
"Because I'm telling you the truth?" Laura smiled.
"You're just bitch enough not to give him a divorce if he wanted it!" Candy cried. "Why do you think he… he laid me! Because your cunt is all dried up and dead, that's why!"
Laura wanted to pull the girl to her feet and slap her senseless! She dug her nails into her palms. Candy was suffering enough now, and she'd suffer a lot more before this was over.
"No, Candy," Laura said quietly. "Jack laid you for variety, because you were something different. You're young and laying you made Jack feel young again. He was tired of the same old sex all the time. And now, Candy, he's tiring of you."
"That's not true!" Candy screamed. "We… we fucked for three hours our last night in Seattle! He's not tired of me!"
Regardless of the fact that she already knew it, hearing the girl say it sent a pang through Laura's heart.
"Wasn't that your farewell fuck?" Laura asked with a smile.
"No! We're… we're going to a motel this afternoon!" Candy announced defiantly.
Laura flinched with that remark, but she would never let the girl knew that it hurt her.
"Well, have a good time," Laura said.
"You… you don't care! You just don't care, do you?" Candy demanded.
"I care very much, Candy," Laura responded sincerely, "but I don't really see that there is much I can do about it. I love my husband and I'll be here waiting for him when he's through with you."
"You dirty bitch!" Candy screamed as she jumped up and ran for the front door. "I'm sorry I came here!"
"I'll bet you are," Laura said, but the door had already slammed behind the distraught seventeen-year-old girl.
Candy ran down the block and climbed into her VW-Beetle. She was crying so hard she had to wipe her eyes to see the ignition. When she turned the key, nothing happened. She turned it again and again until she finally accepted the fact that her battery was dead.
She had been meaning to buy a new battery, but she kept putting it off because she spent all of her free time with Jack.
"How can I face him today!" she cried. The young girl dropped her head to the steering wheel and let go to have a good, self-indulgent cry.
Candy did not want to go to the office. That bitch of a wife had probably already called him and told him that she had been there! Jack would be furious!
She couldn't go home and endure the endless questions her mother would subject her to because she wasn't working. She cried and cried, wanting to purge her system so that she could think logically.
Candy's head was still bent over the steering wheel when Laura backed the Mustang out of the garage and drove past the parked Beetle.
Laura herself was so preoccupied she failed to notice Candy slumped over the steering wheel in the parked car as she passed.