Poppies

Once they had a taste of each other, Joanna and Chad couldn’t have enough.

  They met whenever they could, not settling for just Friday nights. And they met everywhere, taking little care to avoid getting caught.

  It was obvious to anyone who saw them that they were in love. Their eyes were always locked in a dreamy expression, oblivious to anyone around them. Only a fool couldn’t see what was going on.

  Constance gave up warning Joanna. She knew her sister was head over heels, and although she didn’t approve of Joanna’s love affair with Chad, she couldn’t stop it.

  Their romance lasted for a year.

  Summer came and Mara-Joy and her redheaded friend Loran sat across from one another at their favorite restaurant, where they lunched together every Wednesday.

  “What is it, Loran?” Mara-Joy said, annoyed with her friend as she picked at her salad. She pushed it aside, disgusted. “We should really eat somewhere else; this place is turning into a dump.”

  Loran laughed nervously and lit a cigarette. She offered one to Mara-Joy who took it willingly, lighting up.

  She inhaled from her cigarette, squinting her eyes at Loran. They had somehow managed to stay friends, although Mara-Joy didn’t particularly care for Loran much as a person. She was flighty and tended to get on Mara-Joy’s nerves but somehow Mara-Joy felt obligated to her.

  “What’s up? You have been chomping at the bit all afternoon to tell me something. Spill it before you burst,” Mara-Joy demanded, inhaling deeply. She shouldn’t be so hard on Loran, but the girl made it so easy to do so.

  Loran was jittery. She wanted to tell Mara-Joy she knew about Chad and Joanna. She wanted to hurt the self-righteous bitch, but she couldn’t help but be afraid of the black-haired devil.

  “I’ve been hearing things, Mara-Joy,” Loran puffed on her cigarette, shaking.

  She steadied herself, not wanting Mara-Joy to notice how frightened she was.

  Mara-Joy noticed and was slightly amused. Could she have actually figured out Mara-Joy was having an affair with Loran’s boyfriend?

  No. They were discreet, as she was with all her friends’ husbands and boyfriends.

  It was a game with Mara-Joy. She enjoyed taking her friends’ men to bed.

  They always went willingly into her arms and begged her constantly for more.

  Once she became tired of them, she dumped them, knowing it was she they desired when they went back to their wives with their tails between their legs.

  Some had been a nuisance, wanting to leave his wife or girlfriend for her. But she wasn’t interested in the weak rascals. She had no intentions of leaving Chad. Chad was the man she married, even if he didn’t perform like he should anymore.

  It was a mystery. She had always been able to lure Chad into her bed, but now he would have nothing to do with her. He actually avoided her as much as possible. Everything she did to try and entice him ended up in failure. It had been a long time since they had been together as man and wife and it was beginning to really upset her.

  “I have heard some things about Chad.” Loran paused, getting herself ready to spill the news about Joanna and Chad. She wanted to hurt Chad for dumping her a year ago, when she had been one of Chad’s lovers. That was until Joanna entered the picture. He dumped Loran without a word of explanation and the humility of it enraged her. He walked around town with that girl as though he didn’t care if they were caught. He had never done that with Loran.

  Never.

  “What are you trying to say, Lore?” Mara-Joy didn’t look impressed as she sucked back on her cigarette.

  “He’s been seen with your sister Joanna a lot lately. Actually for some time.”

  Loran took a deep breath. The words were out. She quickly shoved a fork-full of salad into her mouth.

  Mara-Joy looked shocked. Joanna and Chad? It couldn’t be true. Or could it?

  “Are you trying to say that my husband and sister are sleeping with each other?” Mara-Joy laughed, composing herself. She wouldn’t let Loran know how much the news had affected her.

  “Well…” Loran felt embarrassed as she swallowed her lettuce whole. Maybe she was wrong, but it didn’t seem likely. Besides, Loran of all people knew Chad was not faithful to Mara-Joy. If he could cheat on Mara-Joy with her best friend, why couldn’t he do so with her sister too?

  “Lore, Joanna is Chad’s sister-in-law. They have a right to see each other.”

  Mara-Joy laughed again, tossing back her dark hair casually. “That doesn’t mean they are lovers. They’re family for Christ’s sake.”

  “It’s just that people are talking, Mar . . .” Loran looked around eyeing the other occupants of the restaurant.

  “Oh . . .” Mara-Joy leaned over the table. Their eyes locked; Mara-Joy’s were ice blue and cold. Corruption lurked behind her orbs. “People talk a lot, don’t they Loran? They talk all the time about all sorts of people. People like . . .”

  She shrugged her shoulders.

  Loran sat back in her chair blushing. She knew the look in Mara-Joy’s eyes.

  “Take for example . . . your parents. Why just the other day, I heard those same people talk about your mother again.”

  “Stop it, Mara-Joy.” Loran was aware what people said about her mother. She didn’t need to hear it from Mara-Joy. “All right, you’re right. Chad is not seeing Joanna.”

  “Well, to believe people who talk about my husband, Loran, really! These are the same people who call your mother a--how do I put this kindly? A pussy licker.” Mara-Joy relished making Loran suffer. Loran sat open-mouthed, stunned, and unable to say a word.

  “And your father!” Mara-Joy leaned back, admiring her long painted nails, not carrying if her voice was heard by anyone else in the restaurant. “They say he’s a child molester.”

  “My father is not a child molester.” Loran looked at her half-eaten plate of food, ruined. Why had she foolishly thought she could somehow knock Mara-Joy off her high horse? Hadn’t she learned after all these years that she was no match for Mara-Joy?

  “Well, people say he has been going to Millie’s place, and we all know Millie runs a whorehouse. They say he only wants the sweetest and youngest of the lot. Pays big bucks I hear.”

  “Stop it!” Loran erupted, grasping the table hard. “I was only being a friend and telling you what I heard. I’d think you would want to clear up all the rumors, Mara-Joy.” She lit another cigarette and tried not to look at Mara-Joy’s cold eyes.

  “I know, I know you were just trying to be a good friend,” Mara-Joy said sarcastically. She could see through Loran so easily. She was an easy target. Too easy. It wasn’t even fun. “Let’s forget we ever had this conversation.” Mara-Joy reached across the table and placed a comforting hand on Loran’s shaking one.

  “All right?” Mara-Joy soothed.

  Loran nodded, not saying anything.

  “Chad adores me, Loran. He would never make love to anyone but me,” Mara-Joy said sincerely.

  Loran’s face bobbed up to Mara-Joy’s anticipating eyes. Visions of Chad’s naked body covering hers filtered into her mind.

  “Of course he wouldn’t,” Loran smiled forgivingly, looking Mara-Joy straight in the face.

  Joanna lay on her little bed in the room she shared with Constance and Pauline. She wiped away the tears that fell freely down her cheeks.

  It finally was really over. They had gone too far this time.

  Earlier that day she had taken a bus to another town. Under a false name, with a cheap wedding band on her finger, she had gone to a doctor to confirm her fears.

  She was pregnant.

  “Oh Chad!” she cried out loud. There was no fear of being heard. The entire family was out of the house for a change.

  “What am I going to do? We were fools to love each other and now this!” she sobbed into her pillow.

  “Joanna!”

  Joanna bolted up straight, startled by the sound of the voice outside her door.

  It wa
s Mara-Joy and she sounded furious.

  “Joanna!” Mara-Joy pounded on the door. “You let me in this instant!”

  “Go away!” Joanna sobbed. She couldn’t take facing Mara-Joy at that moment. She was the reason Chad and Joanna would never be together.

  Mara-Joy threw open the door. Her hands rested on her tiny waist, legs braced apart. Mara-Joy looked like a volcano ready to erupt. Her black hair frizzed madly around her face and her steel eyes burned with hate.

  “Get out of here!” Joanna screamed hysterically, waving at the door. “Get out of here!”

  “Not until you tell me the truth, you hussy!” Mara-Joy heaved, ready to pounce on the crumbled form on the bed. “Are you sleeping with my husband?”

  “Leave me alone!” Joanna screamed, unable to deal with Mara-Joy on top of everything else. The world as she knew it was coming apart. Everything was crashing down around her. “Get out of my room, you bitch!”

  Mara-Joy jumped back, her face had gone crimson in anger. Never had she felt such rage.

  “You call me a bitch? You don’t even have the decency to sit there and lie about it, do you?” Mara-Joy was no longer yelling, but the venom in her voice was much more poisonous.

  “You filthy slut. How can you call yourself a sister?”

  “You are not my sister!” Joanna hurled out unintentionally. She covered her mouth, shocked by what she was saying. The memories started flooding her mind. Oliver telling her parents to take care of his little girl. The constant confusions over Oliver’s resemblance to Mara-Joy. How Mara-Joy was the only child out of five who didn’t take after anyone in the family. Except, that is, Oliver.

  And Oliver mentioning Mara-Joy’s name. How some woman would have liked it--what was her name?

  Tamara.

  She killed herself and left her daughter to be raised by Alan and Jobeth.

  Mara-Joy, the child who brought her parents together. They must have married so they could give Mara-Joy a proper home.

  It all made sense now. Why had she not seen it before?

  Mara-Joy was not Joanna’s sister. Not even Joanna wanted to believe that.

  “Stop it, Joanna.” Mara-Joy stormed. “That is not even funny to joke about. You may hate me all you want, but I will always be your sister.”

  “No, you are not,” Joanna said soberly. She stared off into space, the web of lies unraveling. “You are not my sister or Constance’s sister or Pauline’s sister, not even Alan-Michael’s sister.” Joanna wiped hair away from her wet face.

  “You are no one’s sister. You were born a bastard. Your real mother killed herself and left you with Ma and Pa to take care of. I heard them all--I heard them all talk.” She began to laugh, beside herself with emotion.

  “You are nuts. You don’t know what you heard.” Mara-Joy was no longer yelling. She was too stunned for words.

  “Oh, but I do know. I heard them talking to your real father.” A tear rolled down Joanna’s cheek and she looked at Mara-Joy’s ghostly white face. She felt sick to her stomach as she continued. There was no going back now. It was too late to take back her excruciating words.

  “He told Ma and Pa not to tell you about him, that it was better if you knew him like the rest of us knew him.”

  “Stop it!” Mara-Joy covered her ears with her hands and stomped her foot. “I don’t want to hear any more of your lies!”

  “And you know how we saw him, Mara-Joy? We saw him as our uncle.”

  “No! Please don’t!” Mara-Joy begged, agony escaping her throat from deep within her very soul.

  “Uncle Oliver.”

  “It’s not true!” Mara-Joy wailed, running to strike Joanna. “Why are you being so cruel?”

  Joanna held back Mara-Joy’s hands, as she tried in vain to strike her.

  “It is true.” Joanna yelled, full of fury for all the times Jobeth had paid more attention to Mara-Joy than her. Her mother loved another woman’s child more than she loved Joanna, her real child.

  “Ask them, Mara-Joy. Ask my mother and father to show you your mother’s suicide letter.” Joanna couldn’t believe the words that flew from her mouth.

  Suddenly everything she had ever overheard her parents say was crystal clear in her memory.

  “This isn’t true. You are just trying to hurt me.” Mara-Joy collapsed on the bed beside Joanna and whimpered quietly, her head hanging low, overcome with grief. Joanna had never seen Mara-Joy so destroyed, not even when she lost the baby.

  “Get out of here,” Joanna said softly, devoid of emotion. “Get out of my room and my life and stay out. You have ruined enough lives.”

  Mara-Joy wiped real tears away from her eyes. She didn’t want Joanna to see her crying.

  “I’ll find out the truth, Joanna.” Mara-Joy stood up straight and glared down at the crumbled form of Joanna. Joanna looked as bad as Mara-Joy felt. Both their faces were red and wet, and their eyes were puffy from crying.

  “I’ll find out from our parents! Do you hear me? Our parents!”

  Mara-Joy’s sudden outburst caused Joanna to jump. She began to feel cold at the very root of her being.

  “And then my main goal in life will be to pay you back for the pain you have caused me--if you thought your life was ruined now, just wait, dear sister! When I am through with you, Joanna, you will wish you were dead!”

  And she was gone like a ball of blazing fire.

  A frigid finger traced up Joanna’s spine, causing her skin to break into a minefield of goose bumps. She believed Mara-Joy. She believed every word she said.

  “It wasn’t supposed to be like this!” she screamed into her pillow. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this!”

  Mortified, she sat up.

  Mara-Joy was probably headed home to confront Chad. Joanna jumped out of bed and headed to the kitchen. She had to tell Chad that she had destroyed his wife’s life.

  Chad answered shortly after Joanna dialed his number. In a shaky voice she said his name.

  “Joanna, what is wrong?” Chad asked, concerned. She sounded frantic.

  “I need to see you right away, now.”

  “Joanna, what is wrong? Tell me.” Chad said, getting worried.

  “I can’t on the phone. I’m leaving now.” She proceeded to tell him where to meet her.

  Within ten minutes he was dressed and in the car.

  Joanna was already waiting when he pulled up to the little park.

  Jumping out of the car he ran to her and embraced her tightly in his arms. She was crying hard, and it didn’t seem like she could stop.

  “Hon?” He caressed her hair. “Sweet Joanna, what is wrong?” “Mara-Joy knows about us,” Joanna blurted out through her tears. There was no point beating around the bush.

  “What?” First panic, then relief flooded Chad. If Mara-Joy knew, maybe she would give him a divorce and he could be with Joanna properly, like it should be.

  “I said terrible things to her, Chad.” Joanna continued telling him the details of what had transpired between the two sisters. She explained how all the things she had overheard as a child suddenly surfaced, and how she had blurted them out to an unsuspecting Mara-Joy.

  “I am a monster for what I have done. I thought I would enjoy the day I obliterate my sis—obliterate Mara-Joy. All I feel is ashamed.” Joanna rubbed her raw face against Chad’s shirt.

  “Everything will turn out all right. You will see.” Chad cradled the woman he loved in his arms, not caring who saw them.

  Joanna frowned.

  “That isn’t the only thing, Chad.”

  “What else could there be?”

  “I don’t know how to tell you this but,” she pulled away from him, not daring to look at his reaction, “I’m pregnant.”

  Chad’s mouth dropped. Joanna faced him.

  “I am going to have your baby.”

  His hands ran through his brown hair and he stared down at his feet.

  “Oh God,” he whispered.

  “Chad
?” Joanna began to sob. Could he really hate her for ruining his life?

  Did he think he was having a repeat performance from yet another Benson sister? Mara-Joy didn’t need to worry about ruining Joanna’s life. The look in Chad’s eyes had done it.

  “A baby?” he asked in disbelief. “My child?”

  “Chad, I won’t force you to do anything, don’t worry. I’ll leave you and your life forever. You will never have to worry about me again.” Joanna sobbed her face a crumbled mess.

  “My God, what are you saying, Joanna?” He pulled her back to him and gripped her arms tightly. “Don’t you remember me telling you that I loved you? You and only you! I want to be with you. I want you to be my wife.”

  “How?” Joanna yelled pulling away from him. It was all pointless.

  “We are leaving,” he reached for her arm and started for the car.

  “Leaving?” Joanna was confused. “Where?”

  “I don’t know where, all I do know is that I want to divorce Mara-Joy and marry you. You are the only woman I have ever wanted to marry. I never loved or wanted Mara-Joy as a wife.”

  “But where will we go, Chad? By now Mara-Joy has probably told my parents what I said and did to her, and once they find out about the baby . . .”

  They were nearly back at the car. Joanna stopped in her tracks, causing Chad to come to a sudden stop.

  “Get in the car,” Chad said, taking control.

  “But, Chad–“

  “Do you trust me?” he asked, turning and meeting Joanna full in the face.

  “Always,” she replied, a ripple of emotion running through her body.

  “Then trust that as long as we are together, everything will be all right. We are leaving now and we are not coming back.”

  Joanna nodded soberly and followed Chad into the car.

  Chapter 35 —