Mara-Joy took a deep breath before entering her parents’ home. She had called them early that morning to tell them that Pauline had spent the night at her house.
Confused, Jobeth and Alan accepted the fact, as odd as it seemed. Mara-Joy and Pauline had never been close, but if they were starting to form a bond, Jobeth and Alan were all for it. They wanted all their children to get along with each other and maybe this was a step in the right direction.
Mara-Joy snubbed out her cigarette on her boot and straightened up, her hand briefly resting on her flat abdomen. Her heart fluttered like a bird in a cage and she smiled in spite of herself.
Larry had really come through with his promises about speaking to a doctor.
The problem was rectified almost immediately. A trip to the specialist had led to some painful procedures. She recalled the discomfort she’d felt.
Apparently the doctor had been able to fix the problem. She was now free to get pregnant, and with Larry’s help, that is exactly what she did.
She was beside herself with happiness. At long last she would have what she always dreamed of having: a child of her own.
Larry couldn’t believe the change in his wife. She was so grateful for the money he spent getting her the best doctors that she doted on him like never before. When she found out she was pregnant, it was like Christmas day had arrived. She was even friendly to Ann and Bobby-Jo. If having a child made Mara-Joy that happy, Larry figured she could have as many children as she wanted.
Mara-Joy cleared her throat and opened the front door. She entered the kitchen and instantly saw Alan-Michael seated at the kitchen table eating his morning cereal.
“Hello, little brother,” she chirped, dropping her purse on the table and shrugging off her mink coat. “It’s a beautiful day. You should go outside and get some fresh air. You look a little peckish.”
Alan-Michael looked up from his bowl of cereal and stared at Mara-Joy, open-mouthed. He had not expected to see her so early in the morning, with his dream still so vivid in his memory.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, mouth gaping.
Mara-Joy plunked down in the kitchen chair closest to him. She removed a cigarette package from her purse, retrieving a long, white, tobacco-filled cylinder. Snapping the case shut, she lit up her smoke as she squinted her eyes mysteriously at Alan-Michael.
“I came to see our parents, if that is all right,” she said, grinning through the smoke. “What on earth is eating you?”
“Nothing. I just didn’t sleep well last night,” Alan-Michael murmured, spooning up his cereal. He stuffed a heaping spoon into his mouth and munched loudly.
“Alan-Michael, please,” Mara-Joy scrunched up her face, repulsed. “Mouth shut.” Her stomach churned.
He complied, wiping milk from his mouth with the back of his hand.
“You seem in a good mood. What’s up with you?” he asked, still chomping on his food.
“Can’t a girl be happy on such a wonderful day?” Mara-Joy breathed.
“What happened? Did Joanna drop dead or something?” Alan-Michael laughed into his bowl of cornflakes.
Mara-Joy was taken off guard. It was in her behavior to make faulty comments about Joanna’s life or lack of it, but it all seemed frivolous now that she was going to have the baby.
Everything seemed different now that she would have her own child. She didn’t really want Chad back, if she thought about it. He had no real money to speak of. He definitely had no power. Larry, on the other hand, had both.
He had money to give Mara-Joy a child of her own. He had money and power to set Pauline up in a private hospital room, with no questions asked from the staff. Pauline’s life wouldn’t be destroyed because of the power Larry possessed. She wouldn’t have to marry Pascal because she was pregnant, that problem was probably already disposed of. And no back street butcher would perform her abortion. Oh no! Only the best doctor would treat Pauline. Larry would make sure of it. Pauline would never have to worry about that little troll, again. Larry had taken care of him with just a few phone calls. Mara-Joy was certain Pascal would disappear, never to bother Pauline again. That was the kind of power Larry wielded.
When Mara-Joy thought about it, it was kind of a blessing in disguise to be rid of Chad. He’d always been wimpy and never able to give her the lifestyle she needed to have. If she was true to herself, she realized she would have eventually left Chad on her own accord.
She shrugged her shoulders and puffed on her cigarette.
“For once, Joanna has nothing to do with my mood,” Mara-Joy said, enlightened. She might not want Chad any longer, but it was going to take a lot more to forgive Joanna for what she had done to her.
“Well, what is it?” Alan-Michael asked, raising one broad eyebrow, starting to feel uneasy. Mara-Joy was acting in a way he wasn’t familiar with and it frightened him.
“Never mind, nosey,” Mara-Joy teased. “Are the folks up?” she asked, looking to the door that went to the rest of the house.
Alan-Michael nodded, not enjoying being left out of Mara-Joy’s secret. She always included him. Why was it different now?
“Why did Pauline stay at your house?” Alan-Michael asked rather nastily.
Mara-Joy’s blue eyes shifted back to the red-faced adolescent.
“My, my, Mikey. If I didn’t know better, I would say that you are behaving like a jealous little boy,” Mara-Joy smiled wickedly. She loved to toy with him.
It was so easy. He was such simple prey. Putty in her hands.
Alan-Michael pushed himself angrily away from the table and stood up, disgusted.
“I am not jealous!” he tried to contain his voice from yelling. “It’s just that you’re acting weird, like you’re up to something and you don’t want to share it with me.”
Mara-Joy rolled her crystal blue eyes.
“Sit down, Alan-Michael, before you hurt yourself,” she said.
He continued to stand, his chest moving up and down furiously.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Mara-Joy sighed, crushing out her cigarette in the ashtray. “You are worse than a baby. I’m up to nothing. Now sit down and relax. You are starting to bother me.”
Alan-Michael sat down slowly, his breathing shallow. His face felt hot and clammy.
“You haven’t been planning things without me, have you?” he asked, hands firmly gripping the wooden table.
“What things? Honestly, Alan-Michael, I don’t know what you are talking about,” Mara-Joy replied with exasperation. He was becoming increasingly paranoid and demanding. Mara-Joy didn’t like it and it was starting to get on her nerves. It had been fun conspiring with him against Joanna all these years. She had no one except him to vent to about her pain and anguish over Joanna running off with Chad. But Alan-Michael was pushing too much now.
He was obsessed with Mara-Joy and with pleasing her. It was starting to feel boring.
“You know . . . things about Joanna,” Alan-Michael’s eyes roamed the room, fearful of eavesdroppers.
“There is nothing I can do about Joanna.” Mara-Joy sighed, tired of the whole matter. “We might as well get used to it and move on with our lives.”
“Good idea,” Jobeth’s voice said from the doorway. Both Alan-Michael and Mara-Joy were startled.
Jobeth stood smiling on her two favorite children.
“That is just the thing I have been praying for,” she said. “It would please me immensely for you and Alan-Michael to bury the hatchet with Joanna.”
“Oh, Mama, don’t be thanking any lucky stars yet,” Mara-Joy said, standing up and smoothing out her navy-blue dress.
Alan-Michael couldn’t believe his ears. This was not the Mara-Joy he knew and loved. He sat with his mouth open, appalled. Had she just given up hope? Had Joanna won and Mara-Joy lost? He shook his head in disbelief.
“I am going upstairs,” he said to the two women. They nodded, not really paying attention.
“I’ll see you later Mikey,” Mara-Joy said, not
bothering to look at his large form leaving the room. He bumped into Alan as he ascended the stairs.
“Good morning son,” Alan said cheerfully, slapping Alan-Michael’s back. It made a solid thudding sound.
“Yah, morning,” Alan-Michael said distractedly as he continued on to his room.
Everything seemed unreal. Could he have heard Mara-Joy right?
He collapsed on his bed and closed his eyes. His mind was jumbled with questions.
Had Mara-Joy said she forgave Joanna?
No. She told Jobeth not to count her lucky stars.
Alan-Michael sat up in bed and smiled, dementedly. Mara-Joy hadn’t said she forgave Joanna, she just felt there was nothing she could do about her.
Nothing Mara-Joy could do about her, but maybe something Alan-Michael could do.
He wondered what Mara-Joy would do if he took care of her Joanna problem for good. Images of his dream from the night before filtered through his head and he moaned out loud. He pressed a hand firmly onto his growing crotch.
He would do anything for her. Anything.
“Where is Pauline?” Alan asked, entering the small kitchen. Mara-Joy and Jobeth were seated together at the table, each sipping a coffee.
Alan went to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. He sat down next to Mara-Joy and looked at her questioningly.
“Well, that is why I am here,” Mara-Joy said, glancing between Jobeth and Alan. “I have something to say on behalf of Pauline to both of you and I am not sure how you two are going to take it.”
“This doesn’t sound good, Mara-Joy,” Jobeth replied. “What is going on?”
“Well, it’s like this,” Mara-Joy said, mustering up her best poker face. “Pauline has been unhappy here for some time.”
“What?” both Alan and Jobeth remarked in union.
Mara-Joy raised her hand in protest.
“Now, now she doesn’t mean here with the two of you,” Alan and Jobeth relaxed and listened patiently.
“She has been unhappy with her life here. I mean her life with that boy Pascal.” Mara-Joy looked to Alan, knowing his feelings toward Pauline’s boyfriend.
“And now that she is finished with school, she wants to do more with herself than become a wife and mother.” She paused, always conscious of the reaction of her parents.
“Pauline wants something different than the rest of us. She wants to be a career girl.” There, she said it, now she sat back and waited to see if Alan and Jobeth bought it.
They sat silent for a moment.
“Wha . . . What kind of career girl does she hope to be?” Jobeth asked, not sure what to say. This seemed sudden. Pauline had never expressed any desire to have a job before.
“Well, she isn’t sure herself, Ma,” Mara-Joy continued.
“How is she going to be a career girl if she doesn’t even know what it is she wants to do?” Alan interrupted.
“That is where I come into the picture,” Mara-Joy took a deep breath and decided to light another cigarette. “A few weeks ago Pauline came to my house, devastated. Pascal had asked her to marry him and she didn’t know how to say
‘no’ to him.”
Alan and Jobeth nodded. Except for the part of Pauline going to Mara-Joy’s house, this was easy to believe. They had both felt it was just a matter of time before Pauline told them she was going to marry Pascal.
“Imagine my surprise seeing Pauline standing outside my door crying,” Mara-Joy continued, sensing their trepidation.
“At first I thought, why did she come to me? Why not Constance or even Joanna?”
She took a puff of her cigarette letting each sentence soak into her parents’ minds.
“But then I realized why she couldn’t go to them. They are happy being just wives and Pascal is Constance’s brother-in-law. It made sense. I am the only one she could go to. I know the hard reality of life. I know what it is like to be in a bad marriage.”
Jobeth looked surprise. She never heard Mara-Joy say her marriage to Chad had been bad before.
“So, naturally, I was the most logical choice for her to come to for help,” Mara-Joy said, swinging her cigarette as she talked. “I brought her into the house and calmed her down. Finally, she told me how she felt about Pascal, that she didn’t love him and she definitely did not want to marry him. She then confided to me how she wanted to do more with her life, become more than just a wife,”
Mara-Joy examined her parents’ faces. They were both pale, unable to digest all she was saying. But they were listening intently.
“I got to thinking to myself,” Mara-Joy resumed, “’how can I help Pauline? I don’t want her marrying Pascal. I don’t really like the fellow much. I think Pauline deserves better than him.’”
“Here, here!” Alan piped in. Jobeth suppressed a laugh. She had to admit she felt relieved that Pauline didn’t want to spend the rest of her life with that particular young man either.
Mara-Joy rolled her tongue around her mouth triumphantly. She’d won them over to her side. She knew her parents would agree to anything she said now.
“So I asked her, ‘What do you want to do with your life?’ And do you know what she said?” Mara-Joy asked, leaning in closer to her parents.
“No,” Jobeth said dully, “And I’m afraid to ask.”
“She said she wanted to go to college,” Mara-Joy slammed her hand down onto the table.
“College?” Alan said in disbelief. “She’s not the type of girl to go to college.”
Jobeth blinked her eyes and pursed her lips at Alan.
“What type of girl goes to college, Alan?” Jobeth asked, a little annoyed.
“Come on, Jobeth, Pauline is sweet but we both know she hasn’t got what it takes to go to college.”
“Why is that? Pauline is just as smart as the next girl,” Jobeth defended her daughter. Everyone took Pauline’s naiveté for stupidity and she did not like it.
Not one bit. Just because Pauline was innocent didn’t make her brainless.
“I love her dearly too, Jobeth, but Pauline is not as smart as the average girl.”
“Well, I beg to differ with you, Alan. I think Pauline would do just fine in college,” Jobeth stated and sipped her coffee, effectively ending the conversation.
“Mama, I have to agree with you. Sorry, Papa,” Mara-Joy said. “That is why Larry and I have decided to send Pauline to school.”
“What?” Jobeth and Alan asked in unison once again.
“The three of us--Larry, Pauline and I--discussed it last night and we feel that Pauline would be best off in college. There is a good one that Larry knows of and he made all the arrangements. It is already done. Pauline will be enrolled in the next session come next month.” Mara-Joy paused, letting the information sink in.
“Who said you could do this?” Jobeth asked, stiffly clutching her steaming mug.
“Pauline did, Mama.” Mara-Joy replied. “I also have to tell you that Larry has already taken Pauline to the school. We felt it best that she leave town as soon as possible, so that Pascal couldn’t influence her to stay.”
“Mara-Joy,” Alan said, running his hand through his hair. “I don’t understand why you did this behind our backs.”
“Listen to your attitude, Pa. You don’t think Pauline can do it. She knows you love her but she doesn’t need to hear you say she is only smart enough to be a wife. Why wouldn’t she keep it from you?” Mara-Joy asked, looking at the bewildered Alan.
This was going too smoothly. Everything was falling into place, easily.
Alan felt ashamed. She was right. He would have discouraged Pauline.
“Now what do we do?” Jobeth asked in a daze. Another child had run from her with hidden secrets.
Mara-Joy looked at her mother and felt a small amount of pity for her. She didn’t know that Pauline was in a hospital recovering from a beating and preparing for an abortion. She didn’t know that everything had taken place only a few hours ago, not weeks li
ke Mara-Joy had made it seem. What could Mara-Joy do but hide the real truth from them? It was what Pauline wanted.
“You don’t need to do anything, Ma. It’s already done.”
Chapter 45 —