Chapter 3: Corrupting the Mother

On Wednesday afternoon, I arrived at the Left Bank early and took a booth in a corner that was relatively isolated. I told the waitress that I was waiting to order until my friend arrived. She brought me a glass of water to hold me while I waited. Around 3:40 Monica walked in, looked around until she spotted me and came to the booth. I stood until she was seated before reclaiming my place. The waitress came to take our orders and we made small talk until our coffee was served.

I started by asking, "What was it I said or did that so disturbed you?"

"You implied that I do not enjoy my life," she answered.

"Well, do you, Monica?" I retorted. "Do you enjoy your life as you think you should?"

"I'll have you know I am a happily married woman," she exclaimed heatedly. "I have a wonderful husband who is a successful university professor and a wonderful daughter. I even have my own career as a teacher. You know nothing about me. How on earth can you be so conceited as to suggest that I am not happy?"

"You are, of course, correct that I know very little about you," I admitted. "I will tell you what I have observed and you may correct my misunderstandings. I am guessing your age at mid-30s. You are teaching high school so you have at least a bachelor's degree and probably a master's. You have a daughter who is around 15 to 16 years old. Putting that all together, I deduce that you became pregnant as an undergraduate. I do not presume to guess whether that was before or after you married Prof. Stuart. I do surmise that you completed your undergraduate degree and then worked to support your husband through his graduate program. If you do have a graduate degree, you earned it after your husband completed his PhD while still working and raising your daughter. I don't know whether you have any other children but I am guessing not. Since you warned me to stay away from your daughter, I presume that you are very protective, possibly in hopes that she will avoid mistakes that you feel you made."

I paused to take a sip of my coffee and continued, "You have sacrificed almost everything for your husband and daughter. I am guessing that they are a much higher priority to you than you are to them. I suspect that their indifference to your feelings saddens you. And that is why I asked you, when will you get your reward. So tell me now how much of that is wrong."

Monica sat across from me, mouth open, with an astonished expression on her face. I could see the corners of her eyes glistening with the beginnings of tears. "How did you learn to read minds?" she gasped softly. "Did you sell your soul to the devil for that power?"

I reached into my pocket for a packet of tissues and leaned across the table to dry her eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I see that once again I have said something to disturb you."

Abruptly she stood up and grabbed my hand. "Please," she demanded with a low voice, "Take me away from here. I don't want to break down in public."

I threw two dollars on the table for the coffee and led her to my car. As I pulled out of the parking lot, I asked her, "Where do you want to go?"

"Somewhere private," she sniffled.

We drove in silence as she leaned against the door with her face turned away from me. I headed to our house on Black Snake Road. As I pulled up in front of the house, I was glad to see that there were no other cars there. That meant we would have the house to ourselves. She was still sniffling when I opened the car door, took her hand and led her into the house. As soon as the front door closed behind us, she wrapped her arms around me and sobbed with her head on my shoulder.

We stood there for about five minutes with her weeping until she slumped against me and said, "I think I need to sit down."

I led her to the sofa and sat down beside her. She snuggled up next to me with her head on my shoulder again for another five minutes. I put my arm around her shoulders to hold her. When her tears and sniffling had abated, she raised her head and looked at me.

"I don't understand you," she said. "Any other man would have taken advantage of me when I was most vulnerable like that."

"Don't get me wrong, Monica," I said, "I would like nothing more than to take you to my bed and make love with you. You are a beautiful and sensitive woman. You deserve more than you are getting from those you love. But I will not do anything to make you feel worse than you already do. If and when you want to make love with me, just let me know."

She stood up suddenly and said, "Do it! ... Do it now. I don't care what the consequences will be. I need you now. I need you to make love to me."

I picked her up with one arm under her thighs and the other under her shoulders. I took her to my bedroom, kicked the door closed and laid her gently on the bed. I leaned over to kiss her while unbuttoning her blouse. She put her hands behind my head and kissed back passionately with lots of tongue action. As soon as I had her blouse unbuttoned, I pulled her to a sitting position so I could unclasp her bra. I took off her blouse and bra. I unclasped her skirt at the waist pulling down the zipper in the back. She was moaning softly as I laid her back down and began fondling her breasts.