Chapter 1

It all began with a book club meeting held at the local library. A group of women had organised themselves into an informal book club, where they chose a book they could read over one week and then return and discuss whether they liked the book and some of the plot details and characters they liked or disliked. Mostly they had a good time. The club got them out of the house and gave them an interest that did not include their families, husbands, or children. For a few hours, they returned to being who they were before marriage, kids, and family responsibilities. They were no longer the wife, the mother, or a third person. Nine times out of ten, the books that they read were middle-of-the-road and hardly controversial in any shape or form. On the tenth time, someone would pick a different book style. And that sort of book caused several things within the book club beyond the usual minor arguments and differences of opinion.

Walking back from the latest book club meeting, two friends still talked about the book they had just discussed. Mary Pollock and Joyce Smith usually would have agreed on just about everything. They were of a similar age, late 30’s. They had similar backgrounds and education. Both were married and had children.

‘I just don’t agree.’ Said Mary to her friend Joyce.

‘Why not, for heaven’s sake Mary? I am certain that it happens just like the story in the book.’ Joyce insisted.

‘I just think it is too fanciful even to begin to be true.’ Mary herself insisted back.

Both women were sticking to their opposite opinions without accepting the other’s point of view as they reached Joyce’s car. She turned to her friend and asked with a rather abrupt tone. ‘Do you want a lift home or not...!’

‘Oh, I get it. Either I agree with you, or I must walk home...!’ Mary challenged her friend.

‘Of course not, get in. We can discuss this better over a glass of wine than standing out in a car park.’ Joyce replied and unlocked the car doors.

‘You could cause an argument in a nunnery.’ Mary said as she got into the car.

Once back at Joyce’s house, they settled together on the sofa with a glass of white wine each.

‘So what is it about the book that so upsets you?’ Joyce asked Mary.

It’s not about the book as a whole. I think that the stepmother seducing the stepson to keep the money and position in the family is a bit far-fetched.’

‘Oh, Mary. That part is essential. That is how rich families keep hold of their money and power. They will do anything to hold onto that money and power. Even if that means having sex with another member of the same family, then so be it.’

Mary sat and frowned back at Joyce. She sipped her wine and tried to reply well enough to get back at Joyce’s comments.

‘That is just plain incest.’ Mary finally said.

‘What’s wrong with incest? If it keeps with a big house and pots and money, why not.’ Joyce fired back at Mary.

‘Let’s face it. Any woman would seduce her stepson or even her son if she could keep hold of millions and millions and all the other things they enjoy.’ Joyce stated.

‘Would you now?’ Mary asked bluntly.

Joyce looked back at her friend and thought for a moment before she decided to answer back.

‘I think, yes, I would.’ Said Joyce.

Mary made a frown and shook her head, and drank her wine. Both women were silent for a long while before they spoke again to each other.

‘I am genuinely surprised at you, Joyce.’ Said Mary.

‘Why? Because I answered your question honestly?’

Joyce looked at her friend and waited for her answer. But she stubbornly refused to talk; Mary glared back at Joyce.

‘I tell you something, Mary Pollock. If you faced destitution or having sex with a stepson, which would you choose? Sex or destitution?’ Joyce asked her friend.

Mary sat silent for a while before she answered Joyce’s question.

‘I might, but only in the most extreme of circumstances.’ Mary finally said.

‘Good for you. Me too. I would have sex with almost any man if it kept a roof over my head and everything that goes along.’ Joyce declared.