Chapter 19

Jigs caught Ryan as soon as he walked into the kitchen. "Ryan, can you get us another case of wine from the wine cellar?" he asked.

"Sure. What kind?"

"Everyone seems to like the Chateau Rothchild. I think there's another case down there, or at least a few bottles."

"Sure Jigs. By the way, where's the wine cellar."

Jigs smiled indulgently and said, "Make a left at the lobby and two doors down on the right."

"Okay," Ryan said and hurried off, his head still spinning. He made the left at the lobby but forgot what side Jigs said. He turned to the left instead of the right and opened the door. It wasn't the wine cellar but the exercise room. He stopped in his tracks. Inside, sitting on one of the exercise benches, was a dark haired woman of about 40. Ryan gasped... Janice was between her legs, eating her.

"Uh... uh... I was looking for... the wine cellar," Ryan stuttered and began to back out of the room.

"No problem," the woman said. "You can join us if you like."

"Uh... no thanks... uh... I have to get some wine."

Ryan quickly exited and went across the hall and opened another door. He almost sighed in relief when he saw wooden stairs leading to the basement. There was a light on and he began to walk down the creaking wooden steps. Three steps down he heard a moan. "Shit," he whispered to himself. Someone was in the wine cellar. He stepped down two more steps and bent over to peer into the dimly lit basement. The room was filled with wine racks and old crates. As he strained his eyes to see in the shadowy room, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. When he looked, he saw someone standing behind some crates. He recognized him as the guy that Benny had introduced as Brad: the one whose lover was two-timing him with a waiter at the country club. Ryan could only see Brad from the waist up. He was obviously involved in sexual activity as his hips were moving back and forth in a "fucking" motion. There were distinct moans echoing from someone below him.

"Uh... excuse me... I have to get some more wine," Ryan said.

"No problem," Brad said without ceasing his movement.

Ryan was anxious to get out of there but yet, he also wondered who was on the other end of Brad's penis... he knew it wasn't his customer since he had seen her upstairs. However, there was no way that he could work his way around the stack of crates gracefully to get a look. Instead, he found the case of wine he wanted and lugged it up the stairs. He left the light on and closed the door quietly.

In the kitchen Ryan filled a tray with glasses of wine and at Jigs instructions took them around the room. Surprisingly, or maybe it shouldn't have been, Ryan was hit on by several of the now very inebriated women. He gracefully extracted himself and took the tray over to Lloyd Wellsworth and another gentleman.

"Thank you Ryan," Lloyd said as he took the glass and turned back to his friend.

Ryan started to walk away when he heard the other man congratulating Lloyd.

"You old dog you," the man said. "I didn't think you had it in you."

"Neither did I," Lloyd Wellsworth replied. And then added with a laugh, "I guess there might be snow on the roof but there is still a fire in the furnace, as they say."

"I should say so. So when is the baby due?"

Ryan froze, his ears now straining to hear every word.

"Well, if the doctor is right, Mary is about three months along, so that means in about six months, if my second grade math is correct."

"Has she announced it yet?"

"No, she has been keeping it quiet. Several years ago she found that she was pregnant and was so excited she let everyone know. Unfortunately, after about two months she lost the baby. It was devastating. This time she wanted to wait until she was sure it was safe. She's letting the word trickle out now."

Unbeknownst to Lloyd Wellsworth, this was devastating news to Ryan. He was sure that the baby didn't belong to Lloyd. He wasn't stupid. The tidbits he had heard from Mary about taking risks when they first started to have sex now made sense. It suddenly occurred to him that he had been used; Mary Wellsworth had used him to get pregnant. He felt his face turn red with anger. Suddenly, he didn't know what to do. So, he did what he always did when he needed advice; he searched for Benny. He found him talking to a couple of the guys in the kitchen.

"Got a second Benny?"

"Just a minute," Benny said and continued to talk.

Ryan grabbed Benny's arm and said, "I need to talk to you... now."

Benny saw the look on Ryan's face and said, "I'll get back to you guys in a minute."

With that he turned and walked over to a corner with an obviously distraught Ryan. "What's wrong?" he asked without his normal humor. The look on Ryan's face told him that it was no time for jokes.

"I just heard some very disturbing news," he hissed, looking around to make sure no one was close. "Mary Wellsworth is pregnant!"

Benny shrugged his shoulders and said, "So?"

"The baby isn't Lloyd's"

"How do you know that?"

"I'm not stupid," he answered angrily. "She's been using me."

Benny took a deep breath and sighed. He rubbed his face with his hand before looking at Ryan again. "Listen Ryan, this is going to sound callous, but what does it matter to you which of you got her pregnant. For Christ sake man, she isn't going to ask you to support it."

"That's not the point and you know it. Being a father is a... a big responsibility. I'm not ready for that."

"Now you are being stupid. Do you think she want's you to be a real father? You might be the biological father, but you're not the 'real' father."

"What's that mean?" Ryan said, his voice growing louder by the minute.

Several people looked over at the two of them.

Ryan looked across the room and saw Mary staring at him with concern on her face. He ignored her and turned back to Benny.