Chapter 16

"Theresa, you look happier and more relaxed than I have seen you in a while," Betty said. Theresa was having dinner with the whole extended Voss family, a week after meeting Roland, and after seeing him three more times. "You have been pretty stressed lately."

"Well, with the sale and the move coming up, there's a lot to think about."

"You mean our help isn't enough to let you relax?" Alan asked teasingly.

"Oh, without all your help, I'd be a mess," Theresa assured him, seriously. "I, uh, ran into an old acquaintance who is helping with some of the arrangements. It eased my mind a lot."

"Can we assume this 'old acquaintance' is male?" Betty asked, not even trying to hide the tease.

"Uh, yes... Oh, I'll just tell you who it is. I have a feeling there'll be no peace until I do." She then explained who Roland was, mentioning Lee and how the two couples had socialized some before.

"That's interesting, Theresa," Betty said thoughtfully, "but you look like a woman who is more than just relieved from stress. Is there perhaps a romantic interest there?"

"Roland is right up there with Alan as a nice guy. But I'm older and pregnant, so there is no chance of anything like that."

"You're guessing at how he would feel. How do you feel about him?"

"Betty!" Theresa's plea sounded girlish; as girlish as her blush looked. Betty realized she was embarrassing her in front of everyone, and quickly dropped the subject.

Later, Betty caught Theresa by herself and apologized. "Oh, that's OK, Betty. I know you didn't do it to be mean."

"Seriously, are you interested in Roland?"

"It's... it's only been a few months since the divorce, Betty. I feel... unfaithful even thinking about another man."

"You still haven't answered the question. Are you interested in Roland?"

"I told you. He's younger. He wouldn't want to get involved with a pregnant woman."

"Look, Lady: the way you keep dodging the question tells me you've got a thing for him." Betty had taken Theresa's hands and was speaking earnestly but gently.

"You've been through a lot, and you've done some courageous things. If there is a chance of you getting together with this Roland, don't you dare blow it because you don't think he's interested. You're interested. Let him know that. Make him tell you whether he is or not. Seduce him!"

"With this?" Theresa gestured at her belly.

"You look great pregnant! As far as the age thing: you'll always look years younger than you are, you lucky bitch, you!" They both chuckled at that. "If you're like I was when I was pregnant, you must be wearing out vibrators, with no man around."

"Betty!"

"Well?"

"Uh, yeah. It's a problem. It's one I didn't think about before I divorced Vince."

"Would it have changed your mind?"

"No, of course not."

"Well, then, get Roland to take you to bed. I'll bet he's as horny as you are."

"But we're just friends. We haven't even kissed."

"Then stop wasting time. You're not getting any younger or any skinnier, you know."

When his assistant said there was a woman to see him, Roland thought it must be Theresa, and he was pleased. When the impressive Amazon type walked into his office, he was disappointed that it wasn't Theresa, but very much intrigued.

"Mr. Comstock, I'm Betty Voss, a friend of Theresa's. Could I buy you lunch?"

"Absolutely not. It's my treat."

After several minutes of introductions and explanations, Betty got to the point. "Roland, I once almost hated Theresa for what she had done to her kids, hurting my son in the process. But she has made the most remarkable turnaround, and now she is a good friend. She is a passionate woman who is on a mission. God! I feel like I am in high school, matchmaking for two friends."

"Matchmaking?"

"Yes. I don't know how you feel, but I'm sure she has a thing for you. I also know she is so horny she can hardly stand it."

"Huh?"

"It happens to us women when we get pregnant. Anyway, maybe her belly turns you off, and maybe the idea of children terrifies you. I can understand that. What I'm asking is for you to help out my friend and take her to bed. It would be great if it developed into more than that, but just that much would help her a lot."

Roland just stared at her for a while, then said "Betty, your husband is one lucky man!"

"I try my damndest to make him think so."

"I'm sure it took a lot of nerve to meet me like this. I, uh, couldn't just take Theresa to bed just for sex. I'm not wired that way."

"I'm sorry," she said hurriedly. "I didn't mean to imply that..."

"I'm not offended. Actually, I'm grateful you took the initiative. You see, I've been attracted to Theresa since I first met her, even when I was married. As far as children: my biggest regret is that I never got to be a father. So, her being pregnant is not a problem. It's actually a plus."

"Even if it's Vince's child?"

"If something develops between us, I would hope there would be a chance for more children."

"Roland, I'm telling you: don't wait for something to develop. She is at a place where she needs you right now. If you are interested in her, tell her! Then fuck her brains out. She won't turn you down, I guarantee it."

"I didn't realize she had those feelings for me," he said softly.

"That's why you needed a matchmaker," Betty said with a giggle.

"This is all so sudden," he mused.

"So what will another month or two of loneliness and horniness benefit either of you?"

Roland was shaken up by Betty's visit, but he could not bring himself to make such a bold step. He could not shake the feeling that he would be taking advantage of Theresa when she was needy. For the next few days, he continued to help her with her change of residence, making no move of a romantic nature.

When a man has been through the trauma of betrayal and divorce, purposely making himself vulnerable to another woman is not a trivial step. It had taken several weeks after the first clues before Roland had admitted to himself that Lee was having sex with other men. When confronted, she had not denied it. Instead, she had tried again and again to explain that it was just sex, an outlet she needed because of her huge sex drive. She had declared her love for him only, repeatedly and convincingly, but it had not been enough. From the time of her admission, he lost the urge for sex with her.

Both spouses were deeply wounded by the blow-up of the marriage. She honestly loved him and was well aware of what a fine husband he was. Many times, she cursed her driving need for more and higher-intensity sex. In every other part of her life, she was in complete control. Her one area of uncontrolled weakness had cost her something she knew she would be unlikely to find again.

Lee had promised future faithfulness, but it had not been enough for Roland. Besides serious doubts that she could keep her promise, being a cuckold was intolerable to him.

In all of his dealings with people, Roland was considerate, diplomatic, and gentle. People who knew him were amazed at his business success, reading him as too easy-going to be a successful entrepreneur.

Underneath his genuine nice-guy exterior, Roland was a tightly-controlled battler with enormous pride. That pride could not handle the thought of other men knowing they were violating his wife. He simply could not forgive her for it.

Just as much as Lee, Roland was aware that he had lost something irreplaceable. He was not into passive or obsequious women. Nor could he tolerate a manipulator. Strong and driven as she was, Lee had respected his independence, and acted as his partner. If only she could have kept her pants on...

It was not in Roland's nature to cut off all communication with Lee, as Vince later did with Theresa. Whenever they talked, which was every few months, she never failed to apologize, and she never failed to ask if they could try again.

He sincerely wished he could bring himself to try again with her, but after the initial pain had subsided a little, he spent some time in therapy. Through that, he learned that he and Lee were probably doomed to failure from the start. The marriage simply had a different position on each of their personal priority scales. Lee loved him as much as was possible for her, but for her, love did not outrank satisfaction of her other drives.

With the therapist, Roland talked a lot about what he wanted from a marriage. At that point, he had no desire to marry again at all, but the therapist pushed the topic anyway. Her intent was to build understanding of why marriage to Lee had failed, relieving any guilt Roland might have felt.

Some rather surprising things came from the therapy sessions. Like most men, Roland wanted respect, support, encouragement, and affection from a wife. Fidelity was critically important to him, tied strongly to feelings of respect.

At the same time, he had a very strong need to care for and nurture family members, things that were quite unnecessary with Lee. His drive to dominate and control was far below normal, at least within the marriage partnership. As if he needed any painful reminders, he had a strong desire for children.

The therapy was important to Roland. His business might have been at risk if he had not sought help. Even afterward, he was plagued by doubts over whether he should have initiated the divorce. His sessions had helped him realize that he was just being true to himself. Still, he often felt he should have been more forgiving.

When Roland saw Theresa at the shopping mall, he had been out of treatment for about nine months, and much of the pain had become at least manageable. What was not manageable was the loneliness, the need for companionship. The news that Theresa was divorced triggered instant thoughts of them getting together.

The times the Comstocks and Menconis had been together socially, Roland had not been able to suppress his thoughts about Theresa. His innate faithfulness and self-control prevented him from anything but idle daydreaming. Still, Theresa had stood at the top of his desirability scale since their first meeting.

Hearing about her pregnancy before learning of her divorce did nothing to quench Roland's desire for Theresa. If anything, it fueled it. After their first five minutes of conversation, he had a dream of marrying her. It was a dream he was afraid to pursue too quickly, but it was a dream he could not ignore.

Sometimes fate gives a nudge when nerve is lacking. Three days before the closing on Theresa's house, Roland was with her when she got a call from the apartment leasing company for her new place. He watched as she listened to the person on the other end, then answered rather angrily "Well, I'm sorry for them, but I need that apartment. I have a lease, and I've made my deposit."

After listening a while longer, she again was agitated as she said "Is it on the ground floor? No? Then I'm not interested." After another pause, she was even more upset as she said, loudly "More space I don't need. I need the ground floor. I'm sorry but..."

"Tell them to hold for a minute," Roland said into her ear. Theresa looked at him with a puzzled expression, the anxiety apparent on her face. Then she complied and covered the mouthpiece as she explained what was happening.

"Ask them if you can have two hours to consider it," he told her. Having no idea what he was up to, she talked to the agent, and made arrangements to call back with her answer.

As soon as she hung up, he started to lead her to the car. "Uh, Roland... pregnant women have to pee before they can safely go out to get the newspaper. Give me a minute." After a bright blush, he laughed at himself.

Fifteen minutes later, Roland pulled up to a very nice condo complex, and indicated a two-level unit on the end. "Do you think you could live there with the baby?" There was a ground level main entrance and garage on the upper floor, and another entrance on the lower walkout level.

"Oh, it's wonderful, but I wasn't planning on anything that expensive."

With that, he walked her to the door and let her in. That was when she caught on that it was his place. "Roland, what... ?"

"Theresa, that phone call gave me the courage to do something I've wanted to do since that day at the mall. I'm asking you to move in here, with me." Her heart was suddenly pounding, and she felt faint. He noticed the sudden flush and reached out to steady her.

"Are you asking me to live here as a boarder? Or are you asking to live wi... with you?"

"With me, definitely. But if you only wanted to be a boarder, I would take that."

That was too much, and he had to help her to a chair. "Roland," she stammered, "this is so sudden. I mean we haven't dated; we only met again a couple of weeks ago. I don't understand why... ? I'm older than you, and I'm pregnant with someone else's baby. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I'm falling in love with you. It didn't take much, you know. I had a good start from when I first met you. You're only a few years older, and you look younger - that's not just a line! As for the baby: I had about given up being a father, and now I see a chance. All you've given me so far is positives."

"Ohhhh, my! I don't know what to say! I need to think about this."

"Sure. Take all the time you want." Pointedly looking at his watch, he added "You've got almost an hour and a half." That made them both laugh, but hers did not last long.

"And if I wanted to just live here, in a separate room, you'd do that?" she asked.

"Absolutely."

She sat in thought for another minute, then stood and walked right up to him. Putting her arms around his neck, she said "That's not what I want, at all," and kissed him soundly.

"I think we need to be open and honest with each other," she said when the kiss ended. "I can't honestly say I'm in love with you, Roland. I can say I could see it happening, but it is so soon."

"I didn't make that a condition, did I?" he asked gently.

"No, but you are letting yourself in for the toughest part of being a husband, and you're not even one. I mean, I'll be fat and cranky, and not able to do a lot of things, and..."

"... and it's an exciting and beautiful part of life that I've missed out on," he interrupted her. "Don't think I'll be making a sacrifice." After a thoughtful pause, he spoke softly "You can't say you're in love with me, but you're willing to share my bed?"

That made her blush, and she ducked her head against his chest as she spoke. "I hope that doesn't make me a slut. I like you a lot, Roland. You are so gentle and so thoughtful. I'm starved for affection, and I'm... I'm just plain, uh..."

"Horny?" he asked. Her face was still down against his chest when she nodded. He raised her chin and initiated the next kiss himself. "I would be delighted to share my bed with you on any basis, Theresa. I am sure I am at least as horny as you are." That triggered another kiss.

When that kiss ended, she pulled back and said "Where's your phone?"

When the agent answered, she identified herself and said "Have a check and your copies of my lease ready in fifteen minutes. I'll be right over, and those people can have the apartment."

She listened for a moment, then said "No, I don't want the other unit." After another pause, she said, more strongly "My lease is for the original unit. If you don't want me in that one, then the lease is void. You can't just move me to another one." After yet another pause, she said with anger "Do I need to get my lawyer into this?" After listening one last time, she said "See you in fifteen minutes."

"I've always heard about how people take advantage of women alone," she said. "I'm becoming a believer.

"You won't be alone any more. I'll go in there with you."

"No! I can win this one on my own, and I want to do it. It will give me real pleasure." He raised his eyebrow at that, but he was both impressed and pleased to see the strength in her. As it turned out, she did fine on her own while he waited in the car.

Theresa offered no resistance to Roland's plea to move in that very day, and by dinner time she had the bare essentials in her new home. The sexual tension was evident in both of them, but it did not prevent a lot of light-hearted banter as they went about disrupting the bachelor existence that had been his for the last year plus.

Theresa spent a lot of the day thinking. She usually pondered decisions for a long time, and decided carefully, yet she had just moved in with a man after being around him for less than two weeks. What was going on?

She answered herself that she had really known Roland for a few years, and knew quite a bit about him. Another answer was that Betty had told her to pursue Roland. Betty was hardly wrong about anything.

Did she love her new partner? That was the question that haunted her endlessly as she went about relocating, and she did not know how to answer it. Part of the problem was her preoccupation with her pregnancy, the divorce, and moving. Most of all, she was still consumed by her relationship with Julie and Terry. It was almost as if her relationship with Roland was engulfed by everything else in her life. Well, she had better start thinking about it because she was pretty sure she would be sleeping with him that night. At least, she damn sure hoped so.

She could not help evaluating Roland, and inevitably, comparing him to Vince. In the looks department there was no comparison. Vince was outrageously handsome, while Roland's looks could best be described as manly and pleasant. He was noticeably leaner than when they had socialized years before. She thought perhaps he had turned to exercise to help cope with the divorce. She knew very little about his business, but he did not seem to worry about money, nor did he lack for anything, as far as she could tell.

Vince's personality was characterized by his self-confidence, his aggressiveness, and his energy. Roland exuded more calmness and contentment. His intelligence was obvious, and he had a sense of humor that she found to be a pleasant change from Vince's more serious, driven demeanor.

It was impossible not to speculate on what kind of lover Roland would be. Judging from the considerate, thoughtful way he treated her, she was looking forward to the tender, emotional sex that she had gotten too infrequently from Vince. Since there was still work to be done, she had to cut off that line of thinking. She would find out very soon, anyway.

Roland suggested they go out for dinner, but Theresa was too weary from the busy day to enjoy it. When he blushingly admitted that there was little to eat in the house and that he did not cook much, they solved it by ordering in.

She was about to take a shower to freshen up before the food came, but had a better idea. The talk over dinner was comfortable, as it always seemed to be with him, and he had a beer afterward. She was being extremely strict about nutrition and exercise, and would not go near alcohol. As he had several times before, he complimented her on her self-control and determination.

"Roland, it is probably hard for you to understand my feelings about having more children: it's probably hard for anyone to understand. I know I am at a higher risk age, and I will do everything in my power to reduce that risk."

They talked for quite a while longer, both of them uncertain how to approach the love-making they both wanted so badly. It was Theresa who finally took the initiative.

"Why don't we go to the bedroom and pretend we have been married for a while. We'll undress and take a shower together. That will help you decide if you really want this," and she patted her belly, "in bed with you."

"Sounds like a plan," he said, after catching his breath, "but I want you in bed no matter the tummy."

It was not frantic or hurried, and it was not even particularly erotic. What it was was tender, relaxed, and very comfortable. As she struggled with the clasp of her bra, which was in the back, he matter-of-factly undid it for her. Of course, he cradled her breasts for a little afterward and planted a few light kisses on her shoulder, but there was no major interruption to their preparations.

In the shower, he was very solicitous of her balance. It was apparent that he had never had a pregnant wife, but she would take his over-protectiveness every time. The guy was unbelievably sweet. Not too sweet do explore her body thoroughly, though.

In bed, the gentleness and sweetness continued to show, but he also revealed his passionate side. Once again, she could not avoid comparisons with Vince, and it was eye-opening for her.

Sex with Vince was about stimulation, excitement, and exhaustion. After having Roland bring her to three orgasms that were the equal of any in her life, she was able to identify the big difference. Roland did her with no thought but her pleasure, she was sure of it. With Vince, even satisfying her had been a competition of sorts: 'Wow, that felt great! But wait 'til you see what I'm going to do for you!'

After the months of going without and suffering from her hormone-enhanced sex drive, Theresa was eager for anything he could give her. And he gave her a lot. While it never reached the screaming frenzy she so often achieved with Vince, it went on and on. She found herself amazed that Lee would have looked for someone else. The man was turning her inside out in gentle, wonderful little steps. If he was trying to convince she was right to move in, well, he passed that mark about ten minutes in.

Time was hard for her to measure, given the feelings she was cycling through, but she thought it had been quite a while, and he had not yet entered her. She had knelt in the shower and given him a blow-job, over his objections. Other than that, it had all been for her.

Fortunately, there was a convenient handle she could use to guide him to where he was supposed to be. Their first time was missionary, although she doubted if they would be doing any more of that until after the baby. Once again, he treated her as almost too delicate, obviously worried about harming the baby. When her thrusts back at him became almost frenzied, he got the idea and gave her the pounding she hungered for.