Chapter 51

The lab wasn't the most comfortable of love nests, but it was, at least, private. Kristen still seemed to experience some pain from taking energy at first, but nothing near the level of that morning. By the end of the lunch period, she was looking much better.

Mark smoothed a brush through her soft curls and kissed the back of her neck as Kayla and Aaron finished dressing. "We do need to talk," he said, looking over her shoulder at Kayla. "Can y'all come over for a while tonight?"

They both nodded. "I've got to run home for a little bit, but can be there around five," Kayla said. "I want that explanation, Mark!"

Aaron also needed to run home, to check for messages from his dad, but promised to be there as well.

As he unlocked the door, Mark had another thought. "Oh, Kayla -- ah, do you want to tell your parents the news, or would it go over better coming from me?"

"Um. Hmm," she said. "I'll tell them, I think."

"Whatever you think is best," he said. "Is this likely to ... cause problems?"

She shook her head. "I just think they'd be more comfortable hearing it from me. I'm pretty sure they'll take it okay, though, Mark. Don't worry."

He did, of course, but tried to hide it.

The rest of the day was easier. It seemed that what he'd told each class during the day had made its way through the population during lunch. There were still a couple of questions each class, of course, and he still got a fair number of hostile glares from quite a few boys, but overall things seemed to be settling down.

The teachers were still mostly avoiding him, though. The history teacher next door, who usually leaned against his door-frame and chatted between classes had stayed at his desk all day, even. A couple of them exhibited different attitudes, though: the Ag teacher didn't actually talk to him, but he did give him a huge grin and a somewhat leering wink in passing, and the elderly typing teacher -- the one who chewed Dirk up one side and down the other when he'd trapped Kristen in the bathroom -- seemed more than a bit amused by everything, and went out of her way to congratulate him publicly.

The principal, not surprisingly, stayed in his office all day.

It certainly could have been worse. Still, by the time the final bell rang, he was more than ready to get out of there.

It wasn't more than a mile or so to Chastity's house, but by the time he got there, Kristen was asleep, her head tilted back over the seat. He lifted her hand and kissed it, and she just murmured sleepily and smiled at him without opening her eyes.

"All right, love," he said softly. "You wait here, then, and I'll take care of this." A soft sigh was his only answer, and he shrugged out of his jacket and tucked it around her before getting out of the car and heading up the walkway.

The house was a small, clean, little wooden frame house, painted white, with neatly kept flowerbeds all around, and a pretty white wooden fence around the large yard. There was one rather old but extremely clean car in the drive.

The door was answered by a woman in her mid-forties. She was dressed in a faded but neat ankle length dress and had greying hair pulled back into a firm bun. She smiled. "Yes, can I help you?"

"Yes." He returned the smile. "I'm Mark Hasseran, one of Chastity's teachers. Could I speak to her for a moment?"

Her eyes widened with recognition and she glanced towards the car, where Kristen's curls were visible against the window. Her pinched frown brought out lines in her face that hadn't been visible when she was smiling, making her look at least a decade older. "I can't imagine why you'd need to speak to my Chastity, Mr. Hasseran," she said.

With a touch of effort, he kept his smile. "She did me a good turn today, ma'am, and I'd like to thank her, for myself and on behalf of my wife, Kristen."

Her jaw clenched, and her nostrils flared. "I'll speak plainly, Mr. Hasseran," she snapped. "I'm a simple woman. A god-fearing woman. It's hard trying to bring up a girl right alone, in a world such as this. But my Chastity is a good girl, and I don't approve of her being exposed to such goings on."

Mark frowned, but kept his tone mild, with only a slight touch of reproach. "Ma'am, I'm not sure what you've heard, but Kristen is my wife, and I love her. I know there are rumors going around ... well. We knew there would be rumors. We just hoped people would believe what they see, and not the rumors."

"The Reverend was right!" She stared at him, her face reflecting disbelief. "You're not the least bit ashamed!"

He shook his head, looking confused. "Why should I be ashamed for loving my wife?"

"Your wife is a child!"

He shook his head again. "With all due respect, ma'am, she's not. A hundred years ago, when this area was just being settled, she'd have been worried about becoming an old maid. I didn't choose to fall in love with her; it was something ... out of the blue. Had her father refused his permission, I'd have waited the three years for her, faithfully. What's wrong with that?"

"Faithfully?!" she sneered. "As if the likes of her would know what that means! Really, people like you have no place in a decent town like Prudence!"

"Jesus, Mom!" Chastity hopped off of her bicycle, having just pulled into the yard in time to hear her mother's last words. "You're worse than Karen. Lay off, would you?"

"Don't you blaspheme at me young lady!"

Chastity rolled her eyes, then sighed. "Yeah. Fine. Sorry, Mom, but you're acting crazy. I've never seen you so rude to anyone. Get ahold of yourself, huh? It's embarrassing."