Chapter 5

Bob didn't actually move in with Liz and the girls, or sell his house, despite the fact that they had planned out his entire week ... or at least each night of his entire week. He still went to work and actually spent some nights there at home. While Liz and her daughters did invite him over almost every night, they still spent some nights doing other things. They established a girls' night out, and found that spending time as a family had a lot to offer.

They did lots of things together. They went to amusement parks together. They went bowling together. They went to the library together. And ... they went to Lamaze classes together. Bob didn't go to the classes, though he wanted to. It was sensation enough that three women in the same household - a household that, technically, had no man in it - had all gotten pregnant and had delivery dates within a hundred and twenty days of each other. There were a lot of people who speculated about that.

One of them was Cora. Knowing that her daughter was close to Liz's daughters, she quizzed Mindy, asking if either Jill or Kathy had said anything about who the man was who had made their teenaged bellies swell up.

"Surely they've said SOMETHING that would help" said Cora one night. She and Mindy spent a lot of time together too, but that's because the man of THEIR house was gone on the road, selling toilets, for days and sometimes weeks on end.

Mindy frowned. "Mom I tried everything I could think of to get them to say something, and they just won't!" Her eyes went a little unfocused. "They won't even share any of the intimate details about what it's like to GET pregnant." she sighed.

Cora's eyebrows went up. "And just why would you want to know those kind of details, young lady?"

Mindy jerked and her eyes focused again. She blushed, like she hadn't been aware she'd actually said that. "Well gee, Mom, they seem so happy. I mean I thought Jill would be crying and unhappy and everything, but she's not! I asked her if she was afraid ... I mean about labor and all that ... and her being so young and everything, and all she did was rub her hands over her belly and tell me how she just couldn't WAIT to have the baby! So I guess I just got curious. That's all."

Cora wasn't surprised, really. She had gotten pregnant with Mindy when she was only seventeen. Her family was living in Tacoma Washington at the time, and she'd had a girlfriend whose boyfriend was a soldier out at Fort Lewis. He had a friend named Todd who had looked so handsome in his uniform that Cora let him do things to her she'd only let one other boy do. And she let him do it without a condom. And, to tell the truth, she had loved being pregnant too. Todd had offered to marry her and she had accepted, thinking that they were in love.

And she DID love him, but then he'd gotten out of the Army and was gone all of the time trying to become top man in his father's plumbing business. He was competing with three brothers to take over the company, and all his time went into that. They had drifted apart in the process.

Cora's mind came back to the situation at hand. "So ... you're curious. Why haven't you ever asked me about such things?"

Mindy's face was classic teenager in it's surprise. "Mom! Ewwwwww. You can't talk to your parents about sex!"

Cora bristled. "And just why not? I HAVE had sex, you know."

"MOM! EWWWWWW!" came the standard reply.

"So you're trying to find out about sex from a fifteen year old girl??" said her mother.

"Well, she obviously knows how it happens!" came back Mindy.

"And I do too!" complained Cora. "Why can't you talk to ME about it?"

"I told you Mom, nobody talks to their mother about sex. Not these days." Mindy was resolute.

"Hold on," said Cora, angry that she hadn't developed the kind of relationship with her daughter that she now realized she should have. She went to the phone and called Liz.

"Hi, it's me. I have to ask you a question. I'm not prying. OK? Do you know how Jill got pregnant? ... No, not that. Of COURSE that's how she got pregnant. OK, let me ask this. Did she talk to you about sex before this ... happened? I'm trying to get Mindy to talk to me and she won't. Honest Liz I'm not trying to pry. I just need to know if you talked with the girls about sex before all this happened ... Really? ... REALLY? ... Oh my word! Oh Liz thank you! I have to go. Yes, I'll talk to you more later. OK. Bye."

Cora turned, her mouth open. "She KNEW they were going to get pregnant! Can you BELIEVE that? She KNEW!"

"She knew?" Mindy was just as floored as her mother.

"She said she talked with BOTH of them and that they PLANNED the whole thing! Together!"

"Mom, that's wierd," said Mindy. She was chewing her lip.

"It sure is," said Cora. Her mind was racing. All of them ... pregnant ... and it was PLANNED! She naturally included Liz in the plan. It was too much of a coincidence to be any other way. But Jill didn't date. Cora and Liz had both agreed that their girls wouldn't be allowed to date until they were sixteen. That meant that something INCREDIBLE must have happened. It was just too strange. She couldn't concentrate. She knew there was something there that she should remember ... something that was relevant to all this ... but she just couldn't think.

She turned back to her daughter, who was fidgeting. "In any case, Liz DID talk to her daughters about sex. And I want you to talk to me too.!" she demanded.

The corner of Mindy's mouth turned up slightly. "OK, Mom, what do you want to know? I'm not all that experienced, but I'll share what I know with you."

Cora spluttered "Mindy Marie, you KNOW what I'm talking about. What have you done with a boy?"

Mindy didn't know what to do. "If I tell you, do you promise I won't be in trouble?"

"Of course not! I'm your mother!"

"See? That's what I mean. How can I talk to you about things if you're going to yell at me, and ground me and ... be mad about it?"

Cora had been shocked at what she'd said herself. "OK, OK, you're right. I'm not used to this idea either. But honey, I love you and I don't want you to make the same mistakes I made."

"Really? What mistakes did you make, Mommy?" Mindy's reply was so smooth that Cora started to answer her.

"Like when I was your age and I let a boy take my top off..." she realized what had happened and her face calmed. "And I believe I asked you what YOU have done with a boy."

"And you won't ground me and get all mad if I tell you?"

"I just want to talk about it Mindy. That's all. I want to be your friend and share in your life. I promise."

Mindy was still unsure. "OK. Well ... I let Tommy Vaughn kiss me." she started. Her mother looked at her, waiting for more.

"Well we kissed several times, and he wanted to put his tongue in my mouth, but I kept my lips closed tight," said Mindy, looking to see what her mother's reaction would be.

"And" prompted Cora. She made her face relax.

"And we hugged and stuff," said Mindy.

"And stuff" repeated Cora.

"Well, he sort of pressed his body against me. We were hugging, you know? And I could feel his ... I could feel something pushing against me..."

Cora was remembering this same experience in her own youth. It had been a high point of her young life when it had happened to her. "down there." Mindy finished.

Cora wasn't sure how to proceed. She'd wanted to talk, and it looked like it might happen, but she needed to be careful. "So Tommy had an ... erection while you kissed?"

Mindy's eyes darted to her mother's face and she relaxed when she saw it wasn't a 'mad' face. "Yes, at least I think that's what it was."

"So you didn't ... see it?"

"He wanted me to touch it. But I said no. I was scared."

"So you were scared. Did you feel anyting else?" asked Cora, her curiosity aroused.

"My stomach felt funny," said Mindy. "Tommy touched my breasts too, and it made my stomach do flip flops. I was afraid I was getting sick."

"Did you feel sick?" asked Cora.

"No. It all felt good, but my stomach felt like it does just before I'm going to throw up and I got scared."

"Well, if it's any comfort, you're normal."

"I am?"

"Oh yes. I remember ... your father touching me and it made me feel the same way. And I wasn't sick. You weren't either."

"What was it then?" asked Mindy.

"Well, for lack of a better word, you were horny," said Cora.

"Mom!" objected Mindy.

"Hey, it's just a word. And we're having such a nice talk. Isn't this OK after all?"

"Well, yeah, I guess so. But when you say 'horny' it makes me feel ... I don't know ... wierd."

"OK, fair enough. What else?"

"Wait. I want to hear about you taking your top of with a boy. When was that?" asked Mindy.