Her Best Friend

Proserpina

I had been trying to get through to Schwartz; he was a person I wanted to share the news with and an urgent desire to listen to his calm, soothing advice. Jeannie was somewhere in the Andes or I would have not hesitated to call her up.

Sighing in frustration, I pushed the phone away, desultorily.

Ria had bounded into the kitchen looking sprightly and happy but my heart sank as I thought of how I would tell her that she was going to have another little sibling. Horrified at how I would do it, I sat in the kitchen, my happy space. Camille and Bea, dear Bea, had been the only people I had confided in.

And they had been clear; why was I hesitating? The children would understand. I sighed. Lucien Delano’s sexual prowess was legendary; after all, we already had seven children! And since he had stopped taking other women to his bed to satisfy his urges, it had been my fault for having tripped up and not taken the Pill.

Groaning, I reached for the phone again. Where was James Schwa