Exquisite Excursion                    by: Virginia Kane

 

Part Eight: Escape

Kent recovered and healed faster than anyone expected. Despite the threats his mother made, I visited him in the hospital daily. We talked little. He blamed me for the additional agony he suffered from his fall from the hospital bed to rescue me from his mother’s ire. Dr. Samuel told me he said that I should have known his mother would blame me for provoking the football players into attacking him.

Denial on my part wouldn’t change the outcome one bit, so I didn’t try. My only solace was that Kent wasn’t speaking to his mother, at all. His educational plans were shattered. Only one school sent him a letter of acceptance, and his recuperation would extent beyond the time allotted to respond. He had missed the window of opportunity. Another year would pass before he could resume his education.

We were both "down in the dumps" over the unfortunate delay. Anything could happen over the next year to interfere with his dream of becoming an architect. One day, as I sat in the corner of his hospital room, he had an unexpected visitor.

His stepfather was released from the sanatorium. Laura and my mother sent him there to help him accept the problems he faced by living with a "conniving" woman and conquer his alcohol dependence. His composure was astounding. He looked like a completely different person. He had regained some weight, his completion wasn’t sallow, and he walked with a bit of spring in his step.

He came to Kent with his own story to tell. When I excused myself to offer them the privacy I felt was proper, he took me by the wrist and insisted that I stay. What he had to say involved the both of us. He directed me to sit down, as he closed the door to that led to the corridor.

"Kent, for years I let myself be goaded by your mother. She has a mean streak a yard wide, but I’m to blame for what happened to me, not her. I let her down, too.

She wanted a husband, a successful man to raise the child she was carrying. I wanted a pretty wife; it was a fair arrangement, or so we both thought. After a few months of marriage, I suspected Henry was your father. I discovered she was seeing him behind my back. I wanted revenge on her for tricking me into marrying her. While I was working, she saw him every chance she got. I had a friend shadow her. She’d meet with Henry to have sex with him, and complain to me that sex was too ‘uncomfortable’.

"Our marriage was a farce from the beginning. I should have left her after your birth. I could prove that I was not your natural father through blood tests. Your birth certificate indicated your blood type. It would be easy to shame her and denounce her, but I was so enraged and bitter that I decided to stay married to her and punish her.

"I threatened her with exposing her to her family if she filed for a divorce from me once your real father’s marriage was annulled and he was free to marry her. She was livid, but knew she’d have to admit having a child with someone else’s husband, if she filed against me. Out of spite, she told me she had her tubes tied, so no man could ever make her pregnant again.

"She must have thought I was stupid. I paid all the damned bills. I read them. She lied. Her tubes were never tied, but I never took a chance of getting her pregnant. The fact is: I never had a chance to get her pregnant again. She refused to have sex with me in retaliation for my refusing to divorce her. She knew I married her to bear children for me, not because I loved her, so she denied me my marital rights. We spent past twenty years married; hating one another, unwilling to admit we both made mistakes. We each created our own private hell and were too proud to relent.

"Your natural father is and always was a snake! I did your mother a kindness by refusing to divorce her. He used her and forced her to have sex with other men for years, lots of them. He had no intention of ever marrying her or any woman. He’s evolved into a depraved man that only can get his kicks by watching. His ex-father-in-law made sure Henry would never be able to knock up another innocent girl. He can’t! The only way he can get his rocks off is psychologically, by inflicting pain on himself and others.

"If you have any sense at all, you’ll keep your distance. He wants to draw the two of you into his web of debauchery. Unless you enjoy being tortured, you’ll take my advice and steer clear of him. He’s been keeping tabs on you through Kent’s mother. Nothing would please him more than to lure you into becoming sexless like he is. If he finds out your mother could still bear children, he’ll arrange to really have her tubes tied at one of his ‘special’ sex spectacles, and she knows it. She wouldn’t be the first.

"He requires male guests to get vasectomies at a staged ritual to gain access to his coven. He had the gall to ask if I would join his inner circle. All I had to do was agree to ‘prove my worthiness’ by offering up my progenic capacity as a sacrifice to share the talents of all the members of his sex club, including my own wife. He resents our marriage. He can’t possess your mother as a slave as long as I stand in the way.

"His power over her lies in her perverted fear of exposure. If she doesn’t play his game, he’ll expose her to her so-called society friends. She doesn’t know he approached me to join his club too, only to increase her anguish. If I want to have sex with her, I could. All I’d have to do is accept his offer. She lives in constant fear of him. He loves to taunt her with his power over her. He’d force her to have sex with me at his command to exercise his power and impress the group with the extent of his control on all of them.

"I lived within my hatred-borne revenge for too long. At first, I enjoyed cheating on your mother, Kent. I played the field behind her back. She deprived me, so I sought my pleasures elsewhere. After a while, I realized it was a hollow revenge, as she wasn’t aware of my cheating to make up for her refusal to sleep with me. Instead of sleeping with women, I began to sleep with ‘the bottle’. I poured myself into stupor using self-pity as my justification. Eventually, I lost my job, my dignity, and finally my independence.

"I became an alcoholic. I needed to drink to survive. My health deteriorated over the years in a trap of my own making. Your mother became my refuge. She tolerated me belligerently. She knew I would still not grant her a divorce. I couldn’t. I was dependent on her for survival. As I sunk lower and lower, I ignored what was going on around me.

"My dependence on alcohol deprived you of your education. What difference does it make that it was Henry Higgins’ seed brought you into this world? I was your legal father. It says so on your birth certificate. I freely accepted the responsibility to raise you, and then, let you down.

In my sodden hatred, I closed my mind. I should have been proud to have a chance to raise you. Instead, I let Henry’s tentacles extend to me. He enjoyed having me attend his dinner parties with your mother, knowing that I’d get so drunk that I’d pass out. Then he’d involve her in deviant sex acts with his kinky friends watching.

"It got to the point that he’d openly fondle her while I was still half awake, as I was totally incapable of preventing him from making his bold advances in front of a crowd. In my misery and spite, I let him do it just to punish her further. I sunk as low as he was in order to satisfy my own selfish motives.

"If it wasn’t for Demi’s mother and the threat Henry poses to the two of you to snare you into his pit of depravity, I would have happily stayed in my private little hell. Fortunately, without my own assistance, I was whisked away, got dried out and received counseling that can possibly change, not only my life, but your mother’s as well, Kent.

"While I was in the sanatorium, an intriguing concept came to my mind. It took root, and grew. My idea centers around the two of you and your future together. Your mother denies the obvious, Kent. I knew you were gay long before you did. It was only a matter of time until your sex preference manifested itself. It finally has. Your love for Demi; don’t deny it, lies in the fact that Demi is a he, with all the plumbing necessary to make babies, if the right woman can be convinced to carry the child.

"Myself, I’m getting older. I already failed as a father. My only chance to redeem myself in my own mind is to help you start a family and I’ll become a grandfather. Okay, so I’m selfish. But the remedy I’m about to suggest doesn’t require your mother to relent and have sex with me, nor does it require me to take hold of myself and find a decent job. I’m still too messed up to hold on to a job, and I know it. Maybe someday I will, but by that time, you two can be well on your way to achieving happiness together.

"Would you two like to have a child that carries genes from both of you?

"Your mother couldn’t possibly raise a child properly anymore, Kent. She could have a baby, but she’d eventually mess things up like she always does. At least Henry didn’t slither back into her life and dominate her until you were almost mature. She was a fairly good mother to you while you were growing up. At this point, there’d be no telling what raising a child would do to her. He’s got her mind fucked up beyond recognition.

"Now, if she were to get pregnant, and I believe she can, and Demi’s seed does the deed, the child could possibly represent three-fourths of your combined genetic make-up, eliminating Henry’s genes from the composition. It’s the closest you can get to both of you carrying on your own family traits, unless you’d rather not risk having a child with your mother’s faults, Kent. Think about it! When you finish your education and become independent, you two can go off on your own, away from all of us. On your own, you can be free to establish a somewhat normal lifestyle. When your family building is accomplished, Demi can fulfill her womanhood by completing her transformation, to avoid any future embarrassment for your children.

"No one need know that you were once a boy, Demi. You’d be able to pass the most stringent examinations, without detection of your birth gender. Kent would have to accept you for fine person you are, regardless of the absence of your male sex organs, but would that be so bad? IF he loves you as much as he says he does, he’ll understand that it would be in everyone’s best interest.

"If that doesn’t achieve the perfect solution for Kent, since he prefers you to remain as you are, then he is being somewhat selfish and should consider how he will have the person of his dreams for a spouse and a way to genetically carry on the better half of his genetic makeup. We can be thankful to Henry’s ex-father-in-law for having the foresight to rid the world of Henry’s genetic potential. For the time being, it won’t matter much to the two of you, as it would be some time before Demi would want to seek the final alteration to become a complete woman for the sake of your children."

"You must have spent a lot of time thinking this over, dad. Why are you so keen on our having children. You can have your own."

"Well, I’m still not out of the woods. I could easily have a relapse. I was dependant on the bottle for so long, it wouldn’t take much to return to it for solace. I could leave your mother and start anew, but that would require my running away, instead of facing my worst fears. If I run away, it would be like admitting defeat. One defeat leads to another, and another. Instead, this way, I might be able to face my commitment to your mother.

"I’m convinced that her character will change if she knew she was granted a dream she’s had for many years. Kent’s homosexuality denies her that dream. She would like to have grandchildren. Giving her a bona fide purpose to sexually use her body to provide the egg for Demi’s seed can enable her to fulfill her dream.

"Carrying a child for her son and ‘daughter-in-law’ to love and cherish would make her not only a surrogate mother, but a ‘grandmother’ as well, so she can dote over the child as her so-called society friends do over theirs’. Her animosity toward Demi is founded on her desire to see her son marrying a girl and raising children for her to spoil like her friends do. She’s vain enough to agree to such a plan. "

"You expect me to have sex with Kent’s mother? Impregnate your own wife? That would be the day! I’d rather sleep with Higgins!"

"Well, that may be the case, but you would not be far from the means by which you can consummate fertilization of one of her eggs."

"Not on your life! How would my sleeping with that beast make her pregnant?"

"Henry Higgins believes that you are chemically sterile due to the hormones that made all the changes to your appearance. If you were to be enticed into his ‘chamber of sin’ as an unwilling dupe and he got the idea that the worst punishment for you would be to bed my wife, Kent’s mother, Henry would use that notion to inflict you on her, as she holds you in equal contempt, and subject both of you to the ultimate depravity. Henry still believes her tubes are tied. She would have to comply or let him know she is still capable of becoming pregnant. If he knew, he would have forced her to get pregnant by one of his friends long ago. He would revel in the knowledge that he is controlling her to the extent of having her body ravaged and impregnated at his direction, to my dismay."

"Your dismay? You mean he would do it to torture you?"

"Yes. He knows I wanted to have children of my own, but she wouldn’t allow me to have sex with her. Her denying me marital privileges was probably by his direction. He has a mental hold on her. She still loves him. She has convinced herself he would have stood by her if not for the fact that his first wife’s father trapped him into another marriage. She believes she was at fault for his castration. If not for her pregnancy with you, Kent, his ex-father-in-law would have enforced Henry’s marriage to his daughter.

"Your mother will do anything he demands unless it exposes her to her elite circle of friends. His threat to expose her keeps her at his beck and call. She is a shallow woman and knows that all she has in life to cling to is the appearance of propriety in her social life. Every facet of her life is tinged with deceit and conniving. Some people are built that way. She never learned that honesty is the best policy. She lives in constant fear."

"Do you feel you are being honest with her?"

"I feel that this plan will rid her of Henry’s domination, give her life a real purpose, and give me grandchildren to cherish as well. It will enable you to live as normally as is possible for two men in love, and who knows? Maybe, Kent’s mother will finally be free enough of Henry Higgins to come back to me. I would really like that."

"What would we tell my mother and Laura?"

"You know your mother loves you very much, Demi. Do you think she would interfere? She has keen insight. She will understand that you will need to start a life on your own, to pursue living as a complete woman someday. My idea can afford her the luxury of knowing that someday you will assume a complete transition."

"I don’t think she had motherhood in her plans for me. She wants me to become a lesbian, like herself."

"When I went into rehabilitation, your mother and her friend, Laura came to visit me. We had some nice chats. The purpose was to glean information from me regarding Kent’s mom and Henry’s hold on her. When the two of you were out scouting for a school, they consulted with my counselors to determine a way to relieve me of my dependence on alcohol after my release. As my sponsors in the rehabilitation program, full disclosure was granted to them to provide me with coordinated support after my release if my treatment was successful.

"In the course of my treatment, I explained to my counselor what made me crawl into the bottle, and I was encouraged to devise ways to prevent a relapse. I am convinced that my wife is more concerned about outward appearances than reality. I surmise that if she could share the joys of being a grandparent within her social circle, she could accept Kent’s desires and his happiness rather than try to subvert him into finding some girl who would bear him children to satisfy her desire to have grandchildren.

"Although I’m sure Kent would honor a commitment to such a girl, his ability to have children is really unlikely, so such an arrangement would not likely satisfy his mother’s wishes and would be destined to fail, once the girl discovers Kent’s sexual preference. No, I’m convinced he is truly devoted to you, Demi; and if you wish to attain a happy life, as normally as can be expected, I’m afraid you will eventually have to become a total woman and raise children. Otherwise, you two will remain on the fringe of society, as deviants and she’ll stand between you two. If you take my advice, perhaps society will accept you for wanting to become as normal as you can, under the circumstances."

"What if I do become a woman and we want more children afterwards?"

"Your sperm can be preserved to be used later. A surrogate mother can then be artificially inseminated with it. Actually, eggs have been taken from women who are known to be unable to carry a fetus full-term and placed within the womb of women more capable. Dr. Samuel shared a wealth of information with me regarding the potential of modern medical science."

"If Dr. Samuel is aware of your scheme, I’m sure my mom is, as well. How long have you been conferring with Dr. Samuel?"

"Oh, your mother introduced me to Dr. Samuel. She brought her along on one of her visits and she was with her and Laura every time, after that. I also met Rita and Laura’s daughter Amanda as well. Both seemed intrigued by the concept, including retaining the ability to reproduce with preserved sperm after your sexual reassignment."

"Why not tell Henry Higgins and all of his friends, as well? Shouldn’t everyone know? If Kent’s mother is to carry my seed, she should be in on it too! The entire town can know! We can publish the results! "

"Now, now, Demi. Please don’t get excited. Dr. Samuel feels this type of solution to society’s concern over unusual couples and their return to the mainstream by medically assisted adaptation is becoming a very popular area of research. She would be very happy to pilot a program to study the effects to assist others with unusual backgrounds."

"She wants to use us for her guinea pigs! No way!"

"Not at all! That area of research has been done long ago. Many women have successfully given birth to children using the eggs and sperm of others. I’m not suggesting that you have all your children that way. I’m only trying to tell you what is now possible who knows? Perhaps someday, men will be able to carry fetuses through gestation. There are several other species that are naturally capable. Scientifically, it is possible. You are a woman in many ways, Demi. You know in your heart that you are best suited to the role of a woman, not of a man."

"Why are you here instead of Dr. Samuel or my mother? Why are you so keen on my having children. Your genetics aren’t even involved!"

"No, that’s true. But my wife’s sanity and Kent’s future happiness is. I may not have been a good father to him, but I love Kent as if he were my own child. I hate his father for what he has become, but I was once his friend. If not for the man that had him castrated, he may not have become a lecher, but proper husband and father to Kent. He may not be completely to blame for what he is, no more than I am to blame for what I became: a wimp of a man that was subservient to a woman who became cruel because she felt betrayed. That would have left me out of the equation completely.

"Sometimes I wonder what would have become of me without my wife. Regardless of what pain she has caused me I still love her, too. I took a vow for better or worse. In some ways I can’t think of anything worse than becoming a drunken lout. I was not a good husband to her, nor a father to you, Kent, for years. In her own way, she was loyal to me, not for me, but in order to preserve the image that she was a normal married woman. My concept preserves that frail image she is so bent on maintaining.

"Freeing her from Henry Higgins’ hold on her is my purpose. Once she discovers she is pregnant, and she is apprised of her limited options, she should be able to break her bonds to him. Your mother will take care of that, Demi. We’re to go off on a whirlwind vacation to celebrate my sobriety.

"In reality, we will be at a clinic that your mother and Laura assure us will seem like a country club, with the best of care. I want to spend the entire time with her. Actually, I don’t trust myself on my own yet and I don’t know if I will be able to stay ‘dry’ without supervision with her around. Together under supervision, we have a lot better chance of my continued abstinence."

"Just hold on one second! We never said we’d go along with this hair-brained scheme! This is insane! What makes you think we would agree to it?"

"Based on what I just said? Nothing. However, there are a few things to be resolved before either of you should respond. Dr. Samuel will explain them to you."

"What if we don’t want Dr. Samuel to explain?"

"I think you will. Kent’s total recovery is her responsibility. She feels you must know that you will both be far more likely not to invite another disaster if you are safely man and wife, with children. Kent will be more likely to be successful if he assumes the role of a father and provider. It will encourage him to work hard to make up the time he has lost in class and ignore any diversions, such as his lost football career. As soon as you hear her out, he will begin to be tutored on his missed class sessions. He will resume his education this semester. It’s already arranged. Unless he screws things up, which I doubt, He’ll get his degree and architect’s certificate in two years. After graduation, he will be placed in a job that will challenge his ability. The rest will be up to him."

"If that isn’t enough of a carrot for you two, she has a few more … well, I’ll let her take over from here. I want to thank you for hearing me out. Kent, I know you have your own problems, but if you love Demi, you know you will make her happy if she can become a parent. IF you love your mother, regardless of her faults, you will do whatever you can to free her from Higgins’ subjugation. Finally, son, if you care anything about my welfare, you will enable your mother to become a wife to me and a grandparent to your children."

Kent’s father stood, kissed the back of my wrist, and smiled. I stood up and hugged him. Kent took his right hand and squeezed. I could see tears form in each of their eyes. My own eyes smarted from the emotions surrounding us.

When he left, I looked into Kent’s eyes. "This plan sounds suspiciously too familiar to something we discussed the day after our first date, Kent. You put George up to telling us about his idea, didn’t you? It’s all your idea, isn’t it?"

"I swear, Demi! I had no idea he was coming here with this hair-brained scheme! You have to admit, though, it makes you wonder if any of it is possible."

"Not to me, it doesn’t! I’m not ready to settle down. Neither are you! We have a lot of other things to attend to before we think about our raising kids."

"Does that mean you do want to consider the two of us trying to raise children together someday? It would require total dedication. Raising children is a one-way, long-term responsibility. It sure would solve my dilemma, though. My ability to bring life into the world is extremely doubtful, at best. Would you be willing to provide your sperm in order for me to achieve fatherhood?"

"Do you want children that bad, Kent?"

"Well, yes, I do. It seems that we all want what is most unlikely from life. If I wasn’t injured and knew I could still father a child, maybe it wouldn’t be such a consuming desire. Argh! What’s the use! You still want to find a girl of your own, marry her someday and live happily ever after, like normal people."

"Fat chance of that! Look at me! I let my mother turn me into a bimbo! What kind of girl wants a husband with tits bigger than hers? The more I think about it, the less I’d like to revert to looking male again. Kent, I wouldn’t have admitted it three months ago, but I love being this feminine. In high school, I knew I was different, but I wanted to fit in. I didn’t want to admit that I wasn’t much of a male. I tried to deny that I wasn’t attracted to girls. I was jealous of them. I avoided guys because I wanted to be normal and not attracted to men, but to me, I could never see myself as an adult man, not really.

"Just like you said, we all want was is most unlikely from life. I’d probably be a terrible man and worse father. Now that I’ve accepted the changes my mother forced on me, being a woman and perhaps, becoming a mother, makes more sense, considering the lack of forcefulness in my personality. I want children someday, and I guess the only way that will happen will be for me to be their mother, when the time comes, not the father."

Dr. Samuel strode into the room. "Did I hear you say you want to become a mother, Demi?"

"No, I said that I wanted children, but since I’ve adopted a feminine persona I don’t think I can ever fulfill the role of a father for them. I said I’d more likely be able to act as a mother for them. I wish I could be a more forceful man, but I know I’d fail. I’m so different from all the men I’ve known. I admire a man’s forcefulness, but somehow, I could never be that way myself. I have no desire to seek an advanced education and become a provider for a family either. I never did. I’d be better off if I was born as a girl.

"Someday, if a powerful, dominant woman came along, I could be her house-husband, and try to live life more like normal people. Now that I’ve fallen in love with Kent, I’m sure I can make him happy, instead. I enjoy his dominance, and only want to make him happy. So many things have interfered, that I can’t seem to control, I need his strength. I was almost convinced that I’d have to give up my goals to have kids someday.

"Kent and I argued about it when we first met. If we could raise kids together legally, I’d want to stay the way I am, to provide a mother image. I don’t want children unless I can see a bit of myself in them, and Kent, too. It’s all so confusing."

"What do you say, Kent? Demi wants children with your combined genetic pool. Would you be willing to assume the paternal role to raise children if it was possible?"

"Right now, I only want to finish school and get on with my life, Dr. Samuel. Why must we make up are minds about something that isn’t likely to happen, and if it did, won’t be important until we decide to settle down, if we do decide to stay together? We have years to decide what we want to do with our lives."

"Normally, most people do. In your case, the biological clock that would enable you to raise children by using your mother’s eggs is ticking away. Kent, your mom would have a difficult time with a pregnancy a few years from now. She’s still in her thirties. She can still bear children easily. In a few years, it would not be advisable."

"Damn it? Why do all you women have to force men to do things that they aren’t interested in doing? My mom isn’t behind this scheme! Who is?"

"I am." We turned our attention to the voice. My mother stood in the doorway.

"I heard Demi say she was happy in a feminine role and is willing to remain a girl, as she is, for the rest of her life. I did want to see her have a total sex change, but, if you two will agree to provide us with grandchildren, I am willing to leave that for the two of you to decide for yourselves when the time comes.

"Since neither of you can provide the ovum that leaves us with Susan as the only option that would provide genuine genetic material for the both of you. You are right, Demi. If you were born as a girl, things would have been much simpler. Perhaps, if your father was more of a real man, not a weakling that shirked from his responsibilities, you’d be able to assume the normally dominant male role in life. Kent’s mother has a highly forceful personality; something we both lack. She should offset our docile genes.

"Dr. Samuel could take sperm from Demi and use it to fertilize Kent’s mother’s egg. What would that accomplish? We could create life, a test-tube child. Who would raise the child? How much of the child’s personality would survive? How much of the child’s personality would be provided by the parents from raising the infant in addition to the genetic qualities that are hereditary?

"Susan has begun to put some order back into her life since under my influence. She is very pleased with George’s apparent recovery, and with the aid of the counselors at the sanatorium, she is coping with her outbursts and learning to understand their causes better. She is improving.

"Susan thinks Henry can change, as well. Since he’s no longer a real man, and never really was much of a man to begin with, she would like to change him into a woman, like I changed Demi, except Dr. Samuel’s associates are confident they can construct a womb for Henry. As Henrietta, she will be totally transformed and become complete. Then, she would like to turn the tables on him.

"She is considering the donation of one of her fully capable ovaries to Henry to see if it is possible for a transgendered man to conceive and carry a child. Henry could become Susan’s and George’s personal sex slave in retaliation of the misery he caused all of them for years. Before that can be accomplished, she wants to be sure that her ovaries are functional, using Demi’s sperm. If they are, she will bear a child for you two to raise as your own. It will be your own, genetically, at least as much as is possible.

"Perhaps George will finally get a chance to sire a child of his own someday, with Henrietta as the child’s mother. Only time will tell, but the biological clock is ticking. It all hinges on your willingness to accept the offer of potential parenthood with Susan as the provider of the egg and Demi as the sperm donor. Please consider the offer and gie us your response as soon as you two can. Oh, by the way….

"You know that Rita has been staying with Amanda since you two went to find Kent a college to attend. Over the weekend, Amanda got engaged to Rita. Dr. Samuel confirmed that she is carrying Rita’s child. Due to Rita’s professional background as a transsexual therapist, Amanda was willing to respond to Rita’s careful advances, and overcame her fear and reluctance to participate in sex with a man. Laura is so grateful! She attributes the ease of Amanda’s overcoming her reluctance to Demi’s ease of acceptance of her own changes. They are deeply in love and plan to get married soon."

"I know you two will think over the potential of becoming parents carefully. It is a big decision and we’d like you to know that your acceptance would make all of us very happy, Dr. Samuels included. She is quickly becoming an authority on genetics.

"As your mother, Demi, I was deeply concerned with how delicate you were as a child and how you would possibly survive, once you grew up. With Kent at your side to provide the manly strength, I feel you will do fine. I’d like to see you have the thrill of raising a child of your own, like I once did, but with a good man at your side, not alone as I was. Whether or not you decide to go ahead with George’s suggestion, you can count on me to help you in any way I can."

End.

 

Epilogue:

Kent and I eloped, once Susan was successfully carrying my first offspring. She and George went away due to Susan’s transfer to another city, which just happened to last the duration of my supposed pregnancy. I took a six-month long European tour with Laura and mom while Kent was in school that next year. That way I didn’t have to appear very pregnant publicly by wearing an artificial maternity device much.

After Kent’s graduation, we got a place of our own in the suburbs to escape our mothers’ constant fussing over the baby. We had a second child, since. Motherhood is very fulfilling for me. Kent is very pleased. Both children take after him a lot, (well, his mom, really). We appear to be the very typical suburban couple.

Kent’s folks changed a lot since we got married. Without her need to be overbearing with Kent, caused by her concerns about his education, she became quite a nice person. She has a good job, working for Laura controlling nationwide collection procedures. Her job requires her to be out of town for long periods. The travel and financial independence seem to be just the thing she needed to calm down and enjoy life.

Amanda and Rick live nearby. Rick’s twin sister often visits when Rick is out of town on assignment supposedly with various doctors providing technical assistance with lectures on genetics. We girls have a lot of fun getting together, playing canasta, comparing fashion styles, and sharing pointers on how to control our men and raise children in a fast paced environment. We venture into the city together often to meet with my mother, Laura, Susan and our new friend, Susan’s pretty young maid: Henrietta.

George and Susan found her soon after they returned from Susan’s last out of town assignment revamping collection procedures at one of Laura’s enterprises. The poor girl was jobless and homeless. She seems to have been jilted by her lover after she got in a family way. Susan insists the woman must be treated as one of the family. (I wonder if the baby will bear any resemblance to George.)

Henry Higgins disappeared soon after selling his construction firm to Laura. George is very busy helping Kent run that operation. Kent designs buildings and is very good at it. I’m so proud of my husband. I wouldn’t trade him for the world!

End.

 

 

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