Molly wondered if she was a home-wrecker, and hated herself for even the notion of it. Often, when she closed her eyes she could picture a pregnant Muriel and her three beautiful children, all crying their eyes out, or the image of her stern-faced father scolding her for her terrible sin.
But was it really a sin to love someone? Because she did love Charlie, she knew that now, and with a certainty and a fervor that she had never known before. Tommy had been a husband on paper only, and while George had been loving and generous in so many ways, and she did love him in the manner of a sweet, gentle companion, it was true that in recent years she had felt increasingly like one of George’s possessions, as if she were a new motorbike, or a cruise through the Baltics.
Charlie always did his best to console her when these fears began to take over, assuring her that what they were doing was so right that surely God would take care of the details, and everything would work out the best for all concerned. ‘You can’t shake my faith on this, Molly,’ he told her frequently. ‘I know He wouldn’t let us feel this way if He didn’t have a plan for us to be together.’
‘I don’t know that I can ever agree with that, Charlie,’ she responded. ‘We both took marriage vows.’
‘I know,’ he said, his eyes reflecting a concern that he didn’t always express. ‘And I meant every word of them. I just feel,’ he continued, grasping her hand, ‘that I said those words to the wrong person.’
And she knew what he meant. She had gone through two wedding ceremonies, and was committed to every word she uttered in each of them, but it didn’t stop her realising that sometimes, life changed.
It changed even more when they went to the cabin at the lake.
For some time now, their kissing had been becoming more intense. Molly could feel stirrings in her body that had never been so strong, and she knew that Charlie was feeling the same way. It was if she hadn’t minded George’s impotency until Charlie had awakened her sexuality.
The chance to spend a whole night together was becoming an increasingly sweet prospect. Molly could hardly begin to imagine the joy of being held, caressed, intimate with the man who loved her more than life itself, as he revealed to her constantly through his impassioned love letters. He even called himself ‘her husband’ in the notes, and she had begun to respond in kind and even allow herself to dream of a time when that might become a reality.
It was Molly herself who opened the way to a few hours in each other’s arms becoming a possibility.
‘Now George is Vice President, he’s always away,’ she commented idly to Charlie one day, thinking they might be able to enjoy some time at the movies again.
‘He leaves you on your own?’ Charlie shook his head, as if that was impossible to believe.
Molly laughed. ‘For days at a time.’
She felt the air crackle between them.
‘So what do you do,’ asked Charlie casually, ‘when George is out of town?’
‘I usually stay at my father’s, or sometimes at a girl-friend’s.’ Molly held her breath, hardly able to believe what she was about to say. ‘He’s away for three days early next week.’
Charlie’s bold expression took her breath away, and he held her hand for a moment. ‘Leave it with me, my darling girl,’ he said, and Molly forced herself to hold on. Hold on to that hope, and his love.
He found a cabin, somehow. It belonged to Danny’s uncle, and rested by a lake not too far away where his uncle and others would go for fishing outings.
‘We could fish all day, and be together all night,’ whispered Charlie. ‘My two favorite pastimes!’
‘I’m not sure I like being put on the same footing as a trout,’ Molly told him.
Charlie laughed, and cupped her face in his hands. ‘You are not on the same footing as anything or anyone on this earth,’ he said earnestly. ‘Just a pedestal, up with the angels.’
‘You’re a smooth talker for a tools and supplies man.’ But she kissed him, nonetheless. ‘Just a few hours, to begin with.’
Charlie nodded. A few hours would be Heaven. Heaven by the lake.
On Tuesday after work, Molly parked her car about a block away and waited for Charlie, and they drove to the cabin, silent with anticipation. Charlie held the door open for her and then kissed her as the door swung closed behind them. Then he led her to the bedroom, and they walked directly to the bed.
‘We should get undressed,’ said Charlie, tugging Molly’s blouse free from her skirt.
‘No.’ She felt unaccountably shy, more nervous than she had been with either of her husbands. ‘Let’s just lie here. I don’t want to move too fast.’
They were both shaking with excitement as they laid down, side by side, and began to exchange eager kisses while gently caressing each other. The kissing grew more intense, and Molly felt heat rising up her torso, her neck, her lips feeling scorched with passion. Charlie’s hand lighted on her stockings and began to push her skirt up toward her waist, but she gripped his wrist urgently.