He sat down on a chair and she turned her back to him. With her right arm holding her sweat shirt down in front, she reached her left hand over her shoulder to pull up the back of her shirt. "Don't take all night. This hurts."
After he cleansed and bandaged the wound, he leaned forward to kiss her back just above the band-aid. He reached his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap. "I love you." He kissed her face trailing kisses down to her mouth. He slid his left hand beneath her sweat shirt to stroke her bare back. His kisses became more passionate.
She put her arms around his neck as he reached his right hand under her shirt and cupped it around her breast teasing her nipple with his thumb. He slid his hand down between her legs. The warning lights went off in her head. She had let things go too far.
She pushed away from him and stumbled to the dining room archway. When she turned around he was standing up and a quick glance at the front of him told her he was aroused. He just stood there staring at her.
When he spoke his voice was low and husky. "Come on, Sherry. You know you're hot and so am I."
She turned away to the dining room but his voice followed her. "You need to get in touch with your sexuality."
That brought her around to face him. "I might as well get this over with." She pulled her black sweatshirt over her head and tossed it on the daybed. Mark stared in open-mouthed enthrallment.
She turned, took a couple of steps and pushed her pants down over her hips and let them fall around her ankles. She stepped out of them and bent over to pick them up and throw them on the daybed. She heard his footsteps behind her and he put his arms around her waist to pull her back against him. She pulled his hands away and moved to the edge of the mattress where she let herself fall forward on her knees. She crawled to the side along the wall and eased herself down on her left side before rolling onto her back. "I think you need to take your clothes off for this."
Mark stripped like his clothes were full of fire ants. He sat down on the mattress and scooted over to her side. His kisses were passionate but when he tried to pull her into his arms, she winced in pain.
"Sorry. I'll try to be gentle. I don't want to hurt you." When it was over, he rolled aside and sat up on the edge of the mattress. "Why didn't you tell me you were a virgin?"
She scooted over beside him. "You didn't ask. Help me up."
He stood up and assisted her to her feet. She crossed to the daybed and picked up her pajamas. "What's the big deal? The Victorian Age is over."
She hurried up the stairs to the bathroom. She stepped in the tub and adjusted the water temperature as hot as she could stand it. She directed the spray between her legs to wash away the last traces of her virginity.
After she turned off the water she reached for the towel that was wet from Mark using it. She dried as best she could and pulled on her sweats. She was fighting back tears. Everything that had happened lately came to the fore and she became filled with resentful rage. She marched downstairs to confront Mark. She found him in his tee shirt and boxer-briefs using a wet washcloth to swab up the blood on the blanket.
"Put your pants on," she ordered.
"This is how I sleep," he countered.
"I don't care how you sleep. It will be kind of cold going home without your pants."
"I'm not going home."
"Yes, you are. You got what you wanted so go on home."
"Sherry, it's not like that. I love you even more now."
"Well, I don't love you. You don't fit into my plans. I don't have time for love."
"I'm not going anywhere until we get this worked out."
"There's nothing to work out. Go away and stay away."
"Sherry, what's happened to you? How can you be so mean?"
"Just get out of my house or I'll call the cops and have you put out. Just go!"
"Maybe you are your mother's daughter. Is that what she taught you?"
Her lips were trembling like she was about to cry. "Get out!" she screamed and went in the bathroom locking the door behind her.
Mark pulled on his jeans and slipped his bare feet into his sneakers. He put his cell phone and charger in his briefcase. He just had to try one more time. He knocked lightly on the bathroom door. "Sherry?" She didn't answer but he was certain he heard her crying. He put on his denim jacket and picked up his briefcase. He hesitated at the door looking back at the closed, locked bathroom door. Then he went out to his truck and left.
Jan was in the kitchen cleaning up after making coleslaw for the next day when he entered and threw his bag over by the laundry room door. "What's that?" she asked.
"My dirty clothes," he responded as he walked past her.
"I thought you were staying with Sherry tonight."
"So did I," he returned. "She kicked me out."
"Why?"
He went on as if he hadn't heard her. A minute later she heard his footsteps on the stairs. Frank came to the kitchen door and asked, "What was that about?" he asked.
Jan shrugged. "He said Sherry kicked him out."
"Why?"
"He didn't say." She looked toward the ceiling as a loud thunk sounded upstairs. "That wasn't a sneaker."
"Briefcase," Frank guessed.
"He better not break the laptop I got him for Christmas."
"I'll go up and find out what the problem is. Call Sherry to find out if she's okay. Don't ask if she's all right. She'll tell you she's half left." Frank headed for the stairs. He walked into Mark's room without knocking. The only light in the room came from the hall light and through the slats of the venetian blinds from the dusk to dawn light out by the garage. Frank switched on the overhead light.
The sudden bright light made Mark squint as he looked at his father. "What do you want?"
"I want to know why you're here instead of over at Sherry's."
"Awful nosy, aren't you?" Mark drew a deep breath. "She kicked me out. I don't understand why? I didn't force her to go to bed with me."
"You deflowered her?"
"I didn't know she was a virgin. She was smokin' hot. She did a strip tease that would tempt a pious monk. I thought she knew what she was doing. She went upstairs to take a shower and when she came back down she was mad as a wet hen and told me to get out. She said she doesn't love me and I don't fit into her plans."
Frank needed a minute to absorb what his son told him and to think. He went around the bed and picked up Mark's briefcase from along the wall. "You need to buy another sheet of paneling. I think I'll build that wall out of brick." He sat down at the desk and opened the briefcase to take out the laptop. "Mom paid a lot of bucks for this. It's not a ball. Why don't you just buy a tennis racket and beat up your bed when you're mad?"
"I don't know what to do. One time Sherry seems happy; other times, she's all frowns. I do know that she feels safe now that Elena is back in jail."
"Darryl will soon have her out." Frank turned on the laptop. "Still works. Maybe Mom won't kill you after all."
"Speaking of angels," Mark said as Jan walked into the room.
"I called Sherry. She said she's okay but I could tell she was crying." She looked at Mark. "She said it wasn't your fault. It was hers. She said she was just mad at everybody: the men that stood around this morning when Elena attacked her, Elena, you but mostly herself. She said she took it all out on you and I don't even know what she was talking about."
Frank responded, "Mark went to bed with her."
"Did she say if I can go back over?" Mark wondered.
"She said she wants you to stay away until she gets her mind untangled. I told you to back off."
"I'm only a man. If you want to know more talk to Dad. I already told him and I'm not going to repeat myself. If you two will leave, I'll go to bed."
"The laptop still works," Frank informed his wife as they went out the door.
Mark sighed deeply. So Sherry didn't blame him for what happened. That didn't help since he was still banished from her domain.
Chapte
r 12
"Hello, Sherry," Jan said as Sherry opened the door for her. She handed Sherry the garage door opener. "Mark said to bring this back to you. You look like you had a bad night."
She shrugged and turned away. "I spent a night of soul searching and I'm no better off than I was before." She went back to the kitchen ahead of Jan to set out the peroxide and bandages. "If you sit down there I can stand in front of you so you can see."
"When I spoke to you last night I didn't understand what you were talking about," Jan said as she gently pulled off the old band-aid. "It wasn't until I talked to Frank later that he told me Mark had gone to bed with you."
"Why didn't he just put it on the front page of the newspaper?" Sherry sounded hurt and angry.
"I'm certainly not going to tell anybody and I know Frank won't. I can't speak for Mark other than to say I don't believe he will tell anyone."
"He told you and Frank," Sherry snapped.
"He told his father," Jan admitted. "Frank told me. We aren't trying to embarrass you."
"I made a mistake last night," Sherry admitted. "One I'm not likely to repeat. Sometimes when I'm really angry I get reckless. That is what happened last night. It in no way means that I'm in love with Mark. I'm not."
"There. That's done. Sit down, Sherry. I'd like to talk to you. As a mother to a daughter."
"You're not my mother. All you want to do is make a pitch for Mark. You don't care about me. My own mother doesn't care about me."
"I do care," Jan assured her.
"Go away," Sherry ordered. "And stay away. I'll find someone else to take care of my wound or do it myself."
"Sherry, don't be unreasonable."
"Go! Get out! Just leave me alone so I can think."
Jan went. She had her cell phone to her ear as soon as she got in the black SUV.
"She's probably calling Frank or Mark." Sherry went back to bed but couldn't sleep. Her pain wouldn't allow her to get comfortable. She finally gave up trying to sleep and went to the kitchen to set the teakettle on the stove. Maybe a good hot cup of tea would help clear the cobwebs from her brain. She wished she had a toaster. She turned on the radio to listen to the news and weather report.
The tea didn't help much but she couldn't just sit around feeling sorry for herself. She decided to go through the pantry to see what groceries she needed to buy. Most of what she'd purchased Monday were non-food items. She lost interest and made herself a second cup of tea. She sat at the table drinking it when Frank walked in with his hands full of a pint jar of milk, a small dish with three eggs and a sandwich bag with a slice of ham in it.
"How are you doing today, kid?" he asked as he put the items on the counter. "I brought you breakfast."
"Jan called you, didn't she?" Sherry accused.
"Yup. But that isn't why I'm here. I really want to know how you're doing. You look like you had a rough night. I'll make you breakfast." He took her small frying pan from a drawer under the oven. "Ham and eggs just as soon as I can fry them."
"One egg will be plenty," she said. "Did Jan tell you I told her to stay away? I don't need anyone trying talk me into love with Mark."
"Sherry, what's between you and Mark is your business. I'm not here to meddle. I know you've been through hell this past week. I don't want to add to your troubles." He opened a drawer to take out a turner and flipped the piece of ham over. While he waited for the ham to get done he filled the coffeemaker with water and added a filter to scoop in the coffee.
"I'll be okay. Just give me a little time to get my thoughts in order. I need to get back to work so I have money to live." Thinking she'd said too much about her plans, she shut up and watched as Frank broke an egg into the frying pan. The kitchen was filled with the aroma of fried ham, making Sherry's mouth water. She hadn't realized how hungry she was.
He poured milk in a glass and set it on the table in front of her. "Be ready in a minute," he said as he flipped the egg over being careful not to break the yoke. He got the bread and margarine from the pantry and placed them on the table. When the egg was ready he put it on a plate with the ham and brought it to her. Then he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down on the other chair.
"I know you probably don't want to talk about last night. You sure put Mark's head in a spin."
"I don't want to talk about Mark," she broke in.
"I'm not going to talk about Mark. I'm talking about you. You are still the same girl you were yesterday. Losing your virginity doesn't change who you are. You won't die from it. If women died from that the human race would become extinct in a generation."
She had to smile at his reasoning. "I know. I just need to adjust my mindset. I'll be fine." She held up her hand for silence. "I want to hear the weather forecast."
"It's supposed to rain," he informed her.
After the news and weather, the local talk show host came on the air. "Today we'll be discussing the abuse and molestation of children," he said. "Call in with your questions and opinions."
Sherry was half tempted to turn it off but she was busy eating. After two callers expressed their opinions and ideas, the third caller came on the line. Her voice got Sherry's attention.
"I agree that something must be done to keep the molesters from repeating their crimes. It is difficult to know who they are. They are often trusted members of the community. Scoutmasters, religious leaders, teachers. I have decided I'm going to get one teacher out of the classroom."
Sherry looked at Frank, her eyes wide. She said softly, "That's Mom."
The caller continued. "Mark Blakely is the Ag teacher at the high school. He inappropriately touched a four-year-old girl."
"Ma'am, are you sure about this?"
"I most certainly am. I'm that girl's mother. I saw it with my own eyes."
"You should report it to the police or Children and Youth Services..."
"I did that at the time. They didn't do anything."
Sherry reached over and turned off the radio. "It was Mark!" Her lips trembled as tears rolled down her cheeks. "It was Mark who molested me!"
"Mark never molested you," Frank declared. "The only place that took place was in your mother's imagination. I've got to call him and warn him." Frank took out his cell phone.
"Mom told me she took me away from here to keep me from being molested," Sherry insisted.
"The only time Mark had any sexual contact with you was last night, and if what he told me was true, and I believe it is, that was consensual." Frank kept hitting the call button on his cell phone. Finally he sent a text message: ANSWER THE DAMN PHONE.
"Yeah, Dad, what's so important that you have to interrupt me when I'm in class?"
"Alison Winnette just called in to that talk show and said you inappropriately touched a four-year-old girl. I thought I'd give you a head's up."
"She said she could bring my world crashing down around me."
"Look, I've got to go. Sherry's freaking out. She believes it."
Sherry was hyperventilating. "Take slow deep breaths," Frank advised. "And listen to what I have to say. Mark never molested you. If he touched you inappropriately it was in the innocence of childhood and never with sexual intent. Do you remember the day Mark took you and Lisa swimming?"
Sherry nodded. "We had fun. Mark taught me to swim. When we got out of the water I fell and cut my knee on a rock."
"Do you remember how Mark took you home?"
"He carried me piggy back."
"Do you remember how?"
Sherry frowned. "Is there more than one way?"
Frank stifled a smile. "He tried to carry you the usual way but you cried when he put his arms around your legs." Frank turned his back and continued. "He put his arms around behind his back." Frank demonstrated. "He laced his fingers together to make a seat for your little behind. That's how he carried you. That's how he 'touched you inappropriately'."
"That's all?" Sherry looked stunned. "That's why Mom took me away from the grandmother I loved? That's...t
hat's so trivial! She put me through fourteen years of hell because of the way Mark carried me?" She broke down and sobbed.
Frank pulled her to her feet and held her against his chest. "I'm sorry to tell you but that's all. She made quite a fuss about it. She even called the police and Children and Youth. Her accusations were determined to be unfounded. I think she left and took you with her because she could be arrested for filing a false report. That and the fact that Jan punched her in the mouth for the anguish she caused Mark. Jan ended up paying a fine for assault."
Sherry pulled away. "That's what you have to say about it. Mark's your son. You'd protect him as much as you can. I won't believe Mom took me away for that reason. I won't! Go away and leave me alone. I want to think."
Frank walked to the door and turned around. "I'm sorry you won't believe the truth. If you need anything you have my cell phone number. I really care about you, Sherry, the same as I do Lisa." He went out to his truck and left.
****
"Mr. Blakely, please come to the office." Mark had been expecting that call over the intercom. This was his free period when he didn't have a class but he had the feeling that after he went to the office he wouldn't be coming back to class that day so he put his laptop in his briefcase, picked up his FFA jacket and left his office, locking the door behind him. He also locked the door to the Ag shop.
The principal, Douglas McCall, was waiting for him. He opened the door to a small meeting room and ushered Mark inside. After his father's call, Mark wasn't surprised to find two state troopers standing along the wall on the far side of the oval table. He was surprised to see Chad because they were friends. The corporal was almost a head taller than Chad who was taller than Mark's six feet.
"Do you mind if I sit in?" McCall asked.
The corporal, whose name tag said Reider, looked at Mark, "Mr. Blakely?"
"I don't mind," Mark said. "I've got nothing to hide." He hung his jacket over the back of a chair and sat down laying his briefcase on the table. "I think I have some idea why I'm here."
No Plans for Love Page 12