I wrote to her

I wrote to her;

there is no one in the world more beautiful than you are.

and she replied, or so I imagine,

by deleting the email and never responding.

But she had read the words and that was enough.

Short Story

In the games room, located in the basement, the maid and the nanny played ping pong while the chef looked on, knitting. The maid wore a white dress, that pulled tight across her thin body, the nanny wore a summer dress that danced around her legs when she moved to the ball. The chef wore a white jacket and concentrated on her work.

The ball, after a particularly wild shot bounced away from the table and went under some boxes in a damp corner.

“Sylvia, can you get it?” Mary asked the nanny.
“You missed it.”

“I can’t bend down, I have a pain.” Mary rubbed her stomach. The chef, Karen, looked up for a second then returned to her stitches.

“What’s wrong?” Sylvia asked, putting her paddle down and walking around the table.

“I think,” Mary lowered her voice. “I am having a baby.”

“Oh God. You think?”
“I know.”

“Congratulations.”

Mary shook her head.

“You should not have let it happen.” Karen spoke. They both looked across. Karen put her knitting down and stood up. “How far along are you?”
“Six weeks.”
“Who is the father.”
Mary shrugged.

“You don’t know?”
“I know.”
“Is it Mark?” Sylvia asked.

“No,” Mary laughed. “Thank God.”
“Who?” Sylvia asked.
“Oh Syl, I should not have let it happened, but you know how things are? I am only casual here too and I need the money. I don’t know how I will get along when I can’t work.”
“You will not be a good mother.” Karen suddenly spoke.

The other two were silent and did not look at her.

“Who is the father Mary? He should pay to support you.” Sylvia whispered.
“It is Mr. Taubman.”
“Professer Taubman? Simon?”
“Yes.”
“Does Julia know?”
“Of course not. I could not tell Dr. Taubman, she would fire me.”

“How did it happen?”
“I was cleaning their room and she was out at the hospital and he was lying in bed. I asked him why he was not teaching and he said it was student vacation and he had the week off.”

“Yes?”
“Then he pulled the sheet back and he was naked. He told me to come over and it happened”
They were all silent.

“He can’t get you pregnant and then fire you,” Sylvia said.

“Of course he can,” Karen cut in. “You’re finished. I’ve seen this happen before.”

Mary bit her fingernails and leaned forward on the table.

“Are you sure… it’s his.”
“I have not slept with anyone else.”

Sylvia nodded. There was a noise on the stairs and Mr. Taubman appeared, he stopped on the third last tread and looked around the room. The three women looked back at him. He was a short man with large glasses that were always slipping down his nose.

“Sylvia,” he called. “Michael’s awake and crying, can you come up and see if you can get him to settle down?”

“Yes Mr. Taubman,” Sylvia replied and went up the stairs past the man. She was a good head taller than he was.

Mary looked down at her feet and felt a tightness in her body. Taubman turned and left them.

The Bomber, my debut novel will be released on June 24th

Please visit http://www.pennamepublishing.com for more information and updates.

If you would like to receive an advanced copy for review on your blog, please send me a message.