Once Jed Baxter and Vivian Laaning had left Maia's victory party celebrations and retired to Vivian's bedroom designated bedroom, the next couple to leave were John Cooper and Anett Kontaveit. That left Cedric Hackett in a tête-à-tête with Erica Koeninger née Laaning. Although Roderick Wellington was paying attention to Maia while Cecil Abbott was concentrating on Riina, neither Maia nor Riina were invested in exclusivity. The four of them were seated on the same couch which invited a group action as opposed to pairing off in couples.
When Erica was single, she was very promiscuous, even more so than her sister Vivian. For example, Erica lost her virginity when she was only thirteen years of age, compared to Vivian who was eighteen when she finally became sexually active. Although Erica's lascivious wantonness was common knowledge amongst her peers, she was not held in contempt for it. She benefited from the high regard her family enjoyed amongst the local community. Erica's sole ambition at the time was to marry a farmer. Erica justified her youthful sluttish behavior as a pragmatic rationalization to the reality facing her when she married. It's self-evident that the life of a farmer's wife comprised of a conscientious unwavering commitment to work and duty with little time allowed for frivolity.
Initially, Erica did achieve her life goals by the time she attained the age of twenty-three years. She had gotten herself pregnant, and so married her long time main boyfriend who was going to inherent his family's farm. Things, though, did not transpire as she had envisioned or hoped for. Unfortunately, she miscarried from that pregnancy and did not conceive again during the subsequent three plus years of marriage. Erica even didn't get pregnant, despite deliberately engaging in sex when she knew she was ovulating.
Both her husband and she were invested in the expectation of having several children as a result of their marriage. Thus, frustration naturally set in. An unspoken tension prevailed as Erica had the impression that her husband had started to suspect he was not the father of her initial pregnancy. Ostensibly, he had no basis for harboring such suspicion since it was known that during the time period where she must have conceived, she was known to have been exclusively with him. However, unbeknownst to him during that period, her father had a good friend visit for a week. During that time Erica had a clandestine tryst on one occasion. That being the case, since Erica did not get pregnant again during her subsequent marriage, she had to suspect that it was her husband who was incapable of fathering children.
As a respite from her marriage woes, Erica opted to team up with Vivian to participate in a weekend orgy with three black men. Two of whom were Vivian's regular fuck buddies at the university and the other man was a brother of one of those Vivian's college lovers. Erica got pregnant as a result of that group sex activity which at least confirmed in her mind that she definitely was fecund. That adulterous tryst cost Erica not only her marriage, but also the prospect of continuing her life as a farmer's wife. Since it became common knowledge that she had been impregnated by a black man, her reputation in her community, once unsullied had turned to mud. She was considered the vilest of a slut and a whore.
An example of the phrase, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, applied to Erica. As a single mother, she shared living accommodations with her sister during the latter's senior year at the University of Wisconsin and all three years when Vivian was studying at the law school of the University of Chicago. In abandoning her life's ambition to be a farmer's wife, Erica first obtained employment as a server in a Lydiaville steakhouse. Then she worked in Madison and finally at an upscale restaurant in Chicago. Erica's work ethic developed from her farming background benefited her transition into the restaurant industry. Her assiduity plus her pleasant comportment not to mention her good looks assured her in obtaining generous tips from her customers.
Erica's employer in the Chicago restaurant recognized Erica's worth. As a result, she was rapidly promoted to assistant manager and eventually general manager of the restaurant. Since the owner was not a hands on proprietor, Erica's experience as the general manager of the restaurant boosted her confidence to the extent that she started her own restaurant/nightclub. Having received more than sufficient financing, partly from Jed Baxter who no doubt contributed as a result of his affair with Erica's sister Vivian, Erica's food and entertainment establishment became very successful in attracting the trend setters of the well-to-do in Chicago society.
Erica's personal love life also took a turn for the better as well. During her stint as general manager of the Chicago restaurant, one of her customers happened to be Rod Koeninger. He was the brother to one of Vivian's fuck buddies and who participated in the group sex party in Madison. During that orgy the others noted that the chemistry between Erica and Rod was unquestionably undeniable. More than four years had passed since that party, and yet they recognized each other instantly upon their unexpected reunion.
In their ensuing discussion Rod found out that Erica was the mother of a three year old biracial son who was conceived as a result of the Madison party. Thus, Rod might be the biological father, but Erica didn't want to know. As a single mother she was comfortable with idea that Rod was the father and she was not interested in finding out whether in reality he was or wasn't. This time their reunion did not result in a one night stand but instead led to marriage a few months later.
Rod adopted Erica's son, Tony, and acquiesced to his wife's wish to refuse to undergo a paternity test. Erica didn't want to have her illusion that Rod was the father dashed by an undesired result. Besides she knew that she wanted and would have more children who obviously would have Rod definitely as their biological father. Therefore, she would want to avoid as a physiological factor of the possibility of separate parentage to interfere and differentiate in the love she and Rod would confer amongst all their children. As we've seen when Tony reached his majority and was apprised of the circumstances of his birth, he opted not to undergo a paternity test either, as he was content in living his life with the reality that Rod Koeninger was the sole father in his life.
Erica was totally, absolutely, unequivocally in love with Rod Koeninger. He was the ideal man for her, happily filling all of her sexual and other emotional needs. True he was black, which given the racial divide in the United States presented its own peculiar nettlesome personal irritants. Her parents were obviously not comfortable with him nor her children. Her brother and his family, especially her sister-in-law, initially demonstrated subtle hostility, and as time progressed it was followed up by aloofness. Finally though, lately his brother and his family had overtly accepted the undeniable reality that Rod and Erica were in love and had a happy marriage. Rod's vivacious personality and Erica's success with her restaurant/nightclub enterprise was the catalyst to turn the tide to a favorable interaction between the two families which in turn paved the way for joyful get togethers.
