A House Full of Women (Chapter 6)
Kathryn M. Burke
One of the main reasons Vanessa wanted to go home that evening was to talk about the whole situation with Joanna. Vanessa had told her briefly about her acquaintance with Sullivan, and the older woman had sensed that something might come of it; but neither of them could have expected that it would happen so soon.
When she got home, she immediately pulled Joanna aside for an intense talk in the first-floor den.
Joanna didn't need to be told. When she saw Vanessa's flushed face and disarranged clothes, she knew the state of affairs.
"You slept with him?" she said.
"Yes," Vanessa responded.
"That was fast!"
"I know it was--but he's a very special person."
"You have strong feelings for him?"
"I do."
"And he does for you?"
"I'll say! He already told me loved me."
"He said that? So soon?"
"Maybe it was just the sex talking. He was a virgin, you know."
"A virgin!"
"Joanna, there still are twenty-one-year-old virgins, male and female, in this world. But I think he knows his feelings pretty well--he's very introspective."
"But if he's never been with a girl before, he may really not know what he's feeling right now."
"Yes, I get that--but I'm pretty sure he's aware of what his heart is telling him. I'm just a little worried, that's all."
"Worried? About what?"
"Oh, Joanna, do I have to spell it out? How's Jack going to take this?"
"Hey, we've both been urging you to find someone of your own age. He can't expect you to be tied to him forever."
"Okay, fine. But then there's the matter of what goes on in this house."
Joanna fell silent for a moment, then said, "Ah, yes. Of course."
"I think Sullivan's going to totally freak out when he finds out."
"Does he have to find out?"
"How are we going to keep it from him? I don't want to deceive him, and I certainly don't want to just give up my intimacy with you and Eileen and especially Jack."
"That's going to be a tough thing to manage, Vanessa. I told you once before that men can be much more possessive than women where such things are concerned--and that applies especially to a guy who hasn't had any experience. It seems he's already put a lot of emotional energy into his feelings for you; and when he finds out you're, um, otherwise occupied, it might make him really angry--or at least hurt and disappointed."
"Yeah, I know," Vanessa said lugubriously. "I really don't know how I'm going to handle this."
"Well, maybe we can all help somehow," Joanna said encouragingly--although she was far from optimistic about how this whole situation was going to play out.
Vanessa kept on seeing Sullivan--at his place. After they finished sorting out his poems, she began typing them on her laptop. After an hour or two of work, they'd clear off the bed and get down to some intense lovemaking. This of course didn't happen every night, and on the nights when she stayed at home she continued her sessions with each member of the Martin family.
But the time was rapidly approaching when she had to at least introduce Sullivan to her housemates. He had already been baffled at her bland statement that she was living with "a family" near campus, and after a few weeks he finally got up the courage to say, "You know, I'd really like to meet these people."
"What people?" Vanessa said evasively.
"The ones you're living with."
"Oh. Yes, of course. Um, well, why don't you come over for dinner tomorrow?"
"That would be great."
Vanessa was full of apprehension when dinnertime approached the next day. Even some soothing words from Joanna and Eileen didn't calm her down much. Jack, who had taken her involvement with another man with surprising tranquility, did his best to be supportive, although in all honesty he had no idea how he'd respond to this new love in his sweetheart's life.
Sullivan was received cordially by everyone in the Martin household, and dinner seemed to go well. The young man was a bit overwhelmed by the attention showered on him and was slow to open up about himself, but eventually he relaxed and became more comfortable with everyone. Afterward, in the privacy of one of the guest bedrooms (which Vanessa claimed was the room she lived in), she was relieved to hear Sullivan refer to the Martins as "nice people."
Over the next several weeks he sent more and more time at the house. He was particularly taken with Joanna's kindness and sympathy, Eileen's bluff good spirits (Vanessa had explained her sexual orientation to him), and Jack's more reserved but nonetheless sincere friendliness. He would even spend nights at the house--in Vanessa's bedroom, of course. But one evening, as they were cuddling, she sensed that something was troubling him. It wasn't always easy to tell with Sullivan, since he was still given to lapses of brooding misanthropy, but Vanessa noted that there was something more to it than that.
"What's bothering you?" she said bluntly as he was toying distractedly with one of her breasts. (They were, of course, naked.)
"Nothing," he muttered sullenly.
"Oh, come on!" she cried. "I know you too well. You're worried about something."
But he maintained a mulish silence.
"Sullivan," she said softly, "you say you love me. That means you have to trust me and let me help you if you're disturbed or upset."
He gave her such a plangent grimace of misery and even betrayal that she was stunned. A shudder ran through her.
"Please tell me," she whispered.
It was as if a big lump had constricted his throat so that he couldn't speak. At last he managed to croak, "You sleep with Jack, don't you?"
Vanessa closed her eyes. More tremors shook her entire frame. Now it was she who was unable to speak.
After what seemed like minutes: "Wh-why should you think that?"
That equivocal response was all that Sullivan needed. If he'd been wrong, surely she would have denied such an outrageous accusation with high dudgeon.
With subdued intensity, he said, "The way you two exchange glances when you don't think anyone is watching. It's the kind of glances two people who've been intimate give to each other. I may not have had much experience, but I'm not stupid."
"No, you're not stupid," she admitted. Falling onto her back and gazing up at the ceiling, she said, "Okay."
"Okay what?"
"What you said."
"You--you sleep with him?"
