There was a peculiar coda to this whole amazing affair.
About two months later, in mid-February, long after the young people had gone back to their respective colleges and left Daniel and Shirley alone to reacquaint themselvesâsexually and otherwiseâas husband and wife, there was a tentative knock on the door. It was on a Saturday afternoon, and Shirley was alone in the house, Daniel having gone off on some errand or other.
As she opened the door, she saw a short but curvy young woman standing on the doorstep. Streaks of tears had coursed down her face, and she looked like a little lost waif.
"May I help you?" was all Shirley could say.
The female gazed up at her. "Isâdoes Daniel Landon live here?"
"Yes," Shirley felt obliged to say. "May I askâ?"
"Are you his wife?" the woman said in a strange voice.
"Yes, I am," Shirley said tartly. "What exactly do you want? Who
are
you, anyway?"
With extreme reluctance, the woman said, "IâI'm Brenda Middleton."
Shirley froze in place, her face blank.
This is none other than my faithless husband's erstwhile mistress. The idea of her showing up here!
She now looked more carefully at her guest. Swathed as she was in a heavy winter coat, her face in a grimace of misery, Brenda still looked quite fetching. She also looked only a few years older than her twin daughters.
The young woman anticipated Shirley's objections.
"I guess you know who I am," she said. "Please don't hate me! IâI know that Daniel and I did a really bad thing, but that's all in the past! I haven't seen him for nearly a year. It's justâ Oh, God, I don't know where else to turn!"
And Brenda now began to sob, almost to wail.
"Good heavens, girl," Shirley said harshly, "what's the matter with you?"
"Myâmy boyfriend," Brenda said, staring at the ground, "he assaulted me."
Shirley heaved a huge sigh.
I suppose I am expected to extend some gender solidarity to this wretched creature.
"Oh, all right, come inside," she said.
Brenda trudged in, following the older woman like a starving kitten. But once she doffed her coat, Shirley noticed that she was anything but starving.
Brenda Middleton, whether by accident or design, was dressed in a white angora sweater that accentuated her robust chest as few other articles of clothing could. Her wool skirt clung to her wide hips and exposed thighs and calves (tightly covered in leggings) that simultaneously conveyed a sense of virginity and of ripe fertility. As she gazed at her surroundings, plopping herself on the couch without invitation, she breathed:
"God, what a big and lovely house!"
"Thank you," Shirley said shortly. "Now why don't you tell me what exactly happened."
Brenda's look of wide-eyed awe instantly gave way to a resumption of anguish as her face crumpled.
"I've been living with this guy, Tony, for a couple of months. Maybe I moved in with him too fast, before I really knew himâbut my own place wasn't very appealing, so I jumped at his invitation. He seemed nice at first, full of old-world courtesy. He's a first-generation Italian, and he seems to put all women on a pedestal. But I didn't realize what a temper he has! We got into this big fight, and heâhe hit me!" Brenda choked out a gasping sob. "I knew I couldn't stay with him anymore, so I just left. I didn't even take anything with me!"
Shirley had lowered herself onto the couch, about a foot away from Brenda. "Well, that's a pretty bad thing he did," she said, peering at the other woman's face.
I actually don't see where he hit youâmaybe there's a tiny scratch on your noseâbut I suppose I have no choice but to take your word for it.
"But, um, don't you have any other place to go? Relatives, friends?"
Brenda shook her head, her full head of blond hair tossing as if in the wind. "Not really," she said. "I'm pretty much alone out here."
When her words didn't seem to move Shirley, Brenda went on.
"Look, I know you must think I'm aâa tart or something, but I'm really not a homewrecker! Daniel and Iâwell, we just stumbled into a relationship. I knew he was married, and I didn't want to be that kind of woman! But"âand once again Brenda let out a pitiable wailâ"oh, God, I loved him! I
still
love him!"
Shirley looked at Brenda keenly. "And he loves you, I suppose?"
"I don't know. I think so. But even so, at first he didn't really want toâyou know. I mean, he spoke really highly of you!"
"Did he now?" Shirley said with immense skepticism.
"He did! I swear her did! He thought you were really smart and pretty and a good mother and lots of other nice things."