Megan refused to talk to or to even acknowledge her mother the next morning. The team ate breakfast as a group and boarded the buses for the return trip. She looked like she had been crying and Maggie suspected she knew what had happened but she was afraid to pursue the matter.
Roberto rode back in the other bus and Maggie sat alone near the back. She wasn't sure she knew how it happened but she couldn't deny that it did. Her lack of sleep and the aspirins she took to relieve her headache combined with the droning and swaying of the bus soon put her to sleep and she didn't awake until the bus pulled into the school where their cars were parked.
Jessica was the only one who talked on the ride home from the school. She went on about how much fun she had with the three girls who shared her room the night before. Megan didn't comment except to make a sound of disgust when Jessica said some boys they met in the lobby wanted to come up and see their room.
"I wonder where your father is?" Maggie said as they pulled into the driveway and realized Marvin's car wasn't there.
Megan grabbed her bag and rushed into the house leaving Jessica and Maggie to unload their own clothes and the bag of towels. Maggie unpacked her suitcase and piled her dirty clothes into the hamper in the bathroom. She was putting her new lingerie set into her delicates bag when Megan stomped into her bathroom.
"Did you wear that for Roberto?" she screamed at her mother. "Did he like your sexy underwear? Did he, did he?"
Maggie froze with fright at Megan's accusation.
"Megan! You stop that right now! What are you talking about?"
"I saw him! I saw him going into your room last night! Don't you try to deny it! I saw him! How could you mother, how could you?" she said and broke down into racking sobs.
"Stop screaming and calm down," Maggie said in a soothing voice. "Nothing happened. He needed some aspirin, that's all."
"Mother!" she accused between hiccupping sobs. "My room was right across the hall and I saw you open the door to him. I was getting some more ice for Laura's ankle and I saw you!"
Maggie's voice was shaking, "I said he needed some aspirin. That's all!"
"I stayed awake all night watching and he didn't come out until six o'clock this morning! You were fucking him! Weren't you?" she screamed.
"Megan Marie! Don't you dare use that kind of language in front of me! Now calm down!"
Maggie's voice was now panicky as she tried to defuse the situation.
"No! I won't calm down! You're disgusting! What are you going to tell daddy?"
Both were shouting at each other now.
"I'm not going to tell him anything because nothing happened! Now go unpack. We'll talk later."
Jessica's voice came from the bedroom, "What's all the yelling about in here? Why are you two fighting?"
Megan stomped past her and slammed the door to her room.
"It's alright, honey," Maggie said, closing the bathroom door. "I'll be out in a minute."
Maggie leaned back against the door and stood there in shock. She had no idea that anyone had seen him in her room last night. It was entirely her fault. She had let him in knowing what would happen.
Marvin stood in the darkness with his forehead pressed against the rough wooden stud of the common wall between his playroom and the master bathroom. He had heard the girls coming home and was cleaning up his model airplane project when the shouting started. Turning the light off in his room he listened to the argument and the accusations while watching his daughter and his wife through the razor blade slot in the back of the cabinet.
He didn't want to believe what he was hearing but Megan's accusation was too logical to be a lie.
"Why would she lie?" he questioned himself. "Maggie is screwing around on me and who the hell is Roberto?"
Peeking back through the slot he watched as Maggie finished sorting her underwear and stuffing it into the net bag. He didn't recognize some of it and Megan's charges came back to him.
"Did you wear that for Roberto?"
The tears in his eyes made focusing difficult but he forced himself to spy on his wife. He watched as Maggie took something out of her overnight bag and put it into the cosmetic bag she used when she traveled. After placing the bag in the bottom drawer on her side of the vanity she turned on the shower and finished undressing.
Even though he was in emotional pain, Marvin felt himself getting excited as he peeped at his wife. His rising excitement suddenly came to a halt when she pushed her panties down her legs and lifting them with the toe of one foot she took them with her hand.
The sound of the rushing shower water covered Marvin's gasp when he saw that her pubes were completely shaved.
"She must have done that last night!" he muttered under his breath and continued to watch as she carefully inspected the crotch of her panties before placing them in the bag.
Examining herself in the mirror she ran her hand over her smoothly shaven crotch and he thought she actually allowed a finger to part her vaginal lips in what looked like a caress before stepping into the shower and sliding the door closed.
The house was silent when Marvin came into the house through the door between the garage and the kitchen. Jessica was watching television and Megan was nowhere to be seen. He had just reached the bottom of the stairs when Maggie came out of their bedroom and started down.
"Where were you?" she asked without first greeting him. "We just got home a little while ago."
Marvin watched carefully as she stopped one step above him and moved to kiss him.
"I was down at the hobby shop getting some airplane stuff," he lied and ignoring the offered kiss he continued up the steps.
"On Sunday?" she asked looking up at him.
"Yeah! They open on Sunday anymore," he replied and went into their bedroom.
Maggie's mind was already in a turmoil and his refusal to kiss her sparked another panicky reaction.
"What's wrong with him? He couldn't know anything! Megan didn't have time to tell him anything! Maybe someone else saw us and called him! No! I'm just imagining things. Now don't get spooky girl. Everything will be OK. Remember, no harm, no foul."
Marvin started searching. He found Maggie's cosmetic bag and in it he found a disk of birth control pills with more than two weeks worth of pills already used and a box of a dozen condoms with four missing. The label on the birth control pack was from a pharmacy over near the college and it was made out to Maggie with Dr. Marvin L. Phillips as the prescribing physician. There were zero refills remaining on the forged prescription for a two-months supply but the date of the prescription was only three weeks ago so she still had over a month's supply left.
Tears were flowing down Marvin's cheeks as he considered the evidence he was holding in his hand. A thousand unanswerable questions flowed through his mind like a torrent of water rushing through a gorge.
"How long has this been going on? Who is he? At least she is practicing safe sex? If she is using birth control pills why does she need condoms? It takes one complete cycle and maybe she just started taking them and they haven't taken effect yet? My God! I've been having sex with her! What if she has a disease? Tests! I'll have to get tested right away!"
