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  Without exchanging a word, without so much as a raised eyebrow of communication, they turned toward the house. The door was barely closed before their clothes were on the floor and their hands were clutching at each other’s bodies. They didn’t leave the house again for two days.

  Their idyll ended on the eighth day when Mrs. Beasley, the town gossip, walked into the bedroom and saw Jackie and William in bed together.

  Chapter Ten

  William and Jackie were alone in the house, sitting together on the sofa in the living room. Or perhaps “together” wasn’t the right word, since Jackie was perched at one end, as far away from William as possible. This morning, the town snoop, who prided herself on having no idea what a closed door meant, had walked into their bedroom. No doubt she had felt it was her duty to see exactly what was going on way out there in that ghost town, so she’d put on her best hat and made up an excuse to borrow something from Jackie. Which of course was absurd since Mrs. Beasley lived much nearer the stores, as well as other neighbors, than Jackie did.

  But she’d seen what she’d hoped to see: something to satisfy her hunger for gossip. She had scurried out the door and sped away in her little car so fast William couldn’t get into his trousers and catch her before she left. It had always been a town joke that the fastest runner in the world was a Beasley girl with a hot piece of gossip.

  So now everything that Jackie had not wanted to happen in Chandler had. She had wanted to become respectable, to prove to the townspeople that she wasn’t fast or easy, that she deserved a place in their town. For once in her life, she’d wanted to conform, not be an outsider. But this morning Mrs. Beasley had ruined her one chance. Now she was going to have to go into town and see people’s eyes shift to one side when they saw her. She was going to know that they were repeating every story ever passed around about her.

  William didn’t want to leave, but Jackie begged him to go to Denver for a few days. “I need to face this alone,” she said, referring to the people of Chandler.

  “Face what alone, Jackie? What is there to face? Do you think we’re the first people in this town to have gone to bed together before marriage? Half the children of this town are politely called ‘premature’ because they were born six months after the wedding.”

  She wasn’t going to answer him, because he knew as well as she did that the two of them were not an ordinary couple.

  When she didn’t respond, he turned and left the room, moments later reappearing with his suitcases. He started to take her in his arms, but she held him away. With a hardened jaw, he picked up his luggage. “I’ll be back in three days,” he said, then left the house.

  Jackie didn’t have to wait long for the sky to open up. It opened in the form of Terri, her face angry, her body rigid as she stalked toward the house, ready to do battle.

  “Is it true?” she asked as soon as Jackie opened the door, not even bothering with conventional greetings.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jackie said, trying to keep her dignity. Why did people always think they should talk to you “for your own good”? “Would you like some tea?”

  “No, I don’t want any tea. What I want is to try to talk some sense into you. You aren’t thinking of marrying this…this child, are you?”

  Jackie gave a great sigh. “William is not a child. He is a full-grown man.”

  To her consternation, Terri collapsed on the sofa in tears. Jackie had not expected this. She had expected outrage and anger from her friend, but not tears. Jackie went to her, put her arm around her shoulders. “Talk to me.”

  “No,” Terri said, “you don’t want to talk. Do you know how much you mean to me, Jackie? Do you have any idea how important you are to my life?”

  Unfortunately, Jackie did have an idea how much she meant to Terri. She couldn’t be oblivious to those dreadful sons of hers; she’d heard talk of Terri’s husband, who couldn’t hold a job. A couple of times in town Jackie had seen Terri unaware, had seen the misery on her face; it was not a face that she showed to Jackie.

  “Yes,” Jackie said, handing Terri several tissues. “I think I know.”

  “You are my idol. You are the idol of lots of women in America. You aren’t just someone ordinary like me. You’re special.”

  Yes, Jackie thought, and that was one of the major problems of her life. She had wanted to fly airplanes, but she’d never wanted to be a celebrity.

  Terri looked at her. “Are you going to marry him?”

  “I…I don’t know.”

  “Then he has asked you?”

  Jackie didn’t answer, which was all the answer Terri needed.

  “Have you thought this through?”

  “Yes, of course I have. I’ve thought about everything. There’s nothing you can say that I haven’t run through my head a thousand times.”

  “Have you thought of always looking older than he does? Younger women will makes plays for him, and when they see you they’ll say, ‘Your wife is old.’ It’s better to be younger and prettier than the man.”

  It was as though Terri were parroting Jackie’s own thoughts. She had played devil’s advocate with herself a thousand times. “Age compatibility is not a guarantee of happiness,” she said tiredly, but her bored tone didn’t stop Terri from continuing, while blowing her nose in the tissues.

  “All your friends will treat him like a boy, not like a man. You’ll be talking about things that happened in your life that he won’t remember because they happened before he learned to walk.”

  Jackie hadn’t wanted to get involved in this, but already Terri was beginning to make her angry. “Why is age a consideration when the woman is older but not when the man is? Does a man who is in love with a younger woman worry that he’s going to be talking about things that happened before she was born? Or does he laugh and pat her on the fanny and say something like ‘Now, honey, you go on back to the kitchen and let us grown-up men do the talkin’?’ Are you saying that that sort of thing is good? That is to be encouraged?”

  Terri didn’t answer. She must have been formulating these questions for the past day and a half, ever since she’d heard about what Mrs. Beasley had seen. “How can he take care of you? You’re a grown woman.”

  “If he were marrying a twenty-four-year-old woman, no one would question a twenty-eight-year-old man’s ability to take care of her,” Jackie said. “No one would question that he was a man. Why is he reduced to being a child just because his wife is older than he is?” Jackie was beginning to warm to the subject. “And while we’re at it, I’d like to know what needs a twenty-four-year-old girl has that I don’t. Companionship? A man who takes responsibility for a wife and maybe children? Sex? Being there when I need him? What does a younger woman need that I don’t?”

  Terri gave her a look of pity. “It’s a matter of wisdom. In thirty-eight years, I hope you have learned more than he has. Think how stupid and immature you were at twenty-eight. Think what you’ve learned about life since then.”

  Jackie threw up her hands in exasperation. “You know what I’ve learned in my lifetime? I’ve learned that I don’t want to spend any more of my life with a man who sets himself up as some sort of demigod to me. Charley wasn’t just my husband; he was a dictator. He made all the rules; he knew everything.”

  “But that’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Terri practically shouted, frustrated and frightened. She knew very well how horrible marriage could be, and she wanted to save her friend from a misfortune she could foresee as clearly as though she had a crystal ball.

  “Who made that rule?” Jackie snapped back, but then tried to calm herself. She knew that Terri had nothing but the best intentions toward her. Terri thought that Jackie was making a horrible mistake, and she was trying to prevent that mistake. “Who says the husband has to be a teacher and instructor to the wife? Why can’t the two of them be equal? William and I are equal. He knows about home and family and stability. I know about excitement and impulsiveness and