The House on Willow Street by Cathy Kelly

Author:Cathy Kelly [Kelly, Cathy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9780007373611
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2012-03-01T06:44:45+00:00

The baby-making plan brought them closer together—at first. Six months down the line, and still no baby, it was a different matter.

“Maybe we should go see Dr. Kennedy?” Suki had suggested. “There’s lots of tests you can have these days and stuff you—”

“We will not go to the doctor to discuss this,” said Kyle, his nostrils flaring. For a second, he looked exactly like his father. Oddly, Suki found this a turn-on.

“Okay,” she said. “Let’s give it another few months.”

But nothing happened. Kyle started to spend nights in a different bedroom, said he couldn’t get to sleep at night, he didn’t want to wake her, but Suki knew the real reason. He couldn’t bear to make love to her any more. He could barely get an erection when he came near her. In their desire for a baby, somehow Kyle Junior had been emasculated.

She began going out on her own more, hanging out with women from her college course. Nobody on the course had any money, but Suki would buy them all drinks, cocktails. “You’re gonna love this one,” she’d say. “It’s a Long Island Iced Tea and it is fantastic.”

Carlotta, a fiery Latina on the course, wanted to write a thesis on racism and stereotyping of Hispanics in American culture. Her father had threatened to disown her. “He wants us to fit in,” she said, dark eyes flashing. “I do not want to fit in, I want to be myself. I do not want to be put into a box I need to fit.”

“Me neither,” said Suki.

“And you drink too much, Suki,” said Carlotta, “if we are being straight with the truth.”

“Yeah, thanks for telling me, honey,” Suki said. “You might drink too, if you had my life.”

“You might drink if you had my life,” countered Carlotta. “I pay for this course by cleaning houses at night. Maybe I clean yours too?”

“Oh, gimme a break, Carlotta! We’re supposed to be in this together.”

“Money separates us,” said Carlotta. “Don’t forget that, chica.”

Kyle Senior rang her up. “I want you to stop this ludicrous college course immediately,” he said. “From what I hear, it’s all rubbish about women’s rights, that tired old turkey. You’ve got plenty of rights, you don’t have to work, you’ve got money to buy clothes. What else do you want?”

“A life,” said Suki sarcastically. “A life where I’m not the Richardson family brood mare.”

“If you can’t have a baby, you’re not much of a brood mare, are you?” said Kyle Senior.

“What do you mean, if I can’t have a baby?” said Suki. “Who says it’s me? Your bloody son can’t even get it up when he sees me.”

She wondered if she’d gone too far, but Kyle Senior never shied away from plain talking.

“We’ll have to make sure he does then,” he said. “But I don’t want you going out at night with your girlfriends, going to bars. There are rumors starting, rumors about you having fun in bars. Inevitably, sooner or later somebody will pick up on the rumors and start to wonder whether you’re playing around.

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