Radio and television mirror (Jan-June 1941)

Jim subsided. She told herself that she was being a fool. Jim had only been trying to be pleasant. But, no matter how she tried to think it away, that look of impudent, unashamed desire had been there. If her suspicions had needed any bearing out, Jim soon began to prove them correct. He got into the habit of dropping in at odd hours, when he knew Peg would not be at home. Once, when Kay had been pretending to be very busy, he said, "Kay, why don't you get out of all this? You don't belong in this town. You don't belong in this family." "It seems to me," Kay said, "that I belong here very much. This is my home and my family — and I love it." IIM sneered. "Who are you trying to •* convince — yourself? You're young, full of life and beauty and you're wasting your time being a housewife when you should be out doing important things." "Right now," Kay said carefully, "I can think of nothing more important than seeing that things continue to run smoothly here and that Peg and John are kept happy." The pointedness of her remark, the cold anger in her eyes, silenced him for the moment. But it didn't stop him from coming to see her. Eventually, Kay grew to dread the sound of the doorbell, knowing it was the prelude to Mattie's announcement: "It's that young Shannon again." Worse than anything else was the air of tension that was creeping into the house. Peg wasn't laughing so much any more. When she was at home, her eyes were always on Kay. And when she was away from home, Kay was never quite sure when she would come running in on some pretext and, even while she talked glibly about having forgotten her notes or needing a handkerchief, search with her eyes for cigarette stubs in the ashtrays or Jim's hat on the clothes rack. Sometimes, Jim would actually be there when Peg came in and then the girl would carry him off with her and there would be a sort of challenge in her bearing as she did it. Then, one afternoon late in August, Jim walked into the living room unannounced. Kay was busy at her accounts and Jim was the farthest thing from her thoughts. She said hello casually, told him to sit down and wait until she was. through, and promptly forgot him. Then, totally without warning, his hands were on her shoulders. His fingers were like steel, his hold on her hard and steady. Horror shuddered through her as his lips touched the back of her neck. She wrenched herself free and jumped to her feet. "Don't be a fool!" she said harshly, choking with revulsion. "I couldn't help it," Jim said. He moved closer to her. "I love you," he breathed and caught her in his arms. There was a startled gasp from the doorway and Kay whirled about. Peg was staring at them, her eyes aflame and her face a white mask. And behind her, John stood. "Kay!" John exclaimed after a long moment. Peg laughed hysterically. "That's (Continued from page 68) what I thought." "No," Kay cried. "You — you're wrong." "Don't you think I know what's been going on for weeks?" Peg flashed. "That's not true," Kay said, her heart going cold with the fear of having John misunderstand, too. John stepped into the room toward them. "Of course, there's an explanation," he said, as if to convince Peg. "There is," Jim said, stepping forward and cutting off Kay's words. His face was flushed as he said to her, "Let me tell them." He faced John. "I'm in love with Kay and I want to marry her as soon as she can get a divorce." The boldness of it shocked even Kay. Peg caught her breath in a tearing sob and ran out of the room. John's face went grey and he clenched his fists as he advanced toward Jim. "You insolent, young fool," he said in a voice that trembled with irrepressible rage. Jim stood his ground. "Why don't you ask Kay?" "Stop it!" Kay said. Stop it, both of you!" LJER tone was so full of anger that ' ' both men stared at her. And the flaring moment of murderous hatred died as they stood looking at her. She spoke first to John. "You know me better than to think I'd be a party to any such nonsense." "My loving you isn't nonsense," Jim interposed. Kay turned on him. "That's precisely what it is. And I'm sick and tired of it. I don't love you. What's more, I can conceive of no circumstances under which I could love you. You're young and callow and stupid and I'm past the age when it interests me to help someone grow up. You've got a crush on me. And you've had the nerve to come in here and cause trouble because of it. You've been presumptuous and deceitful, taking advantage of Peg to worm your way into this house, without caring whether you hurt her or not. You've made fools of us all — but you've made the biggest fool of yourself. Now, go away and think it over. I'll expect an apology from you one day." Jim's face was a burning, agonizing red. "Kay — " he began. Then, the full impact of the finality of her dismissal seemed to strike him. He whirled and hurried from the room. "Kay — darling — " John said brokenly. "I — I understand. It's all right." "No," Kay said, slumping into a chair, feeling weak and torn, her nerves crying out against the tension of the past few minutes. "No, it's all wrong and it's all my fault. I should not have been so stupid. But I was afraid to throw him out before — oh, for lots of reasons. Because I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing I paid that much attention to him, because I didn't want to spoil anything for Peg." John gathered her into his arms tenderly. "Don't," he whispered. "It isn't so bad. You've never felt Jim was quite right for Peg and now he's shown himself up. He's also shown me up," he added softly. "I should have understood — sensed all this. I see now that leaving you alone so much must have given him a lot of opportunities. Maybe, he even got the idea there was something wrong between us. How alone you've been in all this." His arms tightened about her shoulders. "Forgive me." Only the sure knowledge that Peg was up in her room, weeping with all the bitterness of despair, kept Kay from feeling that all her weeks of worry and heartbreak had not been in vain. To have John close to her like this again, to know that she could depend on his strength and his love and his trust in any emergency was worth a great deal to her. Peg's eyes were a little too bright the next morning at breakfast and she was just a little too chipper about saying that "Of course, I'm going to work. You don't think Jim Shannon could keep me away, do you?" And in the middle of the morning, Peg came home. "Just thought I'd stop in and tell you the news before the gossips get started," she said brightly, much too brightly, Kay thought. "Jim Shannon eloped with Eleanor Clark last night. Eleanor just phoned me. It's supposed to be a scoop for my column." Peg smiled a hard, brittle smile. "Oh, Peg — I'm so sorry," Kay said, her heart aching for the girl. The brave face, the flippant words seemed so much more pathetic than tears would have been. "Don't be silly," Peg said. "I think it's wonderful. They're just right for each other. Well, bye-bye now. Got to get a story." VET, Kay told herself, it might have ' been worse. It might have been Peg that Jim married. Now, at least, none of them had anything more to fear from him. And Kay was comforted. Then, at two o'clock, John came home. There was a numb, vacant look in his eyes and he walked like someone in a daze. Without saying a word, he went to Kay and held on to her as though she were the last remaining strength and support in a world crashing to ruin about them. "John — John, darling! What is it?" Kay whispered the question, her throat suddenly tight with a paralyzing presentiment. "I just resigned from the bank," John said. "Resigned!" he laughed harshly. "It was high time I got out of there — in a rut — no future — " "John!" Kay's voice was sharp. "Why? What really happened?" John looked at her as though her voice had awakened him, called him back suddenly from some far place. He shook himself and his eyes cleared. He smiled crookedly. "What happened?" he said bitterly. "Nothing. Just that Clark wanted to make room for his new son-in-law, Jim Shannon." If only, Kay thinks, Peg had never met Jim Shannon and started the chain of events that culminated in Jim's marriage to Eleanor Clark and John's loss of his job in the bank. How will she meet this new threat to her happiness? Be sure to read the next chapters of Stepmother in the February issue of Radio Mirror. COMING NEXT MONTH! WORDS AND MUSIC OF TWO LILTING WESTERN SONGS BY GENE AUTRY 70 RADIO AND TELEVISION MIRROR