Thanks to those of you that continue to read and review. I love your speculation! To those that have threatened to quit reading if I marry Sookie to Bill, please remember, this is an Eric/Sookie story! Hope you continue to enjoy where this goes...

That afternoon, we went out for lunch with Lorena. I had a few things I wanted to ask her about, namely trying to figure out if she had any knowledge of Bill's involvement in the abduction attempt.

"Was Bill married before?" I asked, once we'd been seated. I tried unsuccessfully for casual, given how Amelia's head shot up from the menu she'd been perusing. She was clearly confused by my seemingly out of nowhere question. Lorena, on the other hand, looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"I've always felt too shy to ask Bill about his past, and now that we're about to be married... You've known him for so long, I thought maybe you'd be able to tell me about him," I said with an apologetic smile. I looked between the two women as innocently as possible.

"Oh, well," Lorena stuttered. "Yes... I thought you knew."

"No, actually," I answered. "I guess it just sort of occurred to me that he was a bit older when we were betrothed."

Amelia was definitely intrigued. "What happened?" she asked. "Did they divorce?"

Lorena looked uncomfortable, uncertain what she should reveal. "She uh... she passed away," she said softly. "It was terribly sad." She looked rather unhappy herself.

"She died?" I asked. "How?"

"It was really awful," Lorena explained. "Bill had gone away for work, and Pam was home alone."

"Pam? Was that her name?" I asked.

"Yes, Pamela Northman." That must have been Eric's sister.

"Someone broke into the house, they think she caught them in the act."

"Oh." Amelia's eyes were wide as saucers.

"How terrible," I said.

"It was," Lorena agreed. Her eyes glittered with tears. "Especially since..." She censured herself.

"Especially since what?" Amelia asked. Sometimes I loved that my best friend had no ability to discern when other people were uncomfortable talking about a subject.

"She was pregnant."

Amelia glanced at me, gauging my reaction. "Poor Bill," she said.

"Yeah," I added. Poor Bill indeed. What about poor Pam?

"He didn't take it well at all," Lorena admitted.

"I wouldn't imagine so," I commented.

She glanced up at me. "No, I mean, I guess there isn't any one way a person can react to their spouse's death... but he just didn't act like anyone I'd ever heard of."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, I'd just lost my own husband a few months prior," she breathed. "We weren't a love match, but I was still shocked."

I nodded for her to continue.

"But Bill was just, it wasn't denial - that would mean he was refusing to deal with her death. More like, he acted as if he'd never been married... like nothing had happened. It was really uncomfortable for everyone for a while."

"She was thrilled to be having a baby," she continued. "I was so jealous."

I took Lorena's hand in mine and squeezed it gently. "You'd been trying?"

She nodded. "I'd love to be a mother of course, but at the time... it was one of the conditions of my pre-nuptial agreement. I wouldn't get any spousal support if we hadn't had children. When my husband was killed I was left without any financial assistance. It all reverted back to his family. I had to marry again quickly. It was hard enough going through the whole arranged marriage once... let alone a second time."

Judging by her reaction, if Bill had arranged for his wife to be killed so he could be with Lorena, I don't think that she knew it, or had anything to do with it. I gulped. Bill had killed Pam to be with Lorena, and she wouldn't have been able to be with him anyhow. The whole story was terrible. "Are you still trying?"

"No," she said. "This marriage doesn't have the same stipulations."

I wondered if Bill knew that.

"How is your marriage, may I ask?"

Lorena looked sad, tears welling up in her eyes.

"We're separating."

"I'm sorry."

"He cheated," she revealed.

"That's awful," I offered.

"How did you find out?" Amelia asked.

"Someone sent me pictures," Lorena said.

"Who? A jilted husband?" I had a pretty good idea who would send them, the only person who would benefit from Lorena's divorce.

"I honestly have no idea who it was, I guess I should thank them." Lorena shrugged. "It wasn't a husband though... I know that much. The woman was a prostitute."

Amelia looked scandalized while I feigned shock.

"He says he was set up," Lorena spat. "He was off on a boy's weekend with Bill and some of their old friends from the military."

I was willing to bet I knew exactly where they'd gone for the weekend. I'd even go as far as wagering that I'd been there myself.

"It really is," she said, wiping her eyes. "At least this time there was a provision in the agreement that if he was unfaithful, he had to pay a hefty penalty. There was no way my father was letting me get caught with nothing from this marriage."

It made sense, after being burned the first time, her father would want to make sure he wasn't putting his daughter through an endless parade of marriages that didn't make him any money either.

"I'm so sorry," I said.

"The worst part is, I actually liked this one," she admitted. "Bill had been warning me he was no good, but I just didn't want to listen."

Of course Bill thought he was no good, he was stealing away his would-be wife!

~0~

"Can you believe it?" Amelia remarked later, when we were alone. "Bill was married!"

"It's crazy."

"His family didn't tell you?"

"If they mentioned it to my parents, they never told me," I assured her.

"That's messed up."

Yep. That wasn't the half of it, I thought.

"And she was pregnant," Amelia continued. "Bill must have been so upset, especially if he went all crazy after, acting like he'd never been married in the first place."

Yeah, upset was one way of describing it. No wonder Eric had gotten suspicious about his sister's death.

"What made you ask Lorena about that anyway?"

"I don't know... I just thought it was strange that Bill was so much older when we were engaged. Not that 23 is old..." I said. "Did you know on New Orleans there are strict rules about procreation?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, the woman has to be 21, and the couple has to have been married for at least three years before they register for parental rights," I explained. I guess they thought that increased the likelihood of a family staying together and producing a successful family unit. Personally, I'm opposed to the government having much say in my reproductive rights, but I can't say I'm not relieved that I won't be obliged to have children right away. I know my mother and Bill's expect a pregnancy as soon as possible.

"That's so weird," Amelia laughed. "You know, on JB's planet, he and Tara were supposed to conceive on their wedding night!" Tara had been our first friend from school to marry. It had been a love match, but still, having a kid within the first year of marriage - it seemed a little much.

"I'm so glad I don't live on Monroe," I agreed. "I don't even want to have kids with Bill in three years... I want to finish my studies."

"Maybe Bill will be more supportive than your folks," Amelia offered.

Somehow, I doubted it.

~X~