"My son?" Leslie gasped. "Whatever are you talking about?"

"That little boy over there." Janet nodded to where Louisa was sitting with her friend and son. "He ran up to me just a few minutes ago. He's the spitting image of you!"

Leslie looked at the group. "I've never seen him before in my life!"

"What about his mother?"

"I don't know either of those women, Janet. What's this all about?"

Janet sighed. "Beatrice told me you were involved with a woman named Louisa several years ago, and I know that little boy's mother is named Louisa because I heard her friend call her that."

Leslie didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed, and in the end he laughed. "There are probably thousands of women named Louisa in London. I dated one of them several years ago, and things were good at first, but after awhile, she became so controlling and possessive that I had no choice but to break it off with her. When I did, she told me she was pregnant. I said I would pay for the abortion if she wanted one, and if she didn't, I'd pay child support until the child was grown. When I refused to marry her, she confessed that she'd lied about being pregnant. Later I heard she'd attempted suicide. I hope she eventually got the help she needed."

"Whew!" Janet felt herself go limp with relief. Leslie smiled. "You were really worried, weren't you?"

"Yes! When I saw how much that little boy looked like you, and then heard that his mother's name was Louisa - "

"Janet, I promise you, I would never abandon my responsibilities. I'm not that kind of man."

"I know." Janet sighed. "I never should have doubted you and jumped to conclusions like that."

"You and your flatmates - your former flatmates, rather - are quite good at that, aren't you?"

"At what?"

"Jumping to conclusions. Whatever the situation is, you tend to assume the worst about it. The three of you have the most overactive imaginations of anyone I've ever known."

"I guess you're right. I've never really thought of it that way before. I'm sorry, Leslie. We've been married less than a week, and I'm already accusing you of things you haven't done."

Leslie patted her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "It's quite all right. We both have to get used to being married, and there are bound to be some rough patches along the way."

She gave him a grateful smile.

The rest of that week flew by quickly, and Saturday morning, Nicola arrived in her little white Escort with several bags of dirty laundry. Leslie and Janet were just finishing breakfast when she entered the house. Janet saw that she was a petite, slender blonde, that in fact, she bore more than a passing resemblance to Chrissy's cousin Cindy. Janet almost expected her to walk right into the wall, or stumble over something.

She and Janet saw one another at the same time. Her mouth formed a round 'O' of surprise, but then she smiled and extended her hand. "Hi, you must be Janet. I'm Nicola."

"Nice to meet you." Janet shook Nicola's hand.

"Nice to meet you, too." Nicola collected her laundry bags and then disappeared into the utility room.

"She seems nice," Janet commented.

"She is, but she also has a vicious temper. You wouldn't want to be around her when she's angry."

Janet and Leslie finished breakfast and then moved into the living room. After Nicola had loaded the washing machine, she joined them.

"So how was uni this week?" Leslie asked her.

"Horrid!" Nicola rolled her eyes. "Professor Smythe didn't even cover half the rubbish that was on the exam in his lecture! No wonder only three students passed! After I let him know exactly how I felt about it, he promised to give credit for the material we weren't responsible for knowing. I swear, if this class weren't required for my major, I'd withdraw from it so fast his head would spin!"

"What is your major?" asked Janet.

"Primary education. I'm still required to take statistics, unfortunately." She grimaced. "Would you like to go to the pub after dinner? Some of my friends will be there. It'll be a blast!"

"That sounds like fun," Janet agreed.

After dinner that night, she, Leslie and Nicola walked around the corner to the pub. As soon as they entered, two young men and a young woman waved them over to their table.

"Everybody, this is my new sister-in-law, Janet," Nicola told them. "Janet, meet Malcolm, Sid, and Jackie." Sid's hair had been dyed a brilliant red, and he wore it in a Mohawk.

Janet greeted Nicola's friends, and then the trio sat down. "This reminds me a lot of the Regal Beagle at home," Janet remarked. The group chatted and drank their drinks of choice - fizzy lemonade for Janet and beer for the others - and when a romantic ballad began to play, they all got up to dance: Leslie with Janet, Sid with Jackie, and Malcolm with Nicola. Janet watched Nicola dancing with her head on Malcolm's shoulder, and it made her think of the first time she'd danced with Leslie.

"I think your sister likes Malcolm," she whispered to her husband.

"He fancies her as well," Leslie whispered back. "Malc's a good bloke. I've known him for awhile. My parents have met him, too."

After a few minutes, the group returned to their table. Janet found the fizzy lemonade so delicious that she drank one after another, and when it was time to go home, she stood and discovered that she could hardly walk at all. Leslie had to help her as she stumbled along, and when they reached the house, she fell into bed with an ungraceful plop.

Sometime during the night, she got up and went to the bathroom to throw up. When she was finished, she washed her face and returned to bed, where Leslie put his arms around her and held her.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I didn't mean to drink so much. I don't know how it happened."

Leslie chuckled. "It's quite all right. You're simply not used it it, is all. You're bound to have a terrible headache in the morning, but I'm sure you'll be fine."