Shock Therapy

When Nick felt as though he had regained the power of speech, he said, "Ex-wife, Kelly. Ex-wife."

The shake of her head took him by surprise. "No," she said simply and quietly. "There was no divorce, no annulment. We're still married, Nick."

That made him reel. Oh, hell. With everything that had gone on in the past eighteen months, Nick hadn't even thought about that. Had just assumed Pete had taken care of it, the way he had so many other things.

It wasn't that he didn't care about Kelly. He'd just been so caught up, so brought down, by so many other things. And their marriage had been out of the blue, one of those quickie weddings that weren't at all rare in the entertainment world.

This rocked the quiet serenity that he'd been slowly getting used to over the past couple of weeks. Nick was a little dizzy.

"Nick?" She took a step toward him, holding out one hand to lay it on his arm. "Nick- Are you okay? Oh, geez, I didn't come here to cause more trouble for you- Maybe you should sit down."

The feeling of Kelly's hand on his bare arm brought back some warm--very warm--memories. Memories of physical pleasures that he hadn't enjoyed since he'd gone into the hospital eighteen months ago. Nick had been too busy getting rid of the demons that plagued him--too busy trying to reclaim some sort of sanity in his life--to worry about sex and women for a long while. But Kelly's touch and her nearness to him gave him a very potent reminder. So potent that he was immediately embarrassed by the reaction of his body!

In something of a daze, he allowed her to lead him to the porch (the place where he'd sat all night the first night trying to work up the courage to go in, he reminded himself) and sit down on the top step alongside him. Immediately, she jumped up again.

"I'll get you some water." Kelly had disappeared into his new house before he had time to even speak. A few minutes later, she was back with two glasses of water.

Handing Nick his, she sat down again. Sipping from her own glass, she said quietly, "I guess this is a big shock. No, I know it must be."

"Hell, yeah." Again, Nick was unable to keep the harshness out of his voice, and again he regretted it. "I'm sorry, Kelly. It's just- Pete told me he took care of everything."

"He tried." Kelly fixed her blue eyes on Nick's and said firmly, "I told him I didn't want a divorce. Or an annulment."

"Why the hell not, Kelly?" Nick Russell truly did not understand this conversation. "I would have given you--or Pete would have given you--plenty of money. Whatever you wanted."

Her solemn eyes still fixed on his and her hand on his arm again, Kelly told him, "What I wanted- What I still want- Is just to be your wife, Nick."