Candy Stewart was settling into a pattern of married life with Eric, although it wasn't one she particularly enjoyed.

On the first Sunday of March, she met him at the foot of the stairs up to the choir loft. The knelt together for communion. Several other couples did something similar.

That night, she came into the bedroom in a robe but not the nightie. She took off the robe.

"Do you think I'm showing?"

"Maybe, just barely." She didn't think it was barely at all. Of course, he only saw her nude on Saturday night, and he probably had other things on his mind, then.

"Some day soon, it will be obvious even when I'm dressed. I don't know how long I can hide it."

"Well, you're a married woman. Do you really need to hide it?"

"I can tell the world I'm pregnant. I just can't tell them how long I've been pregnant. Unfortunately, you can't persuade anybody that you're showing in your second month."

"Really, the people you should tell are Carolyn's circle. After all, they can give you advice. Really, there are only so many places in the church where gossip happens. You have the choir covered. You have the college students covered, although I don't know if they gossip about people outside their little group. If you have that circle covered, you only have to worry about the other circles."

"You think I should?"

"Worry? No. Talk to the circle? I really think you should. You said you wanted a support group. That's a specially-designed support group. Now come here." She had spent a lot of time naked under his gaze, but he only kissed her belly.

Monday evening she called Carolyn. She wasn't home yet, and she left a message. Carolyn called her back.

"Remember what you told me about advice? Well, I'm going to need it. When does your circle meet?"

"Tomorrow. But why do you need Priscilla Circle?" Was she dense?

"I'm pregnant."

"Oh, that's great." Well, it wasn't all that great, but her response was better than it would have been if she had been told earlier. "But you need the Elizabeth Circle. That's the new one which the expectant women and those with toddlers have. You need to talk to Linda -- Linda Myers -- she's the chair of Elizabeth Circle, and I think that they meet the second Tuesday, but it may be the first -- so call her soon. Just a second." After a pause in which she could hear her yelling at the boys, she gave her the number.

Linda Myers was home. She accepted the news that Candy was pregnant with no comment.

"Okay. We're meeting at Sue's. The meetings are the second Tuesdays. We recently split off from another circle, and they met on Tuesdays, so we were used to that. It's at 7, or as soon after as you can make it. I'll tell Sue you're coming. You want a piece of advice?"

"Yeah." That was why she was going there, to get advice.

"Bring a pen and a large piece of paper with you. We'll be sitting in sort of a circle. Take down the names as we introduce ourselves. Write them in sort of a diagram of where we are seated. The rest of us know each other. Then, for the first meeting, you have a cheat sheet for who is who. Maybe you don't need it, but I did."

"Thanks."

"You're the blonde who married Eric, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I know you then, and I'll introduce myself if we're both in church Sunday. Maybe Sue, too. I was sort of new to the church when I joined Priscilla Circle, but lots of the girls had been there forever and knew everybody. Hold on a sec, and I'll get Sue's address." She did.

Sunday, Linda did come up after service. Sue, unfortunately, wasn't there. On their way home, Eric drove her past the address Linda had given her before going home. That put the route in her mind. Tuesday, she got to Sue's place and introduced herself a few minutes after 7:00. She was the 4th one there, including Sue. She followed Linda's advice, and nobody thought it odd. People trickled in, with Linda coming fairly soon after she did.

"Grace," one woman introduced herself when she sat down next to Candy.

"Candy."

"Weren't you the most recent wedding in the church?"

"Yeah."

"Boy, you guys don't waste any time, do you? It took John and me more than a year. You were really fast off the block." Candy was saved from saying anything by a new arrival. This was Debbie, and she brought an infant.

There were 8 other women present when Linda looked around.

"Okay. It's nearly 7:15. First order of business is for us to go around and give our names because one of us is new." They did, with only first names being given.

Clockwise starting with her, they were: Candy, Maureen, Debbie, Linda, Martha, Betty, Sue, Gwen, and Grace.

"I'm due May 15th," Grace said. "When are you due?" Well, it was a natural question in this group. Anyway, a lie wouldn't last long.

"August. Early August."

"Oops. You guys weren't fast off the block. You were just a little slow planning the wedding." By this time, everybody was looking at her. Well, coming here might have been a mistake, but it was an already-made decision.

"Look. Here's what happened. I was raped at school. I told Prof. Pierce -- Carolyn -- and she persuaded me to tell Eric. When I found out I was pregnant, he proposed. The wedding didn't take all that long to plan, but it was later than would have been convenient."

"God!" said Debbie. "Poor girl. I will say, though, that this is the most romantic thing I've ever heard about Eric Stewart."

"It is the only romantic thing I have ever heard about Eric," said Maureen. "And I sang in the choir beside him for years before I got too big for the stairs up to the loft."

There were other remarks of sympathy around the room. Nobody seemed to think she was too soiled by the experience to be in the group.

"Well," Linda said, "we're here for each other, and you're one of us now. That means that we'll be here for you. I'll just remind everybody that what is said in this room doesn't leave this room."

"In light of that," said Betty, "where is Ned?"

"He's got papers to grade," said Sue. "He won't come back from his office until 9."

"Okay. I'm getting too big. I'm afraid Bruce will squeeze the baby when he's on top. Do I go without for four months? I don't want to, and I don't want to give Bruce reason to roam."

"You need to use rear-entry," said Linda.

"You lie on your left side," said Maureen, "and he lies behind you on his left side. He goes into the usual place -- don't let him think he's going to get into your ass. His arm goes around you, and he gets you off with his fingers."

"Some of us don't mind the other place," said Grace.

"But this would be a hell of a time to start," Gwen said. "Tell me, is Bruce right handed?"

"Yeah."

"Then Maureen is probably right about -- correct about -- lying on your left side. You want his best hand to be playing with your pussy, and the only way for him to reach you is over the top. Jim used to complain about his arm going to sleep when he had his right hand on my tit. Mind you, he only complained afterwards. Before he got off, he was happy to have me lying on his arm just so he could get a feel. But, yeah, you want him to understand that his job is to get you off by his fingers."

There was more discussion, but not much of it would be useful to Candy before the baby was born. At the end of the meeting, one woman gave a brief "devotion" out of Daily Word. They set the next meeting place and went home.

She started to know some people at church, though. Joan and Claire were first, well, Prof. Pierce had been first. Elizabeth Circle soon followed. Occasionally, one of the members came up with another woman who hadn't been at the meeting and introduced her. The first Sunday she wore maternity clothes, a woman who came up the stairs from the choir-robing room just after Eric came over to her.

"Gladys," she said. "I was at the reception, but you don't remember. Anyway, I see you're expecting. Have you heard about Elizabeth Circle?"

"Yeah. I've been attending."

"Good. Those guys can tell you all the up-to-date advice. Carolyn asked me, sometimes, and my second had her own by then. I sing in the choir with Eric." After that, Gladys made a habit of introducing one of the choir members or a couple each Sunday.

The same Sunday that Gladys came up to her, Bill Pierce came over while the boys were with Carolyn. He looked at her dress.

"Is this an announcement?"

"Apparently." She had feared that it was obvious before, but nobody had made any comments.

"Why, that's wonderful." The twins came running over, and Bill caught their hands. "Now, you be careful of Aunt Candy, now. Don't jostle her."

"Would you mind if I went back to brown hair?" She asked Eric on the way home. Somehow, what she thought she was when she turned blonde wasn't what she was starting to be. Still, Eric had never seen her with brown hair, and now she was fat, too -- not at all the girl he had married.

"No. That would be fine. Are you thinking of that?"

"Yeah. A bottle-blonde co-ed is one thing. A bottle-blonde mother is something else."

"Well, when you do, I want a picture of you." That was a puzzling response. She couldn't figure out what one had to do with the other. Maybe he had been wanting a photo for some time and decided to get one that looked like she would look in the future, hut he had never mentioned wanting a picture before.

Anyway, the next time her roots began showing, she went to an Evanston beauty parlor, having asked in Elizabeth Circle for suggestions. They died her hair very near the color of her roots and gave her a cut and a new, simpler style.

"Looks great," Eric said when he saw her. "Did you get that photo?"

"No."

"When you do, let me have a couple of small prints." That wasn't much to ask, and she found a photo booth which took a few poses. He put one snap in his wallet. She waited for him to tell her what he did with the other. When he didn't tell her, she finally asked. "I put it in a stand on my desk at work." he said. "It's something that married guys in the office mostly do."

He took her out to a movie every Tuesday except when the circle met. They had sex every Saturday. One Saturday evening, he was kissing her swelling belly when he asked her: "Are you sure this isn't going to hurt him?" She'd been thinking about asking for something different since the first meeting that she had attended of Elizabeth Circle.

"Well, there is another way. Look, I'm not rejecting you if I turn away, okay? When I'm ready for you to come in, then I'm giving you another way to come in, come in to the same place." She didn't want him thinking of sticking it up her butt, even though she doubted that Eric would.

"Now?"

"When I'm ready -- when you've made me ready." And he was, really, good at arousing her. He was careful not to move on top of her until she was panting, which just made it more frustrating when she didn't reach a climax. Anyway, all the discussion had lowered her level of arousal, and Eric went about it again. He kissed her right boob and then her left one. His hand kept stroking her clit. She lay back and enjoyed the sensations. When she felt that she was very close she rolled on her left side.

"Stay there," she said. "I'll come back to you." She scooted back until her butt was touching him. "Okay." He turned on his side -- she didn't need to move back as far as she had; she'd remember that -- and fumbled at her labia. Well, at least he wasn't trying the other hole. She raised her right leg, and he got in. She grabbed his hand and moved it around in front of her. When he reached her clit, she lowered her leg again. "Can you move your finger when my leg's like this?"

"Sure," he said. He began to stroke her again. With all the talking and maneuvering, her arousal had been on a see-saw. This time, as it rose, it continued upwards. She held her hand over his, as his finger gave her more pleasure than hers usually did. He began to move in and out from behind her, and that was arousing, too.

"Oh," she said as her climax hit her.

"Oh, Candy!" He moved in and out more rapidly, and that extended her climax. He pushed against her strongly, and she felt his twitch within her weak, final contraction. They lay together, more together, really, than they had been in the rest of their short relationship. His hand fell limp over her waist. As her breathing slowed, she took it in her hand and moved it to her right boob.

"Oh, Candy, I love you."

"I love you, too." Strangely, enough, she really did. If it wasn't the feeling she'd had once for Tom, it felt like a feeling that would last longer. "Can you get the covers?" she asked after she felt him slip out. He got them and tucked her in. It was sweet, unnecessary but sweet. Eric was sweet, and he was necessary, too. She stayed on her side, but he turned on his back to go to sleep. She had some thinking to do before she slept.

This had been the first climax she had ever experienced during intercourse. She couldn't tell him that, though. She couldn't tell Linda, either, which meant that she couldn't thank Linda for the advice. She had so much gratitude, and she couldn't express any of it.