“No,” said Saul.
“Why not?” Mary asked.
I looked at him and smiled. I thought I knew what was coming.
“Understand, Sigrid and Tom, I´d love to have her with us. I like you a lot, Sigrid, you´re great looking and I think you´ll be a terrific lover. But you´ve overlooked something.”
“What, Saul?” Tom asked. “I thought we´d thought of everything.”
“Sigrid gets to fulfill her promise to be a virgin until she marries by marrying you. That´s cool. It meets her religious or moral needs. But you forget something. I´m a practicing Jew, even though not very observant. And there´s the Seventh Commandment: ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery´. Sleeping with Sigrid would be committing adultery for me, any way you slice it... No.”
Through all of this, Sigrid hadn´t batted an eyelash. I said, “Sigrid, do you have an ace up your sleeve? You didn´t react at all when Saul said ‘No´.”
“I don´t know, Anne. I don´t have any trick, if that´s what you mean. But, Saul, I did think you might object on just those grounds. Here´s my idea....”