As ten-year-old Marly Colone stands in front of her tiny, four-room house in a small Illinois town in the autumn of 1966, she takes one look at the dark-haired, handsome stranger walking toward her on the sidewalk and knows. He is her destiny, and nothing will change her mind. She has just found the man she will marry. Her beloved father had died abruptly the previous spring, propelling Marly from the innocence of childhood into the uncertain, often tumultuous world of a blended family after her mother remarries. In a bizarre twist of fate, Marly comes face-to-face once again with her soulmate, Johnny, who happens to be her new stepbrother-and twelve years her senior. Determined to do anything to make Johnny notice her, the love-starved Marly embarks down a dangerous path, desperate to replace her father with a man who happens to share many of the same mannerisms. Lost in the murky world between adolescence and adulthood, Marly has no doubt she has claimed her destiny. Dirty Laundry is a tale of forbidden love as a young girl desperately searches for validation and affection in an unlikely place.

Dirty Laundry

By Marilyn Slagel

Abbott Press

Copyright © 2012 Marilyn Slagel
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4582-0656-5

Contents

Acknowledgments...................................................................xiPart 1: Love's Beginnings.........................................................1Chapter 1: Marly Meets Destiny....................................................2Chapter 2: Summer Flip-Flop.......................................................4Chapter 3: Here Comes the Laundry.................................................6Chapter 4: Mom Marries Eddie......................................................9Chapter 5: Three Females, Three Males.............................................13Chapter 6: Best Friends...........................................................16Chapter 7: Johnny.................................................................18Chapter 8: Dinner for Six.........................................................19Chapter 9: Campaign Overhaul......................................................21Chapter 10: Miss Me, Johnny?......................................................24Chapter 11: Psychology 101........................................................27Chapter 12: Those Hot Summer Nights...............................................28Chapter 13: Junior High (Please, God, Don't Make Me Do This!).....................32Chapter 14: Live and Learn........................................................40Chapter 15: Sex, the Dirty Word...................................................42Part 2: High School...............................................................45Chapter 16: George and Drew.......................................................46Chapter 17: The Freshman..........................................................54Chapter 18: Marly Meets Mike......................................................56Chapter 19: A Drink or a Joint?...................................................58Chapter 20: Will You Marry Me?....................................................62Chapter 21: The Engagement........................................................66Part 3: Together and Apart........................................................69Chapter 22: Marly and Mike Marry..................................................70Chapter 23: Babies Times Two......................................................73Chapter 24: Tom's Wedding.........................................................76Chapter 25: The Affair............................................................81Chapter 26: Time Marches On.......................................................88Chapter 27: Johnny and Lisa Lou...................................................90Part 4: Divorced..................................................................95Chapter 28: Johnny Goes First.....................................................96Chapter 29: Grace, Johnny's Little Princess.......................................99Chapter 30: I've Had Enough.......................................................102Chapter 31: Yes or No.............................................................106Epilogue..........................................................................109About the Author..................................................................111

Chapter One

Marly Meets Destiny

When I grow up, I'm going to marry him, I thought back in late autumn of 1966, standing in front of our tiny four-room house on the main drag of a small town in Illinois, truly the middle of nowhere. I was ten years old, soon to be eleven, an ugly duckling hoping to someday turn into a swan. (A girl has to dream, doesn't she?) Walking toward me on the sidewalk was a dark-haired, handsome, six-foot-tall man. He was dressed in loafers, white Levi's (very fashionable back then), and an olive-green corduroy coat.

One look at him and I knew. This was my destiny. Nothing would ever change my mind. You may ask how a ten-year-old child could know anything about destiny. It wasn't for me to understand. It just was. My heart skipped a beat when he murmured a low "Hi" upon passing. I was mute and couldn't have spoken if my life depended on it.

Life would take many twists and turns after that first encounter. My daddy had died in the spring of that year, leaving Mom, my little sister, and me with virtually nothing. Mom did not drive, so we were dependent on friends to take us wherever necessary. Before Daddy died, Mom worked swing shift in a factory in the next town, a few miles north of us, sharing rides with others to and from work. Upon Daddy's sudden death, she quit her job to stay home with us. This was a brand-new experience for Beth and me. We had always stayed with babysitters or Daddy. Without Mom's paycheck from the factory, our family income consisted of a small monthly widows-and-children Social Security check and an even smaller veterans pension.

It was hard for all of us. I wanted normalcy, even if it meant poverty and alcoholism, which is what "normal" meant to me back then. My poor mom wanted the love of her life back. At only twenty-nine, she was far too young to be widowed. My little sister was clueless at only five years old. "I wish my daddy would come back," she said one summer day as she blew the fuzzy seeds off a dandelion and made a wish.

Early summer brought the "widow hunters." My mom was and still is a very attractive, petite lady. She has never weighed more than 115 pounds in her life! Honestly, wouldn't you think God would have planned a little better when he created my sister and me? Both of us could give Mom a few pounds and never miss an ounce! Men would call or stop by our house trying to date her.

Trying is the operative word in this case. No way was my mom going to date them. She wanted no part of somebody new, as she was still grieving Daddy. One gentleman was probably a very nice man and a good catch. He was very tall with jet-black hair. He was also divorced, with a "crazy bitch" for an ex-wife and two little girls. No way was my mom going to get involved with that! She allowed him to come to the house for Sunday dinner once. After that, he was history.

It's strange how memories work, isn't it? I can clearly remember the pink-and-black-flecked Formica table in our kitchen that day. Mr. Eligible was very polite but quiet. The poor man was probably terrified of the tenyear-old brat sitting to his left. Did I mention I did not want a replacement daddy?

Others tried to wiggle into our lives that summer, but Mom resisted. She was too busy trying to house, feed, and clothe her girls. A few more twists and turns had to take place before her destiny and mine would appear.

Chapter Two

Summer Flip-Flop

A big change that summer was our home. A young couple lived in a mobile home up the street from our four-room house. Their trailer was very small, too small for the addition of either a baby or a beauty shop, so the young couple needed more room. I don't know what Mom's reasoning was, but in July she traded our house for their trailer. Forgive me for using the word trailer, but saying "mobile home" back then just wasn't done.

Beth and I thought the trailer was a huge step-up in the world. An indoor bathroom and running water in the kitchen were things we had experienced only when visiting relatives who were financially better off than we were in our little household of three. The trailer's kitchen had pink appliances—a pink stove, pink fridge, and pink sink. The bathroom had pink fixtures as well. I loved it! A girlie-girl from birth, pink was just...