Perhaps a Jealous Foe

The action begins in 2000 with Louise looking at her past. Then it moves back to 1970, where Louise has everything a contemporary woman could ask for: a loving husband, two children, a beautiful home, a good social life. The family is comfortably off, and while her life is circumscribed by her domestic duties and her involvement with the church, she is content with her lot. Then, she meets Nicholas, and everything changes. While Nicholas makes his attraction to Louise obvious from the outset, he is apparently as conventional as Louise and too inhibited to proceed with more than flirtation and verbal innuendo. The relationship between Louise and Nicholas develops slowly, because of the lack of opportunity, and because Nicholas seems unable to make up his mind what he really wants. When they finally make love, all is not quite as Louise had expected. Nicholas eventually also admits to the secret in his past which Louise has discovered by chance. The story reaches its climax in a night of passion in which Louise, changes her mind, and exults in having finally got the man she loves so much. Finally, the story returns to 2000, where the aftermath of that night is revealed.