"Didn't she call you?"Kim shook her head, "I don't know. I haven't been home. Dads blitzed again and he is tearing up the place, so I didn't even go t...ere. I could her Mom screaming and yelling at him, too. No way was I going in there. A fucking war zone, ya know." Oh," Jeff said, "Well, she took off with my parents on a little vacation to the islands for a couple weeks or so. Dad got use of the timeshare down there and it was a last second type thing. I thought Steph would have called you to. So my parents stood out, to say the least. My parents, Siwatu and Chiku Mwenye both managed to find work rapidly, at the time it was easy to get a job, if it was one that not many people really wanted to do. Dad got a job on the docks and mum ended up on the production line of a factory across the road from it that produced aerosol paint sprays. They were hard working people and although they started their married life in this country in a tiny council flat on the Bransholme estate, a place. " Mums face clouded over. Beth looked at thetable embarrassed that I'd brought up the only taboo subject. "Why didhe leave?" I don't think we should be discussing this," she snapped. "Your fatherand I promised each other that we would not discuss the reasons witheither of you until you were both older."The tears then started trickling down my cheeks. "Is it my fault? Myillness?"My Mum then looked surprised and a bit hurt. "No, it is not your faultor Beth's. It isn't even my fault or your. ” Our answer was always the same—”It won’t be too much longer.”Our schedules were getting very crowded in May. Freed & Sons had a large new project starting, and Beth was gearing up for the trade show season. In June she had travel planned 2 weeks in a row for 2 major water treatment shows. That was our milestone. When she returned, no more condoms—it was ‘baby-making’ time. But even with full schedules, our ‘baby-making’ practice remained hot, heavy, and often. We were up to two or more times.