"Sometimes it's because they want to get married."
"Well, I want to get married." She moved closer to me.
I pushed her back on the seat.
"Well, I don't."
She began to cry then.
"But you said you loved me."
I didn't look at her.
"A man says a lot of things when he's humping."
I pulled the car over against the curb and parked. I turned to her.
"I thought you said you'd be careful."
She was wiping at her tears with a small, ineffectual handkerchief.
"I love you, Joney.
I wanted to have your baby."
For the first time since she told me, I began to feel better.
That was one of the troubles with being Jonas Cord, Jr.
Too many girls, and their mothers, too, thought that spelled money.
Big money.
Ever since the war, when my father built an empire on gunpowder.
I looked down at her.
"Then it's simple.
Have it."
Her expression changed. She moved toward me.
"You mean – you mean – we'll get married?"
The faint look of triumph in her eyes faded quickly when I shook my head.
"Uh-uh. I meant have the baby if you want it that bad."
She pulled away again.
Suddenly, her face was set and cold. Her voice was calm and practical.
"I don't want it that bad.
Not without a ring on my finger.
I’ll have to get rid of it."
I grinned and offered her a cigarette.
"Now you're talking, little girl."
She took the cigarette and I lit it for her.
"But it's going to be expensive," she said.
"How much?" I asked.
She drew in a mouthful of smoke.
"There's a doctor in Mexican Town. The girls say he's very good." She looked at me questioningly. "Two hundred?"
"O.K., you got it," I said quickly.
It was a bargain. The last one cost me three fifty.
I flipped my cigarette over the side of the car and started the motor. I pulled the car out into traffic and headed toward Malibu.
"Hey, where you going?" she asked. I looked over at her.
"To the beach house," I answered. "We might as well make the most of the situation."
She began to laugh and drew closer to me. She looked up into my face.
"I wonder what Mother would say if she knew just how far I went to get you.
She told me not to miss a trick."
I laughed. "You didn't."
She shook her head.
"Poor Mother.
She had the wedding all planned."
Poor Mother.