Chapter 6

That evening, after I had driven Gisele home, I went over to Lennart’s place. I could tell he was happy to see me, but he was in no way prepared for the next two hours. I sucked him, I let him eat me, I let him fuck me in at least four different positions. And I came at least three times. When I fell asleep in Lennart’s arms, I was thoroughly satisfied that I still liked men. It was wonderful. Gisele was like a perfect hors d’oeuvre, she was a delicious treat, but she did not spoil my appetite for the main course. Suddenly I had the vision of Gisele, being pounded thoroughly by my father, and I squirmed in Lennart’s arms. Naughty. Naughty, but good!

Over the next weeks, while our wedding drew nearer, Gisele and I met at the health club regularly. She came with her own car, now that she felt comfortable driving, and we relaxed with each other. Somehow, things never went as far again as on that first occasion, either we were not alone or we were not in that special mood. But we horsed around in the cold water tank and in the indoor pool that was reserved for the sauna visitors. We hugged each other often, even when naked, and we felt comfortable together. When we talked, a lot of things came to light, on both sides. Gisele had suffered terribly from the desertion of her father. Having no father, she had also been taunted by other students at school. All this together explained her striving personality, her urge to excel.

And then, I finally realised how a beautiful 23 year-old could love a forty-six year old man. We were sitting on the recliners again after finishing with the sweat sessions for the evening, and Gisele related another story from her youth.

“I had these two friends, Gabriella and Simone, and we were together all through high school. Simone, she had this gorgeous father. I remember how I had my first orgasm thinking of him. He was only in his mid-thirties, and he looked good! Simone’s mother looked great, too, and I always thought how lucky they were. But when I visited them more often, I noticed how he rarely was at home. And when he was, he was reading the paper or watching the TV. And when he noticed Simone, he would always touch her butt, and I could tell that she hated it. Later, her mother and he got a divorce, that was a huge scandal. We heard that he cheated on her mother all the time. We could not meet at Simone’s place anymore, so we met at Gabrielle’s. Her father was really old, I mean, over sixty. And he was the kindest man I ever met. Always paying her mother compliments, helping her with the chores, making her and us laugh with his jokes. He was such a sweet man. And Gabrielle, she was the apple of his eye. She could have almost anything of him. And if he said no, he took time to explain his reasons. Sometimes, for no reason at all, he would ruffle her hair, and say, ‘You are the light of my life.’. That’s when I decided that I wanted to have a good man and a good father for a husband, not a handsome prince.”

I remember holding my breath when I asked.

“And you think my father will be a good father?”

“We’ll find out,” she grinned, and dropped her voice. “I’m going off the pill in the summer. I want a spring child.”

“And your education?”

“We talked about it. Thomas will stay at home to care for the children. He says, he has nothing left to prove but that he can be a good father.”

We also had the coffee invitation at my mother’s house, where she checked out Alicia. That went well. There wasn’t anything my mother could do anyway. The way Ralf and Alicia clung together, my mother had two choices, accept Alicia or lose Ralf. Somehow, she still managed to convey the impression that her approval mattered.

“Now that Stephanie is leaving my house, Ralf will have her apartment. No doubt we will see each other more often then?”

Alicia did not bat an eye. “Absolutely. We can have breakfast from time to time,” she said sweetly, leaving my mother speechless for once.

And then, the big day drew near. We had decided not to have a bachelor party. I mean, what’s the big thing about getting stone cold drunk on the night before the Day of Your Life? That, and all the people throwing china for luck, and the friends outdoing each other with ‘original’ pranks? Maybe that was fun for kids, but Lennart, I mean he’s over 30, and he’s had enough windows blowing in on him and shit like this when he was on assignments. No, not for us. All our friends would be invited to the reception after the wedding. None of my numerous parents had divulged any information on the whereabouts of the reception, and I had this nagging worry that there would be a few cases of cheap bubbly wine on the front steps of the City Hall.

“You’ll see,” was all I could get out of my mother.

Same for the after-wedding planning.

“We have arranged for something. Just have an overnight bag ready.”

I suspected that they had rented a newly-wed suite in a fancy hotel, the Prehm, or the Four Seasons. Anyway, we had spent the night in Lennart’s apartment. I had dressed in my new blue dress which I thought looked splendid on me, and Lennart wore a very nice single-breasted suit of black merino wool. Posing in front of the mirror, we decided that we looked a million. A taxi brought us to City Hall where we met our relatives and friends. There were over fifty people to witness our wedding in front of the magistrate who performed the ceremony with quick efficiency. That’s the problem with civil ceremonies: there is hardly anything to watch for the guests. No sermon, no organ music, no cute flower girls. Lennart’s witness was his long time photographer, Rick, an Irishman. I had asked an old school friend, but she bowed out a week before because her mother was diagnosed with cancer. I understood that she was not in the mood to celebrate with me. I had been embarrassed to ask Gisele to fill in, but she had just hugged me and said no problem. So they were standing on each side of us, and Rick stole glances at Gisele all the time. She had really done her best not to upstage me, her dress modest to the point of being bland, her hair in a simple pony tail, but that could not detract from the simple fact that she looked her usual gorgeous self.