Chapter 14

It was early in February when Bobbie got a call from Celeste Chan telling her that Marie was in the hospital and asking for her. Labor had begun and she wanted to see Bobbie desperately. The girl realized it was only four in the morning. After throwing on a pair of Levi's and a work shirt, she shot out of her apartment — this was her own, one Vangie had selected for her — and headed for the hospital.

Arriving, she identified herself and, to her amazement, was immediately sent to one of the delivery rooms. There she found Marie lying on her back with a tiny baby in her arms.

As Bobbie entered she could see tears flowing from Marie's eyes, but she had water — later she learned it was holy water — and was sprinkling it on the infant's forehead saying, "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen." Just as she finished, the infant gasped once and then was still.

"I was in time," Marie said softly. Then to Tom, standing at the side of her cot, she said, "My darling, could we name him Tom? Please? I want to have a Tom Conroy beside me in Heaven."

Then, even from the door, Bobbie could see the tears in Marie's eyes as she explained to Tom and Celeste that the infant had been born with a dysfunctional heart. He could not live. "But he fought for life until he was baptized," she said, "so he will immediately join God in Heaven and be with Him forever!"

Celeste was at the foot of the cot with tears streaming down her cheeks, while Tom was standing at Marie's right. Bobbie was about to withdraw from the private family scene when Marie saw her for the first time. Only then did Bobbie realize how pale and drawn Marie appeared.

But seeing her, Marie brightened and suddenly there was an intense light — almost a fire — in her eyes. "Bobbie!" she cried. "You made it. Come and stand here beside me. Please!"

Bobbie did as she was asked. As soon as she was within reach, Marie grabbed Bobbie's right hand, held it, and then took Tom's right hand, too. She put Bobbie's hand in Tom's and squeezed them between both of her own.

Looking down at Celeste standing at the foot of the cot, she said in a remarkably strong voice, "Dearest sister, you are my witness! You will testify, if necessary, that this is completely and totally my own idea."

Then looking to each side she said, "Now I am happy. The two people I love most in the whole world are finally together the way they should have been all along."

Looking at Tom she said, "My darling, never forget what I said a few weeks ago at the Christmas party. If you have forgotten, Celeste has the tape and a copy in her safe deposit box. This woman, Barbara Bradley, is to be your wife before the week is out!"

Then she continued, "Tom, I told Bobbie about my problem when we were out on Maui. Do you know what her immediate reaction was? It was to give me her heart. Tom, my darling, she wanted to give me her living, beating heart to replace my damaged one! This is the woman you must marry! She is a perfect woman who loves you so very much!"

Then she looked into his eyes and asked, "Husband, when you kissed Bobbie at the Christmas party, what did you feel?"

Tom just shook his head.

"What did you feel?" she demanded.

"I felt ... I felt..." Pain was so evident in his eyes as Tom finally confessed, "I felt the power of her love. I felt electricity flow between us. My darling, I'm so sorry! I have always been faithful—"

"Wonderful!" Marie screamed. "I knew it! I knew you had to! Bobbie Bradley's passion would melt a plaster saint. Oh, my darling, of course you've been faithful. But now, my husband, take your new wife. Now, before I leave you all, I want to see you two kiss. Please! I must. Now! While you're standing right above me."

Tom leaned over across Marie's body and Bobbie did the same. Their lips met over the woman's body as she still gripped their hands. This time, when Bobbie's lips met Tom's, there was no holding back. For the first time she let all of her love for him flow freely. The kiss was something she had never imagined in her fondest dreams and in spite of living with him so closely for so many months.

For Tom the sensation was truly unbelievable. In spite of all of his love for Marie, Bobbie's kiss had many times more passion and intensity than he had ever experienced with his beloved wife. Gently and then with increasing passion he worked his lips on Bobbie's. When they finally eased away, their eyes were glassy and they could barely stand.

"Incredible!" Marie said softly. Then she gasped and said softly, "Oh God! Thank you so much."

To Bobbie she said, "My darling, please give me a last kiss. There are only moments left." Bobbie did, pouring out all the love she felt for this poor tormented young woman.

Then she quickly stepped aside for Celeste who spoke to her beloved sister rapidly in Vietnamese and finally with tears streaming from her eyes in a flood, kissed her twin goodbye.

Stepping back, she made room for Tom who took his wife in his arms for the last time and molded his lips to hers. As they kissed he heard a gasp and Marie went limp in his arms.

Scarcely able to see, Celeste reached out, tenderly closed Marie's eyelids, and pulled a sheet up over her face. Then she stumbled blindly into Bobbie's arms and held on for dear life as she poured out her sorrow in tears.

The three stumbled out to the waiting room. A waiting doctor went quickly into the room they had just left. Then they just dropped into seats in a corner of the deserted room with Celeste sitting between Tom and Bobbie. She looked down at the floor and then at each of them.

Softly she said, "Tom, Marie told me about this only two days ago. When she did, she told me what Bobbie had offered to do for her on Maui — donate her beating heart to her! She also told me, Tom, that you have been a perfect husband to her. In less than twelve months she believed she had achieved far more happiness in your arms than any other married woman would in forty years."

Turning to Bobbie she said, "And in you, Bobbie, she found one of God's perfect creatures! She utterly adored you. Believe me when I say that Marie died truly happy this morning. Why? Because her beloved Tom was going into the arms of a woman far better than she was herself. You, Bobbie, are the woman that Marie dreamed of for Tom but you turned out to be so much better than her wildest dreams."

Then she sat up straight and said, "As the executor of my sister's estate, my first duty is to make arrangements for your wedding which will be this Saturday on Maui. Do you both consent? Remember, Bobbie, you swore that you would. And you, Tom, remember, this is her dying wish."

The two just nodded quickly.

It was a Saturday nearly three weeks later when the Bradley limousine pulled up the driveway of the old people's home followed by Ken and Cathy Bradley's large station wagon. All of the Bradleys went inside followed by the chauffeur with his arms loaded with boxes. After greeting all of the women — Ed was astounded to learn that his wife not only knew Morse code, but in just a few short weeks had become expert in sign language — Vangie set up a VCR for the women.

Cathy knelt beside Harriet Tompkins, introduced herself as one of Bobbie's sisters using Morse code, and then said that she was going to describe and narrate a tape Bobbie had made for them on her wedding day. Vangie did the same thing in sign language for Jane Bentley.

Ed started the tape and it opened with a close-up of Bobbie's face. "Hi, folks!" she greeted them. "By the time you all see this I'll be on my honeymoon with my husband, Tom."

There were tears in her eyes as she told how she had met him and how his first wife, Marie, had so tragically died. Then she explained that she and Tom would be honeymooning on the same uninhabited island together for the next six months — until September.

Then she said, "This tape is being produced by my mother for you. You see, in some societies the eldest women in the family prepare the bride for her husband on her wedding day." With the warmest smile the women had ever seen she continued, "Well, I don't have a grandmother ... I have five! Irma Quigley, Harriet Tompkins, Jane Bentley, Annabel Baxter, and Mary Stenhouse, this tape is for you.

"Since you can't be with me — I am now on the island of Maui, over five thousand miles from Chicago — I am using this tape. When next I see you, you can tell me all the things I did wrong."

Then the camera zoomed out and there was a hushed intake of breath. Bobbie was standing in front of the camera totally naked. "This is what I am bringing to my marriage bed," she said softly. "Do you think Tom will be pleased? As I said earlier, he has seen me naked often enough, so I think things will be all right."

Then she padded into the adjoining bathroom and got into the shower. She carefully described how she was being so careful to wash her body completely with particular care to ensure that her vagina would be clean and sweet-smelling for her new husband.

For the next scene Vangie had preset the camera on a tripod and just let it run. Now Bobbie was stretched out on a massage table while Vangie, also naked, worked on her body. With her eyes closed, Bobbie described the marvelous sensations as her mother so-tenderly worked musk oil into her tits and then into her vagina. Then she rolled over and knelt on the table with her legs spread to expose her anus. Moaning with the sensation, Bobbie described how her mother kept working the oil into her ass and used her fingers gently to stretch her anal ring.