Chapter 36

Suzie left for Kansas City on the Friday morning following Bobby’s proposal. She had been relieved, even more than the others, that Constance had accepted. That was because Suzie had wanted to crawl into Bobby’s bed every night she was home. That he was engaged to Connie, had given her the strength not to do so. She was pretty sure she wasn’t pregnant. She’d know soon. Bobby had flushed her full of his sperm on the eighteenth day of her cycle. She had conflicting emotions about this conundrum. As the week passed, she finally decided that medicine was more important. That helped her stay out of his bed too.

On the morning she left, she hugged everyone goodbye. They’d all come to see her off. She left Bobby until last, and asked him to carry her suitcases to the car for her, before hugging him. Standing by the trunk, she touched his side.

“If I’d have come to your bed, these last few nights ... would you have... ?” She left it unspoken.

He smiled at her and hugged her. She felt weak as he pushed his prick against her.

“I’d have wanted to,” he said. “But no. I can’t do that any more.”

She went weak in his arms, but stiffened again immediately.

“Thank goodness,” she breathed. “I don’t know what I’m going to do when I come back.”

“You’ll meet some handsome guy up there in the city,” he said. “He’ll want you as much as I do.”

“But will I want him?” she asked, her face buried in his chest.

“Time will tell,” he said. “You have to want that to happen. Don’t waste as much time as I did.”

She looked up at him. “You didn’t waste your time,” she said. “You made my sisters very happy.”

“I almost ruined everything,” he said, his face serious. “And if I got you pregnant, it may still ruin things.”

“I don’t think you did,” she said.

“Connie said you wanted me to get you pregnant.” His face was serious.

“I was just talking,” she said. “It doesn’t matter now. I have to study hard, and that’s more important.”

“I agree,” he said.

“I love you,” said the sister he had been worried would never say that to him.

“I love you too.”

“I know that now,” she said.

“Go on.” His voice sounded funny, and his eyes glistened. “Go learn to be a doctor.”

The others caught up with them then, and it was another whirlwind of goodbyes, until, in her own defense, Suzie rolled up the window and drove away.

Between then and October, when the wedding was scheduled, Constance Harris lost her pride. On many occasions she begged him to fuck her ... demanded it. But Bobby was practicing the control that he’d always had ... when he wanted to have it. He did everything else she asked, and they spent hours in a clasping naked embrace, as he gave her most of the pleasure she sought ... but not all. As the wedding approached, she began to see that this had been a good thing after all. She couldn’t wait for her honeymoon. She was getting the man of her dreams, quite literally, and there would be something new and exciting on their first night as a married couple.

There was another thing she’d been wanting for years, and she hoped that would be started on her honeymoon too.

She planned the wedding for the middle of her cycle.

The wedding was a celebration on a number of levels. The groom, in his tuxedo, looked tall, strong and confident. People were used to seeing him like that. The bride, in her flowing pale ivory dress, also looked confident, in a way most people weren’t used to seeing her. Connie had always faded into the background, for the most part.

That day, as she strolled almost languidly down the aisle toward Bobby, was nothing like that. She looked like she was in no hurry, but covered the distance with remarkable speed.

There were the inevitable tears that weddings seem to bring out. Many of the women shedding those tears had children sitting beside them who bore a marked resemblance to the groom ... with good reason.

It was a small wedding, as weddings go, but every guest was special, either to the groom, or to the bride. Her best friend, belly bulging with a child that was not from Bobby’s loins, preceded her down the aisle, to stand across from Will Bradford, whose silver prosthetic hand gleamed in the lights, showing a burnished set of odd hues that were the result of that claw being used to pull photographs from chemicals that a normal man might have used gloves to handle.

Only that one set of attendants stood with the bride and groom, during the ceremony. The ring bearer was Kyle Harris, and the flower girl was Katherine Harris, brother and sister to the bride, officially. No one in the congregation snickered, though. People who might have snickered had not been invited.

The reception line was a disaster, but only because all the women in it had ruined makeup by the time they got past the bride and hugged the groom. Constance’s own makeup had been chosen carefully by Bev, because she knew what was going to happen. Along with Mirriam, she had made it her business to make contact with each woman who was present.

They came to the line in no particular order, some escorted by men, and others who were not. Tilly was first. Jill and Christy followed her, together. Their men were hanging back. Martha was there, her husband standing beside her, looking a little dazed. Felicity and Annie were accompanied by Chester, who shyly asked if he could kiss the bride. Amanda was next, followed by Liz Sinderson, her husband on her arm. Erica was behind them. She had come alone, leaving her child in Hutchinson, where she was now teaching school, and living in an apartment. Then there was Agatha, with her new baby and her new husband, Jim. Jim had insisted that they make the drive, because he was firmly convinced that it was Bobby who had caused the chain of events that had brought Agatha to him. Rhonda and Janet were together, as always, and last, before all Bobby’s sisters, was Renee.

Sherry Winston had not come. She had sent a card and a gift. Misty had sent an immense flower arrangement, and a letter that detailed her unhappiness that she couldn’t be there in person.