Chapter 7
If there remained even the remotest possibility of Sherry and Margo ever resuming their lesbian relationship, it was dashed when the redheaded girl found out that her brother and Sherry planned to be married. The strained situation that had prevailed for the past couple of months in the apartment erupted into a cold war that dripped icicles.
As a starter, Ben moved out of the apartment into his trailer, parked in a camp not too many blocks from where he worked. Sherry continued to live at the apartment. But her association with Margo was non-existent. Sherry tried to be friendly, went out of her way to try to patch up the misunderstanding--not to the extent of becoming involved sexually with Margo again--but to at least make their coexistence livable.
Margo would have no part of it. She was the woman--or as she preferred to be called, the "mintie"--scorned. She no longer came home to dinner, nor did she have breakfast in the apartment with Sherry. She even refused to sleep in the same bed with her former dark-haired lover. She chose the daybed in the living room, instead. Quite often she brought her newly acquired young blonde girl to stay overnight in the convertible with her.
Sherry, half-awake in the adjoining room, could hear them whispering, giggling and making sounds of passion, that she herself had once shared with Margo. Strangely, even after being as close to Margo as she'd been for almost a year, she had no desire to take part in the affairs that went on in the next room. She didn't even suffer the slightest pangs of jealousy. In fact, all it did was disgust her and make her wonder how much longer she could continue to live under the prevailing conditions.
Ben, of course, said she could move into the trailer with him. While she would have liked nothing better and did consent to spend several nights with him alone in the big van, she told him she didn't think it would be wise to make it a permanent setup, until after they were married. She did, after all, work in a bank and a certain degree of propriety and respectability was definitely required.
Finally she and Ben set the date. Exactly two months from the time he told her he'd put the down payment on the trailer and asked her to marry him.
Sherry asked Margo to act as her maid of honor. Margo spit on the floor at Sherry's feet and walked away, indignantly.
Sherry knew that her moving out of the apartment would cause her future sister-in-law little concern, economically. Margo had maintained the place on her own before she met Sherry and could very easily manage once Sherry was gone. As far as a new roommate was concerned, the young blonde had already moved most of her things into the apartment and as soon as Sherry vacated the premises, in all likelihood the girl would move in permanently with Margo.
The date Ben set for the wedding fell on the day after the state fair closed in Grano. Sherry said it wouldn't be right to leave while the fair was in session because business at the bank almost doubled during that time. She was even a little reluctant to quit her job on the last day of the fair because as she said, "The bank needs all the help it can get, since it's one of the biggest days we have all year. All that money from the race track, the concessions, exhibits and everything else pours into the bank the next day."
"How much money do you think'll be there?" Ben asked with what appeared to be casual interest.
Sherry had no reason on earth to question his motives, or think that she might be betraying a trust. After all he was going to be her husband.
"It never totals less than a million dollars," Sherry confided.
He whistled appreciatively. "Wonder if we'll ever have a million dollars?"
She smiled and kissed him. "We'll have love and happiness, darling. That's more important than all the money in the world."
"Well, if you want to make sure we get our full share of that love and happiness and don't want to lose even one day of our honeymoon," he told her, "You'd better give your notice that you're leaving the last day of the fair. Because it's the only time I can get away from my job."
So even though the bank officials made faces, Sherry told them she was quitting on the specified day to be married.
"And you aren't coming back?" her boss asked.
She smiled, shook her head and said proudly, "I'm going to have one of those old-fashioned husbands who doesn't believe in his wife working."
As it developed, Ben didn't seem to be as miffed as Sherry thought he'd be about waiting until the last day of the fair to be married.
"It'll give us a couple of Saturdays to take in the races," he tossed off.
Sherry smiled broadly. She knew he liked to gamble--poker, craps, the ponies and he always had a pocket full of lottery tickets. But since he didn't drink to excess, or as far as she knew, wasn't a tomcat, she guessed she could forgive him that one vice.
Finally the big day came. The ceremony, itself, was simple. Just a couple of pickup witnesses who stood at the altar with them and listened to them give the proper answers to the usual questions that the Justice of the Peace put to them.
Sherry had gone all out for her wedding night. She'd bought the sheerest, black, see-through, shortie nightgown she could find; had her long dark hair set in the sexiest fashion her hair stylist could design; had a pedicure and a super-paint job done on her toes; and then purchased a pair of tall, red heels that would show off her lovely feet to best advantage. She was all ready and waiting for what she dreamed would be the most wonderful, most exciting night of her entire life. All she was waiting for was for Ben to tell her whether they'd spend the night in his trailer, in a motel, a hotel room, or where. It wasn't until the man who married them had said his piece and the witnesses had kissed the bride and congratulated the groom and they were all alone outside the chapel, that Ben told Sherry he had to go back to work.
"It can't be helped," he explained sadly. "A big, important job came in and it's got to be finished up by morning. I didn't find out until the last minute. And if you don't want a husband who'll be out of work when we get back from our honeymoon, I better go to work and help them finish it."
It took several minutes for Sherry to get over her crushing disappointment. Then she asked, "Where will I wait for you--in the trailer?"
"No. I'm having some last minute things done to it, so it won't break down when we're on our honeymoon," he replied. "I'm picking it up first thing in the morning. I've made reservations for you at the Downtown Hotel, that's just a block from where I'll meet you in the morning. Okay?"
What else could she do but agree with him. So she went to the hotel and as far as she knew, he went to work. But instead of a glorious wedding night, she spent a miserable one, counting the hours of loneliness until next morning when he pulled into the curb at a busy downtown corner, picked her up in the trailer and together they started off on what she thought would be their honeymoon. But what soon became a nightmare.