Chapter 3
After a miserable Sunday of stony silence with Pete, Gwen was glad to see him off to work on Monday morning. She meant to make up with Pete soon, but he wasn't any help. She felt miserable and anxious. Their first few weeks together had been so lovely (except for the sex he insisted on). Now everything had gone wrong.
She did the laundry. It didn't take long, with her efficient washer and drier installed in the kitchen. While she waited for the clothes to finish, she sat down at the table with a cup of coffee.
She propped her chin on her hand, and made idle circles on the table with her fingers. What could she do? Apologize to Pete? Convince him she didn't mean he was an animal? Invite him to her bed?
She sighed impatiently. Marriage was so different from what she had expected. It wasn't like rooming in an apartment with another girl. She and her roommate had shared in cleaning the apartment, had stayed out of each other's way when they had dates, had taken turns cooking, had considered each other's feelings when a difference of opinion arose.
Marriage was oh, so different, she thought. Pete seemed to expect her to do things his way. She was supposed to do all the adjusting. If he come at five-thirty, or six-thirty, or seven, supper was supposed to be ready for him.
"He just isn't reasonable!" she muttered aloud.
Pete didn't ask her if she wanted love-making. He simply took it for granted he could do what he pleased whenever he pleased.
"He isn't fair!" she said.
The loud ringing of the doorbell made her jump. She glanced down at herself, horrified. It was a hot June morning, and she was wearing only a loose pink house coat and sandals, no underclothing. She hadn't expected company. In the city, no one ever "dropped in." They phoned and made formal arrangements to come.
She debated not going to the door, but curiosity won. She went to the front door and opened it.
Isobel Hoover smiled at her. "Hello! I was afraid you weren't home."
"Ah come in. I'm not dressed I uh-" Gwen stammered, torn between politeness and embarrassment.
"Neither am I." Isobel's hand indicated her blue sheath dress and bare-foot sandals. "I just stopped by to talk a few minutes. Your house is lovely!"
The blonde girl's chatter and exclamations over the house eased the nervousness in Gwen. She finally asked if her guest would care for coffee.
"I'd love it. I never care how hot the weather is; I have to have my hot coffee."
Isobel sat down at the kitchen table. She was so friendly and informal that Gwen felt free to finish her washing.
"One reason I came," said Isobel, pouring herself a second cup, "was to warn you about something."
"Oh? What?"
"I adore the way your eyes pop wide open. You're cute." Isobel smiled at her easily. She was very attractive, Gwen thought, a small doll-like pretty woman with curly blonde hair and china blue eyes. "I wanted to warn you about jealousy. It won't do, you know. Not in our crowd."
Gwen could feel the embarrassed red burning her cheeks as Isobel went on.
"That scene the other night at Karen's." She shook her blonde head in rebuke. "Larry was amused, but the girls well, Pete is terribly attractive. The girls will want to dance with him, and make a fuss over him. If he responds, why object?"
"But he's my husband!" Gwen blurted.
Isobel shrugged daintily. "Don is my husband. We've been married three years. I adore him and he loves me. But when Karen or Ellie or some other girl wants Don's attention, you know what I do?"
"What?" asked Gwen.
"I dance with another man. I have fun. Don has fun. No harm is done. You see, jealousy only makes trouble. Men are bound to stray a bit. If they feel guilty about it, they sulk. I hate sulking, don't you?"
"Oh, I certainly do! And Pete-" Gwen stopped herself abruptly.
"Are you having early marriage troubles?" asked Isobel, so nicely that Gwen could not resent it. "I bet you never even had an affair before you were married did you?"
"An affair! Of course not!"
"I did, several of them. And it was still a shock to adjust to marriage. As sweet as Don is-" She shook her head ruefully. "I'm still not used to the way he takes off his clothes and expects me to pick them up from the floor! And when he's hungry, he wants to eat right now. It doesn't matter if I have two more hours of cooking to do!"
"Pete is like that, too. He comes home at odd hours and I'm supposed to have a perfect dinner ready!"
"But we love the brutes, don't we?" asked Isobel.
"Oh, yes, I love Pete very much. It's just that-" Gwen paused, gulped, then blurted out the awful truth. "He wants sex all the time, and he doesn't care how much he hurts me! I called him an animal, and now he won't sleep with me!"
She was appalled as soon as she had confessed. Isobel should be horrified. But the blonde girl was not even startled. She nodded.
"I guessed it was something like that. I can help you, if you'll let me. I know just what to do."
Gwen rounded her eyes. "What can you do?" she gasped.
Isobel smiled, with more than a trace of mischief. "You'll be surprised. I'll tell you exactly how to act. You won't even feel pain. You'll find as much pleasure in sex as Pete does. More!"
"I I don't know-"
"I won't tell you. I'll show you!" As though inspired, Isobel jumped up. In a business-like way, she said, "Let's go to the bedroom."
Gwen swallowed She sat there dumbly, warm shame rushing over her. This woman was a stranger. She should never have confided such an intimate problem to her.
"Come on, honey," Isobel urged. She smiled at Gwen, and her smile was full of charm and humor. "Don't you believe me? I can show you just what to do witn Pete so he'll get more pleasure, and you'll have a marvelous time!"
Gwen couldn't resist that. She followed Isobel up the stairs to the bedroom. Isobel closed the door after them. She looked at Gwen critically.
"Take off your sandals. How much are you wearing? Just the dress?"
Gwen nodded. She knew her face was red as fire. She felt hot all over. But her curiosity drove her to obey Isobel. She wanted to enjoy sex as Pete did, and if she could give Pete more pleasure, it would be worth any shame or embarrassment she might feel with Isobel.
She took off her sandals and dress, then lay down on the unmade bed. She wanted to pull up the sheet, but Isobel rebuked her.
"No. You mustn't feel any false modesty. Just pretend I'm Pete," she said gaily. She unzipped her blue dress and stood in white panties and a brief white bra. She kicked off the sandals, and came over to the bed.
Gwen closed her eyes instinctively. Isobel lay down beside her. Gwen could smell her perfume, a strong spicy scent. Try as she would, Gwen could not pretend the soft silken hands that touched her were those of her husband.
Gwen lay stiffly, uncomfortably as Isobel stroked her gently. She jumped nervously as a soft mouth kissed her throat. She jumped nervously as a soft mouth kissed her throat. Her eyes flew open. She saw the blonde curly head of Isobel as the girl kissed.
"Now first," said Isobel briskly, her tone strangely at variance with the intimate stroking of her hands, "encourage Pete to kiss you all over. I'll show you. Does he just jump right on you and start?"
Gwen nodded, and whispered, "Yes."
"He needs to learn his techniques," was Isobel's calm judgment. "It's up to you to help him learn. Have him do this."
She bent over Gwen. Gwen stiffened out straight as Isobel began kissing her shoulders. She gasped as the blonde head moved lower. Isobel's right hand cupped a ripe mound and the breast began to ache under her kissing. The tip of the breast tautened to a hard point. Isobel licked it delicately with her tongue.
"Just he still," she chided, as Gwen squirmed. "Let me show you, you'll learn to love this."
Gwen forced herself to he quietly. Isobel kissed and licked her breasts, lingering over them. In spite of the strangeness, Gwen began to relax. It was pleasant to feel the warm loving contacts.
She closed her eyes again, and submitted herself to Isobel's skilled ministrations. The older girl moved her head lower, and kissed Gwen's slim waist. Her hands stroked deftly down over Gwen's plump thighs. Gwen shivered a little.
"You're very pretty," Isobel cooed. "Pretend I'm Pete. Pretend I'm your husband kissing you."
Gwen tried to pretend. But the softness pressing on her naked body was not her husband. The smell of spicy perfume was not Pete's masculine odor. She could not forget it was a woman hovering over her. Yet her body was relaxing, softening, warming.
Isobel kissed her waist over and over, and rubbed her silken face against Gwen's belly. Her fingers stroked down to Gwen's knee, and rubbed lovingly. Then the hand crept up between Gwen's thighs and touched a soft spot.
Gwen jerked.
"Lie still, honey," Isobel commanded. "This is important. Lie still and let me work on you."
Gwen forced herself to stillness. The cheek lay on her belly. The hand stroked again, again, softly, then more firmly. She squirmed uneasily as the fingers prodded, exploring her.
"It's all right," Isobel soothed her gently. "This is what Pete should do. like this and this-"
"Ooooh," Gwen moaned. She felt a strange hot sensation in her belly as Isobel's fingers rubbed. "Oooooh!" she lifted her hips involuntarily. The hand increased its pressure. A finger slid deftly. "Oh no-no-" Gwen objected, startled.
"Oh yes!" Isobel contradicted her firmly. "Now when Pete does this as a man does honey you lift your hips and push toward his hips. Come on. Show me you can.
Isobel's left hand came under Gwen's hips and forced her up toward the other hand. Gwen followed her orders helplessly. The girl commanded, entreated, begged, and Gwen lifted her hips and bounced them up and down between Isobel's hands.
She was feeling hotter and more dizzy. Strange sensations flashed through her as the other girl pressed kisses on her. That hard finger prodded deeply. But it didn't hurt. It was pleasant, exciting, Gwen acknowledged to herself.
There was silence in the bedroom as the two girls came closer to each other. Isobel's body lay half on Gwen's. The two figures writhed and twisted on the sheets. Then Gwen began to gasp aloud.
Something inside her took control. Without her will her hips began to bounce in frantic increasing rhythm. Isobel's hand became harder, almost painful, digging at the girl's flesh. But it was no pain to Gwen. It was sheer, marvelous pleasure.
Then it happened. A twinge, a moment's warning, and all of a sudden Gwen cried out. Her eyes shut tight; she seemed to soar up into a heaven of undreamed-of delights. With Isobel's arms holding her, Gwen blazed up into ecstasy. Fireworks exploded inside her belly and thighs. She felt white-hot, incandescent, fully alive for the first time in her life.
She blanked out for a moment at the height of the joy.
When she came to, she saw Isobel bending over her. The creamy pink cheeks of the other girl set off the blazing china blue eyes.
"There, darling. There," whispered Isobel. She bent and kissed Gwen on the mouth, a lingering, deliberately passionate kiss. "Now you know how sweet it can be."
Gwen was too dazed to speak. Isobel got up presently and left her. Gwen lay on the bed, stunned at what had happened.
Isobel could talk all she wanted about "pretending to be Pete." Gwen knew enough to know that was not what Isobel had done to her. Isobel had initiated Gwen into a more peculiar form of love-making than between husband and wife.
Isobel had initiated Gwen into Lesbianism.
Gwen had been strictly raised. She was appalled and frightened at what had happened. She clutched at the sheet to cover herself. That was not enough. She had to get up and take a long hot shower to wash off the stain of the incident.
But all the soap and water in the world could not wash away the shame of her new self-knowledge. She had enjoyed Isobel's love-making, as she had never enjoyed Pete's.