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Show house/ 414 Temple marriage! I opened the apartment door and went to the bedroom. A t i g h t ache i n my stomach tugged me hollowly into bed. Temple marriage! I laughed/and wiped away my tetter tears. I could not even get a c ^ A f \Tceenase\em^Aanr ea^0a^fnd' ' were as i l l e g i t i m a t e as ever. Brian came home at lunchtime, smelling of autumn a ir and sagebrush. "Did you have time to look for a ring?" he asked between ruddy l i p s. I nodded, smiling. He was so good-looking and such a big man - i t was hard for me to believe t h a t I was the only woman i n h i s l i f e . Sometimes I f e l t g u i l t y , greedy - half-believing I should share him and then at once chalking my feelings up to my family and the way I was r a i s e d . But the fear was s t i l l there while he was away. I sometimes imagined him breezing through h i s weekend furloughs s c a t t e r i ng broken h e a r t s - mine among them - dry and w i l t e d on the ground, "Where i s i t ?" "Well... I didn't buy it. I don't want to buy my own..." "Well, get dressed. Let's go get it." The callousness, the insentience of his manner reminded me of what my father had done one March when he breezed into the kitchen and my mother presented him with a kiss, a gift, and a 'Happy Anniversay.' My father looked dumbfounded for a moment, then fumbled in his pockets. He withdrew a small fish, a keychain - a bit chipped, in one corner. "Happy jv, • magnanimously, Anniversay, darling, " he had said/* placing it in her hand as +i»#».. -i- • • J_~-.I J ...i J.-U J 2 3_ ii 111111 i 111 i k |
