A Mother’s Spirit. Anne Bennett

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СКАЧАТЬ church was filling up nicely as he and Planchard walked side by side down the aisle to sit in the pews to the right and await the bride. Joe felt as if all his nerve endings were exposed and he found it very hard to sit still.

      ‘You’re like a cat on hot bricks, sir,’ Planchard said.

      ‘I know,’ Joe said. ‘It’s the waiting. I never could abide waiting. You sure you’ve got the ring safe?’

      ‘We checked before we left the house, remember?’ Planchard said with a smile.

      ‘Just wanted to be certain.’

      ‘Relax.’

      ‘God, I only wish I could,’ Joe said. ‘We seem to have been sitting here for ages.’ But then the strains of the Wedding March could be heard, and he followed Planchard out of the pew to stand before the altar. Behind him, he could hear the shuffling of feet as people stood, and he was aware of sniffing and snuffling as some women began to cry.

      He turned and watched Gloria, on the arm of her father, walking slowly towards him. She looked so lovely, so utterly radiant, that he felt as if his heart had stopped beating for a moment or two and he knew he loved her with all his heart and would do so till the breath left his body. He stepped forward to stand beside her. Her father released her into Joe’s care and Gloria passed her bouquet to one of her bridesmaids. Then, taking each other’s hand, they kneeled together at the rails as the Nuptial Mass began.

      Joe was pleased, walking out of the church with his new bride on his arm, to see so many had come to wish them well. As it was Saturday the factory was closed. Bert Clifford and his wife had reserved seats towards the front, but Joe was touched to see how many other employees had turned out too.

      There were others from the church, and some of the men he knew from the club, with their wives and families. He saw many of the men’s eyes were on Gloria and he knew that more than a few would be envious of him.

      Kate had surpassed herself with the sumptuous meal she had prepared. She might not approve of the wedding at all but she was too proud of her culinary skills to produce anything substandard. The centrepiece was a four-tier wedding cake. Brian cracked open wines he had laid down in the cellar before prohibition began, and a fine time was had by all.

      Joe and Gloria were spending that night in their suite of rooms in the Brannigan house before setting off the following day for a fortnight’s honeymoon at Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains. Brian had highly recommended the location, where he had been himself as a young man.

      All in all, the day had been almost perfect and Joe settled in his bed that night with a sigh of contentment. Gloria went into his arms willingly and when he kissed her lips, teasing them open with his tongue for the first time, she murmured and held him tighter. When he went on to kiss her neck and then her throat she moaned with pleasure. That moan inflamed the impassioned Joe further, his pulse raced and he felt himself harden. He forced himself to go slowly knowing that, despite all her wildness, Gloria would be a virgin.

      ‘Don’t worry, darling,’ he said huskily, ‘I will try not to hurt you at all,’ and he began gently to remove her nightdress.

      Immediately Gloria slapped his hands away. ‘What are you doing?’

      ‘Didn’t your mother speak to you about what might happen tonight?’

      ‘A bit …’

      ‘What did she say?’

      ‘She said that you might ask me to do things I might find strange, but I must submit to them because I am married to you now.’

      ‘Is that all she said?’

      Gloria shrugged. ‘Mostly. At least she said that men always seem to set great store by it, and that it’s really not so bad when you get the hang of it; that I might even get to enjoy it myself sometimes.’

      Despite Joe’s frustration he laughed. ‘Did you understand one word of what she was talking about? And did she explain what “it” was?’

      ‘No,’ Gloria admitted. ‘She might as well have been talking double Dutch, but I felt I couldn’t ask anything because she seemed so embarrassed, but I do know she never said anything about taking my nightdress off. I have never gone naked to bed.’

      ‘Darling, how can I make love to you if you are keeping your clothes on?’ Joe asked.

      He suddenly felt sorry for Gloria. He had held back during the courtship and wanted to hold back no longer, for, though he hadn’t expected Gloria to be experienced, he did think she would at least have been informed. But now he dampened down his ardour, cuddled her in his arms and told her what married men and women did in bed together.

      She was shocked initially, there was no denying that, but she wanted to please Joe and so she allowed him to remove her nightdress and submitted to his kisses. At least she began by submitting to them, but then it was as if Joe’s kisses unlocked the passion Gloria had suppressed. Joe’s hands stroking her body, fondling her breasts, and his lips nuzzling at her nipples caused sharp shafts of desire to shoot through her and she moaned and groaned with ecstasy. When Joe’s fingers slid between her legs, she arched her back. Joe knew she was ready and he was smiling as he entered her.

      The sudden sharp pain caused Gloria to cry out and then it was forgotten as waves of exquisite joy swept over her again and again.

      ‘All right, my darling?’ Joe asked as they lay still, entwined together. ‘Did I hurt you?’

      ‘A little.’

      ‘I’m sorry.’

      ‘Never be sorry for what we did tonight,’ Gloria said. ‘You have made me happier than I can ever remember being.’

      And she was, for she felt as if she had been engulfed with total bliss and her love for Joe was greater than ever.

      Gloria and Joe returned from their wonderful honeymoon to find that Brian had bought them a Cadillac as a wedding present. With Joe at work all week, Gloria had charge of the car to go into New York on shopping trips, or to meet her friends for lunch, and in the evenings and at weekends she and Joe would often take off in it somewhere together. They had thought to begin a family straight away but each month they were disappointed.

      They assured each other that these things take time, and meanwhile there were any number of distractions to be had in New York, and they had good friends to visit at weekends. They told themselves that they were young and free, and maybe it was as well to stay that way for a while.

      However, they were fooling themselves. Each month Gloria’s longing for a child grew greater and she dreaded feeling the drawing pains in her stomach that meant they were once more unsuccessful.

      Then just after Easter, Brian had a funny turn at work and Joe drove him home and sent for the doctor. He advised Brian that he had to take life at a slower pace if he didn’t want his heart to give out altogether. Joe had seen his father have the same warning and not heed it, but he had been a younger man then with no authority to tell his father what to do.

      With Brian the relationship was totally different. ‘You have to do as the doctor says,’ Joe said. ‘What’s the point of having him come to see you otherwise? After all, I am here now. Over the years you have taught me well and you will be near at hand if I need advice.’

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