Chapter Thirty Five

The morning after our date, a messenger arrived with a package. It was a small box with a card. The card said:

Margaret,
Thank you so much for spending some of your time with me, as I know that you have so little of it in your busy life. I consider those few hours to be so precious. Your personality has brought a light into my life that I didn’t know was possible.
Sincerely,
George

I opened the small package and was floored by its contents. There was a small velvet jewelry box containing a pair of diamond earrings. My moms and Aggie were aghast. Susan said they probably cost about five hundred dollars. (They would be about $1300 in today’s dollars.)

When George called on Friday, it was at noon…sharp. He asked if I had any more specific ideas about what we could do that I would enjoy. I said “I don’t really know, a picnic or something, it doesn’t have to be a big production.” He replied, “How about an afternoon by the pool at the club? That’s pretty relaxing.” To which I replied “Oh goodness, I don’t even own a bathing suit, can’t we…” He cut me off and said that he wanted to buy me one and wouldn’t take no for an answer. “I said Jeez, you already bought me those gorgeous earrings, and…” He interrupted me again and said “Oh good, you got the package. Do you like them?” I told him “No, I don’t like them…I love them, they are exquisite! But you can’t…” He cut me off again and said “Yes I can, and I will. If I send Frank to pick you up, will you PLEASE let him take you shopping? I don’t mean to seem lecherous, but I would just love to see you in a swimsuit.” I relented and told him to send Frank by tomorrow at noon, and before we hung up I said “George, the sentiment you wrote on the card was especially nice.” He replied that he meant every word.

I immediately called Katie and asked her if she would accompany me on the shopping trip. Evidently the prospect excited her because she squealed into the phone so loud that it hurt my ear. “We just have to pick out a big sun hat, and shoes to go with! This is going to be sooo much fun…and sunglasses!! We’ve GOT to pick you out some really fantastic shades!” I was thinking “Oh Christ, I should’ve asked Susan to go with me. Now she would be much more practical about this.” My first thought was that Frank and I would pick Katie up at her house, but my second thought was that I didn’t want this to take hours and hours, so I told Katie to come to my house at 11:30 since she was habitually half an hour late. Before we hung up, dearest Katie thought of something that I hadn’t even pondered “Oh, my GAWD Peggy!” she gasped “how are you going to hide….IT?” To which I responded “Thanks for thinking of that, I hadn’t thought of it, but I know just what to do.”

After I hung up the phone with Katie, I dialed Barbara and told her my dilemma. I had always been able to get away with wearing a pantygirdle. It wasn’t as if I had that much to hide, but in a swim suit, even my little bit would have been obvious. Barbara calmly clued me in on a procedure that would do the trick “Don’t worry honey all you have to do is buy a roll of really good duct tape, shave everything but your…get a scissors and a pantyliner and…But whatever you do, remember to stay out of the water!” Okay, that would be easy, I couldn’t swim anyway.

The next day Frank showed up five minutes early, so I was sitting in the limo enjoying the stereo and the air conditioning. As I suspected, Katie’s dad dropped her off at noon. She was walking to the door of the shop, and I rolled down the window and said “Get in Silly!” She almost jumped out of her skin as she was surprised by the voice behind her. She hadn’t seen me through the tinted windows. “Gosh this car is really PLUSH!” was all she could say. I think Frank was very amused by Katie’s exuberance.

I absolutely must say here that Frank did indeed have a great deal of patience; we shopped for hours in about seven or eight different stores. We would go in and tear through the place looking for each of the items we were searching for. Frank would find a chair and sit there like a cigar store Indian and wait. Finally after five hours, we got everything we needed. The bikini was of course the most difficult item to find. I really would have preferred a one-piece, but Katie said that “If a girl your age shows up at a country club wearing a one piece, the message that’ll send to everyone is that she’s either a prude or a dork.” We settled on one that wasn’t too skimpy, it was navy blue. The salesgirl suggested that color for my pale white skin and dark hair color. I didn’t look so ridiculous in it, and the best part was that it fit! I picked out a really sexy pair of white strappy sandals with a two-inch heel, a white broad brimmed straw hat with a navy ribbon around the crown, a white terrycloth robe that was just the right length, and some very stylish sunglasses that were way too expensive. Frank and I were both tired by this time, but Katie kept us talking all the way to her house.

I was about an hour and half late for work for work at the club that evening, but had called Juanita to let her know ahead of time so she didn’t mind at all. “Just remember to punch in when you get here.” Was all she said.

One of my ‘regular dates’ was at the club that night and he asked me to go out with him soon, I made some excuse or another. I didn’t think it fair to George somehow. After work that night, before I drifted off to sleep, I briefly wondered where all this was going to go. Was I being fair to George? He was such a nice man. I was filled with dread again, I really didn’t want to hurt someone who had been so kind to me. Was he actually thinking of marrying me? Was I stringing him along? I was almost sure that he was falling in love with me. It felt both bad and good at the same time. Bad, because the relationship was bound to hurt him, if he really did care for me. Good because someone really terrific thought that I might be “the one”. All I could think of to do was pray and ask for God’s help.