What They Left Behind
The ride to Las Vegas was exhilarating. She hadn’t ridden on a motorcycle in a very long time, but she enjoyed it so much it made her think that she should get a bike of her own. The only problem she had was with packing. Everything had to fit on a large duffel bag strapped to the back of the bike, so they had to pack extremely light. Gennie packed two pairs of jeans, two t-shirts and a white dress with a yellow floral print and ruffles on the sleeves and hem. They decided to skip packing toiletries; they’d buy them once they were there.
Gennie had never been to Las Vegas, but it mesmerized her. The sun had settled just below the horizon, turning the sky gold and orange. The lights that covered all the casinos and other attractions glowed and shimmered. They rode through the streets until they spotted a hotel. They booked a room. Once inside it, they changed into their wedding clothes.
“Oh, you look gorgeous,” Gennie said. She never saw Peter dressed up before.
“I stopped at Ye Olde Fart Shoppe and picked these out. I couldn’t believe how long it took for the lady to tailor these pants. For some reason, she spent like half the time just staring at me.”
“I don’t blame her,” Gennie said, smiling. She took the pink carnation she bought in the hotel lobby and pinned it to the lapel of his light gray suit jacket. “There, you look very marriageable now.”
She put her arms around him and Peter gave her a kiss on the lips.
“And you look totally hot.”
Gennie giggled.
“Hey, why don’t I pin that flower on your dress and then we can get out of here?”
“Okay.”
Peter, even though his hands were shaking, managed to pin on her carnation without stabbing himself.
“You smell good,” he said.
“It’s probably the flower.” Gennie wasn’t wearing any perfume.
“Maybe it’s your natural scent. I can’t wait to smell it some more.”
“You’re something else. All right, let’s get going to the chapel.”
“Okay,” Peter said, wrapping his arm around her.
Gennie was glad she was in Las Vegas; otherwise, they would have been an odd sight on the road, being dressed to the nines on a motorcycle. There were so many other distractions, though, that no seemed to notice.
They pulled into the parking lot of a small church, but unlike most churches, there was a bright pink neon sign above the front entrance proclaiming ‘The Wedding Belle Chapel--Quick & Easy Marriages Guaranteed’. They entered the front door and instead of a row of pews, there was a waiting area with a secretary manning a large desk. They filled out some forms and turned them in, along with the twenty-dollar fee, to the secretary. The secretary then led them into the actual chapel.
It looked like a church except for the white shag runner leading up to the altar. Instead of pews, there were two small rows of metal chairs. On the altar, two pillars had plastic climbing roses snaking up them. A brass and crystal chandelier hung over their heads.
“The chaplain will be out any minute now,” the secretary told them. Not long after that, a short man in his sixties with very thin silver hair came out of a side door.
“My, aren’t you a handsome couple,” he said, opening a thin book on the altar, “and you don’t look drunk either.”
“No, we planned this,” Peter said.
“Really?” the chaplain said, putting on a pair of reading glasses. “That’s a first. This town isn’t known for people who plan ahead. Well, anyway, I see you signed up for the quick and easy option, emphasis on the quick, so let’s go ahead with the ceremony. Do you, Peter, take Gennie to be your lawfully wedded wife? Do you swear before God that you will love, honor, cherish, respect and comfort her, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health? Do you promise to share your joys and sorrows, and forsaking all others, to be faithful to her alone?”
“I do,” Peter replied.
He had recited the same vows again and Gennie said ‘I do’.
“I pronounce you husband and wife. Well, now that wasn’t so bad, was it?” the chaplain said.
“It was great,” Peter said, giving the chaplain’s hand a hearty shake. “Thanks.”
“Thank you,” Gennie said to the chaplain. She shook his hand too.
“So, are you hungry yet?” Peter asked her when they left the chapel.
“Starving,” Gennie replied.
“Well, I know a great place for the reception,” Peter said.
Gennie giggled. “I hope it’s not too expensive.”
“Nah, it’s only a dollar ninety-nine a person.”
“Three ninety-eight total. That’s not bad.”
Gennie wasn’t expecting much from their ‘reception’ but the food at The Garden of Paradise Buffet was delicious. They went up about four times, filling their plates to the brim. When they were sufficiently full, they rode back to their honeymoon suite.
Peter carried her over the threshold and placed her on the bed. Then he put his hand on her shoulder and gently nudged her forward, placing the faintest of kisses on her lips.
“Let’s pretend this our first time,” he said. “You wanna do that?”
She nodded.
“Is it just me or is it getting hot in here? Mind if I take my shirt off?”
“No.”
He threw his suit jacket and thin blue tie on the floor and quickly unbuttoned his white dress shirt. “Now we can get down to business.”
She stared at his toned body, especially his washboard stomach.
“That’s better,” he said.
“What?”
“You know, your look. You seem happier now.”
“Well, who wouldn’t be happy being married to you?”
He looked at her seriously. “Yeah, you’re right.” Then he lay down on the bed next to her. “Hey, you must be really warm too. Why don’t you take your clothes off?”
“Uh…okay.”
“Hey, don’t be nervous. I’ll help you.”
She stood up and he began to undo the many small buttons on the front of her dress. Then, she tentatively slipped it off, and removed her pantyhose. All she had on was a pair of white lace panties and a matching bra.
“I like,” Peter said, caressing her stomach. “You look good. Can I take your bra off?”
“Uh, yeah, sure.”
He undid the two hooks in the back with expert hands and her bra fell away.
She noticed he was at a loss for words.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
He looked surprised. “Sorry for what? That your boobs look fantastic?”
Gennie fell down on the bed laughing. “Only you would say something like that.”
“They look great to me. Hey, is it okay if I touch them?”
“Uh…all right.”
He caressed them with the gentlest touch. “Oh, they’re soft.”
“Thanks.”
“Can I take your underwear off too?”
“All right.”
With a swift move of his fingers, he pulled her underwear down her legs and onto the bed beside them.
“You’re looking better all the time,” he said. He placed his hand between her legs and explored inside her with fingers.
Gennie couldn’t help but moan. It was wonderful to be touched this way.
They fondled each other until they couldn’t stand it any longer and Peter went inside of her. They moved their hips in unison until Gennie cried out in pleasure. After two hard thrusts, Peter groaned as Gennie felt him come.
They lay exhausted next to each other, eventually falling asleep. Gennie woke up in the middle of the night and began to cry.
Her sobbing woke Peter up a few minutes later.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s gotta be something.”
“No.”
“I bet it’s something I did. Was I too rough?”
“No, you were perfect.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist and put his head on her shoulder. “You don’t want to be married?”
“No, I’m glad we’re married,” Gennie whispered.
“Then what is it?”
“I don’t know. It’s so hard to explain. I guess I miss Rory and I feel bad…for being happy, you know. It was so awful the way he died. There’s no getting over it.”
“You can’t do anything about that, Gennie. It sucks but it happened. Being all guilty isn’t going to bring him back.”
“I know but…”
Peter kissed her on the cheek. “I’ve heard a lot about him, so I know what I have to live up to. I’m not him, but I know I love you and I want to be with you forever. And I want to make you so happy you’ll explode. Will you let me do that?”
“I don’t know about the exploding part, but the rest sounds good.”
“I don’t mind that you still miss him. I know he was the first one and stuff.”
“Yes, but I still love you.”
“Don’t feel guilty about anything, okay?”
“I’ll try.”
“Okay,” he said and gave her a kiss. “Tomorrow we’ll go see Wayne Newton and if we have time, we’ll check out the guys with the white tigers. Sound good?”
“Yeah,” Gennie said. She closed her eyes and not even a minute later, she was asleep again.
Chapter 69: August 4