Hurricane Horny

"I get you Sherriff." I wasn't inclined to say any more on the subject and the Sherriff seemed content with that. "Lots to do," he said and drove off. Mr Brewster's daughter arrived just then. I said goodbye and thanked him again for his generosity then resumed my shingle harvesting. I took some timbers and boards as well. After about two hours I loaded up the car and headed for home.

When I walked in RitaMae looked a little quizzical.

"Hi, honey. Did you think I wouldn't come back? Not only am I back I have good news."

I told her how I found my car and my tools and clothes, so I'd be able to work, and I told her of Mr Brewster and the Sherriff.

"Mr. Brewster was a nice old guy. He was kind to me. So was the Sherriff. With all Earl's doings he never blamed me. He kept me out of it all."

She'd made a meal and after I'd eaten I got straight onto fixing the roof. Unfortunately it came on to rain just as I started to remove the tarpaulin, so I had to stop. But I repaired the fence and made some progress on rebuilding the shed until the rain drove me indoors.

RitaMae was sitting watching TV. I sat beside her.

"You're wet!"

"Mmm. I think I'll have a shower and put on some clean clothes. You want to join me?"

She gave me her inscrutable look.

"No. I don't shower with gentlemen in the first week of my acquaintance," she said with mock haughtiness, like someone out of a Tennessee Williams play.

"I'll look forward to next week then," I said as I kissed her and went off. It felt good to put on clean, if crumpled clothes.

RitaMae looked at me as I walked into the sitting room and sat beside her. She was watching a soap opera on TV. I put an am round her at which she snuggled against me.

"What you watching, hon?"

"'Day By Day'. It's shit but it hooks you after a while."

She tried to explain the complicated plots and sub-plots, but I couldn't really get interested. I fetched a book from my bag.

"What's that?"

I showed her the cover. "Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. It's really good. It explains how come the developed world became the developed world."

"Uh-huh. I don't read too much. I never went to no college or nothin'."

"Neither did I. But I like to read up on all sorts of things."

"You can understand that? There's an awful lot of big words there," she asked looking at the page I was reading.

"Sure. It's just English. If I come across a word I don't know I lust look it up."

"I ain't big on readin'" she said again.

She settled back to watching her soap while I read. I felt good, comfortable. Better than I'd ever felt.

When we went to bed, the sex seemed to happen more naturally than it had previously. I didn't feel as though I'd pressed myself on her. But she still didn't come.

The next day was fine so I slipped out of bed leaving RitaMae asleep and started on the roof. It took all morning, but was pleasant, steady work. RitaMae called me in to lunch.

"I have to go to the store. We don't got much food left."

"Ok, honey. Here."

I gave her fifty dollars.

"You don't have to pay me."

"Of course I do. I can't live off you. And I said I'd take care of you didn't I?"

She took the money without further comment and went off in the car as I went back to finish off the roof. It took another hour or so to replace all the shingles. RitaMae arrived back as I finished. I helped her in with the groceries. She had a strange look on her face; embarrassed, anxious, angry, even, or a mixture of all of those. We put the shopping away in silence, then she said:

"You'll have to go."

"What?"

"You'll have to leave. I'm sorry, but you can't stay."

I was struck speechless for a few moments. What was this? Had she just used me to comfort her during the storm and to fix the roof? I didn't think so. I truly felt we belonged together. She was stood opposite me defiantly.

"I don't want to go," I managed to blurt out weakly.

"I don't want you to go, but you have to. A girl can't live in sin in this town. It might be alright in New York or one of them other big Yankee cities, but it ain't no good here. I already got a bad reputation on account of Earl, I don't wanna make it worse by living in sin with a stranger. I see the way all those women look at me at the store. It's ok for men but for women it ain't. I don't wanna be no outcast no more. I've had enough of that."

I was speechless again. Firstly she'd said that she didn't want me to go! That filled me with joy! But then, the thought that she might object on those grounds had never occurred to me. We're so liberal about these things in the UK that I had just assumed it was the same here. But there was no doubting RitaMae's feeling on the subject. She was trembling now and tearing up. Suddenly I knew what to do. I walked over to her, took her in my arms and whispered, "We'd better get married then, sweetheart."

She started and glared at me.

"Are you crazy? We don't hardly know each other!"

"I've never been saner, sweetheart. I love you and I want to marry you. Will you marry me, RitaMae?"

She looked at me for some time, still in my arms then said, "Well, I ain't gonna marry no-one else."

That was good enough for me. I hugged her as hard as I could.

"We'll go down the courthouse tomorrow and get the licence. No point in waiting."

"I wanna get married in church," she said with an air of finality.

"Oh? I didn't think you were religious."

"I ain't. It's like this, if we just get the certificate from the court house, we'll be married alright. But the only ones who'll know it is you and me. If we get married in church, the whole town will know it in a week. That's what I want."

"Ok. Church it is. You got anywhere in mind?"

"There's one down the street. It'll do as well as any. I know the minister's wife slightly. She's one of the ones who looks down her nose at me, on account of Earl. I wanna show her."

I was a bit doubtful of RitaMae's reasons, and I told her that the Sherriff and Mr. Brewster had spoken highly of her, but if that was what she wanted that's what she'd get.

"It's the women. They can be real mean without saying a word. I wanna hold my head up when I walk down main street."

"Of course you do, sweetheart. We'll make that happen, don't you worry."

I already knew that to get married in Alabama you just needed to pay $45 dollars, fill out a form and both sign it. You don't even need witnesses. You can have it solemnized afterwards if you want to. That is what we planned to do.

In bed that night as I began making love to her RitaMae said.

"No, not yet we ain't married!" I leaned back in amazement.

"Gotcha!" she said, laughing.

I laughed and closed in again. She kissed me back, opening her legs for my hand to stroke her moistening cunt. I rubbed her clit with my thumb while having two fingers in her vagina. She arched her back for me and thrust her hips against my hand. But she still didn't come even after half-an-hour's work. I entered her and brought myself off as she wrapped her legs around my body and her arms around my neck. As I kissed her and whispered "I love you" she actually kissed me! Progress!

Chapter Four

Our trip to the courthouse had to be delayed, however. As I was having breakfast my cellphone rang. RitaMae picked it up.

"Uh-huh? Oh, Sherriff, yeah, he's here. Hold on."

The Sherriff said that many people had returned to their homes and calls were coming in to Mr Harris requesting repairs. Would I take myself down there and help out? After a quick conference with RitaMae, who agreed that I should, I went.

"You gotta be a part of it. We can get married later," she said.

Mr Harris turned out to be a middle-aged giant of a man, in overalls. A hands-on boss if ever there was one. His premises included a fully-equipped woodworking shop as well as a huge yard full of building materials.

"You're a carpenter?"

"Yes sir."

"Ok, make this." He handed me a rough drawing of a window frame. A quite simple window frame. I didn't reply, I just walked off, selected the right timber, cut the pieces under the eye of Mr Harris as he checked to make sure I knew how to use the machines in the shop. I jointed it nicely and presented it to him.

"I guess you know your way round a workshop. Ok, now you've made it you better go fit it. Can you do that?"

"Sure, I've done lots of site work."

I rode to the site with another guy called Ray in a small truck. He seemed pleasant enough but was not very talkative. We spent the rest of the day fitting the window frame and doing sundry other repairs. It was enjoyable work. The owner was generous with lemonade and full of gratitude. When we returned to the yard I saw Mr Harris talk to Ray who looked at me and nodded, so I guessed that Mr Harris had asked how I'd done and the response was positive. Mr Harris asked me to come back next day, which I agreed to do after settling payment terms. I wanted to remain freelance.

RitaMae looked a little tense when I got home. She'd cooked a nice meal and was wearing jeans, which I'd not seen her in before. When I asked about them she just said, "Time of the month, honey." I didn't know why the onset of her period should require the wearing of jeans, but I got the message. We sat on the couch, as usual, me reading, she watching tv. I was tired and began yawning at about nine o'clock.

"I think I'll turn in."

"Ok. I'll sleep here."

"What? Why?"

"Time of the month. Y'all don't want me sleepin' with you do ya?"

"RitaMae, sweetheart, what are you talking about. Of course I want you to sleep with me. What difference does your period make?"

She looked at me in amazement.

"I just don't get y'all..." she seemed about to say more but then thought better of it, "If you're sure..."

"Of course I'm sure. You baffle me sometimes."

She climbed into bed almost wearing more than she did in the day. I just hugged her, kissed the top of her head and said goodnight, wrapping her in my arms as closely as I could through the layers she was wearing. I couldn't believe that modern Americans, even in deepest Alabama were repulsed by a woman having her period to the extent of them sleeping separately.

Over dinner next evening I said,

"I'm sorry about the marriage certificate, sweetheart. Maybe Saturday?"

"Have to be Friday. I spoke to the minister today. He can do the church service on Saturday, so I agreed to that. I didn't think you'd mind."

"Did you now? Well, no point in hanging around I suppose. Friday for the licence, Saturday for the wedding."

"I kinda like it when you talk all English like that."

"Like what?"

"'Did you now', 'I suppose', 'hanging around', 'Like what'" she mimicked me, very badly I thought, "It's kinda nice."

Next day, Thursday, was another busy day as they all were for many months to come.

I told Mr Harris I wouldn't be in until the afternoon the next day.

"Oh?" he asked in a way that required an answer.

"I'm getting married," I said.

"What? And you only want a half-day off? What kind of wedding is that?"

I explained that we were just getting the certificate and that the real wedding was on the Saturday.

"You're a lucky guy. RitaMae's a lovely girl," he said as he walked off. So word had got around already, I thought. That's what RitaMae wanted.

I arrived home very happy after another satisfying day to find RitaMae in tears. Great sobbing, heaving weeping.

"Sweetheart, what is it?" I said trying to embrace her. She pushed me away.

"Y'all cain't marry me. It ain't right. I shouldn't have agreed. You have to go away."

"RitaMae, my darling, what do you mean?"

"I mean what I say. It ain't right, you can't marry me," she said, through her weeping.

"Why on earth not? I love you, you love me. We're free. What's the problem?"

Between heart-rending sobs that upset me deeply, she said, "I ain't no good. I don't deserve you."

I thought for a few minutes, then I said.

"Ok, RitaMae. I'm gonna hold you, we're gonna sit down and you're gonna tell me what this is all about. Come here."

I put my arms around her and guided her to the couch. She sobbed pathetically on my shoulder. I stroked her hair and repeatedly kissed the top of her head making soothing noises. Eventually she said, "I wasn't gonna say anything, but it wouldn't be right. You just have to trust me and leave."

"I'm not leaving RitaMae. You have to trust me and tell me what you mean. Do you trust me?"

"I guess."

"Then tell me."

Haltingly she began, stopping frequently to take breaths. She didn't look up at me once.

"You'll hate me when you hear what I am. I told you I was a farm girl, right? Well, the farm's up north. There ain't nothin' else for at least fifty miles in any direction. My Pa had inherited it from my Grandpa who inherited it from his Pa who first farmed the land. We been there for generations, you get me? Ok, well, it ain't easy and none of 'em had much in the way of education."

She stopped here, remaining silent for a minute or two. I kissed her and said, "Go on, honey. It's Ok."

"So all my Pa knows is farmin; he don't know nothin' about anythin' else. So nothin' for fifty miles around. I never saw a man, other than my brothers until I was eighteen. We didn't have no TV nor nothin' so I was ignorant. I had never dated nor nothin'. Anyway, Earl appeared one day, lookin' for work. My Pa took him on to repair the barn. I was fascinated. Like I said I hadn't seen any boys. I flirted with him I guess. I didn't know what I was doing. When he'd been there about a week, he kissed me. I was surprised and, well, I was excited. Who wouldn't be? He didn't waste any time. After just the one kiss he pushed me into the hay and...and...he took me! I tried to stop him, but I couldn't. And..and part of me didn't want to. See? I'm a whore."

I hugged her. "No you're not. You're just a normal girl with a repressed background, that's all."

She looked at me. I think she was a little mollified but she was still upset.

"So how long before you married him?"

"Next day."

"What?"

"Yeah. My Pa came in and found us doing it. He took us downtown next day and forced Earl to marry me. Literally with a shotgun."

"But is that even legal? Didn't the registrar say something?"

"I don't know about no registrator, or whatever. I guess the guy in the Town Hall was quite happy to sign our forms with a shotgun pointed at him. My Pa never wanted me. He thought girls were useless. He made me marry Earl as a way of getting rid of me. I think he just didn't want me around."

"Oh, Jesus RitaMae. I'm so sorry."

"So there you see. I'm just a whore. You can't marry me."

"You're not a whore, darling, you're a survivor. And what you've just told me doesn't change a thing. In fact it makes me more determined to make you happy. We're going to get married tomorrow if it's what you want, OK?"

"You still want to marry me? What kind of man are you?"

"The kind of man who loves you. Who doesn't care about your past. Who loves you as you are now. Who wants to be part of your future, that's what kind of man I am."

She started sobbing again but it was a different kind of sobbing. There was a lot of relief in it. I kept talking to her, telling her everything would be OK. Gradually she told me more details of her life with Earl. How he would often come home drunk and beat her. How he always had some useless and often illegal scheme to make money which always failed. The only money he made was from gambling and he lost as much as he won, except he won the house we were in. She was even made to sleep on the couch when she had her period. I was astounded that she stood it.

"I didn't have nowhere to go. I ain't never going back home. I ain't wanted there."

"RitaMae, I love you and we're going to get married tomorrow. OK?"

"I guess."

I took her to bed as gently as I could and held her tight. She was quiet after that and eventually fell into an uneasy sleep. I lay awake for hours processing what I'd heard. I was angry for her; raging angry. And even more angry because there was nothing I could do about it. I was repelled by what she'd told me, but unlike the useless Earl, I wasn't repelled by her. If anything I loved her more. No doubt some will say that's because my "damsel in distress" complex was enhanced by RitaMae's revelations. Well maybe so, but none the less, I loved her then, I love her now and I was entirely ready to marry her next day.

Chapter Five

"Are you really sure?" she asked me outside the courthouse, "I won't blame you if you pull out now."

"I'm sure, honey, surer than I've ever been about anything."

All we had to do was fill in a form. It had fifty-four pages, most of which had to be signed. RitaMae sort of skimmed it, but I read it carefully pointing out to her the places where it asked her if she was there of her own free will and not being coerced. It was only then that I realised she couldn't read. At least not well. I said nothing but determined to remedy that as soon as I could. I didn't know just how yet, but I would do it.

Outside I kissed her, "Well, Mrs Walker, Let's have a celebratory drink, then I'm going to buy you a new dress for tomorrow. Tomorrow night we'll go out for a meal."

"I don't need no new dress."

"Really? Well, ok then. You're obviously a woman of simple tastes."

"Well, I chose you, didn't I?"

We laughed as we walked down the street hand-in-hand.

RitaMae said she didn't want alcohol, which made me see that she hadn't had anything to drink in the week or so I'd been with her. I'm not a great drinker myself, so I was happy to settle for coffee. We held hands and smiled at each other a lot. RitaMae was obviously happy. I took her home then went to work.

When I got back that evening her eyes were shining. We ate our meal quickly and headed straight for bed. RitaMae was very definitely more than willing now, though she still didn't climax despite my best and prolonged efforts. After the second time of trying we lay in each others' arms.

"I guess I'm a lucky girl."

"It's me that's lucky, sweetheart."

I felt her tense a little. I wondered what was coming.

"I want children."

That took me by surprise. I hadn't thought of the possibility of children. Typical male I suppose. I didn't answer for a while. RitaMae said;

"That idea don't seem to have made you ecstatic."

I hugged her tighter.

"I'll be frank, honey. The thought of being a father frightens me. I suppose, like many men I think of it as something that is inevitable one day, some day long in the future, a sort of distant idea. But when it happens I'll step up and do my best."

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"If you want kids, honey, we'll have kids. How many?"

"I dunno. Lots, maybe."

"Do you want to start now?" I said as I rolled her on her back and climbed on top.

"I guess."

Chapter Six

Next morning we had a light breakfast, as we were both a little nervous. The minister had asked us to be at the church a little early as he wanted to talk to us. It was, as I expected, a little pep talk about the sanctity of marriage, the seriousness of it and the responsibilities it imposes. I pointed out, not very wisely, perhaps that we were already married.

"Not in the sight of God, son," he said, "Yet."

Finally we began the service. There was us and a couple of elderly women in the church. RitaMae was radiant, I'm very pleased to say, and looking gorgeous in the same red dress I'd first seen her in. I'd mentioned it when she was looking through her small wardrobe. We picked up a small bunch of flowers on the way for her to hold. The minister and his wife acted as witnesses and it was done.

"I assume I'll see you here tomorrow?" the minister asked.

"You can count on it, sir," RitaMae replied promptly.