The Arrangement

An arranged marriage is normally understood to be one where the bride and groom are selected not by the couple themselves but by members of their families and often their parents. In some cultures a professional matchmaker can be employed to find a prospective spouse for an individual seeking one. The marriage is forced when one of the couple is forced to marry against their will. It is estimated that 50% of marriages worldwide are arranged and this type of marriage continues to be common in South-East Asia and the Middle East. In Turkey arranged marriages are uncommon in the cities but more common in the rural areas and generally speaking the prospective bride or groom can veto arrangements if they wish. Proponents of arranged marriages quote a lower divorce rate although this may reflect cultural differences between those in love marriages and those in arranged marriages.

The marriage described below is a more modern form of arranged marriage.

1

I am a successful professor of obstetrics and gynaecology in private practice in Istanbul. I trained here, in Turkey, before living and working in the United States for several years where I obtained my American board certification.

During my time spent in California I worked long hours and devoted myself single-mindedly to the furthering of my career. I formed no lasting relationships since it was always my intention to return home and I had seen too many men's plans for their future change after meeting a woman and falling in love.

I fucked of course. I enjoy sex and had a few lovers but whenever anybody got close to me I ended things.

I guess you could call me a cold fish and that would be true. I decided at a very young age what I wanted and then planned how to get it. I was not going to let "love" get in the way. I had seen what had happened to my parents. They married young and my mother has always told me how much in love they were.

Their marriage went sour. It didn't happen overnight, but he wasn't the man she believed him to be and over the years she slowly realised she had made a mistake. He was lazy and unambitious and one of those individuals who blamed everybody and everything for problems of his own making. He cheated on my mother on many occasions and was an inveterate gambler. His only endearing qualities were that he wasn't a drunk or violent.

My early childhood was characterised by constant fights between my parents until I was 8 years old when one day he upped and left and never came back.

2

When I returned from the States I was 33 years old and, whilst not old, I wasn't getting any younger. I figured It was time I got married and settled down. I had little inclination to play the dating game and most of the people I met were work colleagues or worked in the hospital where I had visiting privileges.

When I was a junior doctor In San Francisco I screwed the nurses and on one occasion a pharmacist, but now I was home. A doctor and a Professor fucking the nursing staff outside of marriage was not going to fly. In any case I didn't want to live with a doctor or nurse. I wanted somebody who would complement my life and with whom I would have something other than conversations about pregnancy or disease to come home to.

Eventually I hit upon the idea of an arranged marriage.

So, six months before I returned home I asked my mother to find me somebody. I didn't want much! I wanted good looks, good character, and a university education. They didn't need to have a job. I earnt plenty. Importantly they must not drink to excess, gamble, or smoke.

My mother got to work and via a friend's aunt a "suitable" candidate was found. We met in my mother's flat one Saturday afternoon when Derin, with auntie chaperoning, came for tea. Derin appeared at first sight to be everything I was looking for; around my age, good looking with an olive complexion, sandy brown hair, and green eyes (and a lovely bum). Derin had a doctorate in history, was a university lecturer, and although at first a little on edge soon started to relax.

At that first meeting we talked for only a half hour or so and It was agreed that each one of us would decide whether we wanted to explore the possibility of marriage and proceed from there. I was already happy that Derin had potential and the following day it was agreed we would meet again.

We met half a dozen more times over the next month and at the last three meetings we talked privately together in a different room for several hours and got to know each other to ensure that we both wanted the marriage to go ahead.

At first those meeting were hard work. They were like two-way interviews, each one of us looking for possible incompatibility in the other.

We compared interests, political views, and religious beliefs and learned that we were both Ataturkists who believed in a secular state and were nominally Muslims and believed in God but didn't practice our religion. I spoke Turkish and English whilst Derin spoke Turkish, French, Farsi, and Arabic. We discussed children and agreed that they would be given the opportunity to go to university and marry whoever they chose.

We talked about our families, and I spoke of my parents failed love match. Derin's parents had an arranged marriage following which they had moved from their village to the port city of Izmir in South-Eastern Turkey. Izmir was the most cosmopolitan and westernised city in Turkey and some of Derin's values reflected a less traditional environment during his upbringing.

On the second meeting the topic of sex was broached. I knew that I must be honest since I didn't want a marriage marred by a lie before it had even started. Derin was a virgin, but I wasn't. I swallowed hard and then spoke of my sexual encounters in America and almost immediately they were waved away. I was told that what had happened there was an almost predictable consequence of being alone in a strange land.

Nonetheless I was relieved when Derin turned up for our third meeting. That last meeting before we made our joint decision was easy and pleasant and we chatted comfortably with each other like old friends.

Two weeks later our parents met one another, and we became engaged with an exchange of gold rings tied together with a red ribbon which was cut by my mother, and the dowry of gold was paid.

One month following that we tied the knot. The wedding was a simple civil ceremony, and we became husband and wife.

3

Our sex life was very good right from the start. We were both in our prime, healthy, and good looking, and as it turned out physically attracted to each other. I had not fucked anybody for over a year and Derin was a virgin and didn't appear to want to be any more.

You don't need to be in love to have good sex. And I'm pretty sure being in love does not necessarily make you a good lover. As a girlfriend once said to me,

"Are you really thinking about love when some dude is banging you and is on the short strokes?"

We honeymooned in Cappadocia in central Turkey. It is a place of lunar like landscapes and dotted by phallus like "fairy chimneys;" columns of rock formed by erosion and wind. Old Byzantine churches are carved into the rock there, and it is the site of thirty six underground cities in including Kaymaklı underground City and Derinkuyu underground city. These cities have multiple levels and extend downwards for hundreds of feet. Derinkuyu could house 20.000 people with their stores and livestock and is connected to Kaymaklı by a six mile long tunnel. These cities are thought to have been built by The Phyrgians as hiding places around the 7^th and 8^th centuries BC.

We stayed in a luxury rock hotel with our room built into a cave carved into the rock.

On our honeymoon we fucked every night and most afternoons. We did it missionary, doggystyle, cowgirl, and cowboy, and I introduced Derin to the joys of oral sex.

In-between we went sightseeing, shopping for souvenirs, ate out in restaurants, and walked and talked. After a week we knew each other pretty well and we were already starting to do more than just like each other.

On the last day we walked through Güllüdere (Rose Valley) with its rock cut churches and views of fairy chimneys. As we looked out across the valley I felt Derin take my hand and gently squeeze it.

After the honeymoon life moved on and we both went back to work. The months passed.The marriage was happy, and we grew closer and closer.

Derin was easy to live with; easy going, clean and tidy, and a good cook. These were qualities to which I was attracted.

In the evenings we conversed, watched a little television, and played chess, or tavla. Occasionally we went to a restaurant or entertained or visited friends and extended family.

I knew why I had wanted an arranged marriage and even before married I had asked Derin the same question. The answer had been a little like this.

"My parents have a traditional village background and have an arranged marriage and are both very happy together and in love. The basis of their marriage is that they come from the same background with similar life experiences including upbringing and religious and political beliefs. Even without love there's a good chance their marriage would have worked and provided a stable support system for both of them and for the upbringing of their children. For me was it more logical to marry someone with whom I knew was compatible with me and my approach to living rather than allowing my emotions to guide my decision and then make a mistake. Isn't that what happened to your mum?"

"And I'm shy. I don't do romance."

"When I was introduced to you by Auntie I couldn't believe my luck."

4

And then about six months into our marriage that evening happened. The evening that I still remember a third of a century later.

I arrived home from work on a Thursday evening and had my customary shower and changed out of my work clothes. I was not working the following day and was happy and relaxed.

When I went into the kitchen Derin had been busy and had prepared dinner. It was a simple meal of Izmir meatballs, tomato rice, and salad. The table had been laid and there was a candle burning on the table and white carnations in a vase on the table.

"Ben tüm bunları hak edecek ne yaptım?"

"What have I done to deserve all this?"

"Sadece kendin olmak ve benimle evlenmek"

"Just being yourself and marrying me"

We ate slowly and then cleared the dishes, and then hand in hand we walked to the bedroom where the white bedspread was covered with hundreds of rose petals.

"Aman!"

"Oh my!"

We stripped naked and lay holding each other and then Derin looked deep into my eyes, and as I lay underneath him with my legs spread, his manhood pierced me deep and he spoke.

"Seni seviyorum Melike."

"I love you Melike."

"Hemde seni seviyorum Derin"

"And I love you too Derin"

Then we made love.

That evening, in his love for me, Derin used his body to give me the most astounding sex of my life. First he took me to a place I had never been before, and then he took me back there time and time again.

As he lay on top of me he moved in and out, long smooth strokes, and he kissed each of my erect nipples in turn. As he moved my passion grew until I reached my peak and cried out as my thighs trembled and my buttocks clenched, and my vaginal muscles clamped down on his long hard penis.

But he didn't stop. He continued to move inside me, and I continued to orgasm, screaming in ecstasy, and writhing beneath him, until finally I could take no more.

"Dur! Dur!"

"Stop! Stop!"

He stopped and looked down at me as I lay covered in sweat. He kissed my breasts, my neck, my earlobes, and my eyes. He smiled and then he silently started to move again. This time he moved slowly grinding himself against my erect clitoris until I climaxed screaming once more, and only then did he withdraw.

We lay together for long minutes and kissed some more until he gently motioned me to kneel on the bed and as he entered me from behind and his penis lay deep inside me I desperately fingered my clitoris until my ecstasy grew, peaked, and subsided.

I made him lie on his back and as I knelt beside him I looked down at him and smiled.

"Sıra sende aşkım."

"Your turn my love."

I took his circumcised penis into my mouth and ran my tongue around the helmet whist moving my lips up and down his shaft. With the flat of my hand on his belly I was able to grip the base of his shaft whilst I slowly fellated him. I watched him as his pleasure grew and he groaned and pushed himself onto me. I was determined that this be the best blowjob of his life, and when he got close I squeezed the shaft and stopped before starting again. He was begging for release when I felt his shaft pump hot salty semen into my mouth, and he groaned in ecstacy as I swallowed his seed.

A short while later as he was holding me I wondered at the "lie" that I had believed; that love did not make sex better. That very evening it had made good sex into wonderful sex, and I looked forward to more of the latter.

Derin had also been just as wrong about his inability to romance a women, because that evening he had done just that to me.

And now we had a love match.