We were married a month later. Scotty wanted to get it done right away, but I wanted a time after all a girl only gets married for the first time once - Right? And believe me, I wanted the real thing long white dress, bridesmaid, the whole bit.

We got our marriage licenses on the strength of each other's birth certificate which made us giggle even more than most prospective newly- weds; and I'll swear the clerk was right out of an old MGM movie. I flew down to Los Angeles and shopped for several days for a wedding dress and had more fun than you can imagine. I think the best part was buying my trousseau with my own money, for I had managed to sell some more things I had written.

The best part of all was having Beth as bridesmaid. She arrived several days before the wedding and stayed with us. It was the first and last time I was ever jealous! Scotty practically devoured her with his eyes, then grinned sheepishly as I slapped him across the arm.

I had several surprises for Beth. One of them happened the day before the wedding when she received a check in the mail from the store. "Do you know anything about this?" she asked. I nodded smilingly. "Yes. I sent them a wire telling them you quit. We'd like you to stay with us a while for as long as you'd like. If you'd like to, we could use help - and if not, just enjoy yourself!"

As usual, I have a talent for saying and doing the wrong things. It wasn't what she wanted at all, but it took me several hours to find out why. I went then and talked to Scotty at great length.

The morning of the wedding, Scotty disappeared as he was supposed to; the best man arrived and took charge, serving the few guests and entertaining the minister. Like any self-respecting bride, I took a leisurely bubble-bath, sipped thoughtfully at a hefty Martini, then clad only in panties, lay on the bed for a while.

―

With a knock on the door, Beth arrived then to help me dress - for one last time. I was pleased to notice the look of surprise on her face this time as I sat up.

"Oh my!" she gulped.

I laughed then. "How about that? A funny thing happened to me on the way to the doctor's it seems he had this big long needle..."