We went out for breakfast—Denny’s—and then bicycle shopping. We found a nice Shimano 24-speed mountain bike with an aluminum frame and–best of all–the dealer was willing to give us a student discount. Including a high visibility vest, and quality helmet, and lock the tab came to $459 plus tax. Henry mounted it on the car’s rack and we drove home. We already had my bike in the second bedroom/study center and now we had two making the space a bit tight, but workable.
I had been on the phone with Mom and Lisa daily about the wedding. She told me we could get St. Aloysius for the Saturday after Christmas and there were several catering opportunities including the yacht club the same day. I explained that Henry wouldn’t be inviting any family—I wouldn’t either if they had treated me the way they had treated him—nor would we invite any friends from Penn State unless we made some very close friends over the next few months. To date we’d had classmates, but no really close friends. We had each other and that was all that mattered.
Henry and I never did socialize very much even though we were invited to several fraternity and sorority parties. We attended a few, but stopped after I was hit on repeatedly one evening even though I had told the jerks repeatedly that I was engaged. We left after only an hour and never returned. Instead, we found plenty of things to do on our own—bowling, movies, the theater, even biking to a nearby campground for an overnight when the weather was warm enough.
Before we knew it the year had passed and we were second semester sophomores. I had spent much of the summer break shopping in Manhattan for a dress and checking out several catering halls before making a decision. Henry spent the summer working in the mail room for Daddy. That kept him out of my way during the day and made our nights even more passionate, if such a thing was even possible.
We had another great Christmas, but we were all a bit nervous about the upcoming wedding only two days later. I knew that it was supposedly bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding so I banished poor Henry to one of the other bedrooms the night before. We had exchanged our personal vows earlier that afternoon. Henry was kneeling before me when he pledged his eternal love and servitude to me.
I promised to love and care for him—to be faithful and to protect him for all my days. Essentially, it was a repeat of our initial pledges, but renewing them would only serve to make our bond even stronger. There was, of course, another reason for privacy. Stating Henry’s, in which he agreed to obey would be terribly humiliating for him. I could never hurt him like that.
Lisa was Maid of Honor and Jack, one of the guys from the mail room, was Best Man. I liked Jack. He was a decent, honest man just a few years older than we were. Best of all, he was nothing like most of the male attorneys who all seemed to have huge egos and thought they could have any woman.
Henry and Jack were at the altar in their tuxes when Daddy and I walked slowly up the aisle at St. Aloysius. I don’t remember much about the ceremony other than the Wedding March, Daddy’s kiss, exchanging rings with Henry, and, of course, kissing Henry at the end. We enjoyed the reception at the yacht club where I learned what a great dancer my husband really was. All I wanted to do at the Mixer was grind myself into Henry’s leg and the fraternity parties were usually so crowded we couldn’t do much else. Our first dance was a waltz and I felt so special as Henry whirled me around the floor.
The cocktail hour was wonderful with lots of jumbo shrimp and lobster cocktail and other hot and cold hors d’oeuvres. The booze flowed like water, but not for us. We were underage and inexperienced although I doubted that either mattered at the yacht club. The last thing I wanted was for either of us to get drunk. We left the reception for my parents’ home where we changed into casual clothes and a short ride to one of the hotels near LaGuardia Airport. We left the following morning for a week at the Sheraton Maui courtesy of my parents.
We had a wonderful time snorkeling and dining out and just lounging in the sun. We managed to make love a minimum of three times every day and that didn’t include the times Henry used his powerful tongue on me. I pissed into his mouth twice to reinforce my dominance and control over him. That may seem unnecessarily cruel, but Henry found security in my control. I had decided that my husband should handle the driving; it was a pleasure to be able to sit back and relax while Henry chauffeured me through the heavy traffic and narrow lanes. We returned to my parents’ home in Kings Point for a few days before driving back to our apartment for the remainder of the break.
Now that Henry had been a Dean’s List student the last two semesters I could ease off his required study rules. Nor did I have to worry that he’d waste time at the student union. I had forbidden him to go there without me when he had agreed to become my slave. He had become the most serious student I had ever met–even more than me.
I had decided to retain my maiden name—Rizzo—for professional reasons. I planned to attend law school at the University of Pennsylvania just as my father and grandfather had before me. I did very well on the LSAT and was accepted. While I was preparing for law school Henry had prepared a resume in the hopes of obtaining his first teaching position. He had an exceptional student teaching experience and had worked as a reading tutor with underprivileged students both junior and senior years. I wasn’t at all surprised when he was hired in the prestigious Lower Merion School District just outside Philly.
As hard as I worked in law school I really thought that Henry worked even harder his first year as a teacher. I had never given much thought to all the preparations an elementary teacher faced every day. Henry had to develop lessons for Language Arts, Arithmetic, Social Studies, Science, and even Spanish each and every day and he sometimes had to handle lessons in art and music. He loved his work and never missed a day. I was thrilled to hear his principal praise him wildly at the school’s holiday party.
I enjoyed mixing with the teachers and their spouses. I found them to be intelligent, perceptive, and unpretentious, unlike many of the attorneys I had met over the years as the boss’s daughter. Lower Merion is an affluent area, much like Great Neck. They paid their teachers well and expected results. Henry had an excellent experience there, but applied for jobs in Nassau County during my last year. By then he’d completed his Master’s Degree, making him an even more desirable candidate. I never sent out even a single application; I was going to work for Daddy.
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