Her Face

"You will not damage…"

"You think not?"

"I know not."

"Would you wait for my answer then. Do you love me enough to wait for a long time?"

"However much time it takes, as long as the answer is 'Yes'."

"I have to tell you something, Peter."

"What?"

"Karin and I will be going away for a long time. During that time, I want us to have no contact, none whatsoever. You must have time to reconsider your proposal."

"I don't want time to reconsider…"

She smiled. "Never the less, you are going to get it. And while we are away, you must not sit around moping in isolation. Go out, enjoy yourself, have fun with girls. When we come back, we can talk about marriage again, if you still want to. If not, I shall understand."

"How long will you be away for?"

"I can't say for certain – somewhere between twelve and eighteen months."

"Twelve and eighteen months…Where are you going, what are you going to do?"

"I can't tell you where and what. If you love me as you say you do, don't press me to tell you."

"But why no contact?"

"Because I don't want anything to influence us in the decision. There is just one thing. If you move…change your address and telephone number, send a note to a Post Office Box the number of which I shall give you. And please, don't contact my mother or my sister – or my friends. If you love me, do this for me."

A great yawning chasm seemed to open before me. All that time without Angie and my little girl – Mine? I knew Angie well enough to understand that she would not relinquish her plan to go away. I could either accept or not, but it would not change a thing either way. I nodded my miserable acceptance.

"Thank you my love. I shall contact you when we return, it won't seem as long as you think."

"No?"

She rose. "Time for sleep, I think. And now I'm going to be very hard. I dearly want to invite you to my bed, but I'm not going to, my love. I have a strong suspicion that if we once made love, my resolve would be weakened. Goodnight, darling."

She made no move to kiss me, so I put my arms round her and kissed her instead.

As we parted from the kiss, she looked at me steadily. "We love you very much, Karin and I."

She left the room.

That night I was beside myself, wanting her. I had to masturbate three times before I could finally drop off to sleep.

They were to leave the day after New Year's Day. I needed to pay some visits to old friends and relatives up country, so when we said goodbye in the morning, there were tears from Karin and pleadings that "You won't forget me, will you. You won't get another little girl?"

"No, my love, I shall not get another little girl."

Angie was sad but strong. "I shall telephone you when we return – the very first moment."

I left fighting back my own tears.

How in the world had I got myself into this mad situation? Right from the start, it had been odd. Now it seemed just plain crazy!

For all my love, I began to think vengeful thoughts. Angie had suggested I involve myself with girls, "So all right, I will."

It didn't work. I bedded a few women, but always ended up with feelings of self-disgust. I went to faculty parties, and did nothing but mope all evening. Finally, I resolved to bury myself in my doctoral thesis. At least this did produce some worthwhile results.

The weeks and months dragged by, and my longing for my Two Girls grew rather than diminished in intensity. The time frame had been fairly vague. The twelve months mark went past, and still no word. I began to grow desperate. I was tempted to ring Heather or Monica, just to get news, any news, but I resisted.

In the middle of the sixteenth month, one evening, the telephone rang. I had dashed to the telephone too many times, and been disappointed. This time I was lethargic in picking the instrument up.

"Hello, Peter, we've come back."

It was she, and after all the things I had planned to say at this moment, I could not think of one of them.

"Angie," I croaked.

"Yes. Do you still want to marry me?"

"Yes."

"Dinner at our house tomorrow night?"

"Yes."

"Karin is bursting to see you."

"Good."

"See you tomorrow, darling. Goodnight."

She rang off.

I was utterly confused. I had thought I knew what I was going to say and what I was going to do, at this time. It had all flown out the window, propelled in part by the laconic nature of the call. A sleepless night lay ahead of me.

If Angie's telephone call had been somewhat terse, the same could not be said for Karin's greeting when I arrived at the house."

She hurled herself upon me, an event not quite so easy to absorb as in the past, because she had grown somewhat in the time they had been away.

"Holly, oh Holly, I've missed you so much. Did you miss me? Do you still love me? Will you come and see me every week like you did before? Look how I've grown. Do you think I still look pretty? I do love you Holly…"

As I struggled to give appropriate answers to her verbal barrage, I noticed that the house lights were dim. "Oh God," I thought, "She's gone back into hiding."

I was dragged to the lounge with the information; "Mummy's waiting for you." Mummy was indeed waiting for me in very dim light.

"Hello, Peter. Angie, would you leave mummy and Peter for a while? We have to have a serious talk."

I think it must have been prearranged, because Karin smiled and left.

I was not asked to sit. In the darkened room, I could just see Angie looking at me.

"Peter, you are sure you still want to marry me?"

"Yes," said somewhat awkwardly because I couldn't understand what was going on.

"You are quite sure…even with my face?"

"Even with your face."

"I have a wedding present for you, darling. Would you turn on the light?"

I went to the switched and clicked it on. Light flooded the room, leaving me blinking for a moment. Angie was turned so that her good profile was presented to me.

"This is my present," she said, and turned to present the other profile.

I stood staring, unable to speak for a moment, then: "Angie, what's happened to your face?"

The droop had gone from the eye and mouth. The terrible scar had diminished to be barely discernable.

"What's happened?" I repeated.

"It's called 'plastic surgery, darling, surely uou've heard of that? That's where I've been – overseas to a plastic surgeon that is said to be the best. It cost a fortune, but it was for you. Well don't I get a kiss after all this time?"

She got a kiss, and in the midst of it a voice said from the door, "Don't you think mummy looks pretty? Mummy, is he going to marry us?"

"Yes, I think so, darling, but he's a bit lost for words at the moment. We'll wait until he recovers and we can ask him again to make sure."

I have no need to record what I replied when the question was asked, yet one thing puzzled me, and as I sat with Angie after Karin had gone to bed, I asked it.

"Angie, why didn't you have this work done before, and save your marriage? You did know it was possible, didn't you?"

"Yes, I knew, and I fully intended to get the work done when the time was right, but then I realised that it was only my looks that my husband wanted. It was the same with other men, until you came along. You were prepared to accept me, not for my looks, but for the 'me' inside, the real 'me'. You are the one it was worth doing this for."

I laughed.

"What? She asked.

"It's a bit like the story of the lovely princess who kissed the frog, and found she had a handsome prince on her hands, but in reverse. I kissed a lady with a scarred face, and she turned into a lovely princess."

There was a giggle from the doorway. Karin had sneaked out of her bedroom to listen at the door to our talk. I suppose one can hardly blame her, since her future was riding on the outcome of our talk.

Angie rose. "Karin, you get straight back to bed."

"Yes mummy. But Holly, while was away some girls told me what mummies and daddies do when they love each other. So its all right if you'd like to, isn't it, mummy?"

Precocious little devil!