As Luck Would Have it

Betsy enjoyed working in the office; the shop had one of those mechanical adding machines, but she preferred the adding machine behind her eyeballs. Although she ate better than she had in years, her maiden aunt didn\'t call. However, she did need to bind her chest in ae see serious fashion.

At ten o’clock Henry arrived tr dor door and Betsy, in silk pajamas and a dressing gown that her father bought two Christmases ago greeted him. She whispered as she opened the door, “You shouldn’t come around so much, we cannot be discussing Darwin all hours of the night. My landlady is getting suspicious.”

“Why not? His Ascend of Man has sprung fierce debate,” said Henry. “Richard and I talked about it.”

“You two probably had books to the ceiling?”

“That we did. Richard is a starch Christian and even a premillenniumist. He believed the Bible was literal and would have nothing to do with evolution. He didn’t want to think that the world could be older than six thousand years or that the world wasn’t created in six days.”

“We have to invite him over and I’ll try to convince him that the universe itself is truth and in the beauty of mathematics.” Betsy motioned for Henry to come in. “So you love me for my mind not my body.”

“Actually, I made love to you that first time because I wanted to feel your power. I came back for a second time because you\'re so wicked. I don’t think we ever did it missionary style after the first time.”

Betsy, using the belt of her dressing gown as a lasso, pulled him in for a kiss. “I see no point in acting the lady. The women at the mill still think that I gave you a love potion. There’s no point in explaining to them that love potions only work for a day.”

“So do they know now?”

“Most of them do. I try not to let it trouble me. They would never believe that I never slipped you a potion especially with my father.”

“I spent time with you because I love our conversation. I like having the company of a lady that is my equal in debate.”

“And that isn’t one of your sisters?”

“They aren’t my equals. They\'re superiors.”

“I need to meet them.”

“As soon as it can be arranged.” Henry leaned back on his chair. “We should make an announcement of our engagement.” Henry opened a small box. “Would you become my wife?”

Betsy frowned. \"A little Henry with my mother\'s magic and my mathematical abilities would only expand your over inflated sense of self.\"

“Is that a yes or a no?” Henry got on his knees. “I hate begging but here it goes. Will you marry me?”

Betsy nodded.

Henry put the ring on her finger. “I’m glad that it fits. I brought the largest size woman’s ring that they carried.”

“It’s a little tight. I have big hands.” Betsy looked at the one-carat diamond ring as she moved it on her finger. It puckered the skin around it and her finger was starting to turn a little blue. “I have something to show the girls at the mill.” She would ask her father if he knew an alchemist that could make the ring a little bigger before she lost her finger.

“I think you better not rub it in their faces.”

“Why not? If they think I gave you a love potion, it’ll increase my pop’s sales.”

“An heir with magic has merits.” Henry undressed and motioned for Betsy to join him on the bed. “Your mathematical abilities are just weird. Now that adding machines are becoming more popular; no one will care how fast you add.”

“I can do more than add,” said Betsy. “Those calculus books on the shelf aren’t just for show. If I wasn’t a woman, I could easily have Newton’s chair in Cambridge.”

“So you’re a genius. Do you want me to kiss your feet?”

Betsy removed her pajama bottoms. “You can start there and work your way up.”

Henry did as Betsy commanded. His tongue started with the sole of her feet then licked the curves of her legs. When he reached her feminine parts, his tongue tickled. Pressing her thin lips together, she held in a laugh. While Henry was humping her, she lost her composure and let out a deep moan. First a smile formed on her face, then she chucked. When Henry came inside her, she laughed even harder.

“Sex isn’t funny,” said Henry.

“I was trying so hard to lie there silent and thin of England.” Betsy chuckled; she had never been to England like most people living in the colonies. “You make me scream. I can’t help it.”

Henry kissed Betsy’s cheek. “Darling, I love you for who you are. You don’t need to hide your head under a pillow.” Henry placed his arms around Betsy’s shoulders and bought her face close to his. This once Betsy didn’t close her eyes but stared into Henry’s baby blues. She opened her mouth slightly to taste Henry’s tongue.

Afterwards, Betsy touched Henry’s face. She traced the outline of his bushy sideburns. Betsy bound her growing chest. “Henry, have you ever flown on a magic carpet?”

“No. Carriage, horseback, train and other mundane forms of transportation.”

Betsy took skirt and blouse from her wardrobe. “Then you’re in for a treat. Dress.”

Henry gathered his clothing from the chair. “Are they safe?”

“A magic bubble forms around the carpet. You can’t fall out unless the carpet flips. We can go anywhere in the world. It only takes half a day to cross the Atlantic.”

“I would love to go on safari in Africa.”

“We only have four days.”

“I just asked you to marry me. Can you try to be romantic?”

“We talk about politics and science more than we talk about nce.nce. There’re many times that you forget that I am a woman.”

“I never forget that you’re a woman.”

“That is why you called me James last night when we were arguing about philosophy.”

“I won’t try to deny such lunacy.”

“Who’s James?”

“I called you James?leasleast, I don’t call you by one of my sisters’ names.”

“That would be more normal.”

Henry put his arms around her. “Darling, this is all new to me.”

“I’m not your buddy. I’m your future wife.”

“I wouldn’t marry you if we couldn’t carry on a conversation. I told you that I love our talks.” Henry’s face was turning red. “So I called you James; he was one of my closest friends.”

“Invite him over. I want to meet all your friends.” Betsy couldn’t remember a man named James among his friends. Perhaps, he went by Jimmy or Jim but none of his poker buddies had that name.

“James moved and I don’t have his current address.”

“He did something to embarrass you. I have never seen you blush when talking about one of your friends.”

“Maybe once or twice. I don’t embarrass easily.”

“My father assumed his little Betsy would die a virgin. My mother, the great seer, told me I would have two daughters. I’m humbled by your attention.”

“In other words, you don’t love me.”

Betsy placed her smaller hands in Henry’s large beefy hands and looked up at his face. “I’m fond of you. When we’re in bed, my body responses to your body. Isn’t that enough?” Betsy had long thick fingers for a woman, but Henry’s hands were large for a man, earning him description of being a bear. Betsy had trouble imagining small, quiet Richard holding his own in an argument with Henry. In these days, rationalists won the argument against conservative religion. Science and logic had killed God as Neitzsche wrote in 1882; however, Betsy still longed to see Richard’s debating skills in action. Henry was a modernist and believed in social reform; how could he be a best friends with someone that wanted to pursuit the idea that the myths in the Bible were actually facts?

“Where is this magic carpet of yours?”

Betsy reached under her bed and pulled out rolled-up Asian rug.

“Is that it?”

Betsy nodded. “It’ll be larger when we unroll it. We need to be outside first.”

“I’ll carry it,” said Henry.

Betsy bowed slightly. “Thank you, kind sir.”

“You still hav sai said where you would like to go.”

“Didn’t you say, since the land in Western Massachusetts remains undeveloped due to the gnomes, you were thinking of buying some land in Vermont? We could check out the -,” Betsy said, stopping mid-sentence. She felt an egg drop from her left ovary. A smile crossed her face.

“What’s the inside joke?”

Betsy said, “I’m ovulating.”

“You can feel that.”

“Some women can feel their ovaries drop eggs. Your sperm are inside me. We’re going to be parents.”

Henry dropped the carpet. “You said it would be several months.”

“I haven’t felt myself ovulate in five or six years. I didn’t think it would happen this soon. Henry, we should call on my parents.” Betsy placed a hand over Henry’s hand. “Please, ask my father for my hand in marriage. I want everything to be proper.”

“Shall we take traitrain to your father’s house or the carpet?”

“Carpet will do.”

“I shall carry the carpet outside. You have our child to consider.”

“After we get my parents’ blessing, is there anyone in your family you wish to tell?”

“My mother lives with my older sister and her husband. I also have two younger sisters whom are both married.”

“You’re embarrassed by me. I didn’t ask to be ugly. Your sisters can recommend a healer-midwife for me.”

“We’ll join my mother and sisters for Sunday dinner. I haven’t thought about buying more land. I’m so busying restructuring the shoe factory that I won from Peter. I wish I had James to talk to about it.”

“Is James a business associate?”

“He was just a friend; his business advice was awful. Whatever he said to do; I did the opposite.” Henry’s voice got louder.

Betsy wondered what James had done to make Henry so angry. Betsy couldn’t imagine two people’s beliefs more diametrically opposed than Richard and Henry but Henry never raised his voice when talking about Richard’s advice or beliefs. “What did he do to make you angry?”

“He left.” Henry shrugged his shoulders like that explained everything. Obviously they had a fight and James left without giving an address. Knowing her future husband, he was probably at fault and couldn’t apologize.

“Would you like to abo about it?”

“I rather not talk about it. It’ll only make me angry.” Henry rolled out the carpet.

“You’re already angry.”

“We were close friends. We had a disagreement and he left before we could settle it. That is the whole story.” Henry’s face fell as frown lines vanished. “I can’t miss an old friend.”

“You act like you were in love with him.”

“And you never had a close friendship with anyone.”

“Actually, I didn’t. Maybe, I’m just jealous.”

“Betsy, I never have been in love. This is as new to me as it is to you.” Henry sat down on the carpet. “Let’s tell your parents that we’re getting married. I bet your mother never seen a diamond that big.”

“Not a real one. We have a few friends that practice alchemy. Only the best jewelers can tell a real one from a fake.” Betsy sat on the carpet. “Take us to my parents’ house. Hold on tight.”

“I thought you said we are inside a bubble.”

“It was an expression.”

After they arrived at the old farmhouse in Maine, Betsy hugged her mother. Her mother looked at Henry’s hands as he held Betsy’s hand. “I need to talk to you.”

“Mom, he gave me a ring.”

“He’s the one.”

“I know that. He gave me his ring.”

“His hands. They’re the hands that I seen in a vision.”

“They could have been anybody’s hands. Henry adores me. He would never harm me.”

“My visions don’t lie. Women are killed by their husbands all the time.”

“If I don’t marry him, it won’t change your vision. No one cared about my happiness before.”

“Why would a man with three factories want to marry a plain girl?”

“Because he’s shy and nervous around women. He compares me to his sisters. He called me by his friend’s name during our arguments.”

“Don’t you think it is odd that a man that has just turned forty never dated a woman before you?”

“Maybe he never met the right one.”

“Maybe he doesn’t like women.”

“He speaks very fondly of his mother and sisters. He’s a large supporter of votes for women, employs more women than men at his mills and pays a more reasonable wage than most men do.”

“I’m sure that he does,\" her mother conceded.

“He thinks women should be able to work at any job as well as a man.”

“That isn’t what I meant. He can like women but not love them.”

“We’re getting married. His friend, Richard, married a few years back and he realized that he was getting older and needed to start thinking about settling down.”

“Honey, it’ll only cause you heartache.”

Betsy snuggled with Henry on the way back. “Mom told me that you couldn’t love me.”

“I love you more than I have loved any woman.”

“Does that mean anything?” Betsy never heard of a man loving another man before, but her mother implied that Henry couldn’t love women that left but one option.

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You’re having my baby. Darling, how can you doubt me?”

“I don’t understand. Did you love James?”

“Yes, I loved James. We were very good friends until he left.”

“Would you still love him if he was here?” Betsy now wondered if Henry loved James the way a man loved a woman. It didn’t seem possible in her mind. God created woman for man; even although she read some of the Origin of the Species, she had difficulty separating science and religion in her mind. She was raised in a liberal Protestant religion which try to merger the two and taught that the world was getting better and our job as Christians was to help the less fortunate through educa and and other programs. She wanted mathematics and science to have all the answers but they didn’t fulfill her basic need of an ultimate reason for the universe. Her liberal background didn’t tell her that it was possible for a man to love another man; to her that idea didn\'t exist.

“I don’t know. We had a bad fight. I would have liked to be able to apologize to him but sometimes, you say things you just can’t take back even to someone you love.”

Betsy started to wonder about those hands. Did James truly leave? “Where does he live?”

“I wish I knew.”

“He must have said something.”

“He sold his house. I don’t know where he moved. I didn’t feel it was right for me to ask his family where he went since he didn’t want me to find him.”

“Maybe you could ask a brother or sister to forward a letter for you so at least you could apologize.”

“I did a month after he left. He didn’t write me back. I don’t know if he got the letter.” Henry’s voice was soft and remorseful.

Betsy took a deep breath. She wanted to ask if he loved James the way a man loves a woman but she couldn’t since Henry was hurting enough.