BILLY HILL Chapter 21

Pretty Woman
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Billy woke up early for he had several things to do.

He planned to call Linda about eleven thirty and see if she felt up to a busy afternoon.  First it would be lunch and depending on how quickly she had recuperated from her travel there were several other things that needed to be attended to.  When he called she told him that she had been up since ten thirty and she was ready to go.

He picked her up around twelve and since she had some toast and coffee they went to the appliance store before they ate lunch.  

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He showed her what appliances he thought would be good, and told her she could pick out something different if she wanted.

She selected a different washing machine, and added something called a vacuum cleaner.

Then it was off to the diner for a late lunch. He wanted to take her out to see his mother for she had not had much contact with his mom.  

On the drive to the farm, Linda did something that surprised Billy. She moved over against him, and put her arm around his shoulder as they drove along. The car's gearshift was on the floor board, and made it a little uncomfortable for her the way she was sitting for it was in the way, so she put one leg on each side of the gear shift and scooted real close to Billy, and that solved that problem.

Billy wondered if she would continue to do that after they had been married for some time, or if that was just a temporary thing.

They arrived at his parent's home and went in to see his mother. After greeting his mother she hugged both him and Linda.

Then she told him to go down and talk to his father for she wanted to talk to Linda.

After about a half hour Billy could hear laughter coming from the house and he told his father they should join the girls for a visit. 

Billy and his father joined the women for some ice tea and cookies and the conversation turned about the rehearsal that would be held at the church though the wedding was to be in the tent. Also there was a lot of cooking to be done tomorrow for the reception.

As Billy and Linda were leaving both his father and mother said they were pleased with his choice, and were glad he had found such a pretty woman.

Those last four words stuck in Billy's mind; "Such a pretty woman."  He realized that he had never thought of Linda in that light. To him she was a wonderful person, a good person, a woman who was nice to look at, but pretty never entered his mind.

He thought it must be the country in me for he had seen value in her as a person and never concentrated on her looks.

As they were getting in the car he stopped her and just looked at her. Then it dawned on him, she is the prettiest girl I have ever seen. Then he stepped back and looked at her form, and she was nigh unto perfect. He couldn't believe he had never noticed how comely she appeared. 

“It was a good thing I didn't consider her beauty,” he thought, “for if I had realized that I would have thought she was far above me and would never tried to date her.”

These thoughts were one of the secrets he would keep to himself till he died.

Out of desperation he comforted himself with the thought that the reason he didn't look at girls very much was because so many of the farm girls were unkempt and ugly. Some had already started to dip snuff and use a spit can.

Linda asked; “What has come over you?” He answered her by saying; “I was just enjoying looking at you and observing how beautiful you are.”  

She was surely surprised at that and said; “Why thank you Billy, you have never told me that before.”

To be continued.