The Wedding Gift Read Free Page B

anyways,
it’s on account of my looks, which to be strictly honest ain’t none
of my doing, so I don’t know why it’s sinful to be proud of them,
and, for certain, the way I look is why George wants to marry me. I
am “ the prettiest girl that was ever born
in Dalton City, Oklahoma .” See, that’s not
being prideful an' ugly; that’s just repeating what everyone says.
And I do mean everyone.
    I was crowned ‘Tiny Miss
Dalton’ when I was three, and then ‘American Miss Beautiful’ in
Dallas, beating out three hundred other girls when I was seven. I
became ‘Little Darling Dolly’ in Abilene at nine, and so it goes
right up till my last win as ‘Corn Princess’ last year. I thought I
might go on to try for the ‘Miss Oklahoma’ crown, but of course now
I am retired, so to speak, as I will be Mrs. George Willets the IV.
I will be a pillar of the community and not ‘Miss Oklahoma’, or
even ‘Miss America’, not that I mind, 'cause I am real happy about
the way things turned out.
    Still and all, I don’t
think anyone around here will ever just think of me as George’s
wife, as I am somewhat famous in my own right, as you can see.
Also, people have always just liked to look at me and I don’t
imagine that will change any time soon unless something horrible
happens and I get real fat on account of being pregnant, as I now
am.
    I stand at five feet five
and my daddy never let anyone cut my hair even an inch, so it goes
down to my bottom and it’s almost silver it's so blond. I have the
biggest blue eyes and a tiny little nose. When I smile, Daddy says
you could put quarters in my dimples. All this is what old George
IV is gonna be getting when I become his bride, and me, well what
am I getting? I’m getting George. George is “ a fine figure of a man " - that’s what
his mama says, and mine does too, though that could be because he’s
the father of her next grandchild.
    I don’t know if anyone
except his mama would be saying what a fine figure George cut if he
weren’t the heir to Willets Petroleum, but he is … the heir, I
mean. And there ain’t no one in town, me included, who can separate
the actual man from all those millions of dollars because if he
weren’t, well, like our very own Prince William, then people might
be more inclined to notice other stuff … like that George is only
half an inch taller than me and already going to fat. He has him a
real round face and it gets red awful easy too. He has his mama’s
pretty brown eyes; unfortunately they sit above his daddy’s potato
nose and there is a fairly dire receding chin situation going on
that makes me hope he’ll grow himself a beard after we’re
married.
    So the way George looks and
all, that’s just another reason I hope this baby is a boy, because
then, even if he is a dead ringer for his daddy, everyone will say
that he is a fine figure of a man one day, too. But shoot, if the
baby’s a girl - an ugly fat girl - well then, and you know it’s
true, that even with the Willets' millions, that’s all she will
ever be. I will illustrate the sad story of Audrey Stepps to prove
my point. That poor girl …Jesus love her, she got hit hard with the
ugly stick and all her daddy’s money, which isn’t as much as the
Willets have, but it’s a lot, won't buy her a husband unless she
can find one who is as blind as a bat, and everyone knows
it.
    Of course I realize that it
is possible that my looks will outweigh George's lack of them, but
history doesn’t seem to offer me much hope in that direction. After
all, Miz Bethany, to give the devil her due, was once ‘Miss
Missouri’, and she is still awful pretty, unless you are comparing
her to me - ha ha. I’m just pulling your leg. Anyway, look at how
her son turned out - so yes, I do hope I just have boys.

Chapter 3

    I am just a teeny bit
pregnant … well, all right … ten weeks if I am paying strict
attention to the truth, and our wedding is in a month. So then I
will be