I felt the heat mount to my face.
“What rules?” I demanded. I shook my shoulders, trying to get him to take his hands off me. “Let go,” I said.
For a second he didn’t, but instead looked at me with a searching gaze. Then he took his hands away and put them in his lap, his gesture seeming so calm and self-possessed that my heart ached though I didn’t really understand why.
“Scott sent me a link. You can read them for yourself on the way to the airport.”
CHAPTER6
Mandy
“Fine,” I said. “As long as you’ll turn around and take me home if I say no.”
My mom never even noticed us in front of the house. It took us an hour to get to the airport in Philadelphia, and on the way, with my nerves getting increasingly jumpy, I read the rules.
Welcome to the inquirers’ program for Rocky Falls, Illinois, a New Modesty community! You’ve reached the guide for wives, and…
I felt my face scrunch up a little at that. “Guide for wives?” And Rick had, I guessed, read a separate guide for husbands?
I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I looked out the window at the griminess of metro Philadelphia, moving at a crawl thanks to the perpetual traffic. I remembered how I had felt, only two days ago, about the complementary nature of my young marriage. I had slid into it, really, without thinking about it, following the expectations of my parents and my siblings—as well as those, I guessed, of Rick and his family, and all our friends.
High-powered folks who went to college and lived go-go lives in the cities thought differently, maybe—you only had to watch TV for a couple of hours to see that. The idea that a husband should take care of his wife, though, and that he should make the important decisions, seemed so ingrained in me that I had never questioned it.
Until seeing what that looked like in the case of a couple from Rocky Falls, anyway. How Scott and April—and, it seemed, the rest of their quiet midwestern town—had taken that to its logical conclusion.
I looked back at my phone and saw again the photo that accompanied the welcome message, really looking at it for the first time. Leafy trees along a pretty main street, lined with shops that looked like they had come from a period film about a more innocent time. I looked out the window again and saw the chemical plant we were passing slowly by.
You’ve reached the guide for wives and with a few taps we’ll get you registered and introduce you to the key topics you’ll want to know about as an inquirer in Rocky Falls. Tap here to get started!
I chewed on my lower lip.
“How’s it going?” Rick asked, his tone easy. My heart leaped, hearing in his voice that my agreement to go to the airport and to look at this guide had restored his faith in our marriage, at least a little.
“Fine,” I said. “I mean… it looks beautiful.”
“Doesn’t it? Scott says it’s even prettier in person.”
Scott.My mouth twisted to the side.He’s like…
With a lurch of my stomach I realized what Scott had really made me think of, when I had inadvertently met his eyes in the corridor, after escaping from Rick’s and my room.
He’s like an older version of Rick.
I swallowed hard and returned my attention to my phone. I tapped.
The Rocky Falls partnership with Selecta’s New Modesty program is specially designed to meet the needs of couples with a significant age gap between an older husband and a younger wife. Young wives like you often feel out of place in more ordinary communities, and a caring husband—like yours, or you wouldn’t be reading this guide!—wants to make sure his bride feels as comfortable as possible, above all in the town where they settle.
I frowned and looked out the window again. I didn’t want to admit that I had felt that discomfort, and yet my reaction to the very first thing April had said to me, my blush at having attention called to the age difference between me and Rick, seemed to indicate otherwise.
Get ready to feel at ease, and even to fall in love with a community full of warm, helpful folks who understand the joys and challenges of a girl’s new marriage to an older man. Your visit to Rocky Falls will involve the chance to talk one-on-one with other wives, and to ask the questions it’s hard to ask anyone who doesn’t have similar experiences.
I swallowed again. I didn’t think I had misunderstood the implication, though the guide had put it so delicately. The next sentence, though still delicate, made it much clearer.
In the very important area of intimacy with your husband, brides in your sort of relationship often experience a level of emotional turmoil that can benefit greatly from talking to others who have been through the same difficulties. We know how embarrassing it can be to ask for help in this area especially, and so to ensure your visit with us assists you and your husband as much as possible, we ask you to agree to certain guidelines. Tap here to go the Inquirers’ Agreement.
I felt my cheeks start to heat up.Here we go. I tapped.
The next screen had three paragraphs on it, with a checkbox next to each one.