We were married. I don't think Jeanine knew that we were married yet, but we were. I figured that she would get it soon enough and then I would put the ring on her finger. That’s what I was looking forward to. I planned on telling her, just as soon as she had been here a little longer. I just needed a few nights with her and then I could tell her everything.

I actually felt better now that it was out of the way. I wasn't lying when I told her that my culture, more specifically my religion, demanded that. While I had her do naughty things while we talked on the phone, there was a limit to what I could do. It wasn't like I did everything by the book, far from it, but I wanted this to be right. I wanted to go into this on the right foot and I knew that this was the way. Jeanine just wouldn’t understand, because her religion was far more relaxed.

“So how long is it going to be until we're at your house?”

She was looking around for a car, but I told her that we were going to walk.

“It isn't that far at all. This town is rather small you will find. If you aren't a farmer here, or have livestock, pretty much everyone lives in the town area. It is just better this way.”

She agreed, and I could feel Jeanine pull me a little bit closer. It felt like she was nervous about something, and I wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay. I wrapped my arm around her and she seemed to settle down a little bit. I tried to see it through her eyes and since I knew what she was coming from, I knew how much of a shock this all was to her. Jeanine had a lot of adjusting to do.

“You know Craig, I still can't believe that I'm actually here. You know? I have thought about this for so long and now here you are.”

“I have been waiting just as long Jeanine. I knew that this day would come, but for a while it felt like it never was going to. It just took so long, far longer than I thought. I am so glad you are here. Now I feel like I'm finally complete.”

She smiled at the words that were spoken to her and I meant every one of them. When I first heard Jeanine’s voice, something had just came over me. I can't really explain it, just that I knew that I wanted to be around this woman. I hadn’t known what she looked like or much of anything about her but since then I had found out that she was everything that I wanted and more. Since I was religious, it was hard for me not to think that God had brought her to me. Even if it was a winding road to get her here, I knew that it was worth it. Anything and everything that happened to get her here was always going to be worth it in my mind, even if it meant I had to be a little dishonest. I knew that it was going to be worth it in the end.

We stopped in front of my house and I looked over at Jeanine to catch her reaction. I wanted to know what she thought about the place that was going to be her new home. If the look on her face was any indication, it looked like Jeanine was happy.

“Is this your place?”

I told her that it was, and she smiled a little bit bigger.

“I have never seen a place like this before. It's so beautiful. You must be rich huh?”

“I certainly do alright. Doctors don’t make as much here, as they do in America, but we still make more than pretty much anyone else. Politicians are the best paid though.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much the same everywhere I guess. I don’t why, but I just thought you would live somewhere a little smaller. This place is huge.”

“I didn’t want to tell you about my money for a while in the beginning because I didn’t want that to be a reason for you to see me. Then, I wanted it to be a surprise more than anything else. I’m glad that you like it.”

She said that she did, and I could see that she was telling the truth. The honesty of her was something that drew me in. I don’t know how Jeanine had gotten through life with such a good spirit attached to her, but she had. She was a delight and I knew that I had picked the right one. I wouldn’t have brought her to the church and had my pastor marry us, if I wouldn’t have thought that. I had just known and seeing her sitting at the bar, ignoring all of the looks from the men around her, I knew that I was going to have to snap her up rather fast. The sharks were already swirling around her, like they smelled blood in the water.

The idea made me smile, wondering to myself if I was the same. Was I a shark, as well?

“Are you ready to go in?”

I had asked her once already, but she was taking it all in and I have to say that I could see what she was thinking. I may not make as much here, as I would in America, but the money certainly stretched further. I would never be able to afford a home like this anywhere else. I had five rooms, several stories and a few household staff. That would have been unheard of where she comes from, but here it was far cheaper.

“Yeah, I am just admiring the place. It really is beautiful.”

“Well think of it as your home as well Jeanine. I want you to be comfortable here, as long as you decide to stay.”

“You know I only got two weeks off right. I wish it was more, but it isn't. I haven't taken this much time off in God only knows how long. I still keep thinking that when I go back, they will have given all of my accounts to someone else. I know that’s silly, it's only two weeks, but you know how the business world is in America.”

“Well if that is the case Jeanine, I guess we're going to have to make the best most of our time while you're here. Two weeks doesn’t seem like enough time.”

“That sounds like a very good idea to me Craig. I am so nervous that I am shaking, and I know that it isn't the air. If feels so hot and balmy out tonight, maybe, we can stay out here for a little bit longer?”

She was eyeing the porch swing and I knew that it was just a stall tactic. It was something that she had down several times in the past, when I asked her to do something that she didn't want to do. I didn't know what it was this time that she didn't want to do, because I knew for certain that she wanted to have sex. We had been talking about it for a very long time, and I was more than ready to consummate the marriage that we just found ourselves in.

“You want to sit out here?”

“Yeah, I know that’s silly huh?”

I told her that she wasn't being silly, even though I thought she had lost her mind. A few minutes ago, she didn't even want to have a ceremony because she was so ready and willing to get into bed with me, but now everything had changed. I wasn't sure what it was and when I moved over towards her, I realized that she was trembling inside. She was shaking so hard that I could actually feel it on the outside and I pulled her to me.

“What is the matter Jeanine?”

She pulled away from me and told me that she didn't really know.

“It is just too much for me Craig. You know, you and me, being here, just all the anticipation finally coming down to this one moment, it's just too much. It just hit me all of a sudden and I'm afraid of what happens next.”

“Jeanine, we both know that you're not a virgin. So, what do you have to worry about? “

She didn't answer me. She was so bothered by the question that I didn’t ask anymore. It was like so many times on the phone when she had pushed back. I was just going to have to give Jeanine a little bit of time, and I knew that she was going to come around.

“We don't have to go out right now if you don't want to. Since Lisbeth will have things ready for us when we come in, if it's five minutes or five hours, it will be waiting for us. We can take all the time that you need Jeanine. There is no rush.”

Jeanine smiled and pulled me towards the swing on the porch. It certainly wasn't the first place at home that I wanted to go with Jeanine, but I was in it for the long haul down. Even if it didn't go down like I thought it would in my head, I knew what the end result was going to be, even if it took a little longer to get there. I had patience if nothing else. I had learned a long time ago that if a person was just a little patient, then they would usually get what they wanted. I was just going to have to wait her out. It wouldn’t be the first time and every time I did, it was worth it. I was sure that it would be the same thing this time around too.