eyes and started laughing.
“You are not tainted, not by a long shot.” He pulled her closely and they rocked together as the music played softly. She intertwined her fingers into his and stretched up to reach his mouth. He bent down to return the kiss, and they started their wedding night swaying in an embrace with Johnny Rivers singing in the background.
Frank would always remember the way Margaret looked that night. When she’d stopped caring about him and Ellen, almost forgetting they’d existed; he’d remember their wedding night. He’d used the hallway bathroom to give her some privacy, and when he came back into their bedroom, she was stretched out on his bed; on top of the bedspread the lady at Sears helped him pick out, naked. He’d never seen such a beautiful body. Later, he’d rationalize that he loved her, she could’ve had a beard and he’d think the same thing. Those early days of bliss would sustain him through the next years, of her diminishing lucidity and increasing craziness.
While Margaret was losing her mind, Frank and Ellen fell in love, the father she never had and the daughter he’d always worship. There was a mutual respect and understanding as in a true father/daughter relationship, they chose to be father and daughter. It wasn’t forced upon them, or a product of anything. He wanted to be her father and she wanted to be his daughter. It was simple logic.
They discovered similar qualities about each other that surprised them because there was no shared genetic material. A phrase Ellen often heard was, “You look so much like your father!” Maybe through living together with little other input, Ellen took on many of Frank’s inflections in speech, and mannerisms. And they shared the love of dancing, from the time she was a little girl, watching Margaret dance with Frank, Ellen was enchanted by ballroom dancing. On Halloween, she wasn’t a princess or a queen like other little girls; she was a dancer.
Dancing beautifully together at parties and community picnics, other fathers and daughters and mothers and sons tried to imitate the McPhersons. The principle asked Frank and Ellen to lead the first dance at the ninth grade graduation party because they made it look so easy. “It’ll get more people out on the floor if they think they can look as smooth as you two.”
Frank took Ellen shopping for the dress she would wear to the dance. Taking the armload of dresses on hangers they’d picked out together into the dressing room, she tried one after another until she walked out of the dressing room in a white cotton pique. “That’s the one, sister,” Frank said. She looked over her shoulder in the mirror and then stood this way and that, frowning.
“You think so Frank? Oh, I’m not sure.” Her uncertainty was coming from the neckline; but she didn’t feel comfortable calling attention to it in front of her genteel stepfather.
“What’s yer problem with it then?”
“I think it might be a little too grown up for me.” He turned beet red, seeing right away what she was eluding too.
“Okay, I gotcha. Yep, you may be right. Try another then, we got all day.” She giggled; he meant just the opposite.
“I’ll be right out.” She went back and took the white dress off, choosing a pale blue cotton shirtwaist dress with a full skirt. She came out of the dressing room and spun around, the skirt lifting in the air, showing off her blue jeans. “What about this?” He had his hand on his chin, looking at her, making twirling gestures with his hands to get her to move this way and that.
“That might be it, by golly,” he said. “You look like a princess in it, sister. What’d you think?” She stood still for a moment in the mirror.
“This is it. You know, I thought of Mother there for a moment. Wonder what she’d say if she could see me in this dress.” Frank smiled at her.
“She’d be so proud of you; I bet she’d just be grinnin’ ear to ear.”
“I
“You are not tainted, not by a long shot.” He pulled her closely and they rocked together as the music played softly. She intertwined her fingers into his and stretched up to reach his mouth. He bent down to return the kiss, and they started their wedding night swaying in an embrace with Johnny Rivers singing in the background.
Frank would always remember the way Margaret looked that night. When she’d stopped caring about him and Ellen, almost forgetting they’d existed; he’d remember their wedding night. He’d used the hallway bathroom to give her some privacy, and when he came back into their bedroom, she was stretched out on his bed; on top of the bedspread the lady at Sears helped him pick out, naked. He’d never seen such a beautiful body. Later, he’d rationalize that he loved her, she could’ve had a beard and he’d think the same thing. Those early days of bliss would sustain him through the next years, of her diminishing lucidity and increasing craziness.
While Margaret was losing her mind, Frank and Ellen fell in love, the father she never had and the daughter he’d always worship. There was a mutual respect and understanding as in a true father/daughter relationship, they chose to be father and daughter. It wasn’t forced upon them, or a product of anything. He wanted to be her father and she wanted to be his daughter. It was simple logic.
They discovered similar qualities about each other that surprised them because there was no shared genetic material. A phrase Ellen often heard was, “You look so much like your father!” Maybe through living together with little other input, Ellen took on many of Frank’s inflections in speech, and mannerisms. And they shared the love of dancing, from the time she was a little girl, watching Margaret dance with Frank, Ellen was enchanted by ballroom dancing. On Halloween, she wasn’t a princess or a queen like other little girls; she was a dancer.
Dancing beautifully together at parties and community picnics, other fathers and daughters and mothers and sons tried to imitate the McPhersons. The principle asked Frank and Ellen to lead the first dance at the ninth grade graduation party because they made it look so easy. “It’ll get more people out on the floor if they think they can look as smooth as you two.”
Frank took Ellen shopping for the dress she would wear to the dance. Taking the armload of dresses on hangers they’d picked out together into the dressing room, she tried one after another until she walked out of the dressing room in a white cotton pique. “That’s the one, sister,” Frank said. She looked over her shoulder in the mirror and then stood this way and that, frowning.
“You think so Frank? Oh, I’m not sure.” Her uncertainty was coming from the neckline; but she didn’t feel comfortable calling attention to it in front of her genteel stepfather.
“What’s yer problem with it then?”
“I think it might be a little too grown up for me.” He turned beet red, seeing right away what she was eluding too.
“Okay, I gotcha. Yep, you may be right. Try another then, we got all day.” She giggled; he meant just the opposite.
“I’ll be right out.” She went back and took the white dress off, choosing a pale blue cotton shirtwaist dress with a full skirt. She came out of the dressing room and spun around, the skirt lifting in the air, showing off her blue jeans. “What about this?” He had his hand on his chin, looking at her, making twirling gestures with his hands to get her to move this way and that.
“That might be it, by golly,” he said. “You look like a princess in it, sister. What’d you think?” She stood still for a moment in the mirror.
“This is it. You know, I thought of Mother there for a moment. Wonder what she’d say if she could see me in this dress.” Frank smiled at her.
“She’d be so proud of you; I bet she’d just be grinnin’ ear to ear.”
“I
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