A month or two after the wedding Arch and Marian had the Wards over to dinner, and everything seemed to be fine. Marian had to admit that what Arch had been telling her might be true.
Gene seemed wonderfully happy. It was obvious to Marian in her manner, in the way she talked, in the way she looked at Jack, and Marian had to admit, although grudgingly, that Jack seemed happy too. She watched him critically, watched him help Gene to her chair when they sat down for dinner, saw that he never neglected to light Gene’s cigarette, watched him help her into her coat when they left and take her arm going down the steps. She had to admit to Arch that she might have been wrong, but she didn’t admit it to herself. She was going to wait and see.
When, after Christmas, Hogan and Griffith got the new contract down near the border and Smitty was moved up to superintendent, he made Jack grade foreman in his place. Marian was angry at first because she thought Arch should have had it, but Arch didn’t seem disturbed. He pointed out that since they were working two hours overtime a day, plus Saturday, and that Jack was on a salary instead of wages, he was making more money than Jack. When Gene called him up to ask them over to dinner, Marian guessed it was to celebrate the new job.
Jack hadn’t come home from work yet when they got there, and Gene made them a drink. She and Jack had furnished their apartment themselves, with a good-looking maple living-room suite they had bought on payments from Montgomery Ward’s, a three-way lamp and a maple dining-room set. Gene had made the drapes and the spread in the bedroom and she invited Marian out into the kitchen to look at her new stove and refrigerator, which were both gas-operated. The two of them discussed the relative merits of gas and electricity, Marian leaning against the sink and Gene working over the stove, while Arch sat in the living room with his drink.
When Marian went in to look at the bathroom she closed the door behind her and combed her hair. There was a blue-and-white chenille cover on the toilet seat, and Jack’s shaving things were arranged neatly on a glass shelf below the mirror-fronted cabinet. Making sure the door was locked, Marian searched the cabinet and the closet and the drawer of the washstand beside the tub to see if she could find any birth-control equipment, and finding none, wondered if Jack and Gene meant to have a baby right away. When she looked at herself once more in the mirror she was scowling, and she carefully smoothed out her face and turned off the light when she went out.
Arch was in the kitchen with Gene, mixing another round of drinks. It was seven-thirty and Gene looked worried. She peered into the oven at the roast and turned the gas low.
“Why, I don’t know what could be keeping Jack this long,” she said.
“He’s probably working late,” Arch said. “Probably something came up at the last minute.” Gene looked at him gratefully and Marian went into the living room and lit a cigarette. She pulled the drape back and looked out the window at the dark street, wishing Arch would come out of the kitchen so she could whisper, “I told you so.” She knew he did not come out because he knew she would.
“I’m afraid the roast will get dry,” she heard Gene say, and she snubbed her cigarette in a polished silver ashtray and returned to the kitchen, kicking Arch’s foot as she passed him. She leaned against the sink again with her arms folded, watching Gene and pitying her, and suddenly liking her. She was prettier than Marian had thought at first, with the big worried dark eyes, and dark hair clustered in curls around her head, and red lips that folded softly out of the thinness of her face. She wore an apron with frills over the shoulders and she scratched her nose as she leaned down to look into the oven.
“Oh, he’ll be along in a minute,” Arch said, refusing to look at Marian. Finally he scowled at her, and she raised her chin and looked back at him triumphantly.
“Maybe we’d better go ahead and eat without him,” Gene said. “What do you think, Marian?”
“I don’t know, honey. Arch, why don’t you go call up Smitty?”
“I don’t know his number.”
“I have it in my purse,” Gene said, and Arch went to the phone with her. He returned to say that Smitty didn’t know where Jack was.
“He’s probably out having a drink with some of the boys,” Marian said. “There’s always a first time, honey. I wouldn’t worry about it.” Arch was making frantic faces at her.
“But that’s not like Jack,” Gene protested. “He knew you were coming tonight, and why wouldn’t he have phoned?” She wandered aimlessly around the kitchen, finally taking off her apron and hanging it behind the door. “I’m afraid something’s wrong,” she said, nervously running her hand up and down over her bare arm. “Well, I guess we’d better go ahead and eat.”
They ate an awkward and silent meal. Afterward Marian insisted on helping Gene with the dishes while Arch sat in the living room looking at a Life magazine. Gene was sniffling and Marian was beginning to be angry with Jack, even though this proved she had been right. She kept talking, telling Gene whatever came into her head about her married life with Arch. But when she had stopped for a moment, Gene said, “Marian, don’t you think we ought to call the police or something?”
Arch called from the other room, “Oh, he’ll be along, Gene.”
Marian patted Gene on the shoulder. “This always happens, honey. You’re not really married till this happens.” She thought fiercely what she would do if Arch pulled a stunt like this.
“He’s just out having a drink with the boys,” she continued. “Don’t you worry about it, honey.” She raised her voice. “Fix us a drink, Arch!” Arch came out to make some drinks. Gene was sobbing and Marian made her go into the living room and sit down in the easy chair.
“Oh, I’m afraid,” Gene said, looking up at her. “Something’s happened!”
Arch came back with the drinks and stood uncomfortably beside Marian. She took one of the glasses from him and made Gene swallow some liquor.
“Listen, honey,” she said fiercely. “Don’t you ever cry over a man, you hear! They’re not worth it. You just let Jack get up and fix his own breakfast for about…Arch, you go in the bathroom and get some Kleenex!”
When he had gone she lowered her voice and said, “Honey, don’t you let him get away with this. You give him hell. If you just forgive him and let it go I’ll never speak to you again. Now, you listen to me: you give him hell so he won’t ever forget it…” She stopped as Arch came back with a handful of Kleenex. Gene was looking up at her with wide eyes and tears were running down her cheeks, and Marian knew she had scared her. She tried to smile and patted Gene’s shoulder. “Oh, he’s probably just working late,” she said.
At eleven Marian made Gene go to bed. They turned off the lights in the living room and the kitchen, Arch silently helped her on with her coat and they went out to the car. The night was cool and the fog was beginning to settle over the streets so that the streetlights glowed greenishly.
“I’ll bet she’s sitting up waiting for him,” Marian whispered.
“Well, I’d be sitting up. I’d be waiting for him with a meat cleaver.”
She flounced around in the seat to get comfortable, pulling her coat about her, while Arch tried to fit the key into the ignition. “Or I’d be down at the corner bar finding myself somebody else to sleep with!” she said loudly, as they drove away.
Arch drove slowly through the fog, his forehead creased, leaning forward against the steering wheel. He didn’t say anything.
“I told you,” Marian continued savagely. “That Jack Ward’s out tomcatting, and how long they been married?”
“About five months,” Arch said carefully.
“Five months! Arch, I want you to tell him what I think of him. Married five months and he can’t leave it alone.”
“I thought you liked him. You used to tell…”
“I did! Do you like him? That poor kid. I want you to tell him what I think of him, Arch.”
“All right,” Arch said.
“I told you this would happen. That poor kid doesn’t have the stuff to fight it. He’ll break her heart before he’s through. You tell him now, Arch!”
“All right,” Arch said. She knew he wouldn’t but she was slightly mollified at the thought of Jack knowing what she thought of him.