Using a sheet of his best typing paper, Dart writes:

I neglected to buy paper or postcards today. (As if  I needed any excuse to use my best paper for letters to the best girl.)

Say, you’d better tell me mighty fast which of your brothers you’d like to have me ask to usher. I haven’t heard from Hal, and Homer’s just about surely out of the picture.

The Spanish test was a tough one. I didn’t do well on it at all. Left out what I couldn’t even guess at, which was too blamed much.

No letter from you today. Must close up quickly and hit the hay.

I love you, Dot.

Dart reports that Kathleen will be moving out. She was quite nice about it last night when his mom told her she had to move, admitting that there was no solution to Dot and Dart’s living situation with her occupying the space. “So doncha’ worry your pretty head over it any more.”

He advises her to get those wisdom teeth out as fast as she can. She’s lucky if hers are growing straight out of the gum. His are all growing horizontally beneath the gum and will someday have to be cut out of the jaw.

He has tried his best to get his folks to reduce the list of gifts to the young couple, but his Pop is an incurable dreamer. He still wants to give the kids one of everything on the list. “I don’t know whether he prays or not, but even if he does, those kinds of things are the wrong things to pray for.” He succeeded in talking them out of a waffle iron and the broiler, and with the steam iron off the list thanks to El, there really isn’t too much left for them to worry about. He feels that they could surely use a roaster, but he’ll try to talk them out of the rest. (They did indeed receive a roaster as a wedding gift. Seventy years later, it is still providing faithful service to fabulous meals at my sister Nancy’s house.)

He’s keenly eager to see his bride’s wedding gown and trousseau. Does she subscribe to the superstition about a groom not seeing such things before the wedding day? “Won’t be long now, honey!! Butterflies!”

He has a mile-long list of things he must do, and today he had to add another. He picked up his new brown trousers at the tailoring department of Higbees today, but when he put them on at home, they were far too short and two sizes too small. Now he’ll have to set aside time to haggle with the shopkeepers!

“I took a walk tonight after class. I wish you’d been along. It would have been so nice to swing hands as we walked, maybe stopping to kiss as we passed some dark corner. Shall we take a night walk or two at Sunapee, if we find some night when we don’t want to go right to bed? It’s getting so close, Dot, and I’m so happy!”

PS. Here are 3 of the 20 postcards I bought today. Don’t be afraid to use ’em if you don’t feel like writing a whole letter.

It’s 28 days until the wedding! That’s four weeks from tonight. Dart has been noodling over a massive work sheet that goes all the way up to his intended departure from Cleveland on June 11. That’s just 18 days from now. He’s getting very excited, first about seeing Dot again, and second, about getting married at last.

The plan of work is filling in quickly, especially next Thursday. It’s probably a very good idea for him to have a written, visual chart to keep him on track.

He remembers promising Dot that he would not buy her an extra wedding present beyond her wedding ring. Now it strikes him that he failed to extract the same promise from her. He tells her that if she goes ahead and buys him a gift after they’ve agreed not to, he’ll be very upset and feel foolish. He asks for her word on the subject.

No haggling was required at Higbees to get the trousers right. They admitted the error at once and have set about hemming the right pair of pants for him now. When he goes back to pick them up, he’ll wear the coordinating sport coat and try to pick up a pair in another color that goes with the coat.

“It’s now 2:30 AM, so I’ll hit the hay and dream. Of you, of course. Won’t be long, honey, till it can be with you! Oh, Dottie, I’m happy. I just want to grab you and cuddle to our hearts’ content.”

It’s a relatively long letter from Dart tonight. He assures Dot that she is the first thought he has every morning and the last he has every night. He’d like this letter to turn into one of those passionate things like the one he wrote a couple of weeks ago. He has the inspiration, but he really must sleep.

How he wishes that their first night of marriage could be at Sunapee. If that were the case, they wouldn’t have to get out of bed for days. As it stands now, they’ll have to vacate the hotel and make their way to the honeymoon of their dreams at the lake.

Perhaps to distract himself from amorous thoughts, he ponders the question of why he’s so fixated on “going to bed” with Dot. He surmises it’s the most comfortable place for love-making because no one has to expend any mental or physical energy keeping their balance, as they would have to do if they were attempting the same objective while standing up. Gosh, it seems he’s thought of everything!

“Remember (how could we forget?) some of those nights at Sunapee when we lay on the couch in the living room and hugged with our legs as well as our arms? We can do it even better pretty soon, Dot.”

The letter he got from her today brought upsetting news. He tells her in large red letters to whip that cold now, and don’t get another one!  He had a sore throat today, which may have been a sympathetic one. He explains it wouldn’t have been in sympathy with hers, but rather, with his tongue, which he bit severely earlier in the day.

After recounting some of his minor purchases this week he exclaims that he is terribly lonely for her. To prove it, he recalls another intimate memory they share.

Do you remember the time you held my finger as we said goodnight and then I couldn’t leave you? I feel that way tonight. The look in your eyes that night, just before I decided I couldn’t resist coming into the room to lie down is something I hope I’ll never forget. Thank you, Darling, for holding my fingertip that extra second. It was a big moment, just at the right moment.

And then he asks, “Hasn’t ours been a beautifully passionate love affair? Except for having it shorter and having us be closer together, I don’t think I’d want it to be any other way. I’ve been thinking of lots of times when we’ve been in such perfect accord. Dorothy, I love you, I love you, I love you!’

Vowing that she can have him any time she wants him, he bids good night to his “sweet, lovely, adorable fiance.”

The four-pager Dart wrote last night must have tapped him out. Tonight’s offering is a single postcard.

“Tom Reilly said today that he won’t be through at Case until June 13, so he won’t be coming to Connecticut the same day I do.

Believe it or not, I’m so anxious to get started that I’m actually packing some things in that new suitcase.

Know something? I love you, Dot.

Burke’s latest letter says he might be arriving June 15 in Greenwich. Might be earlier.”

In answer to a question Dot asked in her most recent letter, Dart tells her that his final exams are on Monday, June 2 and Thursday, June 5; two classes each day.

He had a  nice chat with Dr. Wallen, his psych prof, on the streetcar tonight. Naturally, it was about marriage. Dr. W. seems pretty sure that Dart will find it to be “great stuff,” and he said it sounds as though Dot and Dart have strong prospects for a happy marriage.

He still hasn’t written to Gordon about being an usher (!), but he plans to do so tomorrow and then airmail the letter. (Or maybe he could save a stamp and just wait until the organist starts to play “The Wedding March.”)

He’s very curious about her appointment with Dr. Shaw. Has it happened yet? If so, what did Dot learn about contraception? Will she write to tell Dart, or will they just discuss it when they see each other in a few days?

He’s greatly displeased with his 70.9% average in Spanish.

Although he feels like he’s forgetting to tell her something, he also feels like he’s falling asleep. “Mind if I wake you up to tell you, if/when, I remember? I love you, Dot. I’ll tell you that when I wake you up, too. Good night, Darling.”

Dart was pleased to get another great letter from Dot, written on her good monogrammed stationery. He hopes she’ll have a chance to use that all up before the events of June 20 make it obsolete.

She’d love the weather they’ve been having in Cleveland because it would give her plenty to write home about. It’s rained 48 out of the last 60 days. He reports that the farmers have nothing in their fields except mud puddles, which is fine, if you want on live on mud pies.

His blood test results have been returned to Dr. Singer, but there are a couple of errors on the forms that he and the doctor signed. He asks Dot to check with her local authorities to find out if the small errors will render the forms unusable or if they will be accepted. She’ll need to answer him immediately if he needs to get them corrected before leaving for Connecticut on schedule. He would hate to have to postpone the wedding over a typo!

Pop had a great idea for getting things back and forth to Greenwich. He suggest they get the latch on their large trunk repaired so that Dart can take extra work clothes with him on the train, and they could also bring some of their wedding gifts home with them the same way. It sounds like a great idea.

He reiterates that his folks have no vacation coming to them. Dart, Sr. has arranged with his boss to take Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off, but he must be back at work by Sunday night. That means they’ll probably get to Greenwich the morning of the wedding on Friday and take a train home sometime Saturday. Not much of a visit with the Chamberlain clan, but I think that suits the shy and reserved Petersons quite well. I think Dart is just happy his folks will be at his wedding at all.

He agrees with Dot that it would be nice to attend the little stone church in the woods at Sunapee while they’re up there, but suggests they wait and see what they feel like when the time arrives.

“Golly, I love you, Dot. The days are doing their paradoxical darnedest to be long and short simultaneously. Good night, Dearest.”

Dart’s “letter” today is another postcard, crammed full with neat, tiny print and adorned with several hand-drawn butterflies to symbolize the state of his stomach.

It is apparent that Dot had yet another surprise shower in the form of a dinner party for 40 people at Harriet and George’s house. More lovely gifts and more embarrassment for Dot. Dart seems very impressed with the amount of fuss the Connecticut contingent is making over Dot and her pending nuptials.

The first “installment” of wedding gifts from his parents made its debut today; a shiny new GE coffee maker. Dart hasn’t been able to keep his hands off it. There are a couple more items to be presented at a later time.

He retrieved his trousers from the Higbee tailor today and is happy his shopping list is dwindling to just a few more items.

They got an invitation to Elmer Manley’s wedding today. It’s on the 14th, so Dart will be unable to attend, but it makes their wedding seem so close, following Elmer’s as it does by just six days.

The biggest letters on the card are the ones that spell out “I love you, Dot!”

Dart doesn’t write again until May 31, but check back tomorrow for a little surprise from Dot.

By the time Dart finishes this letter, it will officially be the month of the wedding!

He and Dot are now the proud owners of a big, beautiful Westinghouse electric roaster. He knows she’ll be as delighted with it as he is. His father joked that they should have bought two coffee makers so that Dart would have one to play with. He admits to understanding now how Dot must have felt receiving all those gifts already. He’s thrilled to his core with just the two that he’s received!

“The Great American Eagle laid another $65 egg in our mailbox this morning. I beat it right down to the bank to do my big business. Here’s what I hope will be the last monthly financial report I’ll ever have to make to you by letter.” He proceeds to account for cash on hand, the “penny” account and their checking account, totaling $423.08. Remember when he feared they wouldn’t even be able to save up $100 before they were married? They must feel absolutely flush!

He mentioned to his mother that Burke and Columbia would be returning to Ohio by train on the same day after the wedding, and they might like to have talking companions. His mother said she doubted that because Burke would probably be traveling at night. “I don’t think Mom likes the thought of her youngest war-veteran, college-attending son arriving at the same time as some person of the opposite … er… S – X!”

If Dot’s mother would like the Cleveland newspapers to have copies of a wedding announcement, he’d be happy to facilitate that.

The family got an invitation to Edie’s wedding today (Burke’s high school sweetheart.) Dart wouldn’t be surprised if Burke decides to attend it.

He says it’s a deal that he’ll babysit the Miller children with Dot one day in June while their parents go sailing. Does Dot think that hanging out with three kids all day will tire him out?

He cryptically adds “Good for the painters!” I hope that means the house painting is finally done, in plenty of time for the reception.

After wishing her a good night, he reminds her that he is extremely happy.