Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

Although she was nearly four years older than Ron, the difference in their ages did not bother Polly
in the least. Other, less open-minded, women might never have considered the possibility of a
romance with a man younger than themselves, but Polly found Ron to be an irresistible companion
- kind, considerate, entertaining and always able to make her laugh. He talked a great deal about
his travels in the East, but she was never bored; indeed, she was constantly amazed at all the
things he had seen and done. He was so much more mature, so much more worldly, than the
young men she knew around Elkton, a rural community of less than six thousand people close to
the north-east corner of Chesapeake Bay. Most of them had never been further than Wilmington,
Delaware, ten miles up the road.
Polly's father was, understandably, faintly alarmed to learn that his daughter was 'walking out' with
Ron Hubbard. It was not that he did not like the young man; he, too, thought Ron was charming.
Nor was he concerned that Ron was younger than Polly. What worried him was the fact that Ron
had neither money nor career prospects and apparently had no intention looking for a job, since he
planned to support himself by writing. In Mr Grubb's eyes, being a writer was not a job, and nothing
Ron could do or say would convince him otherwise, particularly since he could only produce two
articles from the Sportsman Pilot as evidence of his earning potential.
However, both Mr Grubb and Ron's parents recognized the futility of trying to oppose the match.
Polly was quite as headstrong as Ron and if she had made up her mind to marry him, there was
nothing anyone in the world could do to stop her. And Ron, still the adored only child, always got his
own way with his parents. Blessings were reluctantly bestowed and the marriage took place in
Elkton on Thursday 13 April. Many of the guests correctly speculated about the whirlwind nature of
the courtship and the speed with which the ceremony was arranged. Polly and Ron moved into a
little rented house in Laytonsville, Maryland, where she had a spontaneous abortion. In October,
she discovered she was pregnant again.