The Arrangement Page 4

  Evie rubbed her temple with her free hand. “You know I don’t like this any more than you do. But what choice do we have? You didn’t like my solution, so we went with yours. It’s not too late. We can stop this and go back to my idea.”

  “You’re right,” Ben finally stated. “It was my idea, and regardless of whether I like it or not, it’s our only choice right now.’

  Evie caught her breath. It was not their only choice. She had given him another, but he chose to continue their relationship in secret rather than marry in public.

  Taking a ragged breath, Evie continued, “If I rush into something with Eli, he’ll know I’m faking it. So I thought we would start out with coffee and slowly work into dating. My parents will be thrilled. And the world will believe I have moved on. But I’ll never be happy. Mom and Dad will see that and hopefully come to their senses. At least they’ll know I gave it a try.”

  The quiet on the other end of the phone rang loudly in her ears. Evie wanted to be near Ben, but even his roommates couldn’t know they weren’t really broken up. She waited, begging him silently to say something, anything, to ease the pain ransacking her.

  “Fine,” he grumbled, “but I won’t like it, and you better not either.”

  “How could I like being with anyone but you?” she answered sweetly.

  Ben quickly turned their conversation to when and how they could get together without being seen over the next few days. Ben had seen a hometown diner outside of town where they could get lost in a sea of working people. He warned her to dress casually to keep people from noticing them.

  Evie agreed, and they said their good nights. She turned off the light in her room and snuggled under the covers of her twin bed. Snapshots of Ben and Eli floated through her mind. She knew Ben. She had spent the last year getting to know his family, his dreams, his work ethic. She knew nothing about Eli other than that he came from an affluent family.

  Why were her parents so insistent on her dating someone almost ten years older? Would it really move her up the social food chain that much further? At least he was good looking and seemed charming enough, she consoled herself. If she had to pretend to like someone, Eli would do.

  Evie closed her eyes and forced away all images of Ben and their argument and Eli and his curly hair. Although the current scheme would require a lot of her time, she also had to consider her schoolwork. What good would marrying Ben in a couple of years do if she didn’t have a résumé that would land her a good job?

  3

  )

  M

  onday morning Eli absently tapped a pencil against his desk. Every time he tried to concentrate on the paperwork piled high in front of him, his thoughts wandered to the spunky blonde curled contentedly on her parents’ front porch swing. He had taken a chance by sending her flowers. She had been pretty intent on resisting her parents’ attempts to fix them up, and he had felt the tiniest bit guilty when he told her Friday night he thought he was only being invited to dinner.

  Evie seemed really angry about their deceit. After he listened to her tell about her boyfriend, he could understand why. He had meant what he said about holding onto someone interested in her and not her family name. But could she be sure he wanted nothing more than to love her? If he came from a family who had to work hard for everything they had, the easy road to wealth and luxury had to look good. If it came attached to a beautiful, smart woman, all the better.

  Stop it, he scolded himself. Just because you got taken for a ride doesn’t mean everyone is out for the money. But something in Evie’s voice the night before indicated she might have had a change of heart. Eli did not know if he could truly allow himself to love again, not after Whitney, but he could at least marry well and make his mother happy.

  A knock startled Eli out of his reverie. Thomas Barrett stood in the doorway. Smiling, Eli confidently stood to greet the man. “Thomas.”

  “Eli.” Thomas Barrett, sporting dark hair peppered with gray, stood a little taller than Eli.

  “What brings you by?” Eli asked. Had Evie told them about his flowers or their phone conversation? Had he misread their intentions and moved toward their daughter in error?

  “Well, I thought I should apologize for Friday night.” Thomas hesitated. “My wife and I are extremely concerned about Evie. We want her to marry someone who will fit into our family and feel comfortable taking on the responsibilities of being part of a prominent family in the community.”

  Eli nodded, unsure exactly where Thomas was headed with his confession.

  “You, surely, understand the temptation to fall in love with the first person who shows you attention without finding out if that attention is for you or your money,” Thomas continued.

  Whitney. Her name flitted through his mind like a spring butterfly in his mother’s flower garden. He could almost smell her sweet perfume and feel her silky, smooth hands in his. How did Thomas Barrett know about her and her schemes? He had moved back to his father’s hometown to escape her memory and the people who knew of her deception. Had word traveled this far? He held Thomas’s gaze, determined not to let him know how much he understood this father’s fear.

  “We are concerned this Ben character is interested mainly in her social status instead of in her. She has dreams of working in politics, and I would hate to see him hold her back from reaching those dreams.” Thomas waited only for Eli to nod before he added, “So it was only with the best of intentions that we introduced you to our daughter. With your mutual interest in politics and your understanding of social responsibilities, we thought you’d be a perfect candidate to distract her from this…this boy.”

  “I understand,” Eli responded, not certain he did understand all of what Thomas revealed to him. He stretched out his words in an effort to give himself time to formulate the correct response. “I had some idea you had more than dinner in mind when you invited me to your house.” Eli continued with a confession of his own. “I actually ran into Evie on the front porch when I left, and she confirmed my suspicions.”

  Eli looked into Thomas’s eyes, surprised at the lack of shock he displayed. Maybe he came to make his confession because he already knew everyone knew of his plot. “I understand your concern for her,” Eli assured Thomas. “I certainly have had my own run-ins with women who wanted nothing more than to use my name to get attention and nice gifts. But your daughter believes her boyfriend loves her.”

  Thomas smiled broadly at Eli. “That, my boy, is where you are wrong. An evening discussing politics with you evidently convinced her that this Ben character does not fit in with our lives. She texted us yesterday that she had let him go in order to save him life-long embarrassment as a misfit.”

  Eli curled and uncurled his toes inside his shoe, a release of anxiety he had learned during his father’s nerve-racking political career. One night during a tough debate, when Eli was about twelve or thirteen and his father stood poised to lose his position in Washington if anything went wrong, his father took him by the shoulders and whispered in his ear, “Never let anyone see you nervous. Keep your poker face on. Don’t give it away.”

  Now, sitting in front of Thomas, terrified butterflies threatened to fly out of Eli’s mouth, bringing with them everything he’d eaten over the last twenty-four hours. So he curled his toes hard inside his shoe. When he could clench them no harder, he relaxed them and repeated the exercise.

  For the first time since his father died, Eli felt that same sick, nervous reaction. Part of his anxiety stemmed from his lack of knowledge about Evie’s break-up with Ben. She hadn’t mentioned it when she called last night. Could that be what prompted her call? Had his flowers arrived at the right time to remind her of their conversation and common interests? He racked his brain to think of something clever to say. Did Thomas know she had called Eli and agreed to see him for coffee sometime? And that coffee, would it be a date? He had little time to contemplate her intentions with her father sitting across from him.<
br />
  Thomas continued his one-sided conversation. “You’re a little older than Evie and understand the way these things work. A marriage between you and Evie would work out well for both of you. You would have a wife who would understand politics and could help you win national campaigns. Evie could do the work she loves and at the same time support her husband and any children you may have. Of course, she is guaranteed part of the Barrett land and an inheritance at the time of our death, but that would matter little to you.”

  Eli tried to process what Thomas proposed. The issued appeared very cut and dry. He and Evie would marry for convenience. Dear God, he prayed silently, is this your will? What about love between a man and a woman? Eli thought of the many arranged marriages in the Bible. At least he’d had the opportunity to meet Evie first.

  “Are you proposing marriage to me, Thomas?” he asked with a grin.

  Thomas chuckled. “Yes, I suppose I am.”

  “Well, I had hoped for something more romantic…”

  They shared a short laugh before Thomas’s face turned serious again and Eli knew he waited for a response.

  “Thomas, I’m flattered, but marriage is a big deal. I would really like to get to know your daughter better. If all we have in common is politics, I’m afraid it would make a poor marriage.”

  Thomas rolled his eyes. “Marriage is a contract, Eli.” He rubbed his clean-shaven chin. “I thought as a lawyer you would understand that. You agree to publicly support each other, share the financial benefits from both your occupations, and raise children together. Any extracurricular activities are expected to be kept private and overlooked by the other party. It’s a simple agreement.”

  Anger threatened to break through at the idea. Extracurricular activities? Could this man so easily forgive—or rather ignore—his wife’s affairs? Eli had heard rumblings from the office assistants about Victoria Barrett’s many affairs over the years, but he chalked it up to cheap gossip. Now the tales echoed through his consciousness.

  “Thomas, I’m afraid it’s not that easy for me. Marriage is a contract, yes, but it’s also a covenant between a husband, wife, and God. Support and duty sharing are only part of the agreement. You have a beautiful daughter, and I agree having someone with her knowledge and skill would be helpful on the campaign trail. But a marriage has to be more than a business agreement.”

  Disappointment clouded Thomas’s face. Eli struggled to find some word to salvage his relationship with this client, this community pillar, but he knew, however powerful Thomas Barrett might be, he owed his loyalty to Someone more powerful.

  So Eli spoke the only words he could find. “I would, however, be interested in getting to know Evie better. And if our friendship develops into something more, I would be delighted.” As he finished his speech, he wondered what the firm’s partners would say when they heard he had offended one of their top clients.

  Thomas sighed. “If that’s the only way you will agree, then so be it. We truly want our daughter to be happy and believe marrying someone with common interests would provide more of that happiness than marrying someone who cares nothing for politics at all. We will allow you and Evie time to get to know one another and then revisit the subject.” Thomas rose from his seat. “I trust you will keep our conversation confidential?”

  Eli half-smiled at the man who hoped to one day be his father-in-law. “Lawyer-client privilege, Thomas. I’m not at liberty to discuss anything we say outside your presence.”

  Thomas chuckled, shook his head, and left Eli’s office.

  Thoughts of Evie now littered Eli’s mind. The growing mound of paperwork in front of him held little interest. He glanced at his watch. Eleven-thirty. His mother cooked lunch every day, and 11:30 would not be too early to arrive.

  Five minutes later, as Eli drove through the small town, he smiled at the antics of young children on the school playground. A couple of small-business owners waved to him from the front of their stores.

  Red, yellow, white, and orange mums glowed from positions on golden hay bales and next to towering scarecrows. Round, ripe pumpkins popped against the drab backdrop of dried cornstalks. Rusty red ribbons held the decorations together. Almost every corner through the downtown heralded the arrival of the harvest season. Some days he missed the lost-in-the-crowd feeling of living just outside the nation’s capital, but today he felt a peace as he watched the small town come alive in front of him. He had drawn up papers or reviewed contracts for most of them at some point over the last year since he’d arrived in town. But they acted as though he had known them all his life.

  His mother lived barely outside the downtown, and he could still hear the buzz of shop owners talking when he walked into her house. The scent of a freshly baked cake wafted from her kitchen and into the foyer.

  “You didn’t bake a cake just for me, did you?” he teased her as he eased into the kitchen in an effort not to disturb her or cause her cake to fall.

  “Now, Eli, when have I ever done such a thing?” his mother teased in return.

  The woman in her mid-fifties wore her shoulder-length hair gathered into a messy ponytail high on the back of her head. Gray sparkled between strands of silky dark tresses. A flour-covered apron covered her lavender linen pants suit and hid part of her chubby appearance. Eli always remembered her as a striking brunette who wore dark dress suits to accent her slim figure and always had her hair cropped short.

  Since his father’s death, however, his mother had retreated from the spotlight and allowed herself to “go free,” as she said. She had watched her diet for many years and now baked frequently, sharing her delights with her son and the neighbors as well as herself. She seemed happier in the kitchen cooking for someone than anywhere else. She filled a bowl with homemade chili and set it before him at the bar. Retrieving a bag of shredded cheese from the refrigerator and a box of crackers from the pantry, she added those to his personal buffet.

  For a moment Eli simply breathed in the homemade aromas. Since his father’s death and Whitney’s disappearing act, he and his mother had grown closer than ever. When he decided to move back to his father’s hometown, his mother heartily agreed it would be a fresh start for them both. She and Eli’s dad owned a house in the city limits, and she had moved back two months before Eli to prepare the place.

  Once Eli arrived, he chose a twenty-acre plot of land ten miles from town and built a spacious, yet tasteful house for himself. He’d spent most of his life in the crowded intensity of the city and now longed for a country experience. Contractors handed over the keys to his new house six months after Eli purchased the land and he had enjoyed the country solitude every day since.

  “Thomas Barrett stopped by to visit today,” his mother announced as Eli placed the first spoonful of chili in his mouth. He stopped chewing and blinked, partly due to the heat of the food burning his mouth and partly in shock over his mother’s statement. “He said he had introduced you to his daughter, Evie.”

  Eli nodded and attempted to resume his chewing. The roof of his mouth and his tongue burned. The food seemed to grow larger the longer he chewed. Finally, giving up, he swallowed hard, coughed a couple of times, and chased the hot food with a drink of water.

  “I haven’t seen Evie in years,” his mother commented. “He said she’s a junior political-science major at the university. He wanted to know what I thought about the prospect of working out a relationship between the two of you.”

  Eli nodded again, still coughing.

  His mother stopped her commentary and looked at her son. “Well?”

  Eli took another drink of water and cleared his throat. He swiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “She’s a beautiful girl, Mom…”

  “But…” His mother led him on.

  Eli tried to ignore the continuous burning of his mouth and tongue. Leave it to his mother to want more information, more details. “Thomas stopped by to see me this morning too,” he confessed. “He wants to
arrange an ‘agreement’ between Evie and myself,” he said as he used his fingers to place air quotes around the word agreement.

  “Marriage,” his mother translated.

  Eli nodded. He stared for a moment at his mother. She had seemed happy all those years she was married to his father, following him across the state and the country to see him fulfill his dream of making a difference in their world. But the worry lines etched themselves across her face as she watched the nightly news every time he left on an exploratory trip to any number of dangerous places on earth.

  Ironically, car bombs and fanatic voters did not end his father’s life. A heart attack brought on by years of stress left his mother a widow years earlier than she expected. His parents rarely displayed their affection for one another more than a peck on the lips for the ever-ready cameras that accompanied them on their many campaign stops. But they respected each other and what each brought to the relationship.

  After his conversation with Thomas Barrett, Eli wondered if their marriage held much more than mutual respect after all. Had their marriage been a simple contract in order to provide a suitable spouse to children of wealthy, prominent families? Had he been part of that contract? Was his mother required to give his father one child? How did those terms fit into an arranged marriage? Was every part of his future to be mapped out on a legal pad and followed no matter what road God might choose for him later?

  “Eli,” his mother said softly as she settled onto a bar stool next to him, “I loved your father very much. Not with a passionate, Hollywood kind of love, but with the love that comes from watching a Christian live out his promise to God, to me, and to his family. My father refused to allow me to date anyone he would not allow me to marry. Only your father lived up to my father’s expectations. At first I felt a little cheated, but as I watched other girls marry and live with less-than-devoted husbands, I felt better about my situation. As your father and I got to know one another, we grew to love each other and our dedication to our marriage and our family grew stronger.”