A Marriage of Convenience

by Doreen Owens Malek

  He was watching her, observing her reaction to the changes. She thought he was waiting for her to comment, so she said nothing.

  They pulled up to the house, and some of the hands paused to stare as Sharon got out and Tay brought her bags into the house.

  "I had Rosa prepare your old room," he said as they entered. The living room had been redecorated in a breezy patio style, with painted wrought iron tables and white wicker furniture.

  "Is Rosa still with you?" Sharon asked, delighted at the prospect of seeing an old friend. They walked down the hall to her old room.

  He nodded. "She'll be in later." He set her bags on the floor. "I should tell you," he went on, "we tore down the old bunkhouse last year. I'm sleeping across the hall."

  Wonderful, Sharon thought sourly. Well, at least the bunkhouse was gone. She had no desire to revisit that scene.

  She looked around. The decor in the bedroom, unlike that in the rest of the house, was as she remembered it. She felt a wave of nostalgia for the fourposter with the lumpy mattress and the maple rocking chair and the priscilla curtains at the window.

  "I've set the civil ceremony for tomorrow morning," Tay said.

  Sharon whirled to face him. "Not wasting any time, are we?" she said sarcastically.

  "I thought you would want to get it over with," he said, obviously startled. "We can put the will into probate as soon as the marriage license is certified to the court."

  Sharon put her hand to her forehead wearily. "Yes, of course, you're right. I'm sorry. I'm afraid this has all been a bit much for me."

  "Maybe you'd like to be alone for a while, get settled in," he said.

  "That's a good idea," she replied quickly.

  "Well, I have some work to do. I'll ask Rosa to stop in and see you when she comes, okay?"

  "Thank you." Sharon listened to his footsteps recede down the hall.

  She sat down in the rocker and took off her shoes, easing her weary feet, preoccupied with her host.

  It was obvious that Tay wasn't going to make reference to the last time they'd seen each other, when she'd crept into his bed and thrown herself at him. Maybe he didn't remember it as vividly as she did. Maybe he didn't remember it at all.

  There must have been a lot of beds and a lot of women since.

  Sharon got up and opened her large suitcase, taking out garments and hanging them in the closet. She had finished and was assembling toilet articles in the adjoining bathroom when there was a tap on the bedroom door.

  "Sharon? It's Rosa."

  Sharon ran to the door and pulled it wide, embracing the older woman as she stepped in from the hall.

  "Rosa, oh, it's so good to see you," she said, standing back and taking a long look. "As beautiful as ever," she pronounced.

  "And you're too thin," Rosa replied. "Chili con carne tonight. And my special enchiladas encantadas."

  Sharon laughed. She had kept in touch with Rosa through cards and letters over the years, but had missed her practical no-nonsense presence.

  "How is Pilar?" she asked.

  "Raising cain. She starts high school in the fall."

  "High school," Sharon said wonderingly. When she last saw Rosa's daughter she was about to enter kindergarten. "I'll bet she's gorgeous."

  "Hmmph," Rosa said, but her pride shone through. "She is. And she knows it." Rosa glanced over her shoulder. "Did you see Tay?''

  Sharon nodded. "He picked me up at the airport."

  "How did that go?" Rosa asked in a low tone.

  Sharon shrugged and sat on the bed, gesturing for Rosa to join her. "I don't know. It's impossible to tell what he's thinking. At least we didn't come to blows in the arrival lounge."

  "I'm relieved to hear it."

  "I suppose you know about the will," Sharon said.

  Rosa nodded.

  “Can you believe my father did that?''

  "What I can't believe is that you're going along with it," Rosa said frankly.

  Sharon threw up her hands. "What can I do? Challenging it would be worse. Do you think I'd be here if there were any other way out of this?"

  Rosa fingered the design on the bedspread. "There was a time when marrying Tay Braddock would have been your heart's desire," she said slowly.

  "That time has passed," Sharon said dryly. "Rosa, can you imagine how I feel? The last time I saw Tay I made a complete fool of myself. Now Dad's will is compelling me to marry him, a prospect no more pleasing to him than it is to me, I'm sure. It's just awful."

  "Are you sure?"

  "That it's awful?"

  "To him, I mean," Rosa said carefully.

  Sharon stood and began to pace the room. "Rosa, he doesn't want me. He made that clear the night I left here ten years ago."

  "What happened?" Rosa said. "I knew something did."

  "How?"

  "From the way Tay was acting after you were gone. You never mentioned it in your letters, and I didn't think it was my place to ask."

  "I was trying to forget it," Sharon replied darkly.

  "Tell me."

  "Well, I got it into my head that he was really madly in love with me and just needed a little encouragement. I decided to provide that encouragement by slipping into the bunkhouse when he was asleep and climbing into bed with him."

  "Oh, dear," Rosa said.

  "Yeah. It was the least successful seduction in history. It lasted about ninety seconds. Once he realized who was inside the nightie he was trying to remove he gave me the bum's rush."

  "Well, nina, you were so young. He was trying to protect you."

  "I don't think so, Rosa. He said something about my being no different from the whores he used to patronize in Saigon. I believe that's an exact quote."

  Even Rosa didn't know how to respond to that.

  "So," Sharon went on, "I had that fond memory to go on when I made my triumphant return."

  "Sharon, he's changed," Rosa said.

  "Really?" Sharon said in a tone signifying that she doubted it.

  "Look at this place," Rosa said, making a sweeping gesture to indicate the whole ranch. "Tay did this. After Rae died, your father didn't care what happened. The bills wouldn't even have been paid if it weren't for Tay. He took over and did everything. Gradually your father regained interest, and when he saw how well Tay was doing, Dan just let him keep on running things."

  "I knew Dad took Rae's death hard," Sharon said thoughtfully. "I always felt bad that I missed the funeral. I was having final exams when she went into the hospital, so Dad didn't tell me. He didn't want to disturb my concentration. By the time exam week was over, she was dead and buried."

  "There was nothing you could have done. Dan and Tay went around this place for weeks like a couple of wounded animals in a cave. The difference was that Dan couldn't work and Tay did nothing else but. He drove himself to exhaustion every night."

  "I would have thought he'd drink himself into bed," Sharon said.

  Rosa shook her head. "No more."

  Sharon unzipped her dress and stepped out of it. "Is Eloise Randall still around?'' she asked casually.

  "Josh Randall's daughter?"

  "Yep."

  Rosa's brow furrowed. "I think she took up with some guy about five years ago and moved to Nevada. Why do you ask?"

  "No reason."

  Rosa's eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute. The last time you were here Tay was seeing her, wasn't he?"

  Sharon shrugged.

  "Are you trying to find out if he has a girlfriend?"

  "Well," Sharon said, "this little plan of ours to get married might run into a snag if he did and she objected."

  "As far as I know he isn't seeing anybody special."

  Sharon snorted. "I suppose now you're going to tell me he's become a monk."

  "Not him," Rosa said flatly. "No way. Opportunity knocks constantly. Women are always after him."

  "I know. I was one of them."

  Rosa got up and put her hand on Sharon's shoulder. "Don't be too hard on y
ourself. You were just a kid."

  "Yeah, well," Sharon said as she changed into a blouse and slacks, "I'm not a kid anymore, and this time our relationship is going to be strictly business."

  “Good luck,'' Rosa said dryly.

  Sharon turned to look at her. "Don't you think I can do it?"

  "No," Rosa said.

  "Thanks a lot."

  "Sharon, your relationship with him ten years ago was special, and for Tay, very unusual. Even I could see that. You affected him, he listened to you when no one, not even his mother, could get his attention. Maybe it ended badly for whatever reason, but I don't think you can go from that to the emotional indifference of a business relationship just because you're both a little older."

  "Well," Sharon said in a subdued tone, "I guess you told me."

  "You asked."

  "So you think this is a doomed enterprise?"

  "I think you'd better be careful."

  "I intend to be. Starting tomorrow morning when we get married."

  "Tomorrow?"

  "First thing. It's all arranged. And here I thought all along that when I got married it would be in a white gown in a church with bridesmaids in organdy dresses." She tossed her shoes onto the floor of the closet. "What a gyp."

  "You don't have to go through with it."

  "Yes, I do. I came here to marry Tay Braddock and I'm going to do just that. I didn't fly thousands of miles to back out now."

  Rosa turned for the door. "I'll start dinner."

  "Will Tay be joining us?" Sharon asked warily.

  "I don't think so. He usually tells me if he'll be in for dinner and he didn't say anything."

  "I guess he plans to hide out until his presence is required," Sharon said nastily.

  "What are you going to wear?" Rosa asked.

  "I brought a blue suit."

  "A blue suit? Are you planning to take a deposition from the justice of the peace? "

  “Rosa, what difference does it make what I wear? It's not a real wedding anyway."

  "That beige dress would be better," Rosa said, pointing to an outfit visible through the open door of the closet.

  It was an eggshell silk sheath. "I don't know why I brought that with me," Sharon said uncomfortably.

  "Let me press it for you."

  Rosa departed with the dress over her arm and Sharon felt silly, aware that she wasn't deceiving Rosa for a minute.

  Regardless of whether it was a real wedding or not,Tay would be there and Sharon wanted to look nice.

  She spent the dinner hour with Rosa, and as expected, Tay did not appear. After Rosa left, Sharon felt as though she were rattling around in the house with the ghosts of her father and Rae whispering in the shadows, so she went outside and sat on the patio.

  The last time she was on the terrace it had been strung with lights for a night barbecue over the Labor Day weekend. Her father had broiled burgers with long handled tools, wearing an apron that said Too Many Broths Spoil the Cook. Rae had made her lemon-lime iced tea, and Sharon had worn her sky blue maillot bathing suit with the navy trim.

  It was so hard to accept that they were both dead now and that she was here on this fool's errand. Her eyes filled with tears and she wiped at them awkwardly, ashamed of her weakness.

  Sharon sat outside for a long time. After darkness fell it grew chilly and she went into the empty house. She tried to watch television, but the images blurred and the laugh tracks sounded more annoying than usual so she went to bed around eleven.

  Sleep would not come. She dozed fitfully for short intervals and finally gave up after a couple of hours. She rose and put on a bathrobe to go to the kitchen for a cup of tea.

  She stopped on the threshold. Tay was sitting at the table, his shirt off and draped on the chair back, a half empty glass cradled in his hands. Sharon hadn't heard him come in and had assumed that he was out somewhere enjoying his last night of freedom.

  He looked up as she entered and then stood, kicking the chair out of his way.

  "I'll go," he said shortly.

  "That's not necessary," Sharon replied, determined not to let him see how much he still got to her. "This is your house, too. If we can't learn to coexist in it this arrangement we've planned will never work."

  He didn't reply but sat down again, leaning back and taking another sip of his drink. Sharon went to the stove and got the kettle, filling it with water and putting it on to boil. When she turned to look at him he was sitting with his head bent, staring into the portion of amber liquid that remained in his glass. She was facing his back, which was as golden brown as a hazelnut, freckled lightly across the shoulders. His hair, which she remembered as curling against his neck, was cropped shorter now, revealing sunburned creases in his nape. She was seized with the sudden urge to touch one, and she shoved her hands into the pockets of her robe.

  "Couldn't sleep?" he said without looking at her.

  "No, I couldn't."

  "Is that because you were worried about me?" he asked flatly.

  "Worried?" Sharon said uncomprehendingly.

  He turned. "Worried about having me in this house, that I might bother you," he said.

  It was the last thing she had expected him to say, and she was so startled that she replied frankly, "Tay, I'm not worried. I remember all too well that where I'm concerned, your self control is second to none."

  She saw in his face the impact of her careless statement. If she'd thought he might not remember that night in the bunkhouse ten years earlier, she saw now that she was wrong. He flushed a dull red under his tan, and he stood again, his half naked body looming large and formidable in the small kitchen.

  "Good," he said huskily. "Because I want to make something clear before we go ahead with this. I was going to tell you in the morning but I might as well say it now."

  Sharon waited, her fingers clenching inside her pockets.

  "I'm not going to take advantage of this situation," he said. "You'll stay in your own room, and I'll keep away from you. I realize that a beautiful, successful woman like you has her own life, and I won't interfere. The only thing between us is the piece of paper we'll get tomorrow, and when all this is over you can go right back to what you left."

  "Fine," Sharon said softly.

  He finished his drink in one gulp, as if glad to have that speech behind him. He walked past her to the sink and set the glass on the drain board.

  "I'll see you in the morning," he said. "The appointment at city hall is at nine o'clock." He left the room, and a second later she heard his door shut down the hall.

  The kettle began to whistle and Sharon removed it from the heat, turning off the burner automatically.

  So he wasn't as cool about all of this as he'd seemed at the airport, she thought. It gave her some satisfaction that he was losing sleep over the situation too, that it wasn't some minor annoyance he could dismiss in the company of a doxy in a Glendora bar.

  Rosa had said he'd changed, and maybe he had.

  Sharon no longer wanted the tea, and she went back to bed, passing Tay's door quickly.

  She didn't lie awake this time but fell into a dreamless slumber.

  * * * *

  Tay listened to the faint sounds Sharon made as she settled into her room and tried not to picture what she was wearing or not wearing under her robe when she removed it for bed.

  This was going to be even more difficult than he'd thought.

  When he had first heard about Dan's will, he wasn't exactly surprised. He always suspected that Dan knew he'd fallen in love with Sharon all those years ago and respected him for letting her go. Maybe this was Dan's way of paying him back, giving him another shot at the prize.

  Except the prize wasn't entirely in the mood to cooperate.

  Tay couldn't blame Sharon for being angry. The terms of the will were antediluvian, and on top of that she had the memory of his behavior toward her on the night before she left for home. She didn't know how much he'd wanted her to stay; all she recalle
d was the bitterness of rejection.

  But did she have to be so damn beautiful, he thought, in agony at the prospect of trying to keep his hands off her for the next couple of months. The puppy prettiness of her teen years had matured into a fine boned porcelain loveliness that took his breath away. He'd recognized her immediately at the airport; she was the Sharon he remembered, and then some.

  And now, of course, she was old enough to love.

  Had he spoiled that chance forever? he wondered. Did she have someone back in Philadelphia, some sophisticated, educated city type who would make him look like a dirty fence mender?

  Probably. He couldn't picture her spending her nights with frozen dinners and the metromedia movie.

  That thought did not comfort him, and he punched the pillow behind his head, abandoning the idea of sleep.

  * * * *

  Sharon had showered and was brushing her hair in the bedroom the next morning when Rosa knocked on her door.

  "Come in," Sharon called.

  Rosa entered carrying a cup of coffee.

  "Thanks," Sharon said, accepting it. "I didn't know you were coming in this morning."

  "I thought I'd better stop by and see how things were going," Rosa said nervously.

  "Have you seen Tay?" Sharon asked, her eyes meeting Rosa's over the rim of the cup.

  Rosa nodded.

  "Where is he?"

  "Waiting in the living room. He's all dressed."

  "Already? How does he seem?"

  "He seems tense. He looks gorgeous."

  Sharon shook her head and smiled. Rosa had an enthusiast's frank appreciation of the opposite sex, which she expressed freely.

  "Where's your dress?" Rosa asked.

  "On the back of the door, where you left it."

  Rosa got it and helped Sharon slip into it, zipping the back and adjusting the hem.

  "You look beautiful," she said to Sharon, who stared at herself in the mirror.