Leigh Anna rubbed her wrist when Evie finally let go of her five minutes later. “What’s gotten into you, Evie? You could have politely suggested we go back to your sorority house and find another shirt. You didn’t have to drag me away.”
“Sorry,” Evie growled at her sister-in-law. “I just had to get away. I couldn’t have come up with a better plan if I’d intentionally spilled my drink on you.”
“Evie, you’ve really lost it.” Leigh Anna’s shoes clicked quickly on the pavement. For each of Evie’s long-legged steps, Leigh Anna took two. She panted and gulped in air as Evie continued a steady pace.
Evie stopped and swiveled to face her sister-in-law, the sorority house looming behind her. Tears clouded her eyes.
Leigh Anna slowed her pace until she reached her sister-in-law. “You want to talk about it…?”
Evie slid her key into the lock on the front door of the house and ushered Leigh Anna inside. The clack of their shoes on the hardwood floor echoed back at them. Only sunlight lit the large openness of the foyer where the girls gathered for weekly meetings, discussed the new pledges, and gathered in the evenings after class. The room had emptied hours earlier amid a flurry of sweaters, skirts, and high-heeled boots. Now the silence wrapped around Evie like an old blanket.
“Evie?” Leigh Anna’s voice broke into Evie’s thoughts.
“Oh, sorry.” She sighed. “I was just thinking about how beautiful and peaceful this house is without all the noise and gossip.”
“You’ve had a tough few weeks since you and Ben broke up, haven’t you?”
“Yeah.” Evie turned and walked up a flight of stairs, then unlocked the door to her room. “I think I have a white shirt you can wear somewhere,” she offered as she opened her closet door. “I have some stain remover in the cabinet under the sink,” she directed her sister-in-law to keep her from seeing the mess of clothes thrown into her closet.
She had fully intended to straighten it up a couple of days ago, but then Ben called and wanted to meet for ice cream. After not seeing him for two weeks, she immediately abandoned all other plans and followed his directions to a secluded park across town.
Evie blinked now to bring her thoughts and clothes into focus. With one hand she flipped hangers from one side of her closet to the other side. “Found it,” she announced as she pulled out a white tunic very similar to the stained one Leigh Anna still wore.
She watched as her sister-in-law scrubbed stain remover into the dark spot on her shirt. Leigh Anna stopped her work and smiled at Evie. “Thanks,” she said as she reached for the other shirt. She turned her back and pulled the dirty shirt over her head before putting on the clean one. “So do you want to talk about what happened with Ben?”
Evie filtered the truth from the fiction she’d told everyone. She wanted to confide in someone, but she doubted Leigh Anna could be trusted with this truth. Finally, she said, “You and Taylor are so lucky. I mean, Taylor fell in love with a ‘suitable’ woman. Dad didn’t have to pick you out.”
Leigh Anna snorted.
Startled, Evie shot her a hard look. “What?”
“Our whole marriage was fixed, Evie. Did Taylor not ever tell you that?” Leigh Anna held her soiled shirt under water at the small sink in Evie’s room.
“Fixed? You mean, as in arranged?”
“You got it.”
“But…you seem so much in love.”
Leigh Anna turned off the water and faced her sister-in-law. Her smile and flushed cheeks reminded Evie of the descriptions of women in love in novels. “We are.”
Evie studied the woman in front of her. How had this woman found love in an arranged marriage? “I don’t understand.”
A nervous laugh escaped. “I didn’t either in the beginning.” Leigh Anna hesitated as though some voice in her head warned her to choose her words carefully. “I—” She took a deep breath. “I was supposed to marry someone else.” Her voice sounded stronger than the mist of tears in her eyes appeared. “Do you remember Ted Crestwood?”
Evie nodded. Confusion clouded her memories of an almost forgettable boy a few years older than herself. He was the definition of average: average height, average weight, average grades, average athletic ability.
Leigh Anna turned her eyes back to the shirt in her hand, blinked hard, and then looked back at Evie. “He had already asked Dad if he could marry me. In fact, his mother found an engagement ring in his room. He was headed home after work one night when a drunk hit him head on. The hospital said he died instantly.”
Silence hung like a heavy blanket over the room. Evie could hear her breath, heavy with sadness for her sister-in-law, as she tried to process the story. Leigh Anna spoke the words of certain sorrow with strength—maybe the strength that replaced fear as time worked its magic healing. Evie tried to conjure up the words to say to comfort Leigh Anna, but nothing seemed right.
Leigh Anna continued her story. “I took a semester off from school just to try to figure out where my life was going. Ted was almost finished with his degree in architecture. He was going to work for a firm for a few years, and when I finished with my business degree we were going to open a little firm on Main Street in Duncan. I could work and keep the kids there when they were younger.” Her eyes glazed over. Evie felt certain she was envisioning the little office that never existed. A certain sadness over what would never be filled her voice when she added, “When he died, all my plans died, too.”
“I can’t imagine,” Evie whispered.
Leigh Anna stood from her perch on the edge of Evie’s bed and walked over to the mirror attached to the dresser on the opposite side of the room. She ran her fingers through her hair for a minute before turning around and propping on the dresser to face Evie. Her eyes lacked the dreamy gaze and instead held an acceptance of reality.
“I realized I couldn’t depend on someone else. God promised not to give me more than he would give me the strength to handle. So I needed to handle this. I did not want to run a business for someone else, and I did not want to be in business by myself. So I looked into degrees that would allow me to support myself with or without a husband. Nursing presented the best opportunity; plus it would let me help other people, like Ted, who were hurt and needed someone. So I went back to school and drowned my sorrows in studying.”
“Wow,” Evie breathed. “But what about Taylor?” she asked as she remembered how they began this discussion.
Leigh Anna smiled openly. “Dad knew I had no interest in dating. For two years he let me deal with my loss. I came home to visit him one weekend, and he announced he had invited someone over for dinner. I was furious.” A light, airy laugh bubbled into the air. “I stormed to my room and packed my bags. I was determined to leave before this guy showed up. Dad followed me and began to explain the situation. He knew I was scared and fragile. He was afraid guys would take advantage of that. So he began to pray that God would direct a suitable husband into my life. That’s when your dad approached my dad about a marriage arrangement for Taylor and me.”
“Weren’t you angry?” Evie blurted out.
“Until Dad explained that he had asked around about Taylor and dug into his character before he agreed to set us up for a date. He promised me I did not have to marry Taylor, but he did expect me to have dinner with him and give him a chance. He knew Taylor had been very involved with the church youth group, the college student ministry, and that he was finishing his law degree. That’s why he thought we would get along. Taylor valued the same work ethic and Christian standards we valued.”
Evie opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again. “I forgot he was so involved,” she murmured. The next words tumbled out. “Since I stopped going when I came to college, I thought he did, too.”
Leigh Anna leaned backward and cocked her head to one side. “Really? You had no idea he was so involved with church?”
Evie shook her head. “We really didn’t talk much after he moved away
to college. In fact, most of the weekends he came home I was gone somewhere.”
“Evie…” She twisted her hands together. “He’s accepted a job with a firm that defends religious groups. He’s planning to tell your parents this weekend. We’ll be moving to D.C. at the end of the year. He’ll start in January, and I’ll finish my final clinicals there with him.”
Evie’s struggled to process the news. “I never knew he was that involved.”
“That’s what really attracted me to him in the first place. I agreed to go out with him one time as a favor to my dad. We discussed our career goals, and he told me this was his dream job. I told him I wanted to finish nursing school, work for a year, and then start the nurse practitioner program. He supported my dream as much as I supported his.”
“So what made you decide to go out with him again?” Evie asked as she mentally set aside the news of her brother’s new job to focus on the continuing story of his courtship with his wife.
“He knew about Ted. When he took me home after our first date, we sat on the porch and talked for a long while. He asked about Ted and our relationship. He really listened as I explained what an amazing Christian Ted had been. He even held me while I cried. He said he knew if we started a relationship that Ted would always be there. He didn’t want to replace Ted or make me feel like I couldn’t talk about him. I knew at that moment he honestly cared about me and truly wanted to be a part of my life.”
“So, just like that, you fell in love?” It all seemed too easy.
“Not exactly,” Leigh Anna explained. “At first we both agreed to pray about the decision our parents wanted us to make. We took some time to get to know each other and talked a lot about what we expected from marriage. We both wanted friendship and passion in our relationship.” She crossed her arms and walked back to the bed to sit beside Evie. “Honestly, the friendship part came much easier than the passion. Most relationships start because of an initial attraction and then the couple begins to wonder if marriage is in the future. We started out with the idea of marriage and prayed for the attraction to come.”
“Did you ever get the passion?” Evie asked, even though her heart cringed at the thought of the possible answer.
“Yes.” She spoke softly, her voice full of emotion. “He sent me flowers on the anniversary of Ted’s accident. The card read, I’m sorry your heart has been broken, yet thankful God has allowed me an opportunity to be part of the healing. Something about those words made everything different. I loved him, and I couldn’t wait to tell him.”
“So that’s how it’s been. Pouf,” Evie exclaimed, motioning with her hand, “and you were in love?”
“No, Evie.” She shook her head. “We built a friendship first. We were honest and upfront about our past and our expectations of the future. We had our arguments, but we always went back to the place where God directed us to each other and knew we had to work out our disagreements. No argument has ever been important enough to risk our relationship.”
Honest. The word tightened the knots in her stomach until she thought she would cry out from real, physical pain. Had she ever really been honest with Eli? If she were honest, would he still want her? Her first love still lived and breathed. For the first time Evie realized she harbored hope for her relationship with Eli deep in her heart, but she knew that hope could not take root and grow as long as she carried on her relationship with Ben.
Evie stood and began to put away the stain remover. She had no intentions of continuing a relationship with Eli for one minute longer than she had to. He was a tool, she reminded herself. She dated him simply to satisfy her parents and convince them she could never be happy with anyone but Ben. “We better get back. Taylor will think I’ve kidnapped you.”
Leigh Anna picked up her stained shirt and started to the door where Evie stood. “Pray for God’s guidance, Evie, and he’ll help you get through this.” Leigh Anna’s gentle words only inflamed Evie’s festering conscience.
Evie barely noticed the increasing crowds as they walked back to the football field. Her mind replayed the words of her sister-in-law. Leigh Anna really believed God could work out anything, even after he allowed her to lose the man she thought would be her husband. But how did God fit into Evie’s situation? She had certainly never asked for his opinion on who she should marry, much less who she should date. She resisted the urge to laugh out loud at the thought of her father asking God to guide her to a suitable husband. She knew about God, and she knew He didn’t care a lot about money, not like her father did anyway.
Eli. Was he the one in the midst of this whole mess praying? He was the only one Evie could imagine would actually pray about something like this. So what was God telling him? Why would he continue to call her or date her if God had already said no?
Evie’s heart rate quickened. If he is acting based on God’s direction, does that mean…
No, she and Ben had been together for a long time and would stay together. She forced herself to breathe deeply until the lightheadedness disappeared.
By the time Leigh Anna and Evie reached the Barretts’ tailgating party, the crowd was busying themselves gathering their stadium seats and blankets before heading to the football field for the game. Evie stood near the abandoned food tables and nibbled as she watched the flurry of activity. Her eyes locked with Eli’s, and he wasted no time returning to her side. She stiffened as he slid one arm around her shoulders. She didn’t want to think about how warm and comfortable it felt. She didn’t want to smell the barely discernible scent of his cologne. She didn’t want to stand close enough to hear the rhythmic beating of his heart. A shiver ran though her as he gently raked his fingers though the bottom of her blond hair. She tried to think of Ben, but all she could imagine were a pair of brilliant blue eyes that did not belong to the man she thought she loved.
)
Evie finally collapsed on her bed sometime around eight that night. After the ballgame, she had gone to dinner with her parents and Eli and then made an appearance at a few parties before calling it a night. Most of her sorority sisters were still partying somewhere, but Evie didn’t have the energy. She tried to pinpoint the problem. Did she miss Ben? That must be it. They had barely seen each other in several weeks and without her he had no way of securing an invitation to the parties on campus. She knew she had no chance of running into him and the thought of enduring a frat party without him bored her.
She lay back on her bed and flipped on the television. The Saturday evening lineup was really suffering. Besides, she still could not shake the memory of her discussion with Leigh Anna. What had she said about God? That he wouldn’t give her more than he knew she could handle? If God said it, where did he say it?
She knew she could find the answer in her Bible. Don’t be silly, she chided herself. Does it matter anyway? Arguing with herself was always a lose-lose situation. She finally knelt on the floor to search under her bed. Feeling the thick leather of a book cover, she pulled out a dust-covered burgundy Bible. The pages crinkled from lack of use as she flipped through it.
“This is useless,” she murmured to herself. “How exactly am I supposed to find something if I don’t know where to look?” She turned her eyes toward the ceiling and then tossed the book to the end of the bed, causing it to bounce. She groaned when her cell rang and reached to grab it next to her bed.
“Hey, come downstairs.” Eli’s voice surprised her.
“What?”
“Come downstairs,” he repeated.
“What are you doing here?”
“Come downstairs and see.” Impatience crept into his tone the third time he made his request.
Evie hung up. She shuffled out the door toward the foyer in her flip-flops. Eli was standing there, a lock of his dark curly hair falling over his forehead and landing just above one eyebrow. He held two iced coffees. Against her will, excitement surged through her over seeing him again, and she had to hold it back.
“W
hat are you doing?” she asked as she accepted the cup he extended to her.
“I don’t really know,” he answered. “You seemed like you had a lot on your mind all through the ballgame, and I wondered if you might want to talk.”
She sipped her coffee, enjoying the odd mixture of bitter coffee, sweet steamed milk, and ice. Maybe Eli could help her find the verse she needed. “Yeah, I might,” she agreed. “Do you want to come up?”
“Why don’t we take a walk?”
Evie nodded. “Let me change first.” She handed her cup back to Eli and bounded up the stairs. A minute later she emerged wearing her favorite yoga pants and T-shirt with her Bible tucked under her arm.
Eli blinked his eyes in astonishment when she walked back into the foyer. “Man, that was fast.”
Evie retrieved her drink from his hand and smiled, not bothering to try to stop her enjoyment at his surprise. “Ready?”
He opened the door so she could walk out in front of him. Evie shrugged on her jacket as the cool evening air chilled her arms. She felt the arm of the jacket lift as Eli held it to assist her. They walked until the hum of homecoming parties faded away. Finally Eli tugged on her arm and motioned to a bench. She followed him and sat, unsure what to do next. She and Ben never walked much at night. They went to the movies or out to eat or kissed. Heat raced up her neck at that last thought.
“So, did you want to talk?” Eli’s voice broke the silence.
“I don’t know.” Evie turned to look at him. His blue eyes peered into hers. Did he know she had been lying to him? Did he hope to find the truth? Or did he simply hope to see her true feelings, feelings she had not even admitted to herself?
Suddenly Eli motioned to the book in her hand. “What’s that?”
“Oh, I…Leigh Anna mentioned something today when she was changing clothes and I was trying to find the verse. I thought maybe you could help me.”
The Arrangement Page 9