by L. M. Reed
Chapter 10
“No, I told you, that is not an option,” I desperately tried to control the hysteria I could feel rising up inside of me.
“Allison, be reasonable. I want to do this the right way. No sneaking around.”
James could be very persuasive, especially when he was nibbling on my neck. We were in our favorite place, under the trees near the library, sitting on a blanket he brought with him instead of the jacket he’d gallantly laid on the ground for me a couple of weeks previously, and with Christmas only two days away the campus was almost totally deserted. Being unpredictably Texas it was pleasant outside even though it was December.
James was temporarily rooming in the only dorm that stayed open over the holidays, since his mom didn’t have a place for him to stay, and he’d refused my offer to let him sleep on my couch saying that it wouldn’t be right, plus too much of a temptation and I was glad he felt that way. I wasn’t offering to sleep with him, as much as I would have liked to, because Hannah’s sense of morality had rubbed off on me and even though, until just recently with James and Elsee, I hadn’t been to church since she died I knew it would be wrong.
“You’re going to have to trust me on this one, my parents will not be reasonable. They expect me to marry Richard, or someone like him…end of story. You said it yourself, money marries money.” I reminded him pointedly.
“Don’t bring that up please,” James begged.
“As much as I hate to admit it, there was a lot of truth in what you said that night. If it hadn’t been for Hannah, I probably would have turned out exactly like Natalie.”
“They can’t be all that bad. After all, they did have you, right?” more nibbling. “You’re not adopted.”
“They can be that bad, James, please, you have to believe me. You don’t know them. I don’t want you or your mom to get hurt.”
I knew he thought I was overreacting, but I was desperate to convince him to take me seriously. How could I make him understand something so alien to his nature that he could never truly comprehend?
“What are they, the mafia?” He laughed, “You are being quite melodramatic today.”
“James, I’ve seen it happen. Why do you think every one of my ‘friends’ are rich and snobby?”
“Because you like ‘em that way?” he suggested mildly.
“Every time I tried to make friends with someone my parents didn’t approve of, something bad happened.”
“I’m sorry, Allison, it’s not that I don’t believe that you believe what you’re telling me,” James tried to placate me, “But things like that only happen in books and movies. I’m sure they were coincidences.”
I wasn’t getting through to him. There had to be a way to prove to him beyond a shadow of a doubt that I wasn’t exaggerating. Think…think…Mrs. Fowlkes, maybe she had something more concrete; after all, she had dumped the firm as soon as my grandfather died and my father took over.
“Will you do me one favor?’ I asked sweetly.
I had already discovered that James had trouble denying me anything I wanted. I would have to be careful not to abuse that tendency in the future, but I knew I had to figure out a way to convince him and I was drawing a blank.
“You know I will.”
“Come with me to talk to Mrs. Fowlkes.”
“You mean Mom’s boss?”
“Yes, she’s known my parents since before I was born. If she thinks it’ll be okay, I’ll do it your way,” I conceded.
“Fair enough,” James agreed. “She seems to be a level headed person.”
“Oh, you are so going to pay for that,” I threatened, jumping on him and knocking him over. He allowed me to pin him to the ground, “I’ll show you level headed.”
Our lips met and there was no more talking for a long time.
“Are you still planning to spend Christmas Day with Mom and me?” James asked anxiously a bit later.
His back was against a tree and he was holding me in his arms. If it were up to me we would spend all of our time making out, but James was more disciplined than I was, always calling a halt to things before I got out of hand.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” I replied dreamily. “This will be my first Christmas as part of a real family.”
James chuckled and teased, “We’d have to elope for that.”
“Let’s go,” I challenged him, attempting to get up.
“Come back here,” James pulled me into his arms again.
“That was a marriage proposal.”
“Okay, let’s say it was; what would your answer be?”
“Yes, yes a thousand times yes,” I replied dramatically.
“Allison,” he reproached me, “I’m serious. Will you marry me?”
Twisting around so I could look him in the eye I answered, “You are the man I’ve been waiting for my whole life and I would love to marry you…right now…today; we just can’t tell my parents until after the ceremony.”
“You know I can’t do that,” James protested. “I don’t want to start out on the wrong foot.”
“No matter which foot you put forward first my father will stomp on it,” I replied tersely. “You will never get his approval or consent.”
“I still have to try,” James said firmly. “We have plenty of time because we won’t be getting married until I can support you financially.”
“Are you one of those men who refuses to let the ‘little woman’ work,” I asked suspiciously.
“No,” he denied immediately, “I would never stop you from doing something you wanted to do. I just know that my mother would have been happier to stay at home with me instead of being forced into earning a living because of my father’s death.”
“So if I wanted to work…and we were fine financially…we could get married?” I asked innocently, formulating a plan in my mind.
“After we tell your parents,” he qualified.
“Fine,” I agreed rolling my eyes at him. “You promise?”
“I promise,” he smiled indulgently at me.
Jumping up and pulling him after me, I started gathering our few things together.
“What’s going on?” he asked in a puzzled tone.
“We have a lot to do if we’re going to get married this summer,” I told him.
“What do you mean this summer?” he asked in confusion, “I don’t graduate for another year and a half.”
“You don’t, but I do,” I informed him gleefully.
“You’re a senior?” he asked in disbelief. “But you said…”
“I said I’m going to be twenty-one next semester and that this is my third year of college; I am and it is, but I have senior credits and after this next semester of student teaching and a couple of classes I will graduate and be a teacher,” I finished triumphantly. “With your scholarship paying for most of your college bills, if I can find a job here in the Austin area we would be fine until you graduate and can find a coaching job.”
“You want me to let you support us?”
“Oh James, don’t be such a male chauvinist pig,” I chided him. “I want to teach, and you said you would let me if I wanted to,” I reminded him. “Whether we marry or not I plan to get a teaching job next fall, so we might as well take advantage of it.”
“You little weasel,” James accused, laughing, “You tricked me.”
“Yes I did,” I admitted, relieved that he wasn’t angry with me, “and very well, I might add, so be warned.”
Pulling me into his arms he said, “Allison, don’t get me wrong, I want to marry you, more than I have ever wanted anything in my whole life,” James kissed me softly and then continued, “But I want to take care of you, not the other way around.”
“And you will,” I assured him, “In all of the ways that count. Money is important—I’m not naïve enough to think otherwise—but only as a means of providing food, clothing, and shelter. All my parents care about
is money and the power that goes along with it. I want love and family and happiness and I’ve lived without them for too many years to want to go any longer without you than I have to. I love you. Please don’t make this about money,” I finished on a pleading note, tears pooling in my eyes, threatening to spill over.
“I love you more than I have the words to tell you,” James said earnestly, kissing my tears away as they rolled down my cheeks. “If you think you can get a teaching job in the area for the fall, we will get married this summer before football training begins. I have a little money saved from past summer jobs and I’ll get another job this summer as soon as the spring semester ends, so we should be okay.”
“I know we will,” I said confidently. “We will always be okay as long as we’re together.”