The Betrothed
“What have I done!” Eden was roaming the sterile abyss that was Steve’s apartment. She had heard from Riley that their mother—their mother in her sixties!—was taking off for Europe with a strange man that she hardly knew. Okay, maybe she did know him, but that wasn’t the point. This was all to get back at Eden over this whole wedding mishigas, as Steve was calling it. Which meant crazy?
Steve was busy on his computer. Did he not care? Looking up, he said, “Okay, calm down. You’re not the ruler of the universe. Not everything is a reaction to what you have done, which is to declare you’re going to get married without your mother planning the ceremony.” He shook his head wearily. Just having come back from Singapore, he was suffering his usual jet lag, and there wasn’t enough melatonin in the world to solve his disrupted sleep patterns. And now Eden roaming around his apartment in sack cloth and ashes, metaphorically. “You haven’t done anything wrong. You’re not in control of your mother’s life. Just as she’s not in control of yours.”
“He could be an ax murderer.”
“Or he could be a professor of history and political science at Purchase.”
Eden turned sharply. “What?”
“A professor named Thad Dunkirk purchased a ticket for one Bernice Franklin, two way from Kennedy to Frankfort. They’re staying at Hotel Zur Alten Brucke, reserved separate rooms, don’t know if they’re connecting.”
She looked delighted. “Steve!”
“Eden!”
“How did you find out all that?”
“Well, I had the name—that you mangled by the way—and then discovered he was a professor. What does a professor do during break? Attend conferences. I was able to access—-well, forget that, but once I found out his field, I looked for conferences, found one in Heidelberg. He’s attending, along with your mother. She’ll probably have a great time. Heidelberg is a beautiful city. She can tour during the day, and there’ll e cocktail parties and dinner at night.”
“Is what you’re doing legal?” Eden wondered.
“Of course not, but I wanted to set your mind at rest. Here. You can check his web site.” Steve got up from the computer and let Eden sit down. Then he watched her lipread through the resume. “Satisfied?”
Rising, Eden said, “I need to go call Riley.” And off she went to the second bedroom, her home away from home, or basically her home. Eden had planned on not living with Steve until their marriage because their idea of inhabited space was totally different. His conceptual model, she insisted, was outer space, a total blank. He countered with the Webb telescope, presenting all the galaxies; but she retorted that he lived in the dark patches in between. He retaliated by saying her concept of space was, dare he say it, chaos? Or maybe downgrade that to clutter. This is why he promised not to open her bedroom door.
The whole reason she was here in his apartment before the wedding was that her roommates had basically kicked her out. They were worried about finding someone to take her place and pay her share of the rent. Well, her friend Sally had someone at work who was breaking up with her boyfriend and would gladly step in right away. And thus, Eden was jettisoned. Poor little lamb, no place to go with the boxes and boxes and boxes of what he dared to call crap?
He appreciated the fact that she kept everything she owned in that second bedroom, except for some kitchen utensils and her coats. His outlay so far was to buy her a television to watch in said bedroom because he needed the silence to work and Eden definitely wasn’t a silent person.
A house like Frank had would have been ideal for their situation, but Eden had her job at the Renwick that she had no plans to give up. Steve could live anywhere and often did with his travels, but she was a commuter. Maybe when/if they had children—but somehow Eden saw herself as a working woman. Even with a child in tow.
Marriage was definitely going to be an adjustment. Sometimes Steve wondered what he was getting into. But then, when he was done working, which Eden seemed to sense, there she would be, having a meal ready—in containers, take-out—crawling into bed with him. Her warmth, her love, her delight in the physical, that was something he wouldn’t give up no matter how messy she was. Also, when he traveled, it was so nice to come home to someone who wanted to be with him. Now when he called, “I’m home!” someone answered.
His cell phone rang. Mom. “Hi,” he said when he answered.
“You always know it’s me,” Sandy chided. “Someday I’m going to surprise you.”
“I’m waiting.”
“Darling, Dad and I are coming down to DC to see the new exhibit at the National; and we also have tickets to the Kennedy Center. There’s a play Dad wants to see. Also, this will give me more of a chance to bond with Eden, if she can make herself available. We’ll be arriving sometime tomorrow. Your place as usual?” She waited for his response. “You are in DC now, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” Why couldn’t he have lied? But then she would just use her key to his place and there would be Eden. So, “It’ll be great to see you and Dad. Give me a head’s up when you’re about an hour away. Okay.”
“Great. See you then, darling.”
Eden came out of her bedroom even before he finished talking with his mother. “Who called? You look pale. Have you been fired?”
“Worse. My parents will be here tomorrow. Mom wants time to bond with you.”
Shrugging, Eden said, “Well, she can bond away. How bad can it be? You know how sugary sweet I can be. Besides, we don’t have to spend that much time with them. Do we? I mean maybe a lunch? A dinner?”
“When my parents come to Washington, they stay at my place,” Steve said in a very deadly fashion.
“Which place is that?” Eden asked tremulously, hoping he had a bolt hole some place.
“Here. In the second bedroom. With the second bathroom.”
Whoops. “They don’t know we’re living together. Do they?”
“Nope.”
Boy, if Sandy wanted to bond, she’d definitely have her chance. Eden considered routes of escape and found none. So, “Hmm. Let me find that box of Kraft Mac and Cheese I bought after we returned from my mother’s.”