Chapter Five #2
“You knew him, Vi. Ten years ago.” Eve had expected pushback from her sister, assuming her marriage would hurt Vi’s feelings. She hadn’t expected Vi to shoot Hayden down as if he wasn’t deserving of Eve’s love.
But Vi was on a mission to do just that. “Marriage is about compromise. You know this, Eve.” Vi’s hold on Eve’s hand tightened. “And Hayden… He likes things his way. On his schedule.”
That rang true. But it didn’t change Eve’s mind. “He can compromise.” Their marriage bargain was proof of that. He hadn’t gotten everything he wanted.
“He’s intense,” Vi went on. “And quiet when he should be talking. It’s what made me feel I wasn’t good enough for him the way I was back then.
” Vi ran a hand over Eve’s bare ring finger, the finger that should have been bound by an engagement ring.
“You think Steven made you feel insignificant? Hayden—”
“He’s different now,” Eve cut Vi off, staunchly defending her fiancé.
“Do you love him?” Mom covered Vi’s and Eve’s hands with her own. “That’s the important thing. You have to love him for who he is. People don’t change.”
“Mom’s right,” Vi said, still on her high horse.
“I love him.” The words rang with conviction Eve hadn’t realized she’d had before. She’d chalked up her fondness for Hayden to a childhood crush. But this felt different. “I do. I love him.”
“You can’t love him,” Vi said wearily. “You haven’t seen him in ten years. And you were a baby back then.”
“I can. He’s always been kind to me,” Eve said slowly, still wrestling with her epiphany about love and what it meant to a temporary marriage.
Bad news, she bet. “He sees me for who I am. In here.” Eve tapped her heart, wanting to believe it was true.
“We’re both responsible adults who are willing to sacrifice for what we want. For those we hold dear and family.”
Vi scoffed. “If Hayden valued his family, he would have made up with his grandfather a decade ago. Instead, he ran off.”
“After you dumped him,” Eve reminded her gently.
“I couldn’t marry him,” Vi said with just a hint of vulnerability, getting to her feet and propping her hands on her hips. “And you shouldn’t either.”
Eve stood, mirroring Vi’s stance. “So, if you can’t have him, no one can? How can you be so cruel? He’s a good man.”
Violet laughed mirthlessly. “I knew you always had a crush on him. You just bided your time, didn’t you?”
“Yes. All right.” Eve’s voice rose. “I thought the world of Hayden when you dated him. But that crush ended when I moved away.”
“It doesn’t feel as if it ever ended,” Vi countered.
“You’re so annoying,” Eve sniped.
“And you’re so na?ve,” Vi snapped back.
“Girls, don’t fight.” Mom rapped her knuckles on the coffee table. “I should never have told Eve that Hayden was back.”
“We would have bumped into each other anyway,” Eve said in a downtrodden tone of voice. She hated fighting with Vi about this. “It’s a small town.”
“Convenient that you’re a nurse and Irene needs caring for,” Vi said slyly, too close to the truth for comfort.
“It’s not like that.” Eve sank back down on the couch, leaning her head on Mom’s shoulder. “I knew you wouldn’t understand.”
The house fell silent.
After a moment, Violet sat beside Eve. “I only want what’s best for you. At least, tell me his proposal was romantic.”
It hadn’t been.
Eve closed the medical textbook on the coffee table, stalling for time, not wanting to rely on her teenage daydream for inspiration. But what else did she have?
She smiled weakly. “Hayden got down on one knee and said he loved me. He gave me a flower every time he told me something he admired about me. He said he was surprised by the strength of his feelings, and then he promised he’d never disappoint me or break my heart.
And he… He promised to make all my dreams come true. ”
“No one can promise that.” Vi looked away.
But not before Eve noticed tears in her eyes.
Her sister had once shared that Charlie had promised to try anything to have kids—from changing his diet to counting his sperm to putting “sexy time” on his schedule.
But he’d drawn the line at the cost of in vitro fertilization. And Vi had been crushed.
“I’m sorry,” Eve said quietly.
“This is no time to get maudlin.” Mom got to her feet, a fragile smile on her lips. “Come on, girls. Get up. Group hug.”
Slowly, Vi and Eve did as she asked.
Silence settled over the trio as they huddled together.
“Are you okay with this, Vi?” Eve whispered.
“Would it matter if I wasn’t?” Vi stepped back, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m not going to lie.
It’s weird. It’ll take getting used to and…
I don’t trust Hayden with my baby sister.
Not by half. But…” Suddenly, Vi hugged Eve again.
“I’m in love with my husband. I made the right choice all those years ago.
” She held Eve at arm’s length, searching her expression.
“Are you sure, Eve? Really sure? This isn’t one of your impulsive decisions where you throw yourself wholeheartedly into something without thinking it through?
Like the time you tried to make a treehouse with the cardboard box the refrigerator came in? In the rain?”
“I was at work and you didn’t tell your father what you were doing,” Mom said, staring in the direction of Dad’s photograph on the mantel.
“Or the time you bought grapefruit for a lemonade stand?” Vi gave Eve’s shoulders a gentle shake.
“You thought they were big pink lemons,” Mom mused, smiling a little.
Something inside Eve eased at their gentle teasing. Everything was going to be okay. “It’s impulsive but…I love him.” Saying it again made it feel real. She took Vi’s hands and held them over her heart. “That said, I’m not prepared to marry him on Monday. I need your help first.”
“A dress,” Vi guessed, smiling a little. “And flowers.”
“Shoes,” Mom guessed, smiling a lot more. “And something blue.”
“I hoped you’d understand.” Eve drew them in for a group hug. “I love you both so very much.”
“Mama? Did you say we’re getting married on Monday?” Katie stood in the doorway to the backyard, cradling the pieces of Gary the Gnome. Eve hadn’t noticed her open the door. “Are we going to be a family again?”
Not trusting herself to speak, Eve nodded.
“Yay!” Katie joined their group hug. “Let’s celebrate by saving Gary.”
But Gary’s surgery would have to wait.