Elly didn’t hear Aunt Wanda coming down the stairs until the old woman knocked and said, “Hello there, Elly.”
She swiveled around in the chair. “Hi, Aunt Wanda. Connor’s in the kitchen fixing the bureau.”
“Yes, the third drawer in that old oak bureau has a split bottom.” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. She turned down the hallway. Elly heard her say to her nephew, “I see you’re fixing that bureau.”
“Just the drawer. Otherwise it’s in pretty good shape.”
“So I see. And you’re about ready to start painting as well.”
“Did you have any particular color scheme in mind?”
“Oh, I think Elly’s tastes are preferable to mine in this case.”
The washing machine started up, drowning out the rest of the conversation. Elly finished marking the exams, checked them again to verify her arithmetic, and then got out her grade sheets. She ducked into the kitchen and asked Connor how to get on the Internet.
“The laptop’s on. Just hit the spacebar to wake it up and click on the browser icon.”
The screen lit up when she tapped the spacebar. He had a mouse in addition to the touchpad. Maneuvering the mouse, she noticed a minimized Word file and opened it. It was Connor’s to-do list:
1. Fix bureau
2. Closet space
3. Finish kitchen (next 2 wks)
4. Parents?
6. Temple date
It was a good list, she had to admit. And what about their parents? Oh, no, she thought. There was no way her parents could arrange to come on such short notice, especially during Obon. Eloping was cowardly, but she knew her mother would insist on putting the marriage off till Christmas. Even at the age of twenty-three, Elly had no confidence in being able to stand up to her mother in a match of wills.
She smiled grimly to herself, minimized the window, and brought up Internet Explorer. She logged onto the humanities department server and entered the final exam scores. The computer calculated the grades. Bradley made an A. Good. He deserved it.
Connor clamped the drawer together and daubed off the excess glue oozing from the split in the wood. “Computer work okay?” he asked.
She nodded and said in a rush, “What about our parents? We can’t tell them, we can’t. Not beforehand.” She paused and said more tentatively, “Do you think your parents are going to mind?”
Connor shook his head. “I honestly don’t think so. In your case—”
“Yes, in my case, very much a big deal. A big enough deal without making it an even bigger deal, which is what it would become if my parents got involved. And no reception. That’s got to be a plus. I mean, I don’t feel a pressing need for a crystal punch bowl and a china gravy boat.”
“Well—if you can do without a china gravy boat.”
Elly took a deep breath. It was crazy, but she had a plan. Perhaps an impossible plan, but even a doomed plan was preferable to no plan at all. “Hungry?” Connor asked. “It must be after twelve by now.” They went upstairs to the kitchen. Connor poked around in the refrigerator and came up with bagels and deli meat.
Aunt Wanda walked in carrying a pile of dish towels. Elly whispered to Connor, “Should we tell her?”
“What’s that?” said Wanda.
Connor said, “We’re getting married.”
“Good for you. Have you set a date?”
“The thirtieth,” they said together.
“The thirtieth? Of this month, you mean?” She raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t leave yourselves much time.”
Connor said, “That was sort of the point. Seeing how it doesn’t give us a lot of time, and our parents live pretty far away—”
“Really far away,” Elly said. “Really.”
“So you plan to elope?” She said dryly, “How practical.”
Elly confessed, “It was more my idea.”
“I don’t see much point in waiting once you’ve made up your mind. But you can’t simply present your marriage as a fait accompli and damn the consequences. I recommend involving as many of your relatives in the next three weeks as possible.”
“But if someone tells, if they find out—”
“And how will they not find out, Elly? However right it might be, don’t pretend that what you are doing won’t profoundly affect everyone you know. The more allies you win to your cause, the better.” Wanda resumed folding the dish towels into the drawer next to the stove. “Have you thought of where you’re going to live?”
Connor said sheepishly, “I assumed—”
“Have you asked Elly? Not assumed?”
Connor looked at Elly. “Well, no, I—” He took her hand. “Would you like to live here after we get married?”
“Yes,” Elly said, grinning. “I’d love to.”
“And I’d greatly enjoy having you.” Wanda finished folding the towels and slid the drawer closed. She paused at the doorway. “I am no great fan of receptions, but you are required to send out announcements. Regardless of how one gets there, a marriage should be formally acknowledged by the participants. You might as well wait so you can send out a decent photograph. And that means you’ve got to look at least half as nice as she does, Connor.” She said to Elly, “If he groans, hit him.”
Connor groaned. She hit him.
The next morning, Elly attended church with Connor. Melanie tagged along. Bishop Ferguson was in the lobby of the Crabtree Building greeting students and the occasional parents who’d arrived in Provo for a son or daughter’s graduation.
“Oh, Connor.” He dug around in his suit coat pockets and produced a handful of receipts. “Here we are. I’d like to settle the last of the ward accounts before summer break.”
“I’ll take care of these after church.”
The bishop glanced inquisitively at Elly and Melanie. Connor said,
“Bishop Ferguson, this is my fiancée, Elaine Packard.”
“Your fiancée—” He recovered quickly. “What a pleasant surprise!” Melanie said, “And I’m the soon-to-be-abandoned roommate.” He smiled and shook hands with them. As he walked away, he took a
three-by-five card from his jacket pocket and made a note. The note came into play as the bishop opened services. He welcomed the visiting parents and families and then added, “I was just informed that Connor McKenzie and Elaine Packard are getting married.” He looked out over the congregation. “Connor, why don’t you stand up and show us your lovely brideto-be—”
Melanie chortled under her breath. “You forgot about that part, didn’t you? Now you’re an officially engaged BYU couple.”
After finishing the tithing count with the first counselor, Connor took care of the bills from the closing social (that he hadn’t attended). It was his Radar O’Reilly routine: “Sign here, initial that.”
The bishop stopped him on his way out the door. “Will you two be moving when you get married?”
“We’ll be living with my aunt, same address.”
“We like to keep a few married couples in the single wards, you know, as ballast. I was hoping you’d consider staying on.”
“I’ll ask Elly. I think it’ll be fine with her.”
It was fine with Elly, though she laughed. “I’m not sure I’m qualified.”
“You don’t want to be a role model?”
Melanie said, “It’d be hard to recommend your courtship as a model for anyone, even at BYU.”
They walked back to the condo. Elly remembered to tell her roommate that she was eating Sunday dinner with Connor’s cousin. “Off to the in-laws, eh? Well, I shall be enjoying lunch with my loyal family home evening group.” She tromped into the kitchen.
Walking across the park to the Tree Streets, Connor asked, “Is Melanie mad at you for some reason?”
“I don’t think she’s mad at me. But she does feel betrayed in a way. I’m sure she had plans for us over the break. And next semester. Organizing people is Melanie’s thing. PE is a degree in telling people what to do— that’s how she describes it. Plus, now she’s got an empty slot to fill. I can even imagine that she thought she’d be my go-between and find the right guy for me. But then I went ahead and did it on my own.”
Elly was quiet for a moment. “Worse, I took away her last good excuse. I think that’s why Melanie went on a mission. I mean, the deep-down reason. People assume there must be a positive relationship between attracttiveness and wanting-to-be-married. Like, ‘She’s pretty, I wonder why she isn’t married yet?’ Like it’s a personality defect. Worse, when your roommate gets engaged, the question everybody asks is, ‘So when are you getting married?’ That’s the question everybody’s going to ask Melanie now.”
They walked for a few more minutes in silence. Then Connor said, “So why did you?”
“Why did I what?”
“Go on a mission?”
She answered him with a smile.