An Inconvenient Marriage

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  Sue sighed and put the newspaper back in its proper place. She wondered how many bachelors were trying to get her attention and she didn’t even realize it. Jake noticed, however, and got jealous. She couldn’t imagine someone being jealous over her, and in a strange way, she was pleased that Jake felt she was worth being jealous over.

  Her conversation with Mr. Allen did give her many things to consider as she sorted through the card catalogue to add the new books that just arrived. At least now she understood why Jake spent so much time worrying about making a good impression to people. He was always immaculate and he took great care in keeping his things immaculate. You never know when someone’s going to write a horrible article about how you failed to make a good impression. She had to hand it to him. He did play things cool in public. He managed to act so casual about so many things. And I fly off the handle at a moment’s notice. So he had a reputation for being heartless and she had a reputation for being a nag. He was right. He was like Elinor and she was like Marianne in Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility. She smiled as she recalled that conversation on their wedding day.

  She checked the clock and decided it was time to get ready for the children’s story hour. On her way to the room, Mrs. Walker stopped her.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked the older woman.

  “No. I wanted to tell you that you have a floral bouquet. It is in the backroom.”

  More flowers from another bachelor? She wasn’t sure she wanted to see them. “I’ll see them after I do the children’s hour.”

  “Are you sure? They’re from Mr. Mitchell.”

  She paused on her way to the room. She turned to go in the other direction.

  Mrs. Walker chuckled. “He might win your heart yet.”

  Sue decided to ignore her as she entered the room. They were red roses. Of course, they would be red roses. After all, he gave her red roses in New York. She smiled. He was predictable and stable. She could depend on him to be there for her if she ever needed him. She picked up the card. Dear Mrs. Sue Mitchell, I’m sorry about yesterday. It was not my intention to hurt your feelings. You have every right to be upset. I just ask that you don’t shut me out of your world. I’ve grown accustomed to you and I like it. I’ve been looking for someone like you all of my life. Your husband, Jake.

  She shook her head in amazement. He obviously did care for her.

  “Will you forgive me?” someone asked.

  She recognized Jake’s voice. She turned to him. He stood in the doorway and smiled at her.

  “I thought you already knew I didn’t hold a grudge against you,” she replied, surprised that he would show up so unexpectedly.

  He shrugged. “I thought it was only fitting to make a formal apology.”

  “Oh. Of course, I forgive you. But don’t do it again or who knows what else I’ll dump on you, and I will do it in public for everyone to see.”

  He walked over to her and lightly kissed her. “Then I definitely won’t do it.”

  She sighed. “I can’t say that I blame you though. Someone named Brad Allen came by to ask if he could court me. I didn’t even know the men were coming to see me like that. I assumed they wanted to ask me about your bank.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “I told him I was flattered but couldn’t see myself talking with him in such a way as long as you and I are married. He was actually accepting of the whole thing.” She decided not to explain their conversation regarding Johanna Clarke. She could tell that Jake didn’t wish to discuss the past, and she respected that. Instead, she continued, “I don’t think he’ll be coming back, at least to me. If he wants to do business with you, then he’ll go directly to you.”

  “He’s already a customer at my bank.”

  “Really?”

  He nodded. “He’s a good man. I suppose if I wasn’t already married to you, then I’d have some tough competition on my hands.”

  She blushed. “No. He’s not my type.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “You mean there’s a type you look for? Tell me what he’s like and I’ll persuade him to leave you alone.”

  She laughed. “I kind of like the type of man who’ll chase me up the stairs and kiss me even though he’s covered in pudding.”

  “You liked that?”

  “But you can’t tell anyone. I don’t want men coming to our home running through the place covered with my cooking.”

  “Your secret is safe with me.”

  “And I’ll tell you another secret,” she whispered slyly.

  “What’s that?”

  “You give up too easily.”

  His eyes widened.

  She glanced at the clock. “I’m late for the children’s story hour. I better go.”

  “I’ll join you,” he said as he followed her to the room. “Then we’ll go out for lunch.”

  Belinda was standing by the door. She looked unusually sad.

  “Can you give me a moment?” Sue asked him.

  He nodded and entered the room.

  “Belinda, is something wrong?” She stood close to her friend so no one would overhear them.

  “I need to talk to someone, and you’re the only person I trust,” Belinda replied.

  “Can it wait until I’m done?”

  “Yes, I suppose so.”

  Sue sighed. She didn’t feel right going through the hour while her friend looked distraught. “Hold on. I’ll be right back.” She walked into the room and stood in front of the expectant women and children. “I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind coming back this afternoon? I have a personal matter to discuss with a friend, and I don’t think it can wait.”

  The children grumbled in disappointment.

  “I’ll lead the story hour,” Jake volunteered as he walked to the front of the room.

  “But I didn’t think you liked children,” she whispered.

  “Well, your brother Luke is alright. How bad can it be to tell them a story? I’ve seen you do it.”

  “Alright. If you need help, I’ll be right outside the door.”

  “If I can handle a room full of grown men, I can handle women and children. I’ll be fine. What story were you planning to tell today?”

  “The Three Little Pigs.”

  “That’s easy. Go on ahead to talk to Mrs. Hawke. She looks like she could use a friend.”

  She turned to her audience. “Would it be acceptable to you if Mr. Mitchell led the story hour today?”

  The kids cheered and women nodded their agreement.

  “Good luck,” she told Jake before she left. She urged Belinda to follow her to a table close by but away from other people so they could have some privacy. “What is it, Belinda?”

  Belinda shifted uneasily in her seat. “I’m thinking of leaving Jim and going back to my parents.”

  She tried not to show her shock. “But why?”

  “Because it suddenly occurred to me that Mr. Mitchell treats you with more respect than my husband treats me.”

  “Jake is not Jim and I’m not you. The way we approach marriage is bound to be different from the way you and Jim do.”

  She shook her head. “I was so humiliated at the restaurant. I couldn’t even talk to you on the veranda. I had to stay with him the entire time. And Mr. Mitchell stood up for you when Jim was blatantly rude.”

  “Jim and I will probably never get along, Belinda, but that’s no reason to leave him. Before I married Jake, you told me that you were happy with the way things were between you and him. Was that true?”

  She nodded. “I was until I saw the way your husband treats you. You don’t have to worry about how you act or speak in public. I do.”

  “Have you told Jim that you would like to have more of a say in what you do?”

  “No. I don’t think he’ll listen to me.”

  Lord, I don’t know what to tell her but divorce is such a painful decision. Is there any way she can avoid it? “I want you to prayerfully consider something before you lea
ve him. You have two children, and children are better off with a mother and a father. Sometimes love is something you feel but feelings are volatile. They change so easily. Most of the time, love is a choice you make. Jim isn’t a bad man, Belinda. I may not like him but he has made you a good home and you have been happy with him. He does work hard to support you and the children and he does treat you like you’re delicate. You have always been more soft spoken and gentle than me. Your personality is that of a peacemaker, and you don’t like to make decisions.”

  “And you’ve always been a tomboy. You didn’t mind telling everyone your opinions, even when they didn’t like what they would hear. You were always headstrong and decisive.”

  “Jim and I would never get along like you and Jim do.”

  “I wouldn’t get along well with Mr. Mitchell either. I don’t know him very well but from what I heard, he tends to like people who aren’t afraid to be bold. He doesn’t like guessing what another person is thinking.”

  “So it seems to me that you are well-matched for Jim. It may still be good to tell him that you would like to make some choices for yourself. If you choose not to, then that is fine. Only you can decide what is best for you and Jim, but I urge you to consider the consequences of any decision you make. What seems like an easy solution today can be heartbreaking in the future.”

  “You’re right, Sue. And Jim does have wonderful qualities I forgot about.”

  She was relieved her friend was beginning to recall those. “Think on those things then. You know what the Bible says: it does your heart well to think on the good things.”

  “Thank you, Sue. You’re a good friend.” She hugged her.

  “You are too.” Sue heard an eruption of laughter coming from the children’s story hour room. “I have to see what’s so funny. Do you want to come along?”

  “No. I think I’ll go see Jim.”

  “Good. Work things out as best as you can.”

  As soon as Sue reached the room, she couldn’t believe her eyes. Dignified, compulsively neat, and aloof Jake was being bombarded with children who insisted on climbing all over him.

  “Oh come on.” He laughed. “You mean, no one can knock the brick house down?”

  Apparently, he was the brick house and the kids were supposed to be the big, bad wolf. Sue chuckled as she watched them do their best to knock him over. Finally, the oldest boy who had been playing a pig, shoved Jake forward. Sue watched in amusement as Jake stood his ground and asked, “Is that the best you can do?”

  Three women stood up and helped the boy knock him over.

  “And I thought women were the fairer sex,” Jake replied.

  The young kids continued to climb all over him.

  “Break it up,” Sue intervened. “He has to take me to lunch.” She went over to him and helped him up.

  “My hero,” he greeted when he saw her.

  “Jake, you should go home and change your suit,” Sue said when she saw how wrinkled it got from the kids’ good-natured assault.

  He glanced down at his suit and did his best to smooth it out. “I’ll survive. Let’s eat.”

  She stared at him uneasily as the women and children left.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Do you think that’s a good idea? I mean, important people will be at the restaurant.”

  “Does it bother you that I look like this?”

  “No. I actually find it refreshing. You look human.”

  “Then I can handle whatever other people think. I don’t know about you, but I’m famished.”

  She couldn’t believe he was going to go out in public looking so unkempt.

  He took her hand and led her out the door. “I want to tell you my version of The Three Little Pigs while we have lunch.”

  ***

  That afternoon, Mrs. Walker called Sue over to the front desk while she was putting some books away. Sue finished putting the last book on the bookshelf and walked over to the older woman who was smiling at her.

  “What can I do for you, Mrs. Walker?” she asked.

  “I need you to help Miss Stallone deliver some new books to the ladies’ luncheon at the college campus. Mrs. Monroe and her group wish to donate some new books to the library there.”

  She nodded and helped Miss Stallone carry the boxes to the carriage waiting for them. She sat across from Miss Stallone who was grinning from ear to ear.

  “I take it things are going well for you and Ben York,” Sue noted.

  She blushed. “I try not to be obvious about it.”

  “Be obvious about it, Betty. You should enjoy it. Ben is just as infatuated with you as you are with him. He’s not really interested in books. He comes by the library to see you. He’s a good, honest man, and I think you two will do well together.”

  “Thank you, Sue. You’ve always been a good friend.”

  She chuckled. “That depends on who you talk to. Mr. Wilkins won’t go near me.”

  “I did see him do the sign of the cross when he walked past the library the other day. He won’t even go near Mr. Mitchell’s bank. He’s afraid you’ll be there.”

  “I have a hard time believing I am really that intimidating.”

  “You only scare people who have wronged you or those you care about. You’re the kind of friend anyone is fortunate to have.”

  “Well, I suppose I had good practice with brothers who gave me a lot of grief.”

  Betty looked out the window. “Here we are.”

  Sue frowned when she saw that they had stopped in front of the Commons. “Shouldn’t we go to the library?”

  “Oh, the luncheons involve food. It’s when the ladies eat their lunch.”

  “At three in the afternoon?”

  She shrugged. “I suppose Mrs. Monroe likes to eat late.”

  “Apparently so.”

  Once they got out of the carriage, they took their boxes into the Commons where Mrs. Monroe was hosting a lunch for ten other women. The large room was two stories high. The staircase led to a hallway where administrative offices were located. The lower level was a meeting place for students or faculty. Today, it was the center of Mrs. Monroe’s luncheon. She had placed a variety of appetizers, main dishes and a large three layer cake in the center of the table with the words “Congratulations to Mrs. Edwards on her son’s graduation.”

  Sue had forgotten that Mrs. Edwards’ son had completed his studies at the college. She wondered what a graduation party had to do with new books for the library. She shrugged and walked over to Mrs. Monroe who was chatting with Mrs. Evans and Belinda who looked much happier than she had earlier that day. Sue waited for Mrs. Monroe to finish talking before asking her where she wanted the books to go.

  “Do you see that room over there in the corner?” Mrs. Monroe pointed to a small room. “Can you put them there?”

  Sue nodded and went to Betty to tell her where the books were to go when Mrs. Monroe interrupted her.

  “Actually, can you put the books away yourself, Sue? I could use Betty’s help with setting out the chairs.”

  “Alright,” Sue replied. “Betty, if you’ll put your box over on the edge of the table, I’ll get it on my next trip to the room.”

  Betty did as instructed.

  Sue took her box into the room and stopped when she saw a brunette about her age on a stepladder who was reaching for something from the top shelf. The woman wore a pink frilly dress with flowers and lace on it. Sue momentarily shuddered but set the box on the table. The room was a storage room for decorations for parties that took place on the campus.

  “Do you need help?” Sue asked the woman.

  “Yes, I think I do. Mrs. Monroe asked me to get the balloons and told me they were way up here.”

  “I reach for books in the library all the time. Let me get them for you.”

  The brunette nodded and stepped down from the stepladder.

  Sue climbed up the stepladder and frowned. “There aren't any balloons up here.”

>   Suddenly, the door closed.

  “And someone just locked us in,” the woman said as she unsuccessfully tried to open the door.

  “It must have been an accident.” Sue knew it was pointless but she tried to open the door too. She loudly banged on it. “Hello! We’re locked in here!” She waited but nothing happened. “Well, Mrs. Monroe knows we’re in here, so she’s bound to come get us.”

  “That’s true.”

  They found a couple of extra chairs stacked in the corner, took them out and sat down.

  Sue cleared her throat and glanced around.

  “You know Mrs. Monroe?” the woman asked.

  Sue nodded. “Yes. I tell her children stories at the library. I don’t recognize you. Are you new in town?”

  “No. I used to live here but moved away. I live in Chicago.”

  “So what are you doing here?”

  “Well, I suppose I can tell you since you aren’t with the luncheon group. I heard that Jake Mitchell recently got married because of his father’s inheritance, but the marriage was really a business arrangement. Since he’s willing to get married after all, I figured I would start talking to him and softening him up so when the six months are up, he’ll be interested in a real marriage to me.”

  Sue shifted uncomfortably in her seat. It suddenly occurred to her why Jake went through such extreme measures in order to ward off her potential suitors. She took a deep breath. She wasn’t as good at dealing with people in a calm and rational manner as Jake was, but she was going to try. “To be honest, the marriage he’s in is actually going better than anticipated. It doesn’t seem that an annulment is going to happen after all.”

  “Oh, I heard about his wife. There’s no way she can compete with me. She was a spinster for so long that she’s unappealing to men. She wears dirty, old clothes and pulls her hair back in a bun. She has a reputation for being a nag. The only reason Jake even married her instead of someone else is because she wouldn’t stop going to the bank and bothering him. The inheritance came at just the right time. At least he got her to shut up, though her family deserved to be thrown out if they were careless enough to let their debts get so high.”

  “Really?” I would like nothing more than to pull your hair out, you little witch! “Since you don’t live in town, how can you know so much about the situation?”