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“Mama!” Anne suddenly shouted, dropping her things on the ground and darting away from where she had been walking home with Derek.
Derek grabbed the book and pencils and put them in the bag he had been carrying for her. About fifteen feet away he could see her fiercely hugging a woman with very similar hair to Anne’s, only more tan than her decidedly paler daughter.
Taking his time to join them, he meandered a bit.
“What are you doing here? You weren’t supposed to be here for another week!” And this was after her trip was delayed a few weeks due to doctor’s appointments.
Watching Mrs. Elliot’s facial expression, he knew. He didn’t know how he knew, but he knew. Mrs. Eliza Elliot had gotten bad news.
“I missed my favorite daughter,” she answered instead of telling the complete truth, hugging Anne again so that Anne could not see the expression on her face.
“I told you both that Beth and Mary wouldn’t do their chores.” Anne pulled back, popping a hand on her hip.
Derek grinned at the hint of sass he knew was inside his girlfriend. She couldn’t have that wild hair without having some hidden emotional fountain that would threaten to burst open on occasion after having been blocked for too long. The pressure to remain neutral and unemotional would be too much for her.
“Don’t worry about your sisters,” Eliza assured her. “I hired a maid service to come in while I’m here. The only thing the maids won’t do is laundry and dishes, but your sisters and father will figure that out soon enough.” Turning to look behind Anne, she eyed her daughter. “Now, who is that handsome young man watching us?”
“Oh!” Anne exclaimed. “Derek! Get over here.” Turning back to her mom, she introduced the two of them. “Mama, this is Derek Worth. He lives in one of the houses down the street and we’ve been... hanging out.”
Leaning in closer, Eliza said loud enough for him to hear. “If he isn’t your boyfriend, then you need to remedy that as soon as possible.”
“He is,” Anne whispered. “Derek,” she gestured him closer. “This is my mom, Eliza Elliot.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Elliot.”
“Eliza, please,” she corrected him.
“Eliza,” he nodded. “Anne has told me so much about you.”
“And yet she has told me nothing about you,” Eliza stated, raising a single eyebrow in her daughter’s direction. “Let’s go back to the house my sister is renting and you can tell me all about yourself over lunch.”
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Eliza Elliot listened carefully as Anne and Derek told her about their summer so far. She listened intently as Derek told her about his plans for joining the Navy and how his father was planning on his Boot Camp beginning in January.
“In theory, I should be done with Boot Camp and A-School around the same time Anne graduates., but it will be close.”
As they chatted, a smile slowly started forming on Eliza’s face. She doubted her sister would agree, but she thought that her daughter had picked well for her first serious boyfriend. She hoped, more than anything, that the pair hadn’t met too soon in their lives.
“You must join us for dinner,” Eliza interrupted him. She was going to spend as much time with them as her short trip would allow.
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Eliza carefully watched the young couple as Derek pulled out Anne’s seat at dinner before sitting in his own. He had opened doors and smiled pleasantly. He had gifted Cassandra and herself a bouquet of Gerbera daisies each. He’d even opened the car door for her before he had opened it for Anne.
She didn’t miss the constant hand-holding between her daughter and her boyfriend. The way Anne would glance over at him when she didn’t think anybody was looking. And the way Derek would glance over at her when he didn’t think anybody was looking. Eliza Elliot recognized that look. She had shared it herself with her husband before jobs and family and daughters and Baby Walter and a cancer diagnosis became part of life.
“So,” Cassandra rambled on, “thanks to Anne’s lack of interest at dinner with the Matters, I was unable to convince Gregory to sign the deal.”
“His son blathered on and on about football and this cheerleader he was interested in back home,” Anne interjected. “Apparently,” she grinned at Derek, “his high school team would have made it to state if his coach had put him in to play more often.”
Aunt Cassandra, mildly annoyed that her niece had countered her comment, turned to Derek and asked, “Did you play anything in high school.”
“My father had me running cross-country and track. He would have had me playing basketball, but I never showed much interest in the sport and was able to convince him to let me join the Debate Team. There was some overlap between everything, but I was able to manage. It helped that my school had Debate as a class.”
“What do you want to do with your life?” she asked. Eliza covered her smile by raising her water glass to her mouth; her sister would never know that she was asking exactly what Eliza had wanted to ask her daughter’s beau.
“I’m joining the Navy. My father wants me to get some more physical training in before I’m shipped off to Boot Camp...”
Before he could say anything else, Cassandra interrupted. “What about after the Navy?”
“I don’t know what you mean. Some people consider the military a career. I can advance in the ranks or end up with a desk job in D.C. if I play my cards right.”
“And if you get injured. Lose a leg...”
“Aunt!”
“Cassandra!”
“... or something of that nature,” Cassandra continued, ignoring her niece and sister’s admonishment. Looking at them, she added, “It’s a legitimate question. He cannot guarantee that something won’t happen. He can injure his knee or shoulder before even leaving basic training...”
“Boot Camp,” Derek interjected. “There’s a difference.”
Narrowing her eyes at him, she shrugged, “But I still have a legitimate point. Something could happen to you at... Boot Camp, and you would have to go with your Plan B. What is your Plan B?”
“Aunt!” Anne hissed.
“No,” he waved a hand at Anne. “It’s fine,” Derek smiled. “You aunt is worried about my ability to support you if things progress further than what they currently are.” Turning to address both Eliza and Cassandra, he answered, “My brother is in real estate and I have a good head for math.” None of them were aware that he was downplaying just how good he was at math. “I also like history. I can take education classes and become a history teacher or take accounting and business classes and later join my brother in his business. I haven’t decided yet. By joining the Navy, I can take advantage of the G.I. Bill and go to school without putting myself in debt.”
“So, you aren’t going to use my niece’s trust fund for your own benefit.”
“Cassandra!”
“Aunt,” Anne sighed. “I never told Derek about my trust fund.” Turning to look at him, she added, “No offense,” before turning back to her aunt, “but I know better than to talk about my trust fund to people I just met. I’m not Mary or Beth.”
“But,” Cassandra argued with Anne, “he’s not in a position to support you.”
“I’m about to start my senior year of high school!” Anne protested. “Derek’s current ability to support or not support me doesn’t currently matter. By the time I graduate, when this starts to really matter, he’ll be at his first posting. Getting paid. There are at least five years before his ability or inability to support me will even matter.”
Anne missed the sharp glance Derek had tossed in her direction at her comment about it being at least five years before their relationship status could become more serious. Eliza did not miss his look, even if Cassandra was too focused on Anne. She wondered what that look actually meant.
“And,” Anne continued, “even then it doesn’t completely matter because I’m not going to be some lazy housewife who doesn’t do anything but follow her husband’s whims. I will want to do something with my art degree.” Drawing in a deep breath, she added, “After being around you and Mama for so long, do you really think that I wouldn’t want to stand on my own two feet and be an equal partner in my relationship?”
Anne and her aunt continued to make eye contact, verging into a staring contest, as Eliza looked down at her plate and smiled. Derek, on the other hand, kept looking at Anne with the reality of just how long-term their relationship could be sinking in. He had already contemplated what a long-distance relationship could mean for them.
Nodding his head, he realized that they would have to take things a day at a time regardless of how long it would take them. Things were still early and Anne was still seventeen.
