A Prior Engagement (24 page)

He stopped to look at her concerned face. Removing one of the ear buds to his mp3 player, he looked at her, but didn’t say anything.

“I’m Audrey, Audrey Wright, Evie’s sister. My friend Walter told me your name.” William took a step forward, away from her, and Audrey started talking faster. “I understand this seems strange. I don’t even know if you knew she had a sister, but I need to talk to you. I need your help.”

With the last sentence spoken, William halted his stride and turned back to her. “I knew she had a sister,” he said indignant. He studied her face more carefully this time. “I see the resemblance in your eyes.”

She smiled and a slight blush spread across her cheeks. William could see they shared that familiar trait as well. “Audrey, I’m not trying to be mean, but I can’t help her. I assume you know what happened between us or you wouldn’t be here now—in her place.”

“She doesn’t know I’m here. I’m not even supposed to know about you—”

“Because I was a fling or an affair or something insignificant to her?”

“No. No, you weren’t. I mean you’re not insignificant. She cares a lot about you. She’s just committed to another.”

William started walking again. “I don’t want to hear about her obligation or commitment. I’ve heard enough about it, that’s for sure.”

Audrey grabbed his arm, turning him back to her. “Please. She needs help and you’re the only one who can save her now.”

“Save her? I can’t do shit for her. If she doesn’t want to be engaged to this guy then maybe she should break it off! End it like a normal person would.”

“It’s not like that. It’s not that easy. She’s caught up in what’s expected from her family, him, his family, their friends, geez
,
all of Manhattan it seems. She loses everything if she ends it. Honestly, he’d probably kill her first anyway.” She mumbled the last part and her eyes faded from his view. She looked back up to him, showing defeat. “Arranged marriages are alive and well. You’re in her class, so you study these books about societal influences and commitments arranged between people for security, for gain, for power. It’s something like that and she was young, my age, and a union was formed. For her, it was love, or so she thought. But for him, it was two powerful families uniting as one for a higher standing.”

William stood at the door before opening it and looked at this young girl with such big things to say. “What about you, then? What are you seventeen, eighteen?”

“Seventeen.”

“You said she was your age, and yet I don’t see a ring on your finger?”

“It’s different for me. The firstborn has the obligation to the family. She secured the family fortune, giving me an easy ride.”

He pushed the door open and walked outside with Audrey trailing behind. “I thought that ring was just another ring like the girls wear for fashion, not an engagement ring. That thing was so big I never thought twice about it being real or fake. I assumed it was a fake or maybe an heirloom since you guys are from money.”

“It’s five carats in exchange for power and ownership. It’s an unfair exchange in a sane person’s view, but it’s his claim on her for the world to see.”

“He marked what was his with a ring that any other fool would’ve recognized as a woman taken, except me.” He removed the other ear bud and finished. “I feel like an idiot for not knowing, but it doesn’t take the sting away that she never told me either.” Then he became curious about something else. “If she didn’t talk about me, then how do you know about me?”

Audrey scurried to keep up. “She changed and I noticed—a change for the better. I tried to pry info out of her, but she was tight-lipped. So, I followed her one day. I saw her meeting a man in the park. I’d never seen him before and couldn’t tell how well she knew him because they were only talking at first. But then, I saw him take her hand and they walked together. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. My sister, my sister Evie, was having an affair. I was shocked by her rebellion. But what surprised me even more was seeing her smiling, so carefree. I hadn’t seen her happy in a long time. I also saw her do something I never expected.” William hung on every word as Audrey described the lovers meeting. “She went under a tree and kissed him. I heard them laugh. I heard my sister burst out in uncensored laugh. She isn’t a frivolous person, but there she was in public, laughing for the world to see.” Audrey locked eyes with William and could see the love he held for Evie. “When I saw how you treated her with such kindness, holding her like you did, I knew you were the one who could save her.” She took a long, deep breath, as if exhausted.

William gulped. “I didn’t know our dates were secretive. They weren’t to me. I was openly showing her how much I cared and she was hiding her feelings for me from the world. It’s not right. I can’t save a girl who doesn’t want to be saved.”

“Oh, but she does!” Audrey was desperate, and demanding. “She didn’t hide her feelings that day from the world. She was there, expressing how she felt for you. She doesn’t know how to help herself out of this mess.”

“Break it off. Be willing to lose everything. Do what you have to do!” William was mad. “What do you want me to do?”

“I thought you could talk to her or something, secretly, of course.”

“Of course, secretly
,
how else would it be?” he replied with sarcasm.

Audrey’s gaze dropped to the ground and sadness returned before she spoke. “I thought you’d understand. Maybe I’m not explaining this the way I should, but I did the best I could. I’m sorry for wasting your time.” She turned without so much as a good-bye and walked away.

William took a deep breath to calm down. He exhaled. “Why hasn’t she been to class?”

“She’ll be back soon. She needs some time to . . . she just needs some time.”

“Well, you should tell her Professor Lang has been going over our reports, so she should come back to class.”

“I’ll tell her.”

He could tell he made Audrey feel bad, but really, what did she expect him to do? The change had to take place on Evie’s side, not his.
Evie
. William still loved that name, maybe the girl still too—
definitely the girl
. He started to consider Audrey’s proposition. He started considering talking to her again, even if only
secretly,
of course.

On Tuesday, before any thought-out plan was hatched by William, Evie took a seat eight rows up and in the middle of the auditorium for Professor Lang’s monthly literature lecture series on good versus evil in the classics. She was relieved it was not the normal summer program of ten students. All students were welcome to attend, making it easier for her to blend into the crowd better. She sank down in her seat just as she spotted William running up the stairs past her row. She was relieved he hadn’t seen her because she wasn’t ready to face him, and he was very clear the last time they saw each other that he didn’t want to see her.

William scooted down row ten to the middle and sat. He threw his bag in the seat next to his and sank lower into the theater-style chair. Professor Lang was ten minutes into his personal theories on why every story needs a villain and a hero when he stopped, walked a few feet forward, and made a request. “Miss Wright, please remove your sunglasses during my lecture.”

William bolted upright in his chair to see Evie sitting two rows down from him. He hadn’t thought to look for her because they weren’t required to attend today’s lecture. He leaned forward, watching her remove her sunglasses from her face. Her movements were slow, hesitant. William looked back to the Professor whose mouth dropped open. He cleared his throat and recomposed himself. “You may wear them today.”

To anyone else in the room, this was an odd thing to say. But for Evie, it drew unwanted attention and she could feel her face burning red. She hid behind her hands for a moment until everyone started listening to Professor Lang again, putting the glasses back on.

William couldn’t stop staring at her. He had a side view of her face and by the time the red disappeared from her cheeks, William could clearly see brown, blue, and yellowish coloring on the outside of her eye and more bruising near her mouth. In that instant, he connected the Professor’s comments, the odd coloring on her face, her absence from class, and the unexpected visit her sister had paid him.

His heart hurt thinking if he would have listened to Audrey maybe this could have been prevented. Then he felt a surge of adrenaline as his anger grew, realizing somebody did this to her. He stood up, threw his bag over his shoulder, and hopped over the two rows and across the aisle to her. As gentle as he could and yet still get her attention, he took her by the elbow helping her up. Evie was startled, but didn’t want to make a scene and acquiesced to William’s nonverbal request.

William grabbed her bag and they exited the auditorium. Standing in the corridor outside the lecture hall, they stopped, looking at each other in silence. A moment passed and she turned and walked outside the building, heading for home, but William ran after her. “Please. Please stop. Let me see your face.”

Evie didn’t know what to think or feel anymore. She had lost her stubbornness and was too weak to argue these days. So she turned back around and lifted her sunglasses, resting them on top of her head as if daring him to see her reality.

William’s mouth opened and his heart ached for her. He wanted to heal her wounds with his touch and soothe her pain with kisses, but he knew he couldn’t.

His expression reminded Evie of her shameful appearance and the slow healing bruises that were scattered across her skin. She reached for the protection of her sunglasses again, hoping to hide from the world, but his hand grabbed her wrist to stop her. She flinched, and shut her eyes tight, an instinct of hers to protect herself from years of escalating abuse.

His grip loosened, and released her. “Don’t be scared. I would never hurt you, Evie.”

“You hurt me worse than this already. This is superficial physical stuff. You broke my heart, William.”

“I found out you were, are engaged! My heart is broken, too.”

“I know. I know I don’t have a right to blame you, but I . . . I imagined a different outcome.” She looked down, shaking her head at her own stupidity, her own naiveté.

William’s mind was reeling, but he pushed his own pain aside, and was able to see her pain clearly right then. She was lashing out after years of abuse. Though she hurt him with her words, he knew she didn’t mean it. He reached his hand out, and in that gesture offered her what she needed most—a friend and ally. “Come with me. Please,” he said, keeping his voice calm and hoping she would trust him to be there the way he should have been days before.

The silent pause stretched between them then she nodded, slowly taking his hand, and together they took a cab to his apartment. Silence continued to fill the space on the ride to his apartment.

Once inside, she dumped her bag on the floor and walked to the window. With her arms wrapped protectively around her, she stared outside.

She turned around and as his eyes examined her bruising, he asked, “Will you tell me what happened?”

“Do you really want to know because honestly, I don’t know if we’re even friends right now?” She was defensive.

Even though he expected and even respected her defensiveness, he ventured to tell her the truth about how he felt. “We’re more than friends. You know that. Please talk to me.”

With his kind words easing the tension between them, she headed straight for the bed. Her shoes dropped to the floor and she sat there so small and perfect waiting for him to say something, anything. She hadn’t thought not to make herself at home in his place, it just felt natural to do so. William watched her slip onto his bed and smiled to himself at her level of comfort here. Kneeling down in front of her, he took her hands, encouraging her. “You can tell me anything, Evie.”

She restrained herself for many reasons, but mainly because she didn’t want William to feel responsible and she knew he would, but she would also never lie to him again, and told him what happened. “I went home after our fight and he was waiting for me.”

“Your fiancé?” He choked on the words, not liking the taste of the word when referring to Evie’s obligation.

Opening her eyes, she looked right into his concerned ones. “Yes. My family is still in the Hamptons and he was also supposed to be there, but he came back early, to surprise me, and ended up waiting all night for me to come home. When I didn’t, he got mad.” She paused with heavy tears in her eyes. “Do you really want to hear this?”

Though stunned, William nodded, not sure if he’d be able to handle it.

“His expression was blank at first, controlled. But I saw the anger take over.” She blinked her eyes twice, willing the tears and memories away. “I only felt the first hit. I don’t think I was conscious for the rest. I can’t remember anything after that.”

William got on the bed and wrapped his arms around her.

Her voice broke when she said, “I woke up on the bathroom floor. There was some blood on the marble and on my face. My head felt like it was going to explode from the pain. It was hard to move. I felt weak, my body a bit limp.”

He held her tighter, unable to reason how someone could hurt her. Here was the prettiest, most perfect girl William had ever seen telling him how a man took that beauty and smashed it with his own hands. William thought he might be sick if he heard anymore. That monster destroyed her spirit. He could see the light dimming in her eyes, the hopelessness, the pain and loss she has suffered. He vowed right then that he would try his damnedest to save her. “How can I help? What can I do? Let me help you, Evie.”