Heartstrings by Marilee Boekweg
Chapter Twenty-One
“I think that my dress is more ready for my senior recital than I am,” Eroica laughed nervously. All the men were in General Priesthood Meeting, and Tilly was pinning the hem of Eroica’s dress. AnnaMaria was there with her baby, Holly, and Charlie and Joshua were playing in the backyard.
“From what I hear through the wall, Eroica, it sounds pretty good to me. Except when you get frustrated with your Chopin piece and start banging on the keys.”
“You’re not supposed to notice that.”
“I wouldn’t notice any wrong notes,” said Tilly, “But I would notice if this hem were crooked. So hold still.”
“Sorry, Tilly. The piano faculty will not be looking at my hem, though. They will hear my mistakes. I’ve got to get through this recital with as few of them as possible.”
“Don’t worry, Eroica,” said AnnaMaria. “They want you to graduate. A pretty, talented musician who is not married is nothing but trouble on campus.”
“I don’t understand how you managed to get through college without getting married. I figure that if I could get married, anyone could. How old are you, Eroica?”
“I’ll be twenty-three on August first. I’m not that old, Tilly.”
“I just wish that my son Kip were back from his mission. But you’ll be married before then. He has only been in Fiji for a few months. And he loves it there. He wanted to learn a foreign language, and he wanted to go somewhere that was always warm. I think he was tired of the snow. He earned a lot of money shoveling snow when he was a deacon. Since then, every winter the neighbors want him to come shovel off their rooftops and driveways.
“I didn’t care where he went on his mission, as long as he had easy access to a washing machine. If he doesn’t trip over a washing machine in this two years’ time, his clothing might never get cleaned. That frightens me more than anything else. I wonder if his mission president would give me special permission to call weekly and remind him to wash his clothes.
“So, Eroica,” Tilly abruptly changed the subject, “Are you dating anyone? Is there anyone special?”
“She does have a secret admirer,” said AnnaMaria, recounting the incident of the Valentine’s Day roses for Tilly. “Whatever became of him?”
“How would I know? He never became anything. I told you I thought the whole thing was a mistake.”
“That is really odd.”
“He probably married someone else. Everyone is getting married.”
“Well, don’t worry Eroica. Anna is just going to have to set you up with some of John’s single friends.”
“I’m not worried, Tilly,” said Eroica, knowing that Tilly wouldn’t believe her. “And we have tried the blind date idea. It didn’t work out too well.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” AnnaMaria defended herself. “I’m perfectly willing to try it again, but Eroica flatly refuses.”
“After that last experience! You bet I refuse.”
“What could have been so terrible?” asked Tilly. “John’s friends must be nice.”
“I didn’t fill the requirements. These days men want a resume and a list of referrals. The last person Anna set me up with thought I was John’s sister. He had several requirements for his future wife, one of which was that she be of good pioneer stock. If she didn’t have an ancestor that had crossed the plains, then she was not for him. John has pioneer ancestors, but of course Anna and I don’t.
“Plus, there was another problem. His future wife must have earned her young women’s medallion, and must have graduated from seminary. I had done both of those things, including doing some home study seminary to make up for missed time. But since I wasn’t a member of the Church when I did them, he wasn’t sure if it counted. The whole thing puzzled him so much that we left the restaurant before we were done eating. He almost left without paying, but the manager of the restaurant wasn’t about to let that happen.
“When he dropped me off at home, he said he’d have to think and pray about this dilemma. If he felt so inspired he would give me a call. I told him not to bother because I felt very inspired to never go out with him again. I didn’t tell him that I was holding back from an inspiration to slap him. The blind date before that didn’t know that I played the piano. He thought I was a voice major.”
“Why would that make a difference?” asked Tilly.
“I wondered that, too. I found out before we even got to where he was taking us. The only people he ever knew who played the piano were in rock bands. They slept in late, had band practice every so often, and played in bars on the weekends. He didn’t want to get mixed up with someone who would be in a bar every weekend. And if we were to marry, what kind of an influence would I be on our children? Coming home at all hours of the night, smelling like cigarettes!”
“Didn’t you tell him that you were not that kind of person?”
“No, she didn’t,” AnnaMaria answered. “She didn’t even try.”
“I did too. But he wasn’t going to listen. It didn’t matter anyway. I can’t make people like me. Either they do or they don’t. I seem to have hit a phase where they don’t. That was the shortest date I’ve ever been on. We didn’t even get out of the car. He just brought me right back home. No one needs to worry that I’m staying out too late. I get home from dates before the sun sets.”
“What about your theory teacher?” asked AnnaMaria. “I suppose it’s awkward to date someone who is your teacher, but you are graduating. And he seemed so nice.”
“He is nice. But he’s also engaged. Or is going to be engaged. Anyway, he has a girlfriend somewhere. Besides, I sort of got upset with him the other day, and I haven’t spoken to him since.”
“What do you mean you sort of got upset with him?”
“I told him to quit bothering me. He has this way of checking up on me, and I don’t need that.”
“Oh, Eroica,” AnnaMaria sighed, “Finally someone nice comes along and you scare him off.”
“But he didn’t come along. I told you, he has someone else.”
“Nothing is ever certain until they come out of the temple as husband and wife,” Tilly interrupted. “Believe me, I’ve sewn wedding dresses for some brides that have stories to tell. That’s why I started a policy requesting payment before the day of the wedding. Too many things can go wrong with a wedding, and it’s awful to ask a mother to pay for a wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses that were never used.
“One girl disappeared on the day of her wedding. She got cold feet, so she got in her car and started driving. I guess she thought going for a drive would calm her nerves. However, she didn’t come back. She called her parents in the middle of the night from Oklahoma. The groom got on a plane as fast as he could, tracked her down, and they were married in the Oklahoma City Temple. I guess you could say they eloped to the temple.
“Another girl had quite a fiasco with her wedding dress the day before her wedding. She had some cousins who had just arrived from out of town for the big day. Well, you know how girls are. They wanted to see the bride in her wedding dress right then and there. And of course the bride was excited to put it on and show them.
“Well, her little brother was helping his mother do some last-minute house cleaning before company began to arrive. Apparently he wasn’t too happy about it, and he was charging around the house with a vacuum cleaner. He threw open the door of the room where his sister was modeling the wedding dress and, not watching what he was doing, ran right over the train of her dress. It got all wrapped around the vacuum cleaner beater bar. It was such a mess.
“The mother brought the dress to me, vacuum cleaner and all, and asked me what she should do. I honestly didn’t know what to tell her. So Jem took over the situation. He dismantled the vacuum cleaner and painstakingly untangled the dress. Can you imagine? It was like performing surgery. I had to keep the grease and the dirt off of the dress, and s
“Well, the dress was completely shredded where it had been caught by the vacuum cleaner. But the damage had been done to the train, so I just cut it off and hemmed it again. It worked, but it was a fancy dress, and without the train in back, it looked a little odd. At least to me it looked as if it were missing something. Most people probably wouldn’t have noticed.
“As it turned out, it didn’t matter. By the time the mother had arrived home with the fixed dress, the bride was hysterical. She had decided that this was a sign that she shouldn’t get married. And she wouldn’t change her mind. So the wedding was called off, and the groom spent the next month trying to convince her that members of our religion were not superstitious.
“He finally succeeded, but she wasn’t about to wear that dress. So I made another one for her, which was extremely different than the first one. Much simpler, and no train. They made it to the temple and were married, much to everyone’s relief. And about a year later this bride brought the first wedding dress back to me, and asked me if I could possibly cut it up and turn it into a blessing dress for her new little girl. She was able to laugh about the dress and the vacuum cleaner incident then, although she was embarrassed. That blessing dress turned out so darling. She gave me a picture of her little girl in it, and she looked just like an angel.”
Tilly couldn’t talk anymore. She had put pins in her mouth so she could wipe away tears from her eyes.
“Anyway, Eroica,” Tilly finished, “A lot can happen before the marriage ceremony has been performed. You just keep that in mind.”
“Actually,” Eroica stated, “I think that I’m not going to get married.”
“What!” AnnaMaria and Tilly exclaimed together.
“I have been thinking about this a lot. And praying about it, too. I think that I am one of those girls who is meant to go through life without having the opportunity of getting married. I would marry if someone came along that I could fall in love with. But no one has, and I think that no one ever will. And I am at peace with this. It has taken a lot of soul-searching, but now I am ready to be the best aunt to my nieces and nephews. I think I can be content with that.”
“Oh, Eroica,” AnnaMaria looked at her with true sisterly affection, “Like you said, you are only twenty-two years old. You’re young. Don’t give up yet. God has His own timeline for everyone.”
“I’m not giving up, Anna. I’m just trying to show God that I accept His will for me.”
“Well, time will tell, Eroica,” Tilly said, giving her a motherly hug. “Heavenly Father knows what’s in your heart. Time will tell, so don’t you fret about it anymore. Now then, I’m finished pinning this hem, and this dress looks wonderful on you. I don’t think it’s going to matter what you play at your senior recital. The faculty members are going to think you look fantastic, and they are going to give you an A+.”
“Maybe if it were a final project for a sewing class,” Eroica laughed.
“Now go change so that I can take this dress home and finish it,” Tilly ordered.
“Just in time, too,” AnnaMaria said, “I think I hear John pulling into the driveway. Priesthood meeting must be over.” She began gathering up baby paraphernalia.
When Eroica came out of the bedroom, back in her cool cotton dress, Tilly and AnnaMaria were headed out the door. And Mark Wallace was standing on her front porch. As she handed Tilly the recital dress, she noticed that AnnaMaria and Tilly were giving each other knowing glances. Eroica was powerless to say anything to defend herself.
“Hi, Mark. What brings you here on a Saturday night?” She tried to make her voice light and carefree, although she was feeling self-conscious and embarrassed about her behavior in Park City.
“I just finished going to the General Priesthood Meeting with some of the members of our ward. I wanted to stop by and apologize for the other day. I didn’t mean to get in your way. I guess I just get carried away with my responsibilities, and I have no reason to. After all, you are at every rehearsal on time, which is much more that I can say for several other members of the group. And you have your music learned before anyone else does. But even coming here tonight to tell you that I’m sorry seems like I’m checking up on you.”
“I’m the one that needs to apologize,” Eroica rushed in. “I didn’t mean to sound angry. I have been so caught up in getting ready for my senior recital. And with term papers due and finals coming up, I have felt overwhelmed. You have never been anything but good to me, and I’m sorry that I repaid you with unkindness.”
“Friends again?” he asked, lifting her chin so she would look at him. “Once you graduate, things won’t be so awkward between us. I won’t be your teacher and supervisor anymore.”
“But then I won’t see you anymore, either,” she said, betraying a hint of sadness.
He looked into her eyes. “Nonsense. You and I will always be friends.”
Eroica knew that he was right. Their relationship was unlike anything she had ever experienced. It was as if they had always been friends. He seemed to understand her, even when she hadn’t said anything. She couldn’t imagine him not being a part of her life. She looked forward to quiet moments when she could think about him. Very slowly, she began to understand what he meant to her. Their friendship had always existed, and would continue on forever. She felt it more than knew it, and it warmed her whole soul.
“Okay?”
“Okay,” she smiled.
“Well, I’m hungry, and you are always in need of a break from practicing and studying. Come with me?”
“It depends,” she said with mischief in her eyes. “Bargain burgers again?”
“That’s what I was thinking. Is that a problem?”
“I have had it with bargain burgers. Why don’t you let me pay, and we’ll get pizza this time? No mushrooms. Extra olives. It’s my favorite.”
“Keep your money,” Mark laughed. “I can spring for pizza once in a while.”
Eroica knew that her happiness shouldn’t depend on anyone else. But Mark did make her happy. She felt like a schoolgirl who had just found a best friend. And for the moment, it was enough.