She's Up to No Good(36)

“I could convert.”

She tilted her head. This was a new development. And it could be enough after the fact. Maybe. But the mere promise of conversion wouldn’t be enough to get Joseph’s blessing.

“You would do that?”

He nodded slowly. It wasn’t something he had given much thought to. But he believed in Evelyn more than religion, though it would kill his heavily Catholic mother.

She grabbed him tightly. “Then let’s do it now. We’ll go to Maryland. We can be married tonight.”

He shook her off. “I said no. Look, I would give you the moon if you asked for it, but this is the one thing I can’t do.”

“Why?”

Tony sighed, crossing his arms as he leaned against the car. “Because even if your father forgave you, he would never forgive me. And that would be a problem for the rest of our lives. And how happy could you be with your father and husband always at odds?”

Evelyn leaned next to him, and they looked down toward the beach together, neither speaking for a long time.

Finally, she broke the silence. “You can’t ask him yet.”

“Why not?”

“It’s too close to me leaving for school. He’ll see it as a threat.”

Tony looked disappointed but nodded. “When, then?” He looked to Evelyn and could practically see the wheels turning in her head.

“I’ll write to Vivie that I’m seeing someone—she knows about you—but I’ll get her to plant the seed without saying who it is.” She paused, thinking the next step through. “Then, when I come home at the end of the term, I’ll . . . I’ll tell Papa that my boyfriend is coming to meet him. Mama will insist on making a dinner. Papa won’t turn you out when you show up. And you’ll have the meal to warm him up.”

“And if he says no?”

“He will. At first.” She stuck out her chin. “But then you let me work on him.” Something in her demeanor changed, and a spark glinted in her eye as she suddenly shot past him to the driver’s side of the car before pulling open the door, climbing in, and leaning toward the open passenger window. “But now, get in. I have a surprise for you!”

“Only if you scoot over,” Tony said, going to the driver’s side, but Evelyn started the car and put it into drive. Tony hopped back, his toes in jeopardy. “Hey now!”

“What? I can drive!”

“Terribly.”

“I haven’t died yet, have I?”

“I’m not letting you drive.”

She pulled the car forward five feet, then jerked to a stop and leaned out the window to look back at him. “Doesn’t look like you have much of a choice, does it?”

Sighing, he went to the passenger side, only for Evelyn to jerk the car forward another five feet. “Oops. That one was an accident.”

“The surprise better not be you killing us,” he grumbled, climbing in but sitting close enough to grab the wheel if he needed to. “Where are we going, anyway?”

“You’ll see,” she said, turning on the radio.

They always avoided town on their evenings together, as any gossiping neighbors who spotted them would surely tell Miriam. But Evelyn parked the car crookedly in front of the house on Main Street. The sun had just set.

“No,” Tony said, seeing where they were. “Evelyn, what are you doing?”

“Ease up. No one is home. Papa is sleeping at the cottage.”

“And the neighbors?”

“The Kleins are in Maine, and the Fultons went to a wedding on Cape Cod.”

She didn’t show it, but Evelyn felt nerves prickling through her stomach and along the back of her neck. She hadn’t expected this chance, but when it came, right before she was due to leave, she took it.

“Come on,” she said, and they climbed the steps to the wide front porch. Evelyn unlocked the heavy door and shut it quickly behind them without turning on the light, then took Tony’s hand, leading him through the darkness up the staircase and to her bedroom, where the moonlight shone through the window. Tony reached for a light switch, but Evelyn pulled his hand away, placing it on her hip instead before kissing him.

“This is dangerous,” he whispered.

“We’re practically engaged.” She pressed herself closer. “And I want this.” He didn’t respond. “Don’t you?” She brushed a light hand across his pants.

He groaned. “You know I do. But we can’t.”

“Yes, we can.” She pulled him toward the bed.

“And if you get pregnant?”

The moonlight illuminated her grin, sheepish this time, an emotion Tony had never seen on her. “Well . . . there are ways around that.”

“I don’t—”

Evelyn reached into her bag, then dropped it on the floor, the bottle clinking as it hit the wood and then rolled away. “I do.”

Tony recoiled slightly, knowing what she was holding. “Where did you get that?”

“I swiped it from Papa’s store.” She sat and began unbuttoning her dress as Tony stood frozen next to the bed. When she was down to her brassiere and panties, she reached for him and he let himself be pulled onto the bed, falling into her kiss, the feel of her bare skin under his hands, his mouth. He pulled the strap of her bra down over her shoulder and reached into the cup, hearing her gasp, her back arching into his touch as he moved his mouth to her. He barely felt her hands unbuttoning his pants, so intent was he on what he was doing, but when he felt her touch under his shorts, he stiffened and pulled away sharply, propelling himself off the bed.