Eddy's Current (14 page)

Their love for each other couldn’t have been deeper, though. Eddy’s friends tried to get her to date others. She saw River in “that way” when she was only fourteen and he was sixteen.

Many of Eddy’s friends who tried to talk her out of a lifetime commitment with River — because they feared that a lifetime commitment between River and Eddy would end in divorce — were to experience divorce themselves, some of them more than once. River and Eddy enjoyed each other. They kept things simple. Their relationship was good to them because they were committed to it, and to each other. Where one lacked, the other had more. When one fell, the other lifted. They didn’t complement each other so much as they lifted each other. They had the relationship most couples dream of, and it seemed to both of them as if it would remain that way forever.

They knew when they met that each was meant for the other. They could feel it, not in the way many young people feel such things — not lustful or irresponsible — just magic. It was plain magic. When her friends realized that she was serious about River early on, they moved immediately to “help her” with her feelings, but Eddy would have none of it. “River is for me, forever,” Eddy would say often to her helpful friends, even after she and River had known each other for only a few weeks.

Angel would not accept Eddy’s simple, childlike answers. She would not let it go. Determined to help her best friend of ten years, she often challenged Eddy directly. “You’re sixteen years old, Eddy,” Angel said, during one of their many discussions about River. “What in the world did this guy do to you? Are you brainwashed? I’m going to talk to your mother about this.”

Angel tried everything. She recommended counseling. She planned times away to the coast, to the beaches she knew Eddy loved with all her heart. Nothing worked. Eddy knew that she wasn’t brainwashed. She couldn’t have cared less what her mother’s opinion was about River. She wouldn’t hear of counseling. She refused to go to the beach without River.

“You’re planning to get married just to get out of your miserable house, Eddy,” Angel snapped. “Are you happy at home? I thought you had a great home life! Have your parents ever abused you? I don’t like River. I don’t like that guy. He’s shifty. He’s sneaky. He’s up to something. He’s no good. Why would you be attracted to a guy like that? What’s wrong with you, Eddy?”

Angel was rambling, yet she said nothing, and used a great number of words to do it. Eddy accepted her friend’s concerns and appreciated her, but she hadn’t hit the bulls eye, and, the way she was going, she was not likely to get close to it. Eddy knew it was hopeless. She gently answered by telling Angel that she needn’t be concerned, that Eddy loved her as her best friend, appreciated her caring attitude, but River was the person God had chosen for Eddy’s future, for her to be with forever.

“Are you pregnant, Eddy?” Angel queried insistently, as if she hadn’t been listening to Eddy at all. They both burst into laughter and enjoyed each other’s amusement for several minutes. No, Eddy was not pregnant. Only a friend as close as Angel could ask without Eddy being offended.

“I’ll promise you this, though: When I do get pregnant, whenever that is, you will be the first person other than River that I tell. I promise,” Eddy said sincerely and assuredly. They hugged, they both cried, and they both realized at the same time that Eddy was serious. Even Eddy, as serious and resolute as she had been about this, hadn’t realized until that moment that her attachment to River was the real thing. It was not about fleeting romance or lust. It was love. Angel felt better about it, even though she still didn’t fully accept it. Maybe one day she would. As friends sometimes feel toward each other, Angel was also more than a little bit jealous. How could any young person find the love of her life at sixteen? And why couldn’t it have been Angel!

Eddy’s father was a man of modest means. Johnson A. Kipling, known as Jon, was young at heart and knew the lasting value of patience. He understood human nature as well as anyone, and he watched patiently as his daughter fell deeply in love with River Warwick. He wanted so much for the two of them to be as deeply in love as it seemed to others that they were. Jon wanted it to be real, because if it wasn’t real he would have to watch his daughter be crushed when it ended.

Jon spoke to Eddy only occasionally about River, preferring instead to listen when she wanted to talk. Active listening and patience were traits his own father did not possess. Jon found himself excusing away Eddy’s feelings at such a young age. While she was still fourteen, he reasoned that she would soon be fifteen, and that she was emotionally mature for her age.

Eddy’s mother, Cynthia, was every daughter’s dream. She gave her daughter the distance she needed to grow, while staying close in case she was called upon. She and Jon loved Eddy and wanted only for her to live a fulfilled adult life. They could and would help her along the way, but they understood the difference between making themselves available and pushing themselves into their daughter’s private feelings. It was tough, though. By age sixteen, Eddy had been serious about River for nearly two years.

“Your father and I would like to have a talk with you, Eddy.”

Eddy had known of her friends’ parents wanting such talks, but she had not heard those words in that way yet from her own parents. She decided to trust her parents. The three of them sat down at the dinner table to talk.

Eddy asked sincerely, “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, honey,” her father said. “Yes. Everything’s fine.”

“Your father and I want to make sure you’re supported by us with any decisions you make about your relationship with River. We can tell you’re in love, Eddy. That much is obvious. But you and River became serious when you were only fourteen, and you told us that you were deeply in love with him after knowing him for only three months. That’s not much time to determine that the two of you will be together permanently.”

“I understand all of that, Mom. I really do, but I’m sixteen now. I know that you and Dad would tell me if you honestly felt that I was making the wrong decision. I’m not making the wrong decision, and I can feel it. I know it’s right.”

“Please understand, Eddy, that there are all sorts of reservations going through our minds,” her father said. “Are you ready for a permanent relationship? Have you thought about other options? College? What about a career for you? How about just enjoying life as a single person for a few years? Are the two of you compatible? Does River understand how a woman should be treated? Respect is very important to me. I want your future husband to be a person who respects you, a person who loves you for your good points and your shortcomings. Does he fully understand that? I want my daughter to be independent. I want you to be respected as an individual.”

Jon was exhausted after his series of questions and statements. They had been bottled up inside him for two years, and they just came spilling out.

“I know that he does understand all of that, Daddy. He really does. As for college and my life apart from River, I don’t want to consider it right now. I will, we both will, complete college. River has already begun. We’ll finish college, and we’ll make it in life, too. You’ll see, Daddy; we will make it. I just know that we will.”

After her talk with her parents, Eddy and River went to the park to walk and talk and just be together. Her parents were supportive, and her talk with them had gone well, but Eddy needed reassurance from River that everything was going to be okay.

Bruno could jump higher and run faster than just about any dog River had ever known. River and Eddy were at the park, near the beach, and Bruno was showing off to Eddy. Bruno liked her a great deal, and he caught the Frisbee again and again from River, each time before it touched the ground, no matter how far he had to run to catch it. Bruno was determined to impress Eddy, so he would show off until River finally gave him a break, offering him a large paper cup filled with water. He slurped it up without stopping. Then he rested, satisfied that he had done more to impress Eddy than any animal could hope to do.

Bruno and Eddy were buddies. Bruno was insecure, though, so each time the three of them went to the park, Bruno worked hard to prove himself to Eddy. He had succeeded in making yet another friend in Eddy. His playtime worked well for him throughout the years, causing many people to love him. He never stopped trying, even in spite of obvious successes.

The hot afternoon gave way to the cool, relaxing evening darkness. River, Eddy and Bruno fell fast asleep on the beach sand. Eddy awoke the next morning to the sound of the waves gently slapping the beach sand. The sun was rising over the horizon behind them, and Eddy realized that she had allowed the night to get away from her. Always one to focus on the important things of life, Eddy rarely let herself get into compromising situations. That was exactly where she found herself on this beautiful Saturday morning. She had to be on her job at 8:00 a.m. sharp. She had never been late, and she had never taken a scheduled workday off.

“River, River, wake up. Wake up now,” Eddy insisted as she pushed back and forth on River’s shoulder. They had fallen asleep on the beach sand, innocently enough, to be sure, but it certainly didn’t seem that way. Eddy was focused on work now. She was less concerned at the appearance of the two of them on the beach all night together than with the fact that she lost her focus and let time slip away. All that mattered was that she get to work on time. Time meant a great deal to Eddy. She prided herself on knowing when to say when.

“What about all the nay sayers? What will they have to say now about ‘nice River?’ ‘Did he take advantage of her on the beach?’ they might ask. What about that! Control! That’s the way to handle this. Get it under control. Then keep it there,” Eddy thought.

“River, River, you’ve got to get up now, and take me home. Please, please wake up.” River wasn’t the least bit upset about having fallen asleep on the beach. As far as he was concerned they had gotten a jump on other beach goers. His attitude was that they could stay where they were until around ten o’clock, go to the Beach Hut restaurant, enjoy breakfast, go back to the beach and darken their tan until three o’clock, then hang out around the volleyball play area until sunset. There was no reason to panic. It could all be worked out.

Eddy grabbed River’s hand as he awakened, and literally pulled him along, trudging through the sand toward the parking lot. River stumbled to his feet. His mind was still at the beach, still planning his day in the sun. He drove away with Eddy in the passenger seat, heading to her home so she could get ready for work. If Eddy intended to work, River decided that he would ruin his plans as well and go home to study. He had been in college for nearly a full semester. His grades had been good, but not sterling. He was doing well. He had been able to make decent grades in high school, and was doing the same in college, but no thanks to his organization skills and his drive. He had neither at this point in his life.

River had originally planned to major in real estate, and wanted a career in real estate sales. After entertaining those plans for one short month, he changed his major to law enforcement. Prior to the succession of economic collapses over the past eight years, real estate salesmen did very well along the east coast of Texas. River knew the area and many of the people well. He had connections there.

River was convinced that he could and would be successful in either real estate or law enforcement, although the better choice for him at the time was law enforcement. He would have preferred to enter real estate and make a great deal of money. There was a problem with his plans, though. The succession of economic collapses left the real estate business in a shambles. There was little money to be made in real estate. River decided to major in law enforcement. Jobs were plentiful in that field. Eddy believed in him. That made it even better, except that she was always so serious about everything. Why couldn’t the two of them just stay on the beach and forget it all, just for one day? Eddy was not built that way. She just didn’t reason that way.

The entire world was a mess, and River was concerned for the U.S. His motives for entering law enforcement were far less noble. He wanted steady employment. Maybe real estate was a possibility well down the road, after the economy straightened out, if that ever happened at all. Like some other young people, River wanted to stick his head in the sand and wait for the trouble to pass.

All of this serious thinking was getting on River’s nerves. Maybe he could wait to make such a serious decision. There’s always tomorrow. River liked tomorrow.

But he wouldn’t wait. Something was going wrong, seriously wrong in the world, and, in addition to the steady work law enforcement offered, River believed he could make a difference. He decided to take his head out of the sand. On the way back to Eddy’s house, and for the first time in his life, River made a major commitment. He would dedicate himself to a cause. After his nap, that is.

Eddy pulled the door open and charged into the house, determined only to get ready for work. Her parents had other ideas, though. Less angry than disappointed, they challenged Eddy to explain herself. Where had she been all night? And without calling at all! Didn’t she know that they worried?

Eddy explained respectfully but hurriedly, “I know what this looks like, but I’m telling you directly that we fell asleep on the beach. Nothing happened. It was innocent. We are saving ourselves for marriage, and I promise you that nothing happened. It’s not what you think. I’m worried only about being late for work. That’s my only concern. You have to trust me.

“It’s very important to me that you understand that my priority is that I get to work on time to keep my record at work. It’s very important to me that you believe that is the only thing I’m worried about. Nothing happened on the beach last night that I’m ashamed of, and I hope you know that I’m telling the truth.”

Jon and Cynthia had never had a reason to doubt Eddy’s integrity. She had always been truthful with them. They believed that she was telling the truth again so they agreed to let it go. Privately, though, they made a pact that they would not be as understanding if it happened again. Eddy made it to work on time. She was the most effective and well-liked sales clerk in the store that day, an upscale department store in the new mall, outside town. Coworkers, customers, and bosses loved her. She handled all customers professionally, regardless of whether or not they treated her well.