Chapter 1
“Scott, you need to marry that girl. You guys have been together for years.”
Scott nodded, though he wasn’t really listening. He knew that his mom had pushed everyone else into marriage, but he was the last holdout. Even his free-spirited brother Henri had found a woman for him to settle down with and now Scott was feeling the pressure. He wasn’t going to cave though and when he finally looked up at her, she realized it as well.
“I don’t think Lisa is thinking about marriage.”
“Nonsense, son. Every woman is thinking about getting married before they are five years old. You love her don’t you?”
It was a question that he had asked himself many times. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about getting married, but with Lisa it was different. He loved her in a way, but the very idea of getting married never even entered his mind until the family got involved. He was the last one to take the plunge and Scott wasn’t sure if he wanted to do that same. Sure all of them seemed happy, but he didn’t believe that they were as happy as they appeared.
“Not Lisa. We have never talked about it and we have been together for five years.” Scott didn’t think he had to mention the conversation they had had about it long ago. He had told her that he had no desire to ever get married and she didn’t either. That was all that had ever been said about it. There had never been any more talk and no talk of children. For Scott that was just fine, but for Elna, she was convinced that she wouldn’t be in peace until all of her children had found love and were happy.
“Well I think you might be missing the signals. Did you see how upset she got at Gemma’s wedding?” Elna had seen the woman teary-eyed next to her son and Scott hadn’t even acknowledged it.
“Mom, all women get like that at a wedding. I think I saw every female in the place crying. I don’t know why you guys do it, but I figured it was pretty normal.”
Elna didn’t want to hear it. She wanted him to realize that he wasn’t complete without a wife, but that didn’t seem to be the way he thought about it. Scott was perfectly happy the way things were. He and Lisa got along fine, but moving in with her and getting married wasn’t in his wheelhouse.
“Well, it’s not going to happen, so stop pushing it.”
“Son, if she was the one for you, you would want to marry her.” Elna was sure of that, but wondered if Lisa just wasn’t the one for her son.
“Maybe not, but can you not bring all of this up tonight? I don’t want you giving her any ideas.”
Elna nodded and went back to the dough in front of her. She would never understand her youngest. He had always been the rebel when it came to everything and now his rebellion was keeping him from being happy. Elna knew that all he needed was the right one and all of her children would be married. Elna liked Lisa, but it was becoming clear that she just may not be the one for him.
“I am not going to say a word when she gets here. I just wanted you to think about it. I’m not getting any younger Scott and I would like to see all of my children happy and married. “
He sighed and knew that her heart was in the right place, even if he didn’t agree with how she wanted to push it. Scott knew that Lisa was a great girl, but he had never felt the way his brothers had about their wives. He had never felt like Gemma when she was getting married. The look of love was clear in her eyes and for a moment, he was jealous of it. But with Lisa, he didn’t feel the same way.
“I am happy mom. Not everyone has to get married to be happy.”
She nodded, but wasn’t really listening. Her life hadn’t started until she found their father and Elna just wanted the same for him. Her other children were happily married or in the process. That just left Scott.
“I know. I am not going to say any more about it. I know that you are doing the best you can.”
Scott excused himself. He had to go get Lisa for dinner. It was the weekend and everyone was over at the family ranch. It was something that they did every Sunday night before she went back to the city to run the business from there. The only problem was that these dinners had come down to pushing him into marriage.
“I will be back in a little bit. Don’t start without me.”
Elna just smiled and shook her head. “If only you wanted a woman as much as you wanted a cooked meal. You know that some women cook.”
“Lisa doesn’t.”
***
“Do we really have to go?”
Lisa didn’t want to go to the dinner. It wasn’t just Scott that was feeling the pressure about marriage and though she wanted to be married and she loved Scott, the dinners always put a bit of strain on them when they got back to her place later. Lisa didn’t want to get married if he didn’t want to get married. There was no forcing the subject. When he was ready, he would be ready. Now she wished that he would be ready soon, but there is nothing that she can do to push it on.
“You don’t have to go, but if I don’t go, I will never hear the end of.” Scott wasn’t going to mention that Sunday dinner was the only home-cooked meal he got most weeks. Lisa and he didn’t really live together, but he was over there often and she just simply didn’t cook. She didn’t know how and when they were together, they always ordered something to go.
“Well I don’t really want to go, Scott. I love your family, I really do, but there is just always this pressure.” Lisa felt it too, but to have it brought up by Elna all the time, somehow made it worse.
“You really don’t want to go?”
She shook her head that she didn’t, though she hoped he wouldn’t be upset about it. It was one thing to have to hear it from his family, but he had never really thought about how it affected her. “I won’t go if you want to stay here.”
Scott didn’t want to stay, but he would.
“No, no, you should go. I am just going to stay here and get some cleaning done and order some Chinese.”
Scott didn’t think that she was being for real. Lisa had a way of testing him and he wasn’t sure if it was another test or if she really didn’t want to go.
“I can stay here with you.”
She shook her head again. “No, you should go see your family. Everyone is going to be there.”
“Are you sure?”
She said she was, but Scott still wondered if he would have to pay for it later. When he left, there was a look in her eyes that he hadn’t seen before and he wondered what it meant. Even though they had dated for years, there was still a lot that he didn’t know about her. What was going through her head right then, he couldn’t fathom.
“Yes, Scott. Really it is fine. I am just having a day and I don’t want to get into all of it right now. You have a big family, Scott, so you are used to that whole production. I am an only child and I am just not used to all of that.”
He gave her a kiss and then another before he left. Scott had a feeling that he should have stayed. When he got back to the ranch and Elna made note of her absence, he wished that he have talked her into it. It wasn’t that hard to do, Lisa would do anything for him.