She blushed at that and answered softly, “I’m Natalie. Nice to meet you.”
Eugene moved quickly, the way confident young men do. “Looks like your shift is basically over. Want to walk a little? Ice cream, coffee, whatever sounds good. I’ve been buried in textbooks and could use a break.”
They started talking and ended up spending the whole evening together, losing track of time. Being around each other felt easy, natural. Neither wanted the night to end. That was the beginning of a fast, intense romance.
Eugene adored her. He brought flowers, called her sunshine, took her to the movies, walked with her through the park in the evenings. Before long, neither of them could imagine life without the other.
The relationship was moving steadily toward marriage. Graduation was only a few months away, and Natalie had already found work as a cook, putting her training to use.
There was just one problem: Eugene’s parents did not approve of the match. Natalie made an effort with them and visited often. His father stayed polite and neutral.
His mother, on the other hand, never missed a chance to make Natalie uncomfortable. She asked pointed questions and made it clear she thought her son could do better.
Eventually Eugene had enough and confronted her directly. “Mom, I know exactly what this is,” he said. “You don’t like that I’m serious about someone you didn’t choose. But I love Natalie, and I plan to marry her.”
“If the snide comments don’t stop, I’ll move out and get a place with her. I mean it. Why are you acting like this? What has she ever done to you?”
His mother was furious. “What do you see in her? She’s plain, she has no family, no background, and she works in a kitchen. Why would you tie yourself to that?”
“Take a look at Olivia, the daughter of our business friends. She’s from a good family, well brought up, and she’s clearly interested in you. That’s the kind of girl who fits our world.” But Eugene dug in his heels and kept seeing Natalie, no matter what his family thought.
There was, however, one flaw in his character: jealousy. He was always convinced other men were staring at Natalie, whether they were at a restaurant or just walking down the street. She took those suspicions hard. More than once she told him he was the first man she had ever loved and the only one she wanted.
Then one day Eugene found a thick envelope in the mail with no return address. Inside were photographs—Natalie in a close embrace with a bearded man he had never seen before. The fight that followed was ugly and final.
Eugene shoved the pictures in front of her. Natalie cried, stunned and hurt, insisting she had no idea what he was talking about and had never betrayed him. They said terrible things to each other. She was deeply wounded by the accusation. He was consumed by anger and jealousy, convinced she had made a fool of him.
Several miserable weeks passed.
Eventually his anger cooled. What remained was the simple fact that he missed her badly and couldn’t imagine life without her. He decided to talk to her calmly and sort it out.
But when he went to the restaurant where she worked, he got a shock: she had quit. Eugene was baffled. Why? What happened? He called her over and over, but her phone was disconnected.
He drove straight to the student housing complex, but that led nowhere too. The desk clerk told him she had packed up and moved out in a hurry, leaving no forwarding address. Just like that, she was gone.
He tried everything to find her, but Natalie had vanished. Eugene sank into a deep depression and turned into a man who did little besides work and go home. His mother, meanwhile, kept making things worse.
“I warned you,” she said. “That girl was trouble. She probably found someone with more money and left town. By the way, I saw Olivia yesterday.”
“She may stop by tomorrow evening. You should give her a real chance. She’d make an excellent wife.” And the next evening, Olivia did indeed show up at their apartment.
His parents tactfully left to visit friends, giving the two of them the place to themselves. Olivia was perfectly at ease. She pulled a bottle of expensive vermouth from her bag and gave him a playful look.
“Hey, Gene. I assume you know our parents have decided to marry us off if they can. To be honest, I’m not exactly thrilled either…”
