Five Miles to Paradise

5

Bud proposed to Beulah after her graduation ceremony on Friday night. 

Beulah promptly accepted. 

When Beulah sprang the news on her parents, they were mortified. Beulah's mother burst into a flood of tears. Her father's face turned cherry red. He yelled at the girl, threatened her, pleaded with her, bribed her, and cajoled her, but Beulah could not be dissuaded that she was throwing her life away like scrap meat thrown to the dogs.

No college education. No Mr. Right. No mansion in town. No big house on a farm. No easy life. No grandchildren with pedigrees.

Beulah was under that cad's hex, her parents decided. 

The Rhemfield boy must hold some kind of magic over her. Either that, or Beulah had lost her mind.

Something must be done to change their daughter's decision! She must be persuaded to give up the idea of marrying! A Rhemfield! It was preposterous! It was absurd! It was impossible! It could never happen! Not in a million years!

Her parents were certain that once the rush of hormones subsided, Beulah would see their side and agree to call off the whole farce.

"I'm her father, for godsakes," Beulah's father bellowed, "I think I know what's best for my daughter? After all, I've funded her survival for all these years. I'll be damned if I'll let her throw her life away like this! I'll stop these wedding plans!"

Mom and Dad decided to pull out all the stops in their campaign to make Beulah see things their way.

"We'll buy you a new automobile, Beulah," her mother said, "so that you can visit us when you go away to school. We'll buy you new clothes. You can go to Atlanta, New York, out West. Hollywood! Anything you want, dear. We'll gladly pay for a tour of the islands. Bermuda, Australia, anywhere! Beulah! Darling! Please! You're throwing your life away on a boy who is common! Beulah! You deserve so much more! Beulah! You are so young. You cannot possibly know what is best for you! Beulah! You are beautiful! You are rich! You have been sheltered! You don't know what true love is, how hard marriage can be! You are still a child! Beulah, darling, listen to reason! Please, don't do this to us! Please, Dearest! Please! Don't ruin your chances by marrying this young man who is nothing but a peckerwood, darling, darling dearest child."

Her parents offered her an apartment near the Capital. A larger allowance. She could postpone college and take a grand tour of Europe.

But Beulah would not budge. She had set her sights on becoming Mrs. Bud Rhemfield, and nothing would change her mind.

Her parents seriously considered kidnapping Beulah, locking her away in a cabin on a steamer bound for South America, and releasing her once she had traveled far out into the ocean and out of reach of Mr. Nightmare. But her mother believed it would tarnish the family's reputation, so those plans were scrapped.

Day and night, they continued to try and persuade Beulah to come to her senses.

"Beulah, dear, I don't think 'ambition' is a word that has ever entered that boy's head. He has no future! No initiative! No drive! He's a hooligan. A miscreant. How on earth do you think you will live? Where in the world will you live?

The world is falling apart! Beulah! Who knows what will happen? Let us protect you! Don't throw you life away on a poor, deadbeat, Beulah! The boy's been in trouble! You'll be throwing away all our dreams for you, Beulah! Be reasonable," her mother had pleaded. "Your father and I love you so much. We do not say these terrible things to make you mad. Your father and I are trying to help you see what an enormous mistake marrying this boy truly is. We want you to be happy, Beulah. We want you to be able to live the life you have been accustomed to living here with your father and me."