The letters didn’t hold any further secrets or surprises for Aimee. She placed them back into her briefcase and took out her notes for the marketing ideas. She jotted the ideas she had discussed with Aiden. When she finished, she decided it was time to relax on the porch with her mother’s diary.
December24, 1987
Today was the best day of my life. RGA escorted mom and I to the Christmas Extravaganza today. We had such a great time listening to Christmas songs about the birth of Christ. The play of His birth was so beautiful. After the extravaganza, he took me for a carriage ride around the HVP. It is one of my favorite parks. The carriage ride was one of the most romantic experiences of my life.
The park was decorated in Christmas lights. When we got to the decorated gazebo, the driver stopped the ride. RGA took my hand and helped me from the carriage. When we reached the gazebo, he pointed to some lights near the fountain in front of the gazebo. They spelled out Marry Me. Needless to say, when I looked up, I seen him on one knee in front of me. I cried like a baby when I said yes. We kissed all the way to the carriage and for the rest of the ride, he held me close as we discussed a wedding date. May 4th is the day we agreed on; it is our two year anniversary and I could not think of a better birthday gift than being Mrs. RGA.
Aimee sat still on the porch; the only noise she could hear were the crickets and frogs. Her mother was engaged before she met her dad and, unless a lot happened in the next five months of diaries, she was going to be reading about her wedding day to another man.
Opal was watching Aimee from a nearby chair. She was so into whatever she was reading, she didn’t even notice her and Charles had come out. She was white now. She looked like she was staring at a ghost. Opal eased over to her. Something was wrong.
Opal touched Aimee’s arm and she jumped off her seat. She sat down and took the glass of tea Opal held out to her. “You ok, child? You are as white as a ghost.”
Aimee shook her head as she drank some tea. “No. Did you know my mother was engaged before she met my dad?”
Opal sat in the chair next to her. “The book is one of you mother’s diaries. Oh, baby girl. I wish so bad I could answer all your questions. But I can’t, neither your momma nor Gran ever spoke of their lives in Neahovia.”
Aimee looked down at the book. “As I read these books, I can see why.”
She read the last passage to Opal, when she got to the proposal, Aimee was almost in tears. She could tell, as she read her mother’s diaries, she really loved RGA.
“Aimee, I know that was hard to read. Just remember, we all had lives before we married. I dated the same guy all through high school. I thought for sure we would marry. He went out with his friends after graduation. My momma wouldn’t let me go because we had family in for my graduation.”
Aimee looked at Opal, then Charles. She could tell this was not the first time he had heard Opal tell this story. Especially since he went and wrapped her in his arms as she continued.
“They were in a horrible accident. Everyone in the car died.”
Aimee stared at her. “Wow, if your mother had said yes…”
“All of our lives would have turned out different.” Opal took Aimee’s hand.
“So how did you meet Charles?”
“Church. After the wreck, I started going to church with my momma more regularly. Charles was in a gospel band; and, about six months after the accident, his band came to our church. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.”
Charles chuckled and kissed her cheek. “Thirty-nine years later and she still can’t.”
Opal grinned. “I know you haven’t had a lot of luck in the area of love. But I have noticed that two young fellows keep calling you.”
“Actually three. Colin doesn’t call as much as Aiden and LJ. He mostly calls to see how his self-proclaimed sister is. That seems to be what all guys think of me.”
“Not all guys. I have seen you video chatting with that Aiden boy. His eyes light up every time he sees you. That LJ boy, he is not looking at you like no sister either. Be careful with him.”
“LJ is the one I go on dates with, not Aiden. Aiden and I are friends, Mrs. Opal.”
“Well, I like Aiden.”
Aimee did what she always did when she didn’t like were a conversation was heading, she declared a subject change. She even chose the subject of the visit from the roofers.
The next morning, Aimee drove herself to work. She dressed in business attire once more and went to her office. She found a maintenance man changing the name plate on the office door. She asked if she could keep her Gran’s. He obliged and handed it to her. When she was in the office, she called Charles to see if he knew where they could go to have the name plate turned into a plaque.
Once she was settled in her office, she prepared for her meetings with the Vice Presidents of Finance. This was one meeting she dreaded. The gentlemen were nice. She remembered them from her days at the office with Gran. They went over the profit margins, expense reports, and all the other finance stuff of the corporation. Today she found out they were the sixth top produce producers in the states. Her goal was to make the top five when she took over.
After her long meeting with finance, she worked on her marketing idea. She had Tammy and Tina come up to her office and she showed them what she had come up with. James and Piper were putting together an advertisement idea for them as well.
At lunch, she went and bought a salad and then returned to her office. She wanted to call Aiden. He answered on the third ring. “Hi, Aiden. I am having lunch and wanted to call you.”
“I am so glad you called. I found out that Mr. Myers is a Neahovian native. He was in the army that fought against the Radicals.”
“Really? So, he must have been an ally for mom and Gran.”
“He is older than your mom, but not as old as your Gran. But, I have no doubt he was on the special team that worked with the Americans. His file is classified.”
“That’s ok. I don’t think we will get much from him. Whatever Gran has asked of him, that is what he is going to do. I found out something last night too.”
“Really? What?”
“RGA proposed to my mom on December 24th, 1987 at some park with initials HVP. They set a wedding date for May 4th, 1988.”
“Aimee, are you ok?”
“Yeah. I read it after we ended our chat. Opal and Charles were with me we had a nice talk about love.”
“So, you are starting to be ok with her and RGA.”
“Yeah. I can tell she really loved him at that time.”
“Another breakthrough?”
“What makes you say that?”
“You now realize that sometimes we think we are in love before we actually know what love is.”
“Wrong. I am learning it is possible to be in love more than once.”
“Ok. I will agree with that.”
“I’m sorry, I need to go. I have a meeting with the lawyers in twenty minutes.”
“Ok. I will call you later if I find out anything more. Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
LJ called a few minutes later. She talked to him a few minutes while she prepared her round table for the meeting with lawyers. He knew she was working at her Gran’s company, but not to what extent.
The lawyer meeting didn’t take long. She had still been in touch with them over the last few years. So, all they had to do was discuss how they represent the office.
Since she finished early in the office, she went back to the plantation. She wanted to visit the orchards today. She sent a text to Charles, changed into her jean bib overall shorts, a hat and gloves, and worked the orchards alongside him, just like she did as a child.
In the evening after dinner, she sat at the table and went over design ideas for the house with Charles and Opal. The roofers started next week; they were doing the metal roof in evergreen moss. Aimee agreed to update every room in the house except for Gran’s room, Grans office, and her mom’s room, she w
asn’t ready for that.
Then, she sprung her surprise on Charles and Opal. She was extending their living area so they could have more privacy when someone else was at the plantation. Opal showed her the idea she came up with for the kitchen and laundry areas. Aimee loved them. Gran would love the updates they were doing to the home.
Chapter Six
The day of the presentation before a conference room of Vice Presidents had arrived. Aimee practiced her speech twice at home the night before. Everyone loved the idea. Now, if she can get the room of Gran’s employees to agree.
Aimee sat up for the power point presentation and Mr. Montgomery was the first to enter the room. He told Aimee that he was excited to see how her brain worked. She thanked him. Then, she went to hand out the outline of the presentation to the others as they came in.
She let Tammy and Tina talk first. They discussed how they are still marketing Lilliend Rose Corporation on the same platform they used seven years ago. They showed some examples of what the competitors are doing. Then, they introduced Aimee.
Aimee showed her proposal for creating the website and using other aspects of the social media world for marketing; plus, she showed the ads that James and Piper made. She discussed how, by using social media, they could promote the plantation’s events, share recipes, or even sell their products.
She even talked about how they could use the social media to reach out to new companies to use their fruits and vegetables.
The Vice Presidents loved her ideas. The first thing was to hire a web designer. One of the member’s grandson was a designer, so they agreed to bring him in next week to meet Aimee, Tammy, and Tina. Tammy and Tina discussed having the marketing team to team up with the advertisement department and together they would start updating Lilliend Rose Corporation.
Aimee spent the rest of her day in her office. She was given the password for her Gran’s computer. She needed to talk about creating their own IT team as well. She looked over the employee files in her Gran’s computer. She then burned them on a disc, so she could put them on a computer she had purchased just for Lilliend Rose Corporation.
Then, she looked through some other files. She found some photos of the Orchid Bay Orchards. They were taken in 1994. Aimee copied them on a disc as well as a few other files she had on her computer of Neahovia.
At lunch time, she went home to take a nap. The past week had drained her emotionally and right now she needed to rest, relax, and read her Bible. She decided before she could have a peaceful nap, she should read her Bible first. She opened her Bible to Psalms Chapter 56. She was drawn to verses 3-4.
Psalms Chapter 56-3. What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. 4. In God I will praise His word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
Aimee realized that she had not been putting her trust in God the way she truly should. She was relying on the trust of the people around her. She had been placing trust in the wrong place. She needed to trust God more. She had prayed for guidance, but had she actually listened to Him? He will show her the right people to have in her life. She decided to pray about her trust before she took a nice long afternoon nap.
A tap at the door woke Aimee. She looked at her clock as she yelled come in. She had been asleep for three hours. Opal came in with a worried look on her face. “Are you ok?”
“Yes, I guess I was more tired than I realized.”
“You have been going nonstop since you got here. I was wondering when it would catch up with you.”
“Yeah, I think I am going to slow down. Enjoy the two weeks I have left of summer vacation.”
“That sounds great. Charles and I are going out to eat dinner. Do you want to join us?”
“No, you two go have a date night. I will fix me something here.”
“Ok, we will see you later.”
Aimee decided to go for a swim. Then, she made herself a large summer salad. She put in one of her mother’s favorite movies and spent the evening relaxing. Then, she went to bed early.
The rest of that week and the week that followed, Aimee spent the morning hours at the office. Then, she came back to the plantation to relax in the afternoon. She loved relaxing and floating in the pool. She and Opal shopped and picked out all the appliances for the kitchen, new furniture, new flooring, and paint schemes for the house.
The night before she left, Opal and Aimee took Megan and Brad out for the dinner. Charles stated he needed to work in the orchard, but in truth, he was setting up the surprise.
Opal suggested that Megan show Aimee the nursery after it was painted. When they arrived to Brad and Megan’s they went straight to the nursery, when Megan opened the door. Charles was standing with a surprise sign. Aimee and Opal had bought all the baby furniture that Megan wanted.
Brad and Megan tried to tell Aimee it was too much, but Aimee insisted that it was not. She wanted to help them. Brad had been so helpful to her these past few weeks and Megan had let Aimee occupy way too much of Brad’s time, so Aimee wanted to return the favor.
After they left Brad’s house, Aimee packed up the stuff she wanted to send to Neahovia. The delivery truck was scheduled to be there at nine in the morning to pick them up to take to the airport. She had cleaned out her closets in Savannah and divided the contents between the church she attended while in Savannah and with Wise Chapel.
She decided to text Lexi that night before she went to bed. Lexi was going to meet her at the airport when she arrived in Neahovia. She was so excited to be going back to Neahovia. Being here the last few weeks with Opal and her family was nice, but Aimee felt, in her heart, Neahovia was the place for her.
The next morning after the delivery guys left with the packages going to Neahovia, Opal was ready to drive Aimee to the airport. Her plane didn’t leave until two and she had a few stops to make.
The first was to the bank. She wanted to check in with Mrs. Moon and assure that everything was in order for payment to the workers on the house. She had an extra key made for Opal to the security box. She took Opal to the box and replaced the Will and other papers back in the box. She made copies of what she needed.
The next stop was at Lilliend Rose Corporation office building. Mr. Montgomery led her to the conference room. All the VP’s were present. They gave Aimee a going away present. They gave her a new genuine leather laptop bag. She loved it so much she exchanged the stuff in her old bag into the new case.
The plane took off on time from Savannah; then, there was a forty five minute delay in Charlotte. She would fly to Boston, where she had a three hour layover. Once she was in Boston, she took a seat in the first class lounge and was reading in her mom’s diary when Claire, the lady she meet on the flight back to the United States, came and sat beside her.
Aimee was unsure what it was about Claire, but she felt she could tell her anything. They took a seat at one of the dining tables and ate their New York strip sirloin meal and dessert. She asked Claire about her sister, who was in stable condition now, after a rough few weeks. She told Aimee about her sister’s health and the things she did while in Canada. Time flew by when Aimee was talking with Claire; they were calling for boarding before she knew it.
She happened to be seated beside Claire for the six hour and forty-five minute flight to London. Once they had put their luggage in the overhead compartments, they settled in their seats and listened to the flight attendant go over instructions.
Aimee sat in the extremely comfortable chair. Claire waited for the attendant to finish talking before she asked Aimee about her summer vacation. Aimee told her about what transpired at her dad’s. Claire was astonished as she listened to Aimee’s details about Lilliend Rose.
“Aimee, you are such a smart nineteen year old lady. I am proud you made the choice to finish your education. As a business woman I feel you can never learn too much.”
“I feel the same way. I have had several breakthroughs the past few weeks. One is that I want to do this for me and I want
to glorify God as I do. The other is, I still feel it is important to find out about my mom’s past. It is because I want to put the puzzle of my life together, not about who I am because their past is not who I am.”
“Well, I think you have done a lot of growing over the past few weeks.”
“I feel I have learned so much about myself this summer.”
“That is how we find ourselves. We learn from the lessons God provides us.”
“I am learning that. I still want to know as much as I can about my mom. I feel I am more prepared to accept the things I learn.”
BREAKTHROUGH (Love's Not Easy Series Book 2) Page 6
