Melissa walked out, her heart in her mouth, worried that the client might be Anthony Pollard, only, standing in front of her with a wide smile on his face, was Victor Byler.
"Victor, you're leaving the agency," she blurted.
Victor looked puzzled. "I thought I’d mentioned that before."
Melissa bit her lip. "Oh yes, you did."
Victor took a step toward her. "You're not happy that I'm leaving the agency? I thought you’d be happy."
Melissa was entirely puzzled. Why would she be happy that he was leaving the agency? She'd never see him again. "But, why?" she stammered.
A look of confusion passed across Victor's face. "I thought you’d know."
Melissa shook her head and tried to avoid his gaze. Had Victor seen her at the café after all? If so, then she would be expected to know that he had a girlfriend and so was leaving the agency. That must be the explanation, Melissa thought with dismay.
"I've got them!"
Both Melissa and Victor looked up at Milly, who was waving some forms. "The termination forms. I managed to print them," she said as an aside to Melissa.
Melissa took the opportunity to leave the room, but despite her misgivings, could not stop herself listening on the other side of the door.
"We're sorry to see you go, Mr. Byler," Milly said. "Can you tell me why you're leaving?"
Melissa could not hear Victor's response but then realized that he had not yet answered. "Well, I've fallen in love," he finally said.
"That's wonderful," Milly said. "Is it one of our ladies?"
Melissa turned away. She knew the answer to that one. Victor was getting married to the Amish girl at the café. She had been such a fool.
1 Corinthians 15: 19 - 20.
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Chapter 18.
Milly came back into the room. "Mr. Byler wants to speak to you again."
Melissa shook her head. "Please tell him that I'm not available."
Milly gave her a strange look but disappeared to do as she asked.
Melissa looked at the clock on the wall. Thank goodness, it was time to leave for the day. When Irene returned, she would give her notice. She walked into the front office, looking around the door first to see if Victor was still there. "Milly, has he gone?"
Milly nodded. "What was all that about?"
Melissa shrugged. "I've had enough of the difficult clients. 'Bye, Milly."
"Goodbye, Melissa; I'm about to close up."
Melissa walked to her parking spot, filled with conflicting emotions. When she reached her parking place, she groaned aloud. Could the day get any worse? Blessing was gone. She walked over and looked at the double clip she had used to tie him. The clips seemed to be working well enough, so how had he gotten away? Well, that wasn't the issue; the issue was to find him, and fast.
Melissa looked around, and then it dawned on her; Blessing had gone to Victor Byler's store before. What if he had gone there again? That could prove awkward and embarrassing.
Melissa hurried in the direction of Victor's store, hoping that one of his staff members would find Blessing and be on their way back with him right now. She sent up a silent prayer as she hurried. Please help me, Gott.
When Melissa turned the corner, she saw to her great relief that Blessing was tied next to Raymond's horse and buggy. Melissa let out a long sigh of relief. Someone must have caught him and tied him up, and this time, Blessing had been content to stay put. She hurried over to him. "Blessing, I was so worried."
"That's twice he's turned up here," said a gentle voice.
Melissa swung around to see Victor standing behind Blessing.
"Oh, Victor! Sorry, I didn’t see you there."
Victor walked over to her. "Melissa, I'm sorry if I've upset you."
Melissa groaned inwardly. This was rapidly turning embarrassing. "Nee, nee, not at all," she said. "Congratulations."
"Congratulations?" Victor frowned, and scratched his head.
Oh, I've put my foot in it, Melissa thought. He’ll know that I found out that he said that he's in love with someone. Melissa didn't know what to say, so her mouth went into overdrive. "Err, yes, you told Melissa you were in love with someone, so I meant congratulations on that, and on returning to the community. Oh well, I figure that you're returning to the Amish, as she's Amish."
"She?" Victor's brows met in the middle.
Why did he say that? Melissa wondered. "Yes, the Amish lady in the café."
"The café?"
"Oh, you didn't know I was there. I was having lunch with my friend, Isobel, and I saw you in the café with the Amish lady."
Victor's face suddenly lit up. "Ahhhh!" he said. "That explains everything. Now I see."
Melissa frowned at him. She was a little cross that he looked so happy when her feelings were so hurt.
"Melissa, can we go for a walk in the park? There are some things I want to explain to you."
Melissa wanted to walk in the park with Victor, just to be close to him, but she did not want to prolong the agony and she did not want to hear him profess his love for the Amish girl. "Nee, I’d best be getting back to my haus."
"Please, Melissa, it’s important."
Melissa stood there in two minds.
"Please." His tone was urgent.
"All right then." You fool, Melissa, she thought, silently scolding herself for giving into him.
Melissa followed Victor into the park, and across the well maintained lawns. It was a lovely day, with happy ducks splashing under the fountain, but the beauty of the day was lost on Melissa, just as it had been in her earlier visit to the park that day. Victor turned onto the paved walking path that traversed the length of the park, running alongside the stone waterway.
Finally, just past the large, white gazebo, Victor came to a stop. "Shall we sit here?"
"Jah." Melissa just wanted to get it all over with. The colorful flowers were giving off all kinds of pleasant fragrance, and the tinkling of the little waterfall was soothing. Only Melissa was not relaxed, as Victor was about to tell her that he was engaged to another woman.
"The lady you saw me with was Nancy Esh - or rather, she used to be."
Melissa was a little confused by that, but she sat in silence.
"Nancy Esh is the reason why I left the Amish."
Despite herself, Melissa was now intrigued.
"My parents and Nancy's parents had been gut friends for years and always joked that the two of us would be married one day. When we turned seventeen, our parents tried to pressure us to marry. Nancy wanted to marry me, but I didn’t want to marry Nancy. I wanted to be in love with my fraa and I wasn't in love with Nancy. The pressure was so strong, that I left the Amish. I took the coward's way out, and fled."
Melissa turned to look at Victor, taking in his golden-flecked eyes. "You didn’t tell Nancy that you didn’t want to marry her?"
Victor shook his head. "That's just it; I did tell her, more than once, and she always went into floods of tears. I told my parents again and again that I didn’t want to marry Nancy, but they said I was young and foolish. In the end, I just ran away and became Englisch."
Melissa bit the end of one fingernail. "Is that the terrible thing that you did?" Melissa did not think it so terrible at all.
"Jah, it was."
"But really," Melissa said. "I can't see what else you could have done. You couldn’t marry Nancy if you weren't in love her… then," she added, sad that Victor was now in love with Nancy.
"Anyway, to cut a long story short," Victor continued, "I always felt I had done the wrong thing, and I've been talking to the bishop for some time about returning to the community, although I was in two minds about it at first. The last time I saw him, the bishop said I needed to contact Nancy to ask her forgiveness."
Melissa
was puzzled. "Did the bishop think you did the wrong thing? Did the bishop think you should've married Nancy back then?"
Victor shook his head. "Nee, it wasn't that. I was the one who thought I had done the wrong thing, so the bishop told me to contact Nancy so that the past could be resolved."
"I see."
"So I wrote to Nancy," Victor continued, "and she agreed that it needed to be resolved, so she came to see me."
Melissa could not help but feel jealous. She sat silently and waited for Victor to continue.
"Nancy said that she had completely forgiven me," Victor continued. "In fact, she had forgiven me some time ago. She and her husband felt they should come and tell me that Nancy had forgiven me, so that I could go forward with my life."
Melissa scratched her ear. What had Victor just said? "Husband?" she said aloud. "Whatever are you talking about?"
"Nancy and her husband, Dan, came to have lunch with me today," Victor said.
Melissa scrunched up her face. "I didn’t see any Dan."
"He was sitting next to Nancy."
"Oh!" Melissa realized that she had only a partly obscured view of the booth, and that Dan must have been sitting on the other side of Nancy. "But then why did you tell Melissa that you were leaving the agency, since the Amish woman you're in love with is married?" Melissa looked down at her boots.
Victor chuckled. "I'm not in love with Nancy; I never was, and I'm certainly not now."
"But then why did you tell Melissa that you were in love with an Amish girl?" Melissa turned to look at Victor, and then it dawned on her. "Oh." Her cheeks flushed hot. Could he possibly mean what she hoped he meant?
Victor took her hand in his. "Melissa, my love, you’re the only woman I've ever been in love with."
Melissa gasped. Everything seemed to slow down. Could this be true? She hoped it wasn't simply a dream.
"I've told your vadder -"
"My vadder!" she gasped.
Victor nodded. "Jah, I have your vadder's permission to court you, if you'll have me. The bishop knows too. I'm returning to the community; I'm taking instruction, and I'm going to be baptized."
Melissa could scarcely contain the excitement that was bubbling up within her. She had thought there was no hope, but how wrong had she been. "Jah, jah, of course I want to," she said, breathlessly.
Victor put his arm around her, and pulled her close. As their lips met softly, Melissa sent up a silent, heartfelt prayer of thanks to Gott who had in fact, done abundantly more than all she had ever hoped.
The End
Book 3. Charity.
Romans 13: 8 - 10.
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Chapter 1.
Isobel pulled her heavy, black shawl closer to her neck as she looked out the window of the little café. "It looks like the weather's getting worse out there."
Melissa, her good friend, agreed. "I’d best be getting home. Victor was worried about me coming out in this weather today."
"But we still have twenty more minutes for lunch. I don’t have to be back at work for a while yet. You don't want to stay and talk some more about your new husband?"
"Sorry, Isobel." Melissa smiled. "I could talk about Victor all day, but it doesn't look like it’s getting any better out there. Anyway, you should get yourself a boyfriend - what's happening with Jakob?"
Isobel sighed. "Everyone keeps telling me that he's a gut match for me. I suppose I'll have to get married sooner or later; I do want kinner."
Melissa laughed. "You're young, Isobel; there's plenty of time for kinner."
Isobel raised one eyebrow. "I don’t know. Jakob's dependable and all that, I suppose. He'd make a gut husband, no doubt. There's just something missing."
"No spark?" Melissa asked as she gulped the last of her coffee and rose from the table.
Isobel's shoulders sagged and she looked out the large windows at the snow. "Jah, there's no spark. But what choice is there? There are no other suitable menner in the community."
Melissa winked at her. "You know, you might find a mann outside the community, like I did."
Isobel snorted rudely. "Like that's ever going to happen."
"You never know, now that you’ve borrowed the buggy horse, Blessing, from my bruder. Blessing brought Victor to me, and he brought Nettie to my bruder. Wait and see."
"Ach, you’re ab im kopp." Isobel chuckled and gave Melissa a playful tap on the arm.
As the two parted ways, Isobel made her way back to the Old Candle Store where she worked. It was warm and cozy in the candle store, and Isobel loved the atmosphere: the scent of innumerable fragrant candles, the warm glow of candlelight, and the quaintness of the store.
On this cold, winter day, Isobel's steps quickened. The ice bit into her cheeks and she held the shawl closer to her face. She went to the parking place to check that the thick, waterproof blanket was still on Blessing, but when she got there, it was on the ground. Isobel picked it up and threw it back over Blessing, but as soon as she did, he reached around with his teeth and pulled it off.
"Blessing!" she scolded. "It's freezing. I've never known you to do that before. Here, I’ll have to tighten the dees."
After the blanket was suitably adjusted, Isobel hurried back to the store. As she turned down the side street where the store was located, she noticed that no one else was braving the weather; the street was deserted. I doubt there'll be many customers this afternoon, she thought.
As Isobel ducked under the porch roof of the store, she noted to her surprise that the Closed sign was hanging inside the door. The next thing she knew, she was knocked to the ground by a man exiting the door in a rush.
The two locked eyes for a moment, and a sudden fear ran through Isobel. The man made no move to help her, but hesitated for a moment, before hurrying down the street.
Isobel looked after him with surprise. How rude, she thought, gingerly picking herself up off the ground. Her arm hurt where she had landed heavily on it, throwing it out to save herself. She reached for the door the second time, wondering why the Closed sign was hanging on it. Her boss, Mr. Harrison, always filled in for her when she went to lunch.
Isobel walked through the door, flipping the sign to Open. Mr. Harrison was not behind the front counter; perhaps he'd been called out on an urgent errand. Jah, that must be it, Isobel thought, a little puzzled as to what could be so urgent that her boss couldn't wait for her to return from lunch.
Isobel stuck her head around the door of the back room to see if Mr. Harrison was there, but there was no sign of him. She was about to take up her place at the front counter when something at floor level through the open office door caught her eye.
Isobel looked again. To her shock and distress, she saw a pair of legs. Isobel ran over to Mr. Harrison, who was lying on the ground. At first she was too shocked to notice the pool of blood. Isobel clutched at her head, and then ran to the store phone to call 911.
Luke 6: 36 - 37.
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Chapter 2.
Isobel sat numbly in a chair on the far side of the Old Candle Store, while paramedics and police scurried around like ants. Isobel averted her eyes when Mr. Harrison was wheeled out, a bag completely covering him. She could hear Mrs. Harrison sobbing loudly from the residence above the store.
Isobel was disorientated and dizzy. It was if she were watching a scene unfold before her eyes, a scene that she was watching from afar. Nothing made any sense. Her eyes fell on a handsome man in a dark suit talking to a photographer.
The man at once walked over to her and sat opposite. “I’m Detective Stutzman.” He took off his coat, and draped it over the back of his chair.
"Where are you taking Mr. Harrison?"
The detective frowned. "To a local hospital. You do realize he's deceased?"
Isobel was at once annoyed. Did the man think she was an idiot? "Of course I do," she snapped, but then added, "I'm sorry; it’s such a shock."
If Isobel had expected sympathy in the man's gray eyes, she got none. "Do you mind if I tape this?"
A wave of dizziness washed over Isobel and she clutched at her stomach.
"Did you hear what I said?" The detective was peering at her.
Isobel noted his square jaw, his dark, short hair, and his broad shoulders, and then wondered why she would notice such things in these circumstances.
Isobel nodded, although she had not, in fact, heard what he said after he asked if he may tape the interview.
"Your name?"
No sooner had Isobel said, "Isobel Slabaugh," than the man barked, "Full name? Date of birth? I don’t suppose you have a home telephone number?"
Isobel winced, but answered clearly.
"What is your relationship to the deceased?"
Isobel was appalled. "I did not have a relationship with Mr. Harrison," she said, highly offended. "He was married, and is old enough to be my grossdawdi." A tear trickled out her eye and she swiftly wiped it away with the back of her hand.
The detective sighed and shook his head. "That just means - how did you know him?"
"Oh." Isobel was embarrassed, and her ears burned with humiliation. "I worked for Mr. Harrison and his wife, Peggy."
“You work here?” the detective asked her, and she nodded. “Please do not nod or otherwise use gestures, as this is being recorded." He nodded to the tape machine whirring away on the table next to him. "Do you work here? For how long?” His tone was stern.
“Yes. Seven years,” Isobel said, after adding them quickly up in her head. It hadn’t felt like that long. Saying it out aloud, thinking that she had worked for Mr. Harrison for so long, almost a decade really, made her tear up again. Stinging tears fell down her cheeks. Detective Stutzman reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. He handed it to her and Isobel took it, dabbing her eyes with a corner of the silky material.
The Amish Buggy Horse BOXED SET Books 1-3 (Amish Romance Book Bundle: Faith, Hope, Charity) (Boxed Set: The Amish Buggy Horse) Page 15
