Made for Each Other

by Irene Brand

  He perched on a high stool close to the sink where she was working. “You said you didn’t know much about my father or his family, but tell me what you do know.”

  “He was taking premed studies,” Grand answered, “but when Marybeth got pregnant, he quit school, to make a living for them. I’m reasonably sure that his parents were still living at that time, and that there were other children besides your father. I know nothing else. Perhaps I should have tried to locate him after Marybeth died.”

  “I still can’t decide if it’s a bad idea to start asking questions now,” Jacob said slowly.

  “I consider it a good idea,” Gran assured him. “Even if there isn’t much in the box, you can probably trace your relatives quickly on the Internet.”

  “But what if I find them and they aren’t interested in me?” Jacob questioned, wondering if he might be opening up a communication that would lead to more rejection. “They would surely have known that they had a grandchild.”

  Gran paused, as if in thought, before she answered. “I don’t know that you have to make contact with them if you don’t want to. But, who knows, they may have tried to find you and couldn’t.”

  The contents of the box were a disappointment to Jacob. In addition to the framed wedding certificate, there was a photograph of his parents on their wedding day. They looked very happy. There were a few baby pictures, which he assumed were of him. He looked through a manila folder of college papers, and when he had almost given up, he found an unfinished family tree, probably prepared for his father in his medical studies, which listed the names of his father’s parents—Andrew and Elizabeth Mallory.

  After Jacob spent several evenings searching for the names on his computer, he had a jumble of information about the Mallory family, with six Andrew Mallorys listed. Yet nothing he discovered linked him for sure to any of them.

  Although he thought that this new interest might take his mind off of Aimee, it didn’t. She was the last thing on his mind before he went to sleep and the first thing in his thoughts when he woke up. More than once he lifted the phone to call her, but he didn’t. As Sunday approached, he started to wonder if Aimee would come to church.

  Concentrating on finding his family roots kept him from constantly thinking about her. While he had been searching the Internet, he had come across a company that claimed they had a ninety-eight percent success rate in bringing together separated siblings and parents. He checked the references for the service and believed it would be reliable. Thinking that an organization like that could make a more efficient search than he personally could, especially considering the short amount of time and information he had, Jacob contacted a representative by e-mail and sent in the personal information requested. Now all he had to do was wait and see.

  Without Jacob’s frequent calls, the week dragged by for Aimee, and she couldn’t decide if she should go to church on Sunday. She knew if she didn’t go, she would make Erica suspicious, but if she did attend worship, as alert as Erica was, she would probably notice immediately the tension between Aimee and Jacob. In one way, she wanted to talk to somebody about her attraction for Jacob, and if she did, Erica would be the one, but she wasn’t sure she could talk about it yet.

  While she struggled with the problem, she received a call from Jacob’s grandmother. “Aimee, this is Stella Milton. You know, Jacob’s grandmother.”

  “Oh, yes, how are you, Mrs. Milton?”

  “I have a nasty cold, and I’m staying in for a few days. I know you have an interest in our Siblings program, and I also remember that you’re short of time until after school is out. But I think I have something you might like to do in the meantime.”

  Aimee hesitated briefly. “I’ll help if I can. What do you have in mind?”

  “We’ve been directed to a young girl who’s living with an elderly grandmother. The one who recommended her to Siblings said that the grandmother provides the necessities, but the girl doesn’t have anyone to do things with her. She could benefit from a woman’s influence. Jacob told me that you have a teenage daughter, and I thought of you immediately as someone who would have the experience to meet the girl’s needs. Your daughter might even want to befriend her, too.”

  Aimee rolled her eyes. Apparently, Jacob hadn’t told his grandmother much about Samantha. To befriend an underprivileged girl would be the last thing her daughter would do. Aimee hesitated. To take this assignment would cause friction with Samantha again. Without Jacob’s calls, they’d been getting along amiably for several days now, and she hated to rock the boat. But Aimee felt that she should make the commitment.

  “I’ll try it,” she said slowly.

  “Good,” Stella said. She sneezed and excused herself. “If you’re going to be out today, you might stop by the office and pick up the papers we have on her. Jacob will be working there this morning. Or I can ask him to bring them to church tomorrow.”

  Aimee’s errands for the day would take her to that vicinity and that would give her a good excuse to see Jacob without seeming to pursue him. Perhaps this would provide an opportunity for them to talk about what had happened on their date. Fleetingly, Aimee wondered if this was a ruse on Stella’s part to bring Jacob and her together, that is, if Stella even knew they’d been seeing each other.

  “I’ll be shopping this morning in that area, and I’ll stop by,” Aimee agreed. “How long will Jacob be there?”

  “Until midafternoon, I’m sure. He has a meeting of the bicentennial committee tonight,” Stella added.

  “I’ll go sometime before noon. I’ll look over the girl’s application, and if I don’t think I can handle the assignment, I’ll let you know.”

  “I appreciate this,” Stella said. “By the way, the girl’s name is Chloe Spencer.”

  The name rang a bell in Aimee’s memory, and she thought the girl might have been one of the students at her school.

  The phone rang again as soon as Aimee hung up, and it was Jennifer calling for Samantha.

  “Hi, Mrs. Blake. Is Sam up yet?”

  “Yes, I think so. I’ll check and see.”

  “Wait. Sam said she was sorta grounded,” Jennifer said calmly, “so I’ll ask you first. My mom and aunt are going to a big mall in Richmond this morning. Dad’s gone, and she won’t leave me by myself all day. I can ask two of my friends to hang out with me at the mall while they shop. Madison’s going. Can Sam go, too?”

  “I have no objection to that. Let me call Samantha.”

  When Aimee heard Samantha answer, she pushed the stop button on her phone. She had been wondering how to explain to Samantha that she was going to the Siblings office. With Samantha out of town all day, it would be a good time to see Jacob, because now that she had a reason, Aimee was eager to contact him.

  When she finished talking with Jennifer, Samantha ran upstairs. “Mom, thanks for letting me go. Can I have an advance on next week’s allowance?”

  “No, but I’ll donate twenty dollars to the day’s outing. I hope you have fun.”

  “You’re awesome. Thanks!”

  It was ten o’clock when Jennifer’s mother stopped by for Samantha. Aimee walked out to the six-passenger van to thank Mrs. Nibert for the invitation.

  After she waved them on their way, Aimee took a deep breath of the fresh air that blew from the mountain range to the west and walked back into the house with a whole day before her free from maternal responsibilities. For the first time since she’d become a mother, that pleased her. Didn’t that prove she was maturing as much as Samantha?

  She was thankful that Stella had given her a reason to see Jacob without appearing to be pursuing him but should she call and tell him she was coming?

  She decided against it. Perhaps his reaction to a surprise visit might provide a better indication of how he felt about her.

  She drove over to Jacob’s building and parked. After learning from the receptionist that he was in the Siblings office, she walked upstairs. The door was open, and he was working at t
he computer. When she walked in, he turned quickly in his chair, stood up and started toward her. Her pulse leaped with excitement, for he made no attempt to hide the fact that he was happy to see her. Regardless of the friction the last time they were together, obviously a web of attraction was building between them.

  “Gran told me you were coming by today.” He motioned to a couch at one side of the room. “Sit down.”

  “She mentioned a girl I might work with, and I came by to look at her application,” Aimee explained.

  He picked up a file from the top of his desk, sat beside her on the couch and handed the folder to her. A photo was on the front of the file, and underneath was the information, Chloe Spencer, fourteen years old.

  “Chloe Spencer,” Aimee said slowly. “She seems familiar to me. Maybe she was a student at our school.”

  “She probably was. There’s a brief description.”

  Aimee scanned the girl’s profile. “I’m sure I remember her. Her mother died when she was in the fifth grade, and she came to live with her grandmother. That put her in our school district. I think she was in Aimee’s class.”

  “Chloe’s grandmother is concerned because she isn’t making friends. She receives good care at home, but her grandmother thinks she needs the influence of an adult who’s younger than she is. It was Gran’s idea that you would be a good choice because you have a teenage daughter, who might get interested in Chloe, too.”

  Aimee gave him a straightforward glance. “You know that isn’t going to happen.”

  “Probably not, but I didn’t reveal any of your family problems to Gran.”

  “Thanks. What about Chloe’s father?”

  A momentary look of discomfort spread across Jacob’s face when he said, “He apparently abandoned Chloe and her mother.”

  “Poor girl,” Aimee said, and looked away because she knew Jacob was thinking of his own abandonment.

  Aimee glanced through the folder, knowing that if she took Chloe under her wing, it was going to cause more challenges with Samantha. But she also considered what Samantha’s life would have been like if she’d had no mother. “I don’t know how much time I can give Chloe, but I’ll try to help.”

  “I know it won’t be easy for you to add something else to your schedule,” Jacob said, “but I’ll give you any support I can.”

  “Do I keep the file?” Aimee asked.

  Jacob shook his head. “I need the original papers, but I’ll give you copies of everything we have. If you’re free this afternoon, I’ll take you and introduce you to Chloe and her grandmother.”

  “I have the whole day,” Aimee said. “Samantha went with friends to a mall in Richmond. It will be late before she gets home.”

  A buzzer sounded on Jacob’s desk, and he stood and pushed the intercom button. “Mr. Mallory, I’m leaving now,” the receptionist said. “Is there anything I need to do before I go?”

  “Not that I can think of,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. “Lock the door, please.”

  “Have a nice weekend,” she said.

  “You, too.”

  Then Jacob made several copies of Chloe’s papers and returned to sit beside Aimee. “I’ve missed talking to you this week,” he said.

  Aimee felt her face flushing, and she looked away, unable to interpret the message in his eyes. “And I missed hearing from you. I wanted to call and apologize for ruining our evening, but I stopped short of picking up the phone.”

  “You had every right to shove me away,” he said sincerely. “I was taking a lot for granted.”

  Tears formed in her eyes. “You shouldn’t take the blame. To be honest, I wanted you to kiss me, but I have some mixed feelings from the past that I apparently haven’t resolved.”

  Bitterness came into his expression, and he said, “I have a few of those, too, but let’s talk about them over a sandwich. We have a lunchroom downstairs, and Gran keeps it supplied with snack foods. Or, if you’d prefer, we can stop and eat on our way to Chloe’s house.”

  “Eating here will be fine.”

  He put Chloe’s file back in the cabinet and locked the office door behind them. The lunchroom was small, but big enough for two tables, with seating space for eight people. A refrigerator and a microwave were available, and a coffeemaker stood on the counter. Aimee saw Gran’s influence in the bright pink ruffled curtains and the dainty white tablecloths. A small sink and dishwasher were centered under the picture window.

  “A cheerful room,” Aimee said.

  “We have clients and visitors in here occasionally, and they seem to appreciate the homelike atmosphere,” Jacob told her as he checked out the food available.

  “Do you counsel adults, too?” Aimee queried.

  “Yes, that’s my main business and how I make my living, but my heart is with the Siblings program.” He opened the refrigerator door. With a grin, he said, “We don’t have an extensive menu. There are individual pizzas, cold cuts and cheese cubes, bread and crackers. Also, apples and grapes.” He opened a cabinet over the refrigerator and set out a deli bag. “Cookies for dessert.”

  “Sounds like a feast,” Aimee said. “I’ll have an apple, cheese cubes and crackers.”

  “I’ll have the same,” he said as if he was talking to a waitress. “Fix yourself a beverage. There are bottles of pop in the refrigerator. I’ll wash the apples.”

  “What would you like to drink?” Aimee asked.

  “A glass of root beer.”

  Jacob set a two-liter bottle of root beer out, and Aimee filled glasses for both of them and added ice. She took the cheese cubes and crackers and put them on the table, then sat down. When he joined her with two apples cut into sections, Jacob reached his hand across the table.

  “Let’s thank God for the food.” His prayer was brief, but the closing sentence touched Aimee’s heart. “God, I thank You for giving Aimee and me the opportunity to help this teenager. Guide us as we work together in Your will. Amen.”

  Before he started eating, he said, “I’ll call Chloe’s grandmother and see if it’s all right for us to stop by this afternoon. That way we’ll know how much time we have for lunch.”

  After he spoke with Chloe’s grandmother, he covered the mouthpiece and asked, “She can see us at two-thirty. Is that too late for you?”

  “No.”

  After he hung up, Aimee said, “It will be quite late when Samantha gets back. In case you’ve wondered about how we’re dealing with her rebellion, we’re a bit wary of each other, but there isn’t any open hostility.”

  “I’m sure you’ll make the right decisions,” he assured her. Uncertainty crept into his expression as he continued, “Kids go through tons of problems today that we didn’t have to deal with, although I experienced plenty of traumatic situations. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I went into counseling was because I’m still affected by some of the childhood situations that disillusioned me. When I considered a profession, I knew I wanted to help others overcome the kinds of problems that had marked my youth.”

  “It surprises me that you have these frustrations,” Aimee said. “You come across as a guy who has it all together.”

  “Perhaps I do in many ways,” he said, “but I’ll admit to you that my past has kept me from forming any serious relationships.”

  Aimee lowered her eyes rather than meet his, which seemed clouded with visions from the past.

  “Are you interested enough to listen?” Jacob asked. “If you consider me only a casual acquaintance and are ready to stop seeing me, you may not want to hear what I have to say.”

  Experiencing conflicting emotions, Aimee hesitated. “Although I don’t know where it will lead, I do want to see more of you. Truthfully, Jacob, I’ve been alone so long I’m afraid to change my life. But I believe God will guide us, and whatever comes of our time together, we can accept it, for we’ll know that it’s His plan for us. Right now, I’m happy to have you for a friend.”

  He nodded understandingly. “I�
�ve told you how my father deserted me and that Mother didn’t have much time for me.”

  “Yes, I remember.”

  “I found a picture of him in some of her things, and I seem to favor him. Perhaps every time she saw me, she wished she had him instead of me. But I’ve been sensitive about rejection ever since then.”

  Somewhat puzzled, Aimee said, “But that happened so long ago.”

  “There’s more.” Jacob stood and wandered aimlessly around the small room for several minutes. When he spoke, his voice was totally emotionless and the atmosphere of the room seemed frigid. “Shortly before I graduated from high school, I became engaged to a girl I’d been dating for two years. She betrayed me, then rejected me for another man. So when you shoved me away last week, it was as if you were rejecting me, too.”

  “But—” she started to protest, and he interrupted, “I know, I know. It was childish to react the way I did. But because your pushing me away hurt so much, it seems to indicate that you’re more important to me than any other woman has been. Does any of this make sense to you?”

  Her eyes were misty. “Yes, and I’m flattered. I don’t suppose I should ask, but is your former fiancée still living in Benton?”

  “No. I haven’t heard from her since I went away to college. I don’t know where she is. I’m not carrying a torch for her, if that’s what you think. It was the original hurt that still gnaws at my spirit occasionally.”

  Sounding more cheerful than she felt, Aimee said brightly, “Then let’s just forget the things that have happened between us so far and start over again.”

  “I don’t want to forget some of them,” he said, smiling slightly. “We’ve had a good time together, and it seems to give me a new lease on life just to visit with you on the phone.”

  “Then let’s learn from our mistakes and move on. How about that?” Aimee asked cheerfully.

  He reached for her hand and kissed her fingers. “That’s what I hoped you would say, because that’s what I want to do.”