The End of Book One ‘Choosing’ in the Soul Wars Trilogy. But Keep Reading the First Chapters in Soul Wars Book Two ‘Walking’
Preview of ‘Walking’ (5 Years after “Choosing”)
Chapter 1
Malachi
Mal had dilemma. In his five years of marriage he had found that to have a dilemma was more normal than not to have a dilemma. However, this was a particularly disturbing situation. Both his sister AJ and his sister in law Amelia were getting married on the same day. Both were marrying men who were older than they were. And there was no way Mal could make it to both weddings. To Belle it was a no brainer. AJ had skipped their wedding to attend a political campaign event. His parents had skipped the wedding because they didn't approve of the marriage. Belle thought it was terribly unfair to expect Mal to skip Amelia's wedding to attend AJ's wedding. Especially since Amelia was expecting Mal to give the bride away. But that was another dilemma altogether. Mal had been asked to be the best man and give the bride away. He wasn't sure he could do both things.
"OK Mal," he said to himself. "You know you really do not want to attend AJ's wedding. If there were nothing else scheduled for that day you would be trying to get something scheduled. You are just going to have to say 'No, I am busy that day', and let the family deal with however they want to."
"But Mal," he argued with himself, "You also know that this will just about be the last straw with your family."
"Well, who cares?" he answered himself. "They barely even acknowledge my two boys. They don't even send presents on Christmas. Much less birthdays. And poor Belle. You would think she came from another planet the way they treat her."
"I guess I better pray some more about it."
"Dear God, You know all about this. What should I do? Please hurry up and direct my path. Amen"
Mal could do a long prayer when he felt the need, but he was also very good at just a short simple prayer. He tried to start every morning with a thankful heart. He expressed his thankfulness to God verbally; he asked forgiveness for any known sin, and asked for direction for the day. So if he felt the need to pray a short prayer any time during the day he was comfortable in just asking a direct question or for a direct favor. That was usually all he had time for during the day. Actually he was supposed to be busy right now, but he was really just hiding from Belle. She knew he was in a quandary about what to do next. Mal didn't feel too bad about hiding out right now. Both the boys were out of diapers; they were currently well without even a sniffle; and they slept in their own beds at night. So Belle didn't have nearly as much to do as she had just a few short months ago. Except of course she was running around in circles planning the perfect wedding. Thank goodness they had had boys. When they got married it would not be their responsibility to plan the wedding.
"Good grief," Belle thought. This wedding is driving me bonkers! And Amelia doesn't seem to care what is going on. She is just acting like it absolutely does not matter what sort of wedding we put on. She hasn't even met one of Huey's sisters and that doesn't bother her either. Thank goodness I like Huey's mother. Maybe I should call her up and see if there is any of this she would be willing to manage. Like the entire reception. I may get a migraine if I don't do something about this stress."
"Mom, where are you?" called Jake.
"Yeah mom, where are you?" chimed in Mattey."
"Where I am always this time of day?" Belle answered patiently. "I am in the kitchen or the laundry room."
Belle wondered why the boys were looking for her. They were only three and four years old. But they knew morning was preschool time. They usually spent thirty minutes hiding from her. And then another thirty minutes going over letter sounds and numbers. Then they did art work (scribbling) while they listened to some kind of educational CD or watched a DVD. They were really cute singing the songs they learned that way. And their art wasn't too bad either. Of course sometimes their art was on the walls or floor instead of the paper. But Amelia had found out about "Killz". That was some spray on stuff that covered up color and pencil marks and blended into the paint.
"What do you want?" Belle called.
"Umm, nothing. We don't want anything."
The boys walked into the kitchen and stood staring at Belle.
Finally Jake broke the silence. "Mom, we know that Amelia is marrying Huey. So he will be our uncle Huey - right?"
"Yes, you know that is right. We have already talked about it."
"And they are going to live here with us?"
"Yes, Amelia and I made that decision years ago. As long as God allows we will always live under the same roof. Don’t worry. This house is as big as four average houses. Amelia and Huey will even have their own kitchen. So what's the problem? Don't you want Uncle Huey to live here?"
"We do want them to live here. The problem is the wedding."
"I'm sorry boys. I know I have had a lot to do. Have I been neglecting you?"
"No mom. That's not it," said Jake. "It's those clothes we have to wear for the wedding. One of the boys in Sunday school had to wear clothes like that. They took his picture and his mom goes around showing it to everyone. All the kids are laughing at him. You know mom, Mattey is shy. This could be very bad for him," Jake said solemnly.
Belle tried not to smile, and address Jake's concern's seriously.
"Jake, Mattey doesn't care what he wears. You know that. He also doesn't care who laughs at him. In fact, if someone is not laughing at him, Mattey finds a way to make them laugh. You don't want to wear the suit do you?"
"Not really. I can wear it. But I won't be able to smile for any pictures. And you know how Uncle Huey likes to take my picture when I smile."
"Well, Jake, you are going to wear the clothes Amelia picked out, and you are going to smile. But I will try to make it a little easier on you. Let me think about it."
"Ok Mom. Umm, can we skip our lessons today since I am feeling so bad about the wedding and you are so busy with planning it?"
"No. But maybe we could start a little later than usual. How about that?"
Satisfied, the boys went back to playing.
"Shaking her head Belle thought about how fast they were growing. And she remembered that when she and Mal had first been married they had planned to wait five years to start a family. Then by their second anniversary they had two boys. If Amelia had not been around to help them out, she didn't know how they would have managed.
The first one they had named Jacob Maximus. The second they had named Matthew Orion. Amelia had shortened it to Jake and Mattey immediately. Amelia had also got Belle a book on birth control after Belle had announced her second pregnancy.
"Amelia, you are something else. I don't think I could stand it if you were moving away. But I am not sure how adding an extra man to the household will work out. Of course, this place is really a duplex with a common living area in the middle. It shouldn’t be that crowded by just adding one more person.
Choosing Soul Wars Trilogy Book One Page 33
