Chapter 10
“Pastor Ian?”
Ian looked up from his sermon notes to see a thatch of curly red hair and a smile fit to make the heavens sing framed in the stone archway that led to his office. “Emily. How nice of you to stop back. Is Benjamin here?”
“One of his patients took a turn for the worse and he had to rush back to Glasgow.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No. It’s fine. I wanted to stay the weekend so Mom and I could get started on wedding plans. We visited a florist this afternoon and spoke to a caterer about food for the reception.”
“I’m very happy for you, Emily.”
“Thank you, Ian. And thank you, too, for everything – I mean, I really appreciate all that you did to help Benjamin and me work through our problems.”
“I wish the two of you much happiness.”
Emily smiled and turned to go. “Oh. I forgot to ask about the missing items. Any ideas about where they disappeared to?”
“It definitely appears to have been a theft. I made some inquiries and no one on the Kirk Session had removed any of the items for repairs or refurbishing.”
“Who would do such a thing?”
“I have no idea. Thank you for keeping it quiet until I’d had a chance to notify the authorities. It will be up to the session to decide when and how to inform the rest of the congregation.”
“No sense marring their Easter with the news.”
“My thought exactly. We’ve better things to dwell on as we approach Holy Week.” Ian stood and walked with Emily.
“Still, I hope they catch the man and that the items gone missing will be returned.”
“The constable said we’re not to hold out much hope.”
“It’s kind of funny when you think about it. Telling a church not to have hope.” Emily smiled.
“God knows who took the things and where every last item is at this precise moment. The constable may be the one who’s in for a surprise before all is said and done.”
“We do believe in a God of miracles.”
“Yes, we do.”
Emily’s face was shining with a combination of what he assumed was contentment – perhaps joy. Funny, he had never noticed it before now. Well, then, she was living proof of God’s grace, wasn’t she? “And a God who is known to work in mysterious ways.”
Thistle Down Page 10
